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SHOULD I TAKE THE WESTFIELD TO SCOTLAND OR NOT


Geoffrey Carter (Buttercup)

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One rucksack would just about fit under the full weather gear.  Seriously, we did 10 days in the Dales and Lakes with just the bootbox and footwell spaces for our gear.  If the weather got top-downable I just bungied the hood bag to the roll bar

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Have fun looking forward to seeing some pics  :t-up:

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Thanks Marcus.

 

I have some nice places planned to go and will take plenty of pictures.

 

Lets hope its not raining or snowing.

 

Just on a separate note, Buttercup is mended. It was a loose wire on the engine management thing.

 

Looking forward to driving down Glen Etive as this is where some of Skyfall was filmed and also looking forward to going to  the Glen Finnan Viaduct.

 

I have a couple of massive loops to drive as I downloaded three or 4 routes from another website and these rotes will be between 250 and 300 miles each.

 

Also doing a loop of the Isle of Skye before going further up north to Durness and my favourite place in the world, Loch Eriboll. 

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Sounds great.  We love Skye - we were there 2013 for a week and it was very wet but we still loved it.  And if you're doing Skye then don't miss Plockton on your way in or out.  If you want a real treat then go to the Three Chimneys on Skye for dinner.  Expensive but fabulous.  Or the fish restaurant just down from the Stein Inn.  Have a fab trip

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You really need some Ottlieb drysacs, to put your rucksacs in.

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Was up there myself just over a week ago. All I had was a motorbike suit. Had all my gear in a overboard bag which did what it said and kept everything dry.

I learned a hard lesson from my tour in May last year when I rained for three and a half days!

It did rain on Skye and we went through four hailstorms on the journey up

It was worth it though...

image.jpg16_zpshm7praw0.jpg

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hi buttercup - when we went touring in the dax we did away with the spare wheel - saving weight and stopped the bottoming out [you could of course fit stiffer springs just for the tour]. with no spare wheel you could make a rack for a waterproof box - out of the wind - low down and far easier. the rack was simply 2 bars bolted to the chassis under the fuel tank area. the bars came out the back of the car and wooden bars were fixed to them rather like a seat. simply bungee down a builders waterproof box or whatever takes you fancy - i added a number plate board... easy job.

 

use a can of tyreweld or the rac / aa if you get a puncture

with that sorted you have the option of full roof or not

 

gallery_13502_636_317631.jpg

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It always rains in Glen Coe! Don't think it ever stops. :) took Mr Toad to Maillaig a couple of years ago when walking on Rum. Got absolutely soaked coming back. No weather gear, aeroscreens. Loved it.

Ortlieb bags are your friends for keeping clothes and kit dry.

Jen

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My approach to any holidays in Scotland and particularly when I'm in the Westie, is to assume it'll rain and dress accordingly. Then when it's dry, it's a bonus!

 

In the last 3 or 4 years of Westie ownership, I can count on one hand the number of times I've been really soaked and one of these was south of the border (in fact, the worst one!). 11 hours of torrential rain without a roof when I picked up my second car on the south coast and drove it home to central Scotland.

 

Matt

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Morning Men. We are well on the way. Drove up through the dales and got bloomin soaked as I took the roof off. Sky is really grey but dodged the rain so far north of Hawes. Bloomin cold though but having a great drive up. Will reply to comments later.

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Well we have arrived at Glencoe. Absolutely soaked with seats full of water, floor full of water.... Everything. We drove with no roof on just the half doors in pouring rain. The rain was on the outside of the screen, the inside of the screen and on both sides of my glasses. My hat is sodden and my clothes were all stuck to me and I looked like a bag of spuds in latex. It was such a blast though but felt really cold when I got out the car. Carol was ok but not as enthusiastic but she never complained. At the moment Buttercup is under an arch protected from the rain but is blocking the hotel car park so just have to hope no-one wants to be out.

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came back from skye this morning , weather was fab over the weekend but dreadful today.

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Its all part of the fun!

I have done a 1 hour wet drive with a full hood and really enjoyed it, helped by having an enthusiastic passenger, who was armed with a towel that she used to fend off incoming wet, or at least try and keep the inside of the screen clear ish.

The car now has no roof at all, and if to be honest less fun in the wet. Well a lot of fun initially and then tiring, I find the main issue is again, keeping the inside of the screen dry. But hey, you only live once.

For weather reports, I find http://www.yr.no/ really good. Clunky but more informative/detailed than the beeb.

Daniel

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Good luck and hats off to you. We went to Wales last year and got monumentally soaked but still had a blast. We christened the Westfield Nemo! The wet seats are the worst to me. Hopefully weather looks to be improving from Tuesday. Here in Rochdale the weather is stinking with really heavy rain and gales, first day of summer eh?

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