5 days in Scotland-I'd love your ideas

Reply Subscribe

Thread Tools

Search this Thread

Feb 17th, 2002, 02:36 AM

Heather

Guest

Posts: n/a

5 days in Scotland-I'd love your ideas

I live in Germany and plan on taking hop with Ryan Air from Frankfurt to Scotland, I assume there is an airport in Edinburgh. I'm travelling with a friend who is from Edinburgh so we'll stay with her family while there. I have to go to Inverness where my father came from and do some lineage research. Stonhenge is of importance to me, but I don't know where it is yet. I'm just begining my research on this trip and this is a great forum for getting very definite opinions on travel. How do you suggest I travel while there. Affordability is important, but I'm not into camping. Guest houses are great. I'm hoping to make this trip sometime around May.

Feb 17th, 2002, 03:02 AM

Sheila

Guest

Posts: n/a

Heather- yes; there is an airport in Edinburgh. Stonehenge is not in Scotland and is seriously out of range You will get greater flexibility if you hire a car, but if you are only here 5 days you can see a great deal of Scotland from the train. From home, I will post for you some suggestions on both. Buses are cheaper, but, IMHO, less comfortable and less fun. Accommodation- go with B&Bs. You will get good quality for less than £20/night

Feb 17th, 2002, 03:12 AM

Gregory

Guest

Posts: n/a

Heather, Ryanair I think fly from Frankfurt Han to Glasgow Prestwick ( 30 miles south west of Glasgow connected by train.

Feb 17th, 2002, 06:24 AM

Patrick Wallace

Guest

Posts: n/a

Heather - for family history research in Scotland, Edinburgh is your best base, as all the records are there. You can do a certain amount at home as there are online indexes to quite large amounts of civil registration (births/marriages/deaths/censuses) info. Try www.genuki.org.uk and www.origins.net/GRO for more info. You will probably find that you can get far more information than you expect before you get anywhere near Inverness

Feb 17th, 2002, 07:33 AM

steve

Guest

Posts: n/a

My favorite castle in Scotland is Threave Castle - south of Glasgow. Search this site for it and get my description

Feb 17th, 2002, 09:31 AM

Sheila

Guest

Posts: n/a

Here's some stuff Heather. It's too long so I've broken it into two parts. Day One- Edinburgh to St Andrews The Forth Rail bridge is worth driving past. The estuary of the Forth widens to superb beaches (with wonderful links golf courses behind them ) and in Fife you have St Andrew's, home of golf (the beach where they filmed the opening sequences of Chariots of Fire?). To get there you go past Loch Leven where Mary Queen of Scots was kept imprisoned on one of the islands. If you can’t play at the Old Course, there are courses all the way up through Fife. Amongst the best are Elie, Lundin Links, Ladybank and Crail Day 2 Cross the Tay Bridge to Dundee, then cut across country to Glamis ( castle) then go on to Blairgowrie where you pick up the A93 to Glenshee, and down to Braemar and Deeside. This is where Lizzie Windsor has her summer place, much beloved of American tourists. It's also in a beautiful location and therefore worth the visit. Just at Crathie, which is where you will find Balmoral, if you're daft enough to want to, there's a sign to Royal Lochnagar distillery. (old Scottish joke- How deep is Lochnagar? Ha, ha, ha...it's a mountain!!! Well, it's funny if you're five)It's not the best whisky in the world but there's no such thing as a bad malt and it does a good tour. Come back onto the A93 and continue east a few miles till you see signs pointing left to Tomintoul. Take that road and go over Gairn Shiel to Corgarff then turn left towards Cockbridge and up over the Lecht to Tomintoul. By now, you have crossed two of Scotland's highest roads, and it's not yet tea time. There's a very good whisky shop in Tomintoul (much better than the tourist trap on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh)and, incidentally, there is also a very good wood carver. I would suggest staying here.

Feb 17th, 2002, 09:32 AM

Sheila

Guest

Posts: n/a

Part 2 Day 3, Tomintoul to Drumnadochit (but not in a straight line). Go back on your tracks a bit and follow the road down to Dufftown. Here you will find Glenfiddich distillery. Still not my favourite dram, but probably one of the best sellers in the world and almost certainly the best tour. Follow the road down to the Spey at Aberlour (or Charlestown of Aberlour, to give it its Sunday name)You are right in the heart of Speyside, on the Whisky trail. If you want to see more, almost every second distillery is open to the public. If you have a favourite, ask at one of the tourist offices if they do a tour and just go along. The Macallan is probably the best Speyside whisky, but Aberlour itself is a good second. Follow the river to Grantown then go up to Nethy Bridge on the south bank. Outside Nethy Bridge you will find Abernethy Forest and Loch Garten which is a huge nature reserve and is worth stopping at to see the Ospreys. Drive on to Aviemore, close your eyes so you miss it (a travesty of 1960s planning) and go straight up to Inverness on the A9. Spend a little time in Inverness and either spend the night here or ( my choice) set off down Loch Ness towards Drumnadrochit, and find somewhere to stay on the loch side. Day 4- Loch Ness to Port Appin. Get up early and drive quickly down the Loch and the rest of the Great Glen to Fort William. Climb Ben Nevis. look at the view. Climb down again. The article describes that there are 2 routes- one easy, and one a bit tougher. Either is an achievement. If any of you are not going up the hill I would suggest a quick drive down Loch Linnhe to Corran, and catch the ferry to Ardgour on the west shore. Morvern is a peninsula not an island. Drive along to Strontian (where they first discovered Strontium) have lunch, then go back again. Collect the climbers and drive down to just south of Ballachulish. There is on the coast off the main road a little village called Port Appin. If you can afford it, stay the night in the Pierhouse (c£70 per head). If you can't, find a B&B and have supper there. The mixture of the food, ambience and location are next to unbeatable. Day 5- Port Appin to Glasgow Drive South to Oban, and absorb the atmosphere. Go to Lochgilphead, up to Inverary, over the Rest and be Thankful to Arrochar, down Loch Lomond, and into Glasgow.

Feb 17th, 2002, 09:33 AM

Sheila

Guest

Posts: n/a

And this is a train based one Walk through the new town with a proper guide to how it was all done.(free except for cost of book- probably somewhere on the web) Visit Valvona & Crolla which is probably the best Italian deli in Britain (worth it for the experience even if you don't spend anything) Visit the Royal Mile (free) and go to St Giles's Cathedral (free) and Parliament House (free) and John Knox House (£1.95)and the Castle (£6 including commentary)and appreciate the Stone of Destiny and the buried tenement (Mary King’s Close- charge but I don't know how much) Visit the Scotch whisky place (bit commercial; I wouldn’t) Go to Deacon Brodie's pub and understand why it's called that (free except for the drink) Eat in the Grassmarket and shop in Victoria Street Go to the Royal Museum (£2) Visit Arthur's seat (free) Visit Hollyrod Park (free) Go and see Greyfriars Bobby and read the story (free except the book) Go to the Royal Scottish Academy (free except for special exhibitions) and the National Gallery of Scotland next door- (free) Drink at Sandy Bell's pub where they play live folk music. Eat at Viva Mexico and Cafe Vittorio and the Kalpna Climb the Scott monument Train to Pitlochry The only distillery worth looking at in Pitlochry is Edradour. The salmon ladder is interesting and the scenery around there is good, although Pitlochry is a bit of a tourist trap. Train on up to Inverness. Rent a car in Inverness and drive to see sights like Culloden Moor, Cawdor Castle, and then drive down along the east side of Loch Ness, drive to Isle of Skye .Stay in Portree. Stop at Plockton on the way to Kyle of Lochalsh. Take as much time on Skye as you can. Take the ferry off to Mallaig and drive back to Oban via Morar, Arisaig and Fort William If you wanted to give yourselves one good night, stay at the Pierhouse at Port Appin and have a really good seafood meal. Train to Glasgow.