Well luvs, I guess I`d love visiting the Laphroaig Distellery on Islay with you ....... ....... and I`ll be in Scotland afore ye ....... 🎼🎵🎶

Great parkup at Banff and loving the unique gravestones carvings …hope Keira is ok Breaking bad lol you could do some ‘cooking’ in the van

Aww you were not far from us in Turriff. Not looking forward to this storm coming.

If you’d continued along past the houses before you parked up there is another spot at the end of road about a third of a mile along, though without toilet access.

The pizza looks great. The views from the monument was great. Is it expected when using a free park up in Scotland to to park close to the over camper vans. In USA we normally park as far a part as we can for overnight. Enless there are RV only spots that have you park close together. Just wander how things are different.

I am watching this with a big glass of Yellow Tail Jammy Red Roo in my hand. Thanks for the info on the Banff park up. It's now added to my list. I wouldn't think of emptying the van toilet into a public toilet, it's easy to find a site, CL or Aire every so often. BUT emptying there is definitely better than emptying at the side of the road as some do - the 'some' that give the rest a bad name.

Quite right to cut your trip short your safety is the most important thing stay safe can’t wait till your next adventures

I downloaded your video on the Thule rain blockers setup so I could watch it back on a very wet recent camping trip. I bought them on eBay and was using them for the first time. I must’ve seen it a hundred times and you now appear often in my suggestions. The editing quality and content of your videos in the 4 years since then is incredible. Well done to you both, it must take a lot of effort. Keep doing what you’re doing 🙏 Safe travels 😊

Hi guys, thanks for showing us around Banff. Great park-up, when the weather is good. Cheers 👍 🐸

Brilliant video as always,the cemetery in Banff looks fascinating,I do love a good mooch round the old graves..see you soon. Sue

The view from the monument was beautiful. Hope Kiera’s paw is better. Pitta pizza is lovely. Take care Gill

Hari OM Banff/Macduff is one of my fave spots along the Moray; it was famed for its silver smithing during the 18th century. That book shop is fab! YAM xx

Another smashing video! Our YT friends, Scotland on a Shoestring, would LOVE that kirkyard. Oooh I love a second hand bookshop that's properly alphabetised! N&Nx

Oot n boot 💩 😜

great vlog on travels

YAY!!!!!!!

Lithium definitely a good idea as even as a replacement for one you got will give you at least twice the amount of power before run out. As other have said need to confirm rest of your electrical system (solar charger/alternator etc) are compatible as may need to upgrade some of those as well. The other thing to consider is a bigger/more solar panels (Personally as much as you can afford/fit on the roof) especially if planning to go off grid in winter as at this time of year lucky to get much more than 10% of the capacity of the panel (and on a bad day less) and even if have more capacity in battery not much use if have nothing to charger it from

This is one of the BEST WHW videos I have watched and I have probably watched 100. Great narration and information. So many people post videos with annoying music that plays over and over without describing where they are or things people may want to know about a section of trail. I am 61 and my wife is 57. We are scheduled to hike the WHW starting May 22, 2025. We made our own accommodations at hotels along the way that are right off the trail. We are staying in youth Hostels a couple of nights that have private rooms but shared bathroom and shower facilities. Total cost for our accommodations on the WHY are about 1800 USD or about 1500 Pounds for both of us. This is less than ½ the price of what MACs Adventure charges for their 7 night 8 day price and does not include the night in Milngavie. I was very impressed by the 20 mile days Mike did. We are breaking it up for 8 days of hiking. Our longest day should not be more than 17 miles. We are from Mississippi and are concerned about the elevation. There aren't many places to go in MS to hike and prepare that are more than just gentle rolling hills. Before we go, we planned to go to parts of West North Carolina to practice and try to do 8 days of 12 mile hikes in a row to see if we are ready. However, with the destruction there from Hurricane Helene, we may have to make other plans. I just subscribed.

Hi again, i liked your solution of putting the power cable under the passenger seat, but what have you done with the box with the jack and tow hitch in it?

Looking forward to hearing which app you choose. 10 weeks away would be too much for me, my stravaigins are usually only for a few days at a time. Well done for not doing each other a mischief being in such a relatively small space for so long 😂😂

Micro towels, power banks, ridge monkey, apps - definitely. Your 'hack' with the mobile had me giggling. I wouldn't be without my mattress topper. I hate sleeping bags so use a duvet but this means I need a bottom sheet so - I have altered a cotton duvet cover to the exact size of my mattress topper, which I have also altered to fit the single bench seat in my wee Romahome (I'm a lone camper) It means I roll out the topper, duvet on top and, hey presto, bed is ready in seconds. This could be done with a double size topper too - doubles can be awkward to make up so anything that makes it easier is great. Oh .... and I NEVER leave my sense of adventure at home!!

We switched to lithium last year and makes off-grid so much easier and gives us confidence in this setup. You need to make sure you can charge the lithium battery as this has a different charging profile to lead acid and that your AC, solar and engine charging systems can cope. You may be able to check this yourself and see if there's a setting for lithium on each of these, or the dealer will be able to help. Good luck!

no one cares

I'm on the side of the Beans here. I'm from England. On my first visit to Scotland I was chased by angry Scotchmen who had no underpants on under their kilt. They threw neeps and tatties at me, which really hurt. As if that wasn't enough, they then tossed a caber at me. I had to leg it out of Town into the countryside, where I was then attacked by wild haggises. I felt really unwelcome. Exactly the same thing happened to me on my next 50 holidays there. This isn't made up. It's entirely true. Can't wait to go again!

Hi Both. We have an Auto Trail which came with 75 amp hour lead acid similar to yours. We eventually swapped it out for a lithium (Fogstar drift 105 amphour. We added a 40 amp battery to battery charger and inverter which takes away the battery apprehension. We slso have a 1kilowatt inverter. Fogstar have a black friday sale have a look too at the NEC show if you are going for potential discounts. I think you may be able to squeeze a 230 amp hour lithium under your seat , but check it out to be sure. All the best Mel. We have a 3 way fridge and an underslung gas tank. The fridge will run for about 20 days solid on the gas as it uses very little per hour. Although never tried it. 😊 It is easy to cable up and now means we can choose to go off grid for a four or five days easily. We also have a Jackery as bacup but dont really need it.

Guys I've a autotrail with a 85amp battery. We are always wild campers, never a campsite and the amount of money we've saved by our style is thousands We've suffered power anxiety also so we looked at what we needed and didn't. We also looked at the future of LPG and its availability. So we went down the portable power station route. It matters not what we have, but we have 2 in our van. We are charging them using roof solar at 360w. Now looking at yours you've likely got a 100w panel, also badly positioned to add more. Firstly check it's working and delivering power to your leisure battery, easily done using a multimeter. This may be the cause of your drop after 2 days Regarding internal lights, we've a pack of 4 remote controlled puk lights bought for £22 off Amazon. They are recharged every three days. The remote gives us total control from our bed. We have no power anxiety now, we have AC and DC power anytime anyplace, with our power stations. They are coming down in price and looking today our brand is down to £829 for a 2500w quick charge device. One of these will address your power needs but as LPG becomes less available it will easily power a induction hob and small kettle. A single lithium battery will help, but you will need additional costs to instal and if it's compatible with your current system. A power station can be used at home to power things and save on bills. We use 6 and our energy bills are low. If you want further explanation or discuss in detail, get in touch.

Hi there - your power problem is a common issue and there's lots of advice on the web. Firstly, a day and half of use with little or no solar is not unusual. Your compressor fridge will use about 25amps a day and a 80ah battery in real life is only good for 40ah (i.e. 50% discharge for AGM). Add in TV, device recharging, water pump, no solar etc you begin to see the issue. Plus SWIFT (like many other manufacturers) only fit the bare minimum by way of batteries, chargers, solar etc. Things to consider are: adding a second battery (doubling your capacity, though ideally the batteries should be the same age and type), checking your solar controller is mppt rather than the less efficient pwm, doubling your solar (though in winter this will have minimal effect not helped if SWIFT have fitted a less efficient flexible panel), adding a DC to DC secondary charger/booster - scandalously swift didn't fit these to their vans despite it being essential for any van with a EU6/smart alternator. Lithium is the usual solution (at a cost) but you need to be sure you have the necessary charging infrastructure, i.e. solar controller and charger profiles for lithium. I think SWIFT fit sargent chargers which can be a mixed bag. Without the correct charging the cost of fitting lithium can quickly escalate, though there are many who simply drop in lithium without any changes with mixed results. Finally, good luck with your dealer as in my experience many either don't want to touch the electrical side or don't have the expertise. Better going with a specialist of which there are many. Good luck.

The C word is a good description for Alex

I've not had a problem with running out of power even tho' I've been off grid for a week. My solar panel seemed to be enough even in dull weather. Think your fridge is quite big so lithium is probably the way to go. My Dad was a great whisky lover and looks like you are too and had a grand time sampling 😅

Looks like you had a merry old time 😂. We have a Wildax Pulsar Mk2 and have upgraded to 2 110ah batteries in parallel which has done us for 4 nights without any movement. We do have a solar panel but think we may up grade and have an extra one added. We have a compressor fridge 90l and I use a CPAP machine overnight. We have an Ecoflow 600w as a back up which I can use for 2 nights for my CPAP. We have talked about a lithium upgrade in a few years time. Hope Keira is ok with her paw and the ticks have gone. Take care Gill

Hi both lithium is the way to go , I have a 200 AH (£700) in my SWB transit, which seems over kill really for my size van ,but I run a larger fridge and lights no issue and probably a future inverter . Thing is with lead you can only go down to 50% of the battery capacity but lithium it’s about 20% . Only thing is your DC to DC charging system for lithium may have to be updated possibly (£ 200+) . Also your mains charger , I have a Victron 25Amp mains charger (£165) with blue tooth so it gives me an idea how well the battery is charging. Vanolagy and gadget John (see his latest video) are installing these fogstar batteries more power smaller footprint it all comes down to money really because then you may want to think of more solar too ,and on it goes 😂😂 thank you for the great vlogs ,well done both and good luck👍👍👍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇬🇧🇨🇦🦢

You made me giggle after the distillery, hubby always used to walk twice as far on the way home if we went out and drank in the evening lol

I am not sure but if it’s a Sargent system they only charge to 13.7 volts and lithium needs more to top them up but check for yourself

Now there is one happy happy man! And sweet wife! And curious pup. But what did you buy?!

👍👍🥃

Hi Mike and Tricia and of course Keira, We enjoy all your U Tube. Glad you enjoyed that last Whisky, checked its price , fall on floor moment £314 per bottle, bit out of my league.😄

Those little flea and tick collars do a good job.pick a good one not the cheapest

Hi guys, We got our 184 a couple of months before you got your 144 but can't bring myself to dump a good battery just yet. I'm also a bit worried about then having a lithium habitation battery and lead vehicle battery as the charging requirements are different. So not sure how that works with the split charging system that is set up for one or the other? I'll be interested in hearing what Brownhills say. I'm currently approaching this from the other direction. I've just bought a Victron smart solar controller to swap with the factory fit one. That is supposedly more efficient, and then i might look at adding another solar panel or replacing the existing one with a larger 200w or 300w panel of it will fit. Incidentally, we've just had our first hab check and all is well. You get an impressive report. Good luck.

Brilliant, loved your tipsy dance down the car park, we are off to the NEC next week as we are on the look out for our first van. Safe travels. Sue

Hari OM Ahhh, well... I'm sitting on 64kW of power, but if not in an EV, then converting to lithium leisure batteries seems like a worthwhile move. Beats me why more distilleries don't cater for folk to park up overnight when they've been imbibing the product! Poor Keira getting tic'd... I hope you check yourselves regularly, too. Lymd Disease is no park picnic.... jus' sayin'... YAM xx

We've been using Britstops, although a little sparse in Scotland there are still some fantastic free stopovers

That looked like a very jolly afternoon Mike! Tricia's turn next to be spoilt! Look forward to hearing your decision on battery selection etc. We have 2 x 100A AGM batteries (no solar), but don't go off grid at the moment.

Yes charged my leisure battery for a lithuim 100 amp hour and also a 100 amp hour for a spare one that run my fridges and i charge the with 200 watt solar panel plenty of power in my little mazda bongo.

I am a Scottish man, and we are a friendly people. ❤

Firstly I’m enjoying your travels. I’m going to go lithium next year but I did have a van that had lithium in the past. My system has the Sargent installed with a split charge relay hence that will need updating. I’m going to call them next week to find out what is possible. You can get a 280ah battery that will fit under your seat and replace you current battery. You will have to get a b to b charger. I guess you will be using around 60ah/day which means the 280ah will last just over 4 days with no solar input. With a 30amp b to b charger it will take 2 hours driving to recover each day’s usage. Get a battery with Bluetooth then you can see what’s available. These figures are just estimates but it should give you an overview of what to consider. Cheers Martin

Have you visited the distillery in Wick, old pulteney, '. The only thing that they buy in is the malting. Almost everything else is done as it was when first opened. Not a whiskey drinker myself but the tour is brilliant. I ended up buying a 12 year old that I sampled at the end of the tour. Cheers 🥃😄

Just a general query did you look at my map suggestion "Sygic" for the extra width or lorries and campervans. I will watch this space for your power solutions I have a 2 battery 122 carrera [2004] Thanks for your vids always joy from scotland !!

Lucky man! I'm no a lover of Glenfiddich, won't turn one down, but have other preferences. Balvenie goes down well. I prefer J&B in the blended whisky range, Jura 'Obsession' is my favourite malt at the moment. But as my father used to say, "there's no bad whisky, but some are better than others".

Oh Mike - I loved your tipsy little dance across the courtyard ! That tasting looked "tasty" - I didn't know Glenfiddich are now also using other liquor barrels for aging (like Glenmorangie) YUM YUM !! - which one was your favourite? I would think with Keira being black, it makes searching for ticks even harder. Loved the HaelanCoos - gentle giants 💙🦋

Guys, the price of lithium batteries has plummeted this last year from around £1 per watt to around 60p per watt. So a 2kw battery used to cost £2000 is now at £600. You can also use the full depth of charge from 100% to 0% where as a led acid can only drop to 50%.