STAYCATION week two … and I can confirm that Scotland is packed by a gazillion other folk who have had the same idea as us.

From rural Perthshire to the wilds of Ardnamurchan, the roads are teeming with tourists.

Social media footage of the North Coast 500 shows lay-bys and roadsides mobbed. Residents in the tiny village of Durness, which is on the route, have voiced concerns after an influx of visitors to the area.

Neil Fuller, who runs the local bus service, has spoken out over campers who fail to take care of the natural environment, often leaving traces of waste and vandalism behind them.

“Since the end of the five-mile travel limit we have seen ever increasing numbers. The sites that are being used for dirty camping are being abused with fires, broken bottles, rubbish and human waste,” he said.

He added that the village is used to experiencing increased traffic from walkers, cyclists and drivers every year, but this summer the roads are like “the whacky races”.

READ MORE: 'Someone alert the midges': How Scotland reacted to Boris Johnson's holiday plan

I sympathise. We had some worrying moments on single-track roads with drivers who don’t know how to use passing places and newbie motorhome enthusiasts in hired vehicles lurching round bends at inadvisable speed.

Yesterday, the American news organisation CNN picked up on the UK “staycation nightmare”, as it described it, devoting 2300 words to an article on the issue.

It cited research by hotel group The Cairn Collection which found there was a 532% growth in searches for trips to Scotland by holidaymakers seeking an escape.

Among them is Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who himself is planning a two-week stay here with fiancée Carrie Symonds and baby son Wilfred, having advised people to visit “peerless, wonderful, superlative places in the UK” rather than heading abroad.

This is something of a change from their holiday last winter to the island of Mustique that was recorded in the MPs’ register of interests with a value of £15,000.

“All my happiest holiday memories are vacations in the UK, bucket and spades or whatever, and I thoroughly recommend it,” claimed Johnson, although his sister Rachel has questioned this assertion.

She said: “I racked my brains to think which holidays he meant. The time it rained in Ireland or on Mull? Or one of the childhood summers in West Somerset, one of the wettest places in the kingdom?”

Boris telling porkies? Surely not.

News of the PM’s visit north comes in the wake of a stooshie last week over his plans to plaster Union flags across UK-funded schemes in Scotland.

The Union flag will replace the EU symbol currently used to show infrastructure like bridges and roads have been funded by Brussels.

Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross backs the plan as he hopes it will show the “visual connection” between UK funding and schemes in Scotland.

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said the plans have been signed off by Johnson and Michael Gove.

This perhaps explains the prime ministerial staycation in Scotland. He’s obviously casing the joint ahead of unfurling the full force of his Union Jackery.

Keep a lookout for a motorhome emblazoned in red, white and blue …