Blog 10th September 2026

Welcome to the ScotCampers tri-weekly blog. 

This period can be summarised by; hirers; video shoot; MRT.

Hirers.

In line with last August/September, this has been a pretty busy one.  This is potentially linked to the Edinburgh Fringe with overseas visitors tending to stop over in the capital pre/post trip.  

Four hirers in last three weeks and some very different back stories!  In no particular order I helped out a fellow hire business with a sick van at last minute.  Alix was across from France and stranded with no van so with a bunch of effort (both my end, and the other hirer’s end) we got there and sent Alix on his way.  Great hirer as listened to almost all my advice and had a great pint in the Clachaig, along with a sample of Whisky at the Raasay distillery, off Skye.  My spies were out (!) in the shape of my hillwalking chum, Andrew, who spotted them at Invergarry!  Pic below.  Nicholas from Italy was also out as well as Lisa (who works for my social media support company).  Nicholas had a big trek including Harris, Skye and the east coast and Lisa closer to home around Loch Lomond.

Also had a local hirer in the shape of Janieann and her husband.  They had a cracking time exploring the east coast (why don’t more people avoid the west and do this!) including Dunnottar castle, Portsoy and a few lighthouses!  Wildlife enthusiasts so lots in common and overall, model hirers.

Alix spotted on the way to Skye!

This month sees Andrius out only, as the season starts to tail off.

Video Shoot.

This was a new one on me.  I was fortunate enough to secure local business funding in order to employ the services of a professional video company, Vass Media.  After an initial meeting to discuss approach/scope it was over to me to suggest a local(ish) “shoot” location!  

I was pretty focused on this being less about the features of a van and more around what a van could enable you to actually do out there.  So, it was off to big tree country with locations including the Loch of Lowes, The Hermitage and some drone footage along the very atmospheric, Sma Glen above Crieff.

It’s fair to say now that I have a greater sense of why films take so long to shoot and end up costing so much!  Pretty much a full day (roughly 5 hours) producing a really quality 32 second clip!  Possibly down to my acting skills (multiple takes!).  Really good use of my time and am currently browsing local photography courses……

Big tree country, The Hermitage, Dunkeld

MRT (Mountain Rescue Team)

I’ve been volunteering at the local team post for over a year now and having a great time.  Before we get ahead of ourselves, I’m not on the team – I instead help in maintaining the post.  

It’s a varied few hours a week from grass cutting, tree felling, to painting and recently, a clear out of the control centre.  Working with two ex-team members, it was incredible the short work we made of rigging a pulley system and lowering a fridge and (big) steel cabinet around 25 feet to the ground, ahead of visiting the local recycle centre.

The work MRTs do across Scotland has always impressed me and my local team is no exception.  Whatever the weather, whatever the time, always available to help those in need.  My local hills, The Ochils, may seem small in stature but they can be featureless up top, comprising a number of complex, steep gulleys.  Lower leg injuries are easily done on the terrain, sometimes resulting in airlifts.

Great work the team do and in my opinion, should be taxpayer funded but that’s for another blog…..

Don’t ask me why the sad face!

Until next time.  Not all those who wander, are lost……