ensamhat

Hi,

My husband and I will be in Scotland from Sept 7-16th. We will be traveling from Monarchly Mohr Inn (Trossachs area) on the morning of the 11th for a 11 am T-time at Carnoustie. We will then be traveling to Pitlochry (overnight stay) on our way to Dornoch. Although we will have a car I do not feel comfortable driving a manual transmission car on the left side of the road. I imagine my husband will be occupied for 41/2 to 5 hours.

I have sent an email out to the Carnoustie Golf Hotel and Spa to see if I can partake of a spa treatment or two while he is golfing. We are not staying at the hotel and I am not sure if this will be possible. Are there any suggestions for other things I can do while in the town. I should be able to get to the train station if necessary. I also like to hike/walk and can go horseback riding as well.

Thanks for your input.

buongiorno

I don't have an answer for you yet but my wife and I are going to the British Open at Carnoustie in the middle of July. We have tickets for Friday, Saturday and Sunday but I will be surprised if she lasts all day Friday. I'll look up this post when we get back home let you know what she ended up doing.

ensamhat

Have a great time at the Open. It should be a great show.

travel2live

My husband and I are going to the Open as well. We really look forward to it but I must admit I look forward to spending two weeks vacationing in northern England and a week in Scotland even more than watching golf!

janisj

It is too bad you can't drive - because there are several great things w/i easy drives. Glamis Castle, Barrie's birthplace, etc. What I'd do is, sometime during your trip, take over the driving for just 5 or 10 miles w/ your husband on board - just to see how it goes. Then when you find it isn't hard (yes even shifting left handed is easy after a short practice) you can head off and have a great time exploring while he is playing

Carnoustie itself doesn't have much of interest . . . .

noe847

One thing to consider is to hire a taxi to take you to somewhere nearby, and then either have the taxi come back at a prearranged time or call the taxi when you are finished. Chances are it won't be terribly expensive (certainly not compared with greens fees!) We've done this in several places in the UK.

ensamhat

You would think that I wouln't be intimidated by a manual transmission car since this is what I have been driving for over 20 years. I am going to give it a try when we get there.

I was thinking of taking the train to either Dundee or Perth since they do not seem to be that far from Carnoustie. It seems that there may be a little more for me to do in these cities. If anything, some interesting shopping choices.

janisj

Perth would be nice - not too much to do in Dundee.

But about the left handed shifting - if you give it a try you may end up not letting your DH drive after that

I <b>LOVE</b> driving in Scotland. I am not the least bit ambi-dextrous but can shift fine left handed. Tooling around the backroads you really will only be using the lower gears and reverse (make sure you have the rental agency show you how to find reverse - they are all different). And the country roads around there shouldn't be crowded.

noe847

ensamhat, I bet you'll do fine with the driving. On our first trip, I ended up doing all the driving after the first couple of days. For one thing, I knew when I wanted to stop for pictures!

sheila

Unless the hotel comes through for you, believe me, there is nothing to do in Carnoustie. What you could do, however, is get the train to Stonehaven, and walk up over the cliffs to Dunottar Castle and then walk down again.

Or, get the train to Arbroath and visit the Abbey and the harbour. Or go to Dundee and visit the Discovery and the Valiant Mill.

Or, really tee your husband off, and get the train to Leuchars and visit St Andrews.

A passing comment; you will pass Pitlochry (practically) on your way from Balqhidder to Carnoustie. Isn't there a way of re-organising your driving time?

janisj

re sheila's last comment - I noticed the same thing and though maybe your itinerary was forced by when you could get a round on Carnoustie. But yes - why not tell us the rest of your itinerary because to-ing and fro-ing back and forth across the country seldom makes teh most sense.

And if you don't end up driving (or even if you do) Dunnottar would be a fabulous place to see while DH is cussing out the course.

BettyB

Sheila - did you mean Verdant Works?

sheila

oops;(

ensamhat

Hi,

Thanks for the great suggestions.

As far as our plans they are as follows:

Sept 7th - Arrive in Glasgow. We have a 2 night stay at the Peat Inn. We will probably spend most of the day sight seeing in Edinburgh.

Sept 8th - My husband is going to try and get a t-time at St. Andrews. I am planning on exploring the town. The summer before my senior year in high school our wind ensamble went to Edinburgh (spent 10 days there). One of our trips was to St. Andrew's. I am really looking forward to seeing it thru a 40 year old eyes.

I have a great picture of me at a beach facing the ocean because I did not want to have &quot;some golf cource&quot; as my backdrop. Oops.

September 9th and 10th- Travel to Balqhidder for a 2 night stay. We are planning on going horseback riding and hiking. Will also visit Stirling Castle.

September 11th - The 11 am t time is the one assigned. Travel back to Pitlochry.

September 12th - travel to Dornach. Staying at the Dornach Castle Hotel. Husband playing golf on the 13th. I plan to go exploring. Possible whale watching type of trip or more horseback riding.

September 13th - travel to Spean Bridge.

September 14th-16 - climb Ben Nevis. Drag our sore bodies to Glasgow. One of the days we will be traveling to the Ayr area. My husbands families geneology stems from this area.

We have worked thru the McKinlay Kidd Co. They will be providing us with maps and suggestions on sights in the particular areas we will be visiting. I have started making a list of sights as well.

The Stonehaven trip sounds really interesting.

Thanks for all your help.

janisj

All the places you are staying are wonderful (it is Dornoch BTW) - but there is an awful lot of back and forth across the country.

GLA &gt; Peat Inn (the food is to DIE for! ) &gt; Balquhidder &gt; Carnoustie &gt; Pitlochry &gt; Dornoch &gt; Spean Bridge &gt;Glasgow. Phew!!

It is too bad you couldn't arrange it w/ the Fife/Carnoustie days together and the Balquhidder days enroute from Spean Bridge to Glasgow.

auldyins

Not usually negative but the worst food poisoning I ever had was after a meal at the Peat Inn. Our room was lovely but we will never return.

janisj

That isn't what I meant by &quot;to DIE for&quot;

But honestly what a shame. I've eaten there several times and each was memorable and truly fantastic. Are you sure it was the Peat Inn and not the black pud you had the day before ?? . . . .

auldyins

We don't eat black pudding. It was what I ate in the Peat Inn. As the portions are so minute it was quite easy to narrow it down to a contaminated prawn. We go to Fife frequently and love the area but will never return to the Peat Inn.

janisj

too bad. Odd though, I've never had &quot;minute&quot; potions there except for the amuse bouche. Oh well, must have been an off night. . . .

auldyins

It certainly was an off night!