VAN CAMPING in a WINTER SNOWSTORM | SCOTLAND

We slide into the first few days of 2026. Currently we have an amber cold health alert in place until Tuesday of next week and an amber weather warning for heavy snow continues across northern Scotland into Saturday afternoon. Welcome back to the channel guys, it's the first one of the year and if you're new around here I'm Jordan, this is Annelies and our little dog Lily is just there in the van. We live and travel full-time in this 2007 Mercedes Sprinter van and we're kicking off the year here in Scotland. But there's a bit of a problem, we've just got onto the Glen Etive road, got quite far down and then the gritter van just came and said that it's gridlocked down there and pretty much they're shutting the road off from here so we've got to make our way all the way back. If you've never been on this road before it's actually quite famous for a few things. The lock at the end is famous for Harry Potter and also for James Bond. I think we better get in the cab and find ourselves a nice parking spot. So it is currently the day after New Year's Day and it's the last weekend that people get off work for like their Christmas holidays, well if you've been lucky enough to get time off. So it is absolutely chocker all over Glencoe. Just on the way out guys we've seen a waterfall on the drone and it looks like they've even put a new step over here to get over and go and see it. So we may as well and it's just started snowing as well and nine hours later. Don't like ladders, they freak me out. I've got my military boots on, look at them. More like clogs. Why are you walking like a penguin? Because these are like being on bloody ice skates. Look at that for a view guys, even the van. Can you see anything? Kind of, you need to get further down though. Go down then. Oh it sounds loud. I don't know if you'd be able to see it because of the um maybe if you stood right on the end there you might. Yeah maybe go across. I'll tell you what though I'm not gonna lie it feels warmer today than it than it does any other day. Warmer? I think it's warmer. Jesus. Oh mate that's a sick swim spot that. I actually think I found the best swim spot ever. Look at that. The waterfall is literally there behind that tree but that as a swim spot just looks amazing. You'll be able to stand on top of it here. Oh you reckon you can get on top of it? Yeah. That is sick. Is it good? My boots are so slippy. We've actually made it down. What a place. Anyway we need to get back to the van because I'm starving, Annalise is starving and I want my first scrambled egg of the year. So guys we have got a little bit of a cool spot actually. So Kings House hotel thing is right there straight across from us. We've just parked up here right next to some power lines because it's super safe and uh we've got a mega view over there as well. Time for a cook up with Chef Ramsay. We're having scrambled egg on toast. We have got a toaster and if you haven't got a toaster in your van you're missing out massively but we don't power this off the van electric. We actually power it off our all powers which is today's sponsor. Now a lot of you guys know we've been using all powers for a long time now. This is the R1500 lite. It is really good. You've got four 240 volt plug sockets all the way along here. It's got two usb-c's at 100 watt, two usb-a's at 18 watts and it's even got a little cigarette lighter. So there's a few different ways you can charge it. 240 volt or you can plug it into a solar panel or into a cigarette lighter in your van to charge it up while you're on the go. Especially over winter we don't charge it with solar because we don't get solar outside in the UK unfortunately but we just charge it off the cigarette lighter in the front of the van because we're doing long drives. It's got a 1600 watt pure sine wave inverter and the capacity is 1056 watt hours. Anyway less babbling more toast because I am starving. If you guys are wanting to get yourself an all powers power station then use this discount code to save yourself some money and check out the link down in the description below. Now that is literally just what we needed. Absolutely a banging scram. How can you beat that? Sourdough bread, scrambled egg and a view like that. Now everyone knows we always do a taste test. Oh my god. Sourdough is the one isn't it? Oh yes I'm 100% on it. I like it. So guys the sourdough didn't go down well. It tastes like vinegar on bread so instead I've gone with a yogurt There's a bit of yogurt left in this tub so save on washing up. We've gone with kiwi, blueberry yogurt and honey and there's a bit of banana in there as well. Now a lot of you are probably wondering why we chose to come to Scotland in the winter when it's probably the coldest place in the UK. Now believe it or not it's actually our favourite time to visit Scotland. Everything about it is just beautiful. Yes it is cold but we don't have midges, it's not usually that busy, you're almost guaranteed some snow and you always see the deer. We have spent a few winters up in Scotland so we are semi-prepared. We've got the autotone diesel heater and we've got our all-terrain tyres. We've got aux beam lights at the top, aux beam lights at the bottom on the crash bar. We've got Confessa, I think the RA1 100 tyres. We was going to get the BF Goodrich but we have seen a few of our friends have problems with the BF Goodrich when we was on the sugar bowl in the they couldn't get off the car park and they were spinning up. Plus they had four-wheel drive and they were struggling, our wheels were spinning. But we had no problems with these but they are I think a softer compound so they don't last as long. They're plenty good enough for what we do. We've got big lights up on the top, look at that view. I mean the snow is just coming in now, how amazing is that? But yeah pretty much we're fully set up. We've even got an auto turn diesel which you can set, it's got like a thermostat on it. You can kind of set whatever temperature you want the van at and it'll maintain that temperature for you. So that has been a game changer because previous we had the Chinese diesel heater. We had no issues with the Chinese diesel heater but being able to regulate the heat makes a world of difference. Sorry guys if it's a little bit dark but it's dark. Oh my god I nearly went then. These are the slippiest boots ever you know. Does that look? It's all reflective so you can actually see where she is. Here's why Lily needs a snowsuit because she puts her head on the floor and she just runs with it on the floor. Come on Ellen. Look at this state. She's snorting in there. We've just got to King's house now. Let's go and see if the showers are still on for a pound. I mean they were good having the showers on for a pound and normally there's a lot of deer around here too. The showers are still on in the toilets so if you do come look for the bunk house you'll see a sign there saying the bunk house so you'll know where the showers and the toilets are. There's also a water tap as well which is drinking water. Good morning guys. Got a brew and check this out for a view. Oh my god it's absolutely unreal. I mean what a park up this is to be able to have showers toilets quite close and panoramic views of the mountains is wild but last night the deer were coming past. You can see the trails here in the snow but the problem we had was it was snowing that much last night that our camera on the side here was covered in snow but the back camera did catch the back legs of the deer. So this morning guys we're going to head over to King's house. Fingers crossed we can get some really good shots of the deer because last night deer were running across the car park and I managed to get that on film on my phone while I was just nipping the toilet. We're all set and ready to go to King's house. Let's go. So we didn't mention what King's house was yesterday when we came. It's basically a hotel. You can park on the car park. It is well known for spotting the deer the resident deer that are always here but they've put like ampr cameras now so they charge you like £10 for the first two hours so there is a sneaky park up just at the back here. But what you can do inside is say if you want a coffee or something if you go into the restaurant they have a machine where you can put your reg in so if you put your reg in there grab yourself a coffee then you're pretty much covered for the day. So it should be okay. Yeah at least then you're getting something for your £10. Yeah instead of paying £10 you can park your vehicle. Yeah I'd rather pay £10 for a coffee and pay £10 just to park. Yeah well guys it looks like there's no deer here at the minute but we probably crossed our van last night because you can see all the trails where they were crossing so we're just gonna have a little nosy round in case they are in one of the little forests to the side. What do you think? No. I have ---- out of luck. Is that what it is? No idea. Just found the deer now. They're just over by this woodland so fingers crossed it can get close but there is a load of people around them and I think they're feeding them so that's probably why they're staying in the area. The deer are literally just there. I'm gonna hang back while I've got Lily because I don't want to scare them but there's so many people around. People are trying to feed them though I don't think you're allowed to but so cool seeing them up close. How amazing was that? That was unbelievable wasn't it? Like people were right close to it but it was bucking so did you see that guy? I think people are getting too close. Yeah people were getting a bit too close and it nearly took his head off. Oh my god. He went like that and it missed his face by that much but they're absolutely amazing. That's why you get a zoom lens so you can stand a bit back and zoom in. Exactly. Look at this. Perfect conditions. We've got snow everywhere, we've got the sun up and apparently it's like this for like two weeks now. Yeah it is. We just caught Scotland at the right time. We do it every year. It's about time we got a bit of luck with the weather. I know but we do it every year when we come to Scotland. We always get good weather. So we're just on our way to see the famous White House. I don't know if we're going to get a parking spot but let's wait and see. I cannot believe how busy it is. Every single lay-by is just completely full if there's something to see around it so I'm not sure if we're going to be able to get to the White House. I think we're going to do one more spin around, go back, see if we can get a spot. If not we might have to come back maybe another day or just jib it. It's so bad. I mean I know it's a weekend but everything is gridlocked. Every single car park is just full. We've just managed to get a spot right here at the side of the road. Ah, I've left my lights on. But anyway yeah we're at the side of the road here and apparently there's a really good swim spot just over this hill that we have actually missed every single time we've been here so we're just going to go and check it out. We never seem to be able to get a spot here so it's quite good. I think I'll knock these lights off and then we'll get up there. It's a little bit too cold for Lily's feet so we've got her in the backpack. I think we have to kind of go over this wall. Oh, Jordan's jumping it. You over? I'm over. I didn't want Lily to tip out the bag because when I move she moves. You guys missed an absolute treat before. You missed me slipping in the snow and falling. Oh it was the funniest thing ever. He was just talking next minute I turned around and he was on his bum. I literally went straight back. No where your feet like come up in the air. It's a good job I didn't get windy because I had my backpack on. The dog's like don't slip. Oh my hands are so cold. Is it cold? Well yeah I hope there's an easier way down. Christ. Well we're up here. This is like three times now I've fell. We're up here but I don't think this is the spot. However that does look pretty cool. Imagine swimming in that while swimming. I'd say sitting in it but I think maybe it might be further up. I didn't think it was this far up but we'll keep going and see where we end up. Look at the scenes here man. Look at this. Oh my god. Scotland is one of the best places in the world during winter. It's just next level. Summer? Not a chance. You'd never catch me here. Not in a million years. I did it last time in the Land Rover and I got eaten alive by bloody midges. So that won't be happening again. What the hell. So I think this is the swim spot. I'm not 100% sure. You'll have to let us know down the comments but from what you can see online you can kind of see the road which kind of looks like this but it's got ice in it so I don't think I'll be going in but Jordan the one that's a wuss in water is actually contemplating going in. Can you believe it? I just think if I get the van nice and warm I don't think it'd be too bad. Rather you than me kid. I'll have to change my footwear because I'd want to get down quick and get back to the van but it does look good. Jacob. He doesn't like Jacob. It's Jake. Nobody else calling Jacob he doesn't like it. Yeah no one calling Jacob he doesn't like that. Everyone commenting on his video, Jacob. Everyone go over to his channel now and comment Jacob on his video. There's a Scottish couple just come they're just over there now walking back. Oh my god they just got straight in that water didn't they? How crazy is that? Absolutely crazy. He's on 90 what was it number 98? 95 out of 100 day dips. Yeah he's been doing like the cold water dips every day and he's on 95 now. I think it's time to go and get some stuff. Do you reckon anywhere will be open now? Yeah it's Saturday isn't it? Three more hours. Three more hours? Oh look how colourful we all look. We'll all go and get some stuff then eh? We've decided guys we're going to Fort William we're getting some stuff and we're doing a big hike in the morning. Let's go. So we've just got into Fort William now and we drove past the Costa and oh my god it just tastes of like goodness. There we go guys I've parked up in the car park and I think it's Fort William. There's an Aldi here as well so we'll nip in there but we're going into Mountain Warehouse so fingers crossed we can find some wool socks, boots and some crampons. So that's Merino wool socks, we've got two pairs of them. Hannah's got some pink ones and I've got some black ones and now we're gonna head to Aldi just grab a few little bits and then probably head into what's it called? What's the place called? Fort William? Yeah. Go into Fort William and fingers crossed we actually find some boots. We only went in for a few bits in Aldi and ended up spending £30. It's always the case isn't it? It's terrible isn't it? After having no luck in the shops we also had no luck in finding somewhere to park because it was so busy. It got to 10 o'clock and we managed to squeeze in a viewpoint car park. We don't actually know what to have to eat. What should we have to eat love? Beans on toast. Nope that's not a chance I'm on beans on toast. We don't want some pasta. I don't know. I'm gonna have a look. We'll have a look and see what we can cook up. We've decided it's time to make some tuna pasta. You can add your cucumber and salady bits after. The one thing with Jordan, like we spin you around. What? Ignore the absolute state of the head. He doesn't pronounce his u's like cu-cum-ber. He says cu-cum-ber and it really annoys me. Get the water in the pan. Let's do a nice shot. Oh yes. Look at this. Alright Moroccan style. Oh yeah. Look at that. Savvies. Whoa what a day it's been guys. Oh my god. Like normally when we're coming to Glencoe we normally just drive through it. Like drive through it because it's nice and everything but it gets so busy. So most of the time we just go through and then just carry on up. But it has been nice because the views are unbelievable and the conditions are probably the best conditions that you could ever get when you're in Glencoe. But I think what we're gonna do next week is probably head over towards the Kern Gorms because the Kern Gorms are much easier to park up and there's a lot more along the military road to see. Catch you guys in the morning bright and early. Good morning gang. Got the coffee. We managed to get parked up here last night. The views are absolutely mega over the mountain there. But what it was like last night to try and find parking is unbelievable. Like all the spots were pretty much taken. Anyway Anneliese's got some food on the go so let's jump inside and have a little look. Morning. Morning. Oh is this for breakfast? We've got pancakes today. Oh my god. Look at those. Look at that. It's a chilly one outside but it's nice and warm inside the van. Nice sweet treat for breakfast. Time for a taster. Get a bit of everything. Oh my god that's so good. You know I've never had a blueberry in my life. I'm so weird how can you not have a blueberry? Because I always look at them and I think oh they're minging. What time have we gone mackies? Nope. Fort William was an absolute nightmare to try and find anything. We couldn't find any boots. We couldn't find any crampons. Nothing. Literally nothing. So what we did was I thought you know what I'm just going to wear my vans because I've got these waterproof vans with a proper, I think they're an MTE sole so they're like proper grippy when you're hiking. Fully waterproof, insulated as well so they're nice and warm. So I think I'm going to wear these but what I did pick up was some of this and I don't know if it's any good so let us know down in the comments if you've used it before. This stuff and you clean your boots with it. So use one as a this one and then you use this one as like a water repel. So I'm going to clean these now with this and this and see how we get on. Why does it sound like that? Dunno. Sweet. Looks like it's done alright but time will tell when we go over on the snow and in the rain. I mean they were waterproof anyway. You would have been better doing them on your bloody, what do you call it, boots, less sporty with it, that have not been waterproof anymore. You put waterproof over waterproof so how are you going to tell if that works? Because it'll just keep it extra waterproof. We're pretty much ready for a hike now and this is the dog bag situation. So this is Lily's backpack that we we use and we've put like a waterproof cover over it. Then we've used Annalise's hair clip and a few more hair clips so she's got enough of a gap. She's got enough of a gap to pop her head out as you can see but still cozy enough in there so it keeps her warm. Off we go. It's currently about minus three, minus four. It's kind of snowing. We have been waiting for it to go off a little bit so then it doesn't damage the camera but look at the scenes out here. We've got a whiteout. So we're just actually parked up at Glencoe viewpoint. It is a bit of a small car park. We stay there overnight so make sure you get here early if you want a space or probably come in the night time. You're guaranteed one in the morning. So we're going to be hiking through this valley here. We actually don't know what it's called but it looks absolutely insane because you're surrounded by all the mountains. So we're going to go right through there into the cloud to see what we can find. Jake's all rigged up sunglasses on as well. Light eyes, bright skies. So it looks like we've found a path. I'm not really sure where we're heading but somewhere kind of up this valley and the wind's like blowing sideways. The more we move the warmer we stay baby. So this is day three of being in Glencoe and to be fair it doesn't feel like we've done that much in terms of getting out because it has been absolutely freezing. We're kind of adjusting back into this weather even though we've been back for like what a month or so. It's getting back into the swing of it as well after Christmas having a week off. It gets so cozy and warm in the van that you don't want to leave do you? So we've kind of just been taking it easy with the filming but we thought today we need to get out on a hike, get our bloody fat bums moving after all the Christmas chocolate. Looks like day we've been here. Look at those paths. Yeah it does doesn't it? This has got to be one of the best flat hikes in Glencoe. You're absolutely surrounded by the mountains all the way around. The further you go up the more you get surrounded by them. Helicopter. Somewhere. Probably a mountain rescue. Aye mountain rescue's here. Oh yeah it's here. Whoa that's low down. Hopefully no one's stuck. Or hopefully they are when they're going to help. Either way. It's literally like a winter wonderland. I think there's only like one more person's tracks in front of us so a lot of the snow is like fresh snow which you know it's the best snow to walk on. Looks like there's some deer tracks though so you might see some deer up here and then the riverbed runs like along here. You can't really see because it's all full of snow but it does. Ah here's the river. It's actually like frozen in places. Isn't it? I don't think you'd be going in there for a swim. That's a proper cold water swim spot though that isn't it? Wow there is literally swim spots the whole way down here isn't there? So you know what honestly if you're not into hiking and I know a lot of people are not into hiking some people love it some people hate it but this is quite a flat hike along the river and it really is nice. It really is magical. It's not strenuous in the slightest bit. No like right in the valley so it is completely flat right through the mountain. Right away through the mountain so definitely put this on your bucket list if you're coming for like a nice easy hike. Just had to take the scarf layer off. I am sweating which is surprising at minus three. I must have dressed right for once. Dressed for the weather innit? The blue Tesco coat as everyone calls it. It's coming handy. What is it? Wheeler dealers? No. Bargain hunters. That's it. Jordan's not allowed to wear his red coat if I'm wearing my blue one now. He's got that one on instead. We've found the deer or Jake found them. They're all just on the mountain side there. There's more down there on that side isn't there? Yeah. Jordan spotted them ones over there and there's some right in front of us. Guys it was bound to happen. We've crashed the drone. Yeah I might be holding it right now and it was not me. Yeah it wasn't Jake it was Jordan. Caught some sick shots as well. We don't know where it is. Maps not installed. Yeah joking. It's all right you can still see it on the main. I can still see it right. You can still see it on here. That's the home. Yeah. That's you right now. Yeah. That's the drone. So you're there. That's the drone. I need to get to that quick then because of the weather. That stays there now. Right it's right ahead of me. It's up there somewhere. Sweet. Let's roll. What we do is use Jake as a guinea pig. Any of the highest I think you'll be fine straight. No look at it there. That looks like a lake. Follow my footprints Lise and I'll follow Jake. Yeah but no me. I'll follow your footprints because you've already made a dent. I'll go through. I cannot believe I crashed the freaking drone. Let's roll. Jordan cross area Jake. Right do you want to get Lily? Yeah go on. This is going to be savage. This drone's going to die quick. Here we go guys. Right sweet. Got across guys. For context Annalise is there. Come across. Jake is there. Oh my god. Whoa. Did you push this? This is a lake. Oh ----. All right so we're somewhere in this area. Looks to be around there. Yeah. That's too far away guys. If you can hear that. Can you hear anything? I can hear something slightly. Oh yeah. Oh yeah I see it. Oh look at that. It took a nose dive. It's beeping. Oh my god. It actually looks all right. It looks all right doesn't it? Do you reckon it dropped? Or do you reckon you crashed? No I crashed. I was going backwards. I think the drone lives on Nice soft landing. Well if it lives on let's do a test. Try fly it. Watch it just go straight into the mountain. There's too much snow in it. Probably just a bit frozen. It's frozen a little bit. Yeah. Yeah you can see it. But damage freed and you didn't let it melt. Sweet. Well that's the drone retrieved. Thanks to Jake and his knowledge with how to retrieve drones. We would have been absolutely clueless. Yeah. Looking around everywhere for it. Literally. Yeah. Oh 100%. I didn't even know that you could do that. And the fact that you can actually track your drone even if the battery's dead on it. It's crazy isn't it? Madness. Absolute madness. Well you only know when you've gone through it yourself. Yeah. The scarf has come back out since we've turned the other way to start heading back. The kind of wind is against us and it's freezing. It's currently around two o'clock I think. So we're going to start heading back because I'm not sure how long we've been walking for but we don't want to get caught out if it goes to start going dark. I think it starts going dark around half past three. Look at that for views. Absolutely unreal. We're hoping it starts to go a little bit quieter as well. It's currently Sunday. This video goes out tomorrow on Monday so we're hoping during the week now it's going to be a lot quieter. Now it's not the weekend. Just so then we can park up without any stress. But I think Glencoe anyway is quite a busy place. The snow's just started guys. We've probably got another half hour, 40 minutes of walking to get back to the van. Wow. This is amazing. I hope it comes down super heavy now while we're walking back. Don't know what it is. I love the snow but hate the rain. But look how bright everything looks. It just makes everything look so amazing. I've just got back to the van and we're going to go and see if we can get parked up at this swim spot because I think finishing the day with a nice cold water swim would be good. Obviously Anneliese is not going to come in the water because she's got, her asthma has been flaring off. I think it's with the cold damp weather. So we're just going to err on the side of caution with that. I'm going to try and have a dip if we can get parked up there. So Jake's just been down first to the swim spot and there's absolutely no chance that we can park there. So I think we're going to head to Glencoe Ski Centre. They do have, I'm not sure if it's classed as an air type thing but they've got some facilities. They've got showers. I think it's £5 and then £1 for a shower but I will let you know when we get there. So I think we're going to head there and get a nice warm shower and probably stay the night. First things first, let's get the bloody diesel heater on. Nine degrees it's showing up on there now. So I do want to check to see if there is showers, toilets, just to make sure to see if there's any facilities and for £5 a night that is insane. I think it's £5 a night and then £1 for the shower. So honestly if that is, if that is the truth, this place is going to be a mega spot for parking for the night. It does look like there is a chemical waste disposal point here as well. So if you have got a chemical toilet you can actually get rid of it just here and the car park donation box is right there. So if you come and make sure you do put a donation in. There's even a toilet and shower block. Wow, no way. Toilet and shower block here. There's even water here. I don't know if that's on maybe. Nah, that's froze. But it is minus I think four or five so that's fresh. There we go guys, £1 for five minutes and it's super totally warm in here. There's even little huts that you can stay in, look at that. There's loads of little huts that you can stay in which is cool and then you've got ski hire and sledging and there's even a ski lift, a chairlift going up the mountain. What a spot, this is an absolute gem. Right, I'm gonna head back to the van guys because it's getting a bit chilly now and we've got the kettle on so I want a coffee. So that's it for this week's video guys. I just want to say a massive thank you to everyone that supported us last year and that continue to support us this year and don't forget to hit like, subscribe, leave us a comment down below and we'll catch you next week when we head to the Cairngorms. Deep blue water sea, afraid of jumping in right now, right now.