Silverbank Caravan and Motorhome Club Site

Today, 13th March, the plan was to head into the Cairngorms. Overnight, the weather had been wet and windy and they had forecast that it was going to turn into snow, particularly on higher ground, so we thought we would head south a bit, see what happens, and head into the Cairngorms tomorrow. Our neighbours also had a change of plan. Their plan was to drive along the coast we had come along yesterday, and were booked in at Culloden CAMC site for the night. The site had been in touch to say that they have had to close due to the snow, so they decided to head down to Forfar instead.

We had had a disturbed night, with the heavy rain falling on the roof. We couldn't say whether or not the traffic quietened down overnight as we wouldn't have heard it anyway! The heavy rain continued into the morning and I got soaked taking the dogs on a short walk. We looked at where we could head to, and found a CAMC site called Silverbank. It's not one we've heard of before and, when we searched YouTube, there wasn't anything on there either, but we thought we would give it a try anyway. As we were going to a site, we decided it wasn't worth emptying the toilet in the pouring rain - we could do it when we arrived at the site.

One of our gas bottles was empty, so we wanted to stop somewhere to exchange it. I found three caravan dealers on route who, according the the Calor Gas website, sold gas. The first one we stopped at had obviously ceased trading a long time ago. Rather than just driving around trying to find some gas, I called the next dealer to check they had some in stock, which they did. We stopped at Dyce Caravans, on the outskirts of Aberdeen. They were a reasonable size dealership with a decent accessories shop. As well as the gas, we bought another shelf for our oven (it only had one), and some useful things that can be used to tie things together.

From here, we drove to Banchory, which is where the site is. The site is situated on the side of the main A93, and has Tesco within 5 minutes in one direction and Morrisons in the other. We arrived a bit early to book in, so went and did some shopping in Morrisons.

On arrival at the site, there was only one caravan and one motorhome already on site. Another caravan arrived just before us and was in the process of setting up on the pitch next to the motorhome, despite the rest of the site being just about empty! We booked in and drove around to find a good pitch. The wardens were possibly the nicest ones we have met on a big site. They were so friendly and helpful. There were a few other vans arrived after us ending up with seven on site overnight.

The site has a dog run down one end, which we walked the dogs around. Our dogs could have easily gotten out of there, straight onto the main road, so best not to let them off their leads. It also has a disused railway line behind the site, alongside the River Dee. Plenty of places to walk.

We parked in the back corner of the site and had a peaceful night.

We only managed to walk 4,554 steps today.