I Stayed In The UK’s Largest Forest

I stayed in the UK’s largest forest. Located in Southern Scotland, the Galloway Forest Park was named one of the world’s first dark sky parks. It’s home to lots of wildlife including wild goats and deer, as well as ancient woodlands and interesting history.

I spend the day exploring a small corner of the Galloway Forest Park in Dumfries and Galloway and attempt to do some stargazing. Recently I have received some questions about Scottish food and in this video, I also cook a traditional Scottish dish for my dinner.

Whisky sauce recipe: https://scottishscran.com/whisky-sauce-for-haggis-recipe/

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🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 SCOTTISH ISLAND VIDEOS YOU MIGHT LIKE:
▶ ORKNEY: https://youtu.be/1mdqewBUnKM
▶ SHETLAND: https://youtu.be/92eIJSKrtWA?si=UZY6Uj4YPStlVKd-
▶ ISLAY: https://youtu.be/M9IQXLRrujo?si=1vkuXxjXOeza-VWI
▶ JURA: https://youtu.be/VS9YI2M0hSU?si=-yZFdLNZBDxvYxeW
▶ GIGHA: https://youtu.be/W7Y9-M9qiDY?si=IMx9gKBvoDxh3kVi

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WHO AM I?
I’m Ruth 👋 and I recently bought a campervan to travel my home country of Scotland after living overseas for 12 years. I’ve hardly seen anything or been anywhere in my home country Scotland and now is the time to change that!

I am a huge fan of campervan travel and alternative living and I’ve spent over 600 nights living in vans, it’s my favourite way to travel due to the incredible freedom, adventure and affordability.

My campervan is a 2001 Toyota Hiace high roof van. It was originally used by the Royal Mail and then purchased by the previous owner and self-converted into a DIY campervan.

On this channel, I’ll be sharing about my campervan, any DIY I do, and most importantly my road trip adventures as I finally get to travel my beautiful home country of…. SCOTLAND!

DISCLAIMER: Affiliate links may be included in the description.

Today I’ll be heading to the UK’s biggest forest park This forest park is really special Because on a clear night, you can see over 7,000 stars and planets with the naked eye Very few people live in this forest park And it’s home to a lot of wildlife and ancient woodland

Let’s go and explore Scotland’s Galloway Forest Park You can enter the Galloway Forest Park from many different directions But today I entered from Newton Stewart And the first stop that I’ve arrived at is a place called Murray’s Monument Which you can see behind me Let’s go and take a closer look

The Highlands of Scotland are known for their amazing hills and views, but southern Scotland has amazing places too Look at that behind me! That is amazing! In the Galloway Forest Park, there is wonderful mountain biking And gravel biking has become very popular in recent years in the Galloway Forest Park

There’s also fantastic mountain biking in other parts of Dumfries and Galloway too Such as Dalbeattie Forest and Mabie Forest as well People travel from all over to come and do mountain biking here When I was younger I used to do a lot of mountain biking and the trails are really fantastic

If you’re into mountain biking, I recommend you to try it out And there’s places that you can also rent bikes if you don’t have your own I’ve almost arrived at the top It’s around a 15 -20 minute walk The views in every direction are stunning

The whole area just has a tinge of orange with it being autumn Spectacular Okay, I think I’ve arrived here at Murray’s Monument Wow So much bigger up close! I actually have a book about Alexander Murray and I’ve been reading the history about him And it’s absolutely fascinating

What I find most interesting about this story is that In the 1800s, when this monument was constructed 3,000 people came here to watch the unveiling of the monument That’s unbelievable! Murray’s monument was erected in the 1800s in honour of a man called Alexander Murray

He was born in 1775 and was a self-taught Scottish linguist and scholar Who made significant contributions to the field of philology and Oriental languages He was born nearby here to a shepherd and farm labourer He received limited formal education but impressed with his language skills He gained admission to Edinburgh University

And became a Professor of Oriental Languages in 1812 He had a short life and died in 1813, aged only 38 But he left a lasting legacy in his linguistics and literature So the next spot I’ve arrived at is called Grey Mare’s Waterfall Wow, there it is behind me Wow, it looks amazing

It’s the end of October now and the water’s getting colder Let me know in the comments if you’d still go in swimming in October I think I would, I was in just two weeks ago in the sea though So it might be a different temperature than the fresh water

Looks like you can get a better view from the other side, so I’m going to head over there I made it really close to the waterfall you can probably hear it Wow this is beautiful! Now I’ve arrived at the point where the walk starts to the cottage where Alexander Murray was born

Let’s go and have a look It’s a 30-minute round trip This is how walls used to be built And people would collect stones and then build these walls And they’d be used to keep cattle or sheep inside one specific area I know in Scotland and Ireland these are really common

But let me know if you have dykes in your country I know other countries around the world use different methods back in the day Making these dykes is quite an art actually And in this area, there are dyke courses

So you can come and you can learn how to do dyke making which I think is really nice The cottage has come into view, it’s just ahead Oh, it’s so cute! Dunkitterick Cottage is Alexander Murray’s birthplace His passion for learning was encouraged by his family here despite their limited means

When he was just six years old, his 70-year-old father taught him how to read and write using burnt heather stalks on old wool card Let’s go inside the house Wow! I think some of the walls might have been reconstructed in recent years Wow, it’s quite a small structure

Probably would have only been two rooms Maybe a living room and kitchen area, and then also an area for sleeping as well Look at the views out the window How amazing is that? It’s said that this was a very difficult place to live back in the day, back in the 1700s and 1800s

Because it was so remote and so isolated It was very difficult to get to school Throughout Scotland, you’ll find different abandoned buildings like this And you’ll just find the stone remnants of a place that people used to live

Hundreds of years ago, due to different circumstances, people left Scotland and emigrated to different countries A lot of people went to the United States and to Canada And even some of my relatives moved to New Zealand Some of those relatives from New Zealand have come back to Scotland in recent years

And we’ve gone looking for the property where their family used to live And it is also in this area It’s actually quite close to the Galloway Forest Park too And they’ve managed to find the building where their ancestors once lived, which is amazing

I just wonder how many families found it so tough such a long time ago and then did emigrate to different places If you know a story about your family, perhaps you have Scottish ancestry and your family left Scotland And they might have lived in a place like this

Please leave a comment below and share the story It would be very interesting to hear about that In the Galloway Forest Park, there is a lot of wildlife to see And the spot I’ve just arrived at is a place where you can see wild goats

I’ve just pulled up I’m going to go and look for some just now So at the goat park here, it says that you’re not allowed to feed them bread, sweets, or crisps So I assume other food is okay, things like carrots or apples

And the type of goats that you can find here are called British primitive goats And a long time ago our ancestors here in Scotland would keep goats Mostly for their milk, for their meat and also for their skin In this area here it’s said that there’s around 50 goats living

And then there’s hundreds more Here are also some of the birds that you can find in this area But the views here are so amazing Yes, doesn’t seem to be any goats here at the moment Last time I was here there were lots Goaty, goaty, goaty! Nothing, no goats

They’re away, away on their holidays Just kidding! I’ve just arrived at the Red Deer Park, which is one of the best things to come and see here the Galloway Forest Park Deer are quite easy to see as you’re travelling in Scotland especially if you go to the countryside

But if you don’t happen to see any deer and you want to see deer this is a really great place to come If you do come you can bring some carrots or some snacks for the deer like I’ve done So let’s go and see if they like the carrots Just walking towards

And there’s already deer here Oh they’re looking at the carrots Oh, if you come here you need to bring carrots They love carrots They’re all leaving now They know all the carrots are gone No more carrots guys! Oh they could really smell the carrots so far away That’s them, fed for their dinner

The Red Deer Range was founded in 1977 And approximately 25 red deer call this place home Behind me is one of the car parks where you can stay overnight in the forestry So it’s £7 You can pay on the app and then you can stay here

And then this one here has a toilet disposal area which is great I picked up these in the supermarket You can easily find scones in the supermarket So I think the best ones I had were cranberry and white chocolate The Galloway Forest Park is a really huge area

This time I’m just exploring a very small section of it You could spend really quite a few days or even a week exploring the whole of the Galloway Forest Park So when you’re in this area you can often see trucks full of logs that have been chopped down

So I don’t really know much about the forestry industry in this country In Japan, I learnt quite a lot when I was there I know about the whole cedar growing industry And how a lot of towns became abandoned because the price of cedar went down

So I don’t know if these are cedar trees I’ll need to do some research about that And yeah It seems that there’s a lot of these trees that have been planted They’re not natural ancient woodlands Although there are some of those as well, as part of the Galloway Forest Park

Wow, quite a boggy path If you do come along here, Ii’s better to bring your hiking boots Rosie’s Waterfall Oh that was absolutely freezing I think I just lasted about 15 seconds in the water But it was really good And I’ve got my coffee here to warm me up

I really enjoyed wild swimming this year Whether that’s in the sea or in rivers or small pools in streams It’s really hard at first when you start doing it because it is so cold When I started in December The sea was 5 degrees Celsius And then throughout the summer it’s obviously got warmer

And I find it quite easy to go in now But once it starts getting colder again it will become more challenging Well, swimming can be so good for you Because if you’re going through a tough time I know everyone goes through tough times in their lives And your heart is full of pain

Going into the cold water can relieve that pain for a few seconds even And I’ve found it’s been really helpful for me this year Just near the waterfall are these stone faces on top of the dike here Here’s another one She doesn’t look very happy, does she?

I’ve arrived at the spot that I want to do the stargazing tonight It does look a bit cloudy at the moment but hopefully, it clears up a bit later on And we can see some of the amazing stars here in the dark sky park While I’m waiting for it to get dark

I’m going to start preparing dinner I’ve been receiving some questions recently asking “What is Scottish food?” So there is actually some traditional Scottish food And I’ve bought some today I’m going to cook it in the van And I’ll show you what is Scottish food This is what I’m going to be cooking tonight

Haggis is this one here I’ll open it up and show you in a moment This is neeps So neeps are turnips In Scotland we call them neeps And then mashed potato basically So this is, yeah

Haggis is a dish from Scotland which includes the liver, heart and lungs of a sheep or other animal It’s minced and mixed with different things including oatmeal and onion It actually has quite a spicy flavour to it It’s then put into a sheep’s stomach and boiled I’m having vegetarian haggis today

Haggis, neeps and tatty Okay so for the haggis You can cook it in three different ways You can boil it, you can put in the oven or the microwave Probably the microwave would be the easiest one But there’s no microwave in the campervan So boiling is what I’m going to do today

I’ll show you what the haggis looks like It’s a bit wet This is the haggis It’s a bit like a fat sausage It’s got plastic on the outside And then it’s tied on each end So in order to boil it I need to wrap it in foil, aluminium foil

Then I’m going to boil the water and once that’s boiling I’ll put it in for 45 minutes Here’s the saucepan I’ll fill this with water now, and then boil it The neeps and tatties are intended for the microwave I think it’s probably possible to heat them up in the pan

I’ll do that when the haggis is almost ready And while we’re waiting for that, I’m going to start making the whisky sauce Haggis, neeps, and tatties is often served with a whisky sauce So I’m going to try and make that for the first time in my life

For the whisky sauce, I have a recipe that I found on a website called scottishscran.com if anyone wants to make the same recipe So first, I need to add the butter to the pan and then add the whisky And when you add whisky sauce, you actually need to light the whisky on fire

And it will burn off the alcohol However, I’m not really sure I want to do that in the camper van, just because it’s a small space And there are things that could be quite flammable in here I might skip that step I think it’s okay to do that

It just tastes a bit more of alcohol if you miss that, which is not a bad thing Let’s try giving it a go anyway So let’s put the knob of butter in first Okay, so the butter is melting Next, I’m going to add some whisky

So I just popped it in this jar here Three tablespoons Butter and the whisky So they recommend you to light the whisky on fire here I think I’ll just let it simmer a little bit Or maybe I can do it outside I really want this to taste good so I’ve brought it outside

I don’t know if it needs to be on the heat Let’s try I’ve got a flame! Can you see it? Oh, that would have been okay in the van Oh there we go Oh this is fun Wow it smells like a distillery in here Okay so next

Now the flame has gone out I need to add the cream, stock, and mustard Got the double cream I’ve got 50ml of veggie stock So I just used a piece of a stock cube and some boiling water And I need to add a teaspoon of Dijon mustard

So, now all the ingredients are added I need to let it heat and then it’s going to thicken up And then I’ll add some salt and pepper for taste And if you like whiskey you can then add a little bit more at the end However, you don’t burn it off at the end

Let’s see how the wee haggis boy is doing Oh he’s bubbling away It’s time to turn him over Okay, the sauce has been bubbling away for about 20 minutes And it’s really starting to thicken up now In Scotland, when cutting open a haggis, there’s a tradition to recite a poem

Called “Address to the Haggis” This poem was written by Robert Burns, a famous Scottish poet People often recite it during a Burns supper, which is held on January the 25th every year to celebrate Robert Burns’ birthday At school, I learned many Burns poems

And I remember the first verse to the Address to the Haggis I did recite it, but unfortunately, the camera was filming in slow motion and didn’t record the audio So here is me cutting open the haggis in slow motion

And here is me reciting again the first verse of the address to the haggis Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face, Great Chieftain o’ the Puddin-race! Aboon them a’ ye tak your place, Painch, tripe, or thairm: Weel are ye wordy of a grace As lang ‘s my arm

Here is the haggis on the right side, the vegetarian haggis The neeps, this one here And then the tatties So this is the traditional burn supper dinner And I’m going to add the whisky sauce next I’ve added the whisky sauce This is what it looks like with the whisky sauce on top

Okay, the haggis, neeps, tatties and whisky sauce is ready Let’s try The whisky sauce is delicious So creamy, so much flavour That whisky sauce is really good I’ll leave the link to the recipe down below I think it was called scottishscran.com A recipe website of Scottish recipes

So if you’d like to try making it, you can give it a go This is an excellent van life dinner Definitely will have this again The dinner turned out perfectly It was absolutely delicious That whisky sauce was unbelievable

I will put the link to the recipe below so if anyone wants to make it you can check it out I’ve just filled up my hot water bottle And I’m going to head outside and see if I can see any stars I’ve also got my tea It’s actually getting quite cold in Scotland

Every night I stay in the van I could feel it getting colder and colder So I’m planning to come up with some ideas of how to winterize the van And make it more comfortable for living in during the winter months Because I do want to continue using the van

I really enjoy travelling in it and staying in it And also in winter, even though it is darker, it’s just much quieter as well for travelling in Scotland And I really love going to places when they’re quiet Now time to embrace the outside And go and see if there’s any stars

So tonight looks quite cloudy I can only really see the moon There’s the moon up there Unfortunately not a great night since it’s so cloudy But I’ll check again later And if it does clear up I’ll try and take a photo of the stars

So I’ve actually been reading a little bit about how to take photos of the stars It’s something I really want to learn how to do On some of the tutorials on YouTube it says when the moon is out it’s not great

It brightens up the sky too much and it’s quite hard to get photos of the stars So it’s better if you go out to do photography on nights when the moon is smaller Which is quite interesting, but yeah, today the moon is huge I didn’t check before I came

I think there’s an app you can download So I’ll do that in the future if I want to actually go and take photos But it’s very bright tonight It was a shame I couldn’t see any stars this time But it’s a reason to come back again

I had a great time exploring this small corner of the beautiful Galloway Forest Park A place often referred to as the Highlands of the Lowlands I often share photos from my trips on Instagram so feel free to have a look

If you’d like to see more of my adventures travelling Scotland, please subscribe to the channel See you next time!