Kinloch’s a popular place name in Scotland. It means ‘head of the loch’, but you need to make sure you end up at the right head of the right loch. Sometimes it’s easy enough, if you’re heading for Kinlochbervie or Kinlochleven, for example. But there are at least five straightforward Kinlochs in Scotland and the one you’re looking for here is in northern Skye, right on the shores of Loch Dunvegan.
The beauty of Kinloch campsite is that it attracts all sorts, from Dutch-registered Land Rovers and passing Harleys and Triumphs to classic wooden caravans from the days when caravanning was an upper-class pursuit and its adherents were known as ‘gentleman vagabonds’. The motors and two-wheelers are mainly confined to the front of the site (where there are some hard standings), while tents have the run of the grassy banks round the side.
The site is owned and run by Colin and Peggy Campbell, and ably assisted by the avuncular Archie. Colin’s a man of Skye, born and bred, with a wry but engaging outlook on life, who seems happy to while away the time chatting about this and that.
You can’t quite get down to the loch’s shore because there’s a fence to keep the sheep at bay, but you’re close enough to hear the lapping water and have a seal’s eye view across to the whitewashed village and its prominent church, while on the hilltop above is a single standing stone, a guard perhaps, keeping watch over the ‘head of the loch’.
