Touring Scotland with the EV - Day 1

We had planned to blog our trip from day one, but the weather has been so amazing we have spent more time out and about that we thought we would be able to. We have taken plenty of photos, and now - two and a half weeks into our trip, the evenings have started to draw in and we have had some rain for the first time. We have still been out and about every day, but we are now on the more remote Isle of Harris, so we have a little time to make a start on recording and sharing our trip.

We decided to travel up the east side of the country into Scotland, across the Cairngorms National Park and across to the west before heading to our booked  cottages on Skye and Harris. The plan is then to travel home via the west side of the country. Doing this in the electric car involved a little more planning, in that we needed to make sure we had placed we could charge on route. Alan did the research and we discovered there are more facilities in Scotland than we have in England. We planned each leg of our journey around stopping for meal breaks at times when we would need to charge up. The beauty of having a week to get to Skye meant we could take our time and have a good look around at each day's destination.

So over the next few blog entries we will share our travels and the ups and downs of travelling with an EV. We have owned the Zoe since March and are generally very pleased with it's performance. 

1st March - collecting our new Zoe in the pouring rain!

Day 1 (Sunday, 2nd October)

We set off early on the first morning and headed to Scarborough. We had a few stops along the way at motorway service areas for a half hour charge and have breakfast and then lunch. The Ecotricity fast chargers in these car parks are free for us to use as they are our electricity provider.  These were free for all for the first five years, but now they have had to start charging unless they are your home supplier. Its quite simple to charge with the use of an app for the mobile phone. The app also helps you locate the 'pumps' and find out if they are switched on or if they are in use. So far we have been lucky and in the seven months we have owned the car have only had to wait for someone else to finish charging once. 

Charging and breakfast at Services on M11

Our final destination for the day was Harmony Country Lodge Guest House for two night B&B. We found this unique octagonal building surrounded by magnificent grounds in Burniston, North Yorkshire for easy access to Scarborough, We were made very welcome and shown to our wedge shaped bedroom. There is also a church and healing sanctuary on the 1.5 acre site. It was a very peaceful base for our first two nights away.

Harmony Country Lodge Guest House (photo from web site)

At the end of our first day we enjoyed a meal in The Three Jolly Sailors, Burniston.

We were able to charge the car at the guesthouse both nights using our own slow charger so we were ready to travel the next morning. 

Back with our day in Scarborough next.

Thanks for looking

Lynn x