Duo’s camper capers halted after they both catch Covid-19

Travel bloggers blame restaurant trip

A Renfrewshire couple who quit the rat race to live in a campervan are now being forced to isolate on four wheels after catching coronavirus.

Campbell Kerr and Gemma Spence quit their jobs three years ago to blog about their travels and moved into a mobile home permanently this summer to explore the west coast of Scotland.

Their travel writing has made them a hit online, notching up a huge following of outdoor enthusiasts.

But their journey came to a juddering halt when the pair both tested positive for the virus last week - leaving them holed up in their van with no contact allowed with the outside world.

Campbell said: “There isn’t really a lot of guidance on how to handle it because it’s a quite novel situation we’re in. “We’ve been so careful all summer. “But this just shows you could hide away in the most remote spot in the world, but covid could still affect you.”

Gemma, 27, a nurse from Erskine, and Campbell, 28, a former support worker from Bishopton, make a living sharing their adventures with more than 20,000 followers and subscribers through social media channels for their blog Highlands2hammocks.

The pair started out sharing their travels through Europe and Australia online.

After settling in Guernsey for most of the pandemic, they decided to set up home in a van in June, where they are working on a travel guide to Scotland’s famous NC500.

The couple, who are both double vaccinated, took strict precautions to protect them from the virus, but believe it was their only trip out to a restaurant to celebrate Campbell’s birthday earlier this month which left them exposed.

Campbell said: “We are running a business and need to be able to produce the content we do.

“We realised that if we got covid it would be a bit of a disaster because we would need to stay still for two weeks.

“We figured by living in the van and being very isolated in the north coast of Scotland we’d be absolutely fine, but it was my birthday and we decided to go out for dinner in Ullapool for the first time since we arrived back in the UK and think that’s where we caught it.

“One of our followers messaged that she’d seen us there and that she’d also tested positive.”

The couple then had to drive more than three hours from Kinlochbervie on Friday to get PCR tests in the Dingwall area before going straight into isolation.

Gemma said: “Before our tests, we ordered click and collect from a supermarket and put a note to say don’t approach the vehicle and leave it outside.

“We did discuss that with the contact tracers to make sure it was the right thing to do.

“Luckily we’re used to spending 24/7 together anyway and this is our home.

“We obviously didn’t want to travel back to Glasgow and potentially spread it to our parents or anyone else so stayed where we were.”

Apart from suffering from a mild cough and fatigue the pair have remained well and should both be free to return to their travels from Sunday.