suspire

Sheila - thanks for that tip! I went to see if the article might be available online, and it's not. (Fair enough, they need to sell their stories, not give them away.) However, there was a part of an older article, Orkney in winter:

http://www.scottishfield.co.uk/artic...ey_Winter.html

Short but sweet!

BigRuss

Definitely listen to Sheila and Janis.

Edinburgh is a bit ridiculous in August -- it swells to more than 3 times its size because it has more than one million visitors at its peak and is a city of 400K or so.

I am curious as to why the most English of liquors (gin) is the sole product of the north-most distillery in Scotland . . . (see http://www.blackwoodsgin.com/home.php).

Leanne

Thanks so much, everyone. I've been away and unable to get on the forum for a bit. Sheila, the itinerary looks wonderful - need to look at it in a bit more detail. Will send you an email with my home address - thank you so much for your offer of the Orkney article.

It looks like we'll be leaving on July 19 and returning on the 31st. Was hoping to go earlier (I prefer Fall and Spring no matter where I travel - hate hot weather), but family concerns have us locked into this time period. Am getting very excited.

Next step, places to stay. I'll be searching for people's recommendations around the web. With Sheila's itinerary in mind, any suggestions would be welcome. We tend to like inns and B&Bs. Also restaurants - LOVE food.

Again, thanks so much for taking the time to offer your suggestions.

BigRuss

What are you talking about? Do you realize just where Scotland is on the map?

There's no need to worry about "hot weather". I think if it hits 86 (30 Celsius), the Scots go faint.

Edinburgh is at 55 degrees North latitude. The closest equivalent city in North America is EDMONTON (53+ degrees North) which is the largest Canadian city that's more than 100 miles north of the contiguous US-Canada border. MSN Weather says the July and August average temps are 10-18 degrees C -- that's 50-65 F.

And Edinburgh is the southernmost portion of your trip. The Shetlands go as far as 60 degrees North latitude -- that's nearly the same as Anchorage, Alaska.

You need to bring sweaters, not beach clothes, even in July.

sheila

He's teasing you (a bit), Leanne

hopingtotravel

BigRuss, I live 15 miles from Anchorage and spend hours sitting in the sun every summer. 65 up here can be as pleasant as 80 in Portland, Oregon. Just throwing that in!

BigRuss

I'm sure it can, HTT. After all, an 85 degree day here in N. Texas is really nice and cool, but last year numerous London marathon runners got heatstroke last year and it never cracked 20 C (68 F) on the day of the race.

Heat stroke. At 68 degrees!

But leanne is worried about hot summer weather in Scotland. That's like fearing a cold snap in Miami in June.

hopingtotravel

Weather is getting less and less predictable. My friends south of Jacksonville, Florida were whimpering just a few weeks ago, wishing they were back in AK. Guess it was cold down there.

WWanderer

As an outsider who's visited Scotland several times, including the far north (but not the Hebrides or Shetlands.) Summer weather can be glorious, but won't be hot, probably warm by my standards (Toronto.) More likely to be a bit of a mist or even "thundery showers" as they like to say on the BBC. Last trip the whole family bought peaked caps and wore them to fend off the rain--my son had rubber boots (he was 7.)

Your trip sounds wonderful, I'm thinking of doing something like this next summer, although the options are endless when it comes to the British Isles.

Guys, is it necessary these days to book accommodation outside of the big cities ahead of time? Last time we were there we did the "book a bed ahead" thing--dropping into tourist centres and picking out a B&B in the afternoon when we knew which way we were heading. I know this probably doesn't work in the islands, but is this system still in existence, or has the internet blown it away?

janisj

"<i> I know this probably doesn't work in the islands, but is this system still in existence, or has the internet blown it away?</i>"

The scheme is still in existence, and it works just fine on most islands, just like on the mainland.

oliverandharry

We have done most of the trip that Sheila described to you, and loved every moment of our time in Orkney and on Islay and Jura (where there are roughly 4,000 red deer and a whole lot less people). We ended up on Islay (pronounced EYE-la) at the start of the Whiskey Festival, without knowing, and you could go around to the various distilleries and get a stamp in your booklet. Let me know if you want hotel or food recs there. The only thing missing here would be Mull which is reached from Oban, and one of our favorite spots. We flew to Inverness and drove up to the ferry and took the car with us - and it was a very rough crossing one way -fine on the return. Do not miss the Creel in St. Margaret's Hope!

hopingtotravel

Oliver, what month was the whiskey festival? Don't know if this is good or bad; might be unable to get DH to leave.

sheila

It's at the end of May

janisj

And its the <U>Whisky</U> festival (unless you are headed over to Ireland)

hopingtotravel

I copied Oliver's spelling because I knew the 2 countries differ in spelling, but can never remember which is which!

ssander

Hi...

We haven't been to Scotland since 1970 -- we're also in our early 60's -- but I would recommend that you try to see some highland games somewhere in the north.

Here is a link (on the Scottish Tourism site) to the 2010 games calendar:

http://www.visitscotland.com/guide/s...land-games2010

SS

Leanne

Now that our plane reservations are made, and we were finally able to get lodging in Edinburgh, I’m hoping we can do some final tweaking with the wonderful itinerary Sheila mapped out on March 27.

(By the way, didn’t know that my comment about liking cool weather would provoke such interest. We actually chose Scotland, in part, because we knew we wouldn’t swelter – and to me sweltering is just about anything above 75 F. Actually, cool, windy and rainy sounds like heaven to me – though we’ll see what I say after the trip (smile).)

July 17
We’ll be arrive in Edinburgh at 10:00AM on Saturday, July 17. We will drop our bags off at the guest house and go into Edinburgh to begin our sightseeing.

July 18
Edinburgh

July 19
Leave for Orkney. You have us flying to Orkney, but we are wondering if we can drive? If so, what would be the best route and how long would it take. Would we be able to get to Orkney to spend the night?

July 20
Orkney

July 21
Orkney

July 22
Orkney

July 23
Rather than flying back to Edinburgh, we are wondering if we could drive to Skye? I know you don’t have it on the original itinerary? Would it be better not to go there. (From what we’ve read, would love to eat at the Three Chimneys. What do you think?)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

From here, would like to get back to your recommendations – Islay, et al.

July 30
We will need to be back in Edinburgh (will probably get a room at one of the Edinburgh Airport hotels) to return car and spend the night.

July 31
Leave for a 9:30 AM flight.

Thanks so much for any more help you can provide.

Leanne

janisj

"<i>Would we be able to get to Orkney to spend the night?</i>"

Well, maybe. But you'd be bat s*^t crazy by the time you arrived. It is over 300 miles and probably 9-10 hours straight driving w/o any stops plus the ferry. Flying would be 100000% easier. Orkney simply isn't a day's drive from Edinburgh.

But if you fly you have a problem - you won't be able to rent a car on Orkney and drop it at EDI.

You'd either have to take two FULL days for the drive up from Edinburgh -- OR -- fly to Orkney, rent a local car, return the car and then travel back to Inverness (ferry/train or ferry/bus or fly) to collect a different car for the rest of your trip. Inverness is the only place in northern Scotland large enough to have the major rental chains that would allow one-way hires.

Another option would be to take a train from Edinburgh to Inverness, rent a car and use it to travel up to Orkney and then over to the west coast. But it would still take hours and hours for the full trip.

sheila

> we are wondering if we can drive?< Yes, but... It will take you about 5 1/2 hours to drive to Scrabster without a break. Then the ferry's about an hour. Nice drive, but I wouldn't. As an alternative you can drive to Aberdeen and get the boat from there, BUT on a Monday it goes straight to Shetland so you wouldn't get into Orkney till next day. You could either cut short your stay in Edinburgh (add that day on at the end if you like) OR stay another day, and it works better. You could get the short ferry off to Scrabster, with the same car.


If you drive all the way to Scrabster the last boat out is 7pm, so you'd easily get to Orkney in a day.

>if we could drive to Skye?<

Yes. See above. Again more than 5 hours' drive without a stop. If you want to eat at the Three Chimneys, book now. In fact, book to stay at the House Over By.

I would not do what you''re suggesting; but you COULD. And you would drive through wonderful scenery.

janisj

Sheila's info is very good -- except IMO not about the probable drive time. Edinburgh to Scrabster is 265 miles. I seriously doubt a first timer could do it in anything like 5.5 hours. Even the aa route planner calculates 5 hr 50mins and IME aa times need to be increased by 20% - 35% for "real life" situations. Even just upping it by 25% gets one to 7+ hours driving w/o stops.