UKH

Now that campsites have opened up again and we can get out and play a bit more please be aware that as a regular user of Port a Bhaigh campsite along the road from Reiff I can tell you it has turned chaotic to say the least. I was here recently and although our team had booked two weeks in advance when we got there we were informed our pitches had been given to others who had offered more money to stay when turning up without bookings meaning we had no where to stay. We had a quick walk round the packed overflowing campsite and it quickly dawned on us that there were lots of angry and upset people as many were forced to double up on pitches as the owner was just squeezing in as many as he could to make money. The bins were all overflowing and the septic tank was really struggling to cope with that number of people and some of the vans were squeezed in almost touching each other. We spoke to one family looking lost as they told us they had travelled from down south towing their caravan with their kids and when they turned up their pitch had been sold to someone else and on phoning round other sites everywhere was full meaning they had no where to go other than stay in laybys. It seems that greed for money has quickly ruined what was once a nice little site, great for climbers and paddlers alike and in this time of Covid we dont really want to annoy or upset small communities by camping close to their villages as people are really touchy about the camping and campervan scene at the moment. So if you have bookings here at the site make sure you have a plan B because you will need it. 

Very concerning news. Thanks for the warning.

Sounds like a right pest. The old campsite was miles better all round!

Alternative take from a friend who is from the area. Better to pack as many in as possible rather than have even more parking locally in passing places etc. 
Sad really.....

From the sound of it, that isn't what's happening.  According to the OP they're turning away people with bookings because they were offered more by others turning up on spec.  Possibly breach of contract?  Surely it won't do the campsite's reputation any good in the long run, but it's popular enough for them not to care.

Possibly fearful that bookings won’t turn up, so accepting anyone who does turn up? Agree it’s very poor practice and won’t do their reputation any good. Was told you’d have to back up for almost a mile to find an empty passing place to get past someone. Sounds almost gridlocked. 

Graeme I can understand that side of it too and in some ways it makes sense but what is happening goes outwith this, its just greed and surely by packing as many in together so tightly it just means more chance of passing on infections at close hand, some of the vans were bumper to bumper. We chose to not camp in any of the car parks or wild camp in the van but spent time and the nearest site with a vacancy was in Laide where they couldnt have been more helpful. It meant us changing our plans but id rather that than annoy local folk or indeed put them at harm.

Or add risk to yourselves. A wise move. 

It definitely makes a mockery of the whole idea of booking. I hope they returned any deposit paid, but that's scant consolation if you've then got nowhere to stay. 

This makes me sad. That campsite is one of my favourite places, and I've been there at least once per year since it opened, sometimes more.

I'm on a community FB page for the North Highlands, and apparently laybys, beaches, passing places, and carparks are rammed with tents and caravans. Locals are not happy. The Altandhu campsite going over capacity isn't really fixing that.

I'll sadly hunker down in the Central Belt and only do daytrips for a while longer. Hopefully the post-lockdown lunacy will settle.