Yelpir,

All good advice and am sure you will do ok food wise, just stock up on basics you can keep in car from the 1st supermarket you come across for that time when foods limited.

Now, don't laugh but there are things on the market 'called portable his and hers 'Loos' for travellers who are caught short in their cars etc.

Whilst not perfect they may just solve the problem of finding a loo in out of the way places.

happy hols..

janisj, I am so with you here..

Anna Roz

I've been looking in and out of this thread for ages, and been daunted by the length of it, but it's today's fun task. Here goes!

I could not do dinner here for £10. Bearing in mind, that that's dinner, and not just something to eat. And I need wine, for it to be dinner.:). Mind you, you will find that even remote we places tend to have "Cuisine de France" bake off oven in the corner somewhere, so fresh bread and, often, deli products are hugely more available than they were 10 years ago.

Yelpir, don't miss the Bealach nam Bo even if it's snowing!!

On the loos thing, you're not likely to get completely stuck. If you need to use the loo in a pub or cafe and you don't want to eat or drink there, just ask. I think that people will just get pissed off (boom boom) if you sneak in and out. Filling Stations, until recently, had to have loos, so almost all of them do.

I would agree that you should see inside of one castle. Pick one that has something idiosyncratic about it- like the Fairy Flag at Dunvegan.

Don't get your Jacobites and Jacobins mixed up:)

I have a WORD doc which has cheap and free things to do in Edinburgh. If you email me, I'll send it to you.

Yelpir, you Do know to use teh passing places on single track roads to allow the traffic behind you to pass, as well as to allow the oncoming traffic to get round you, don't you?

The Sma' Glen is lovely but bare. It's on my home patch and we went there often as children, so I hold it in great affection, but should not be the be all and end all of your trip. Dunkeld will take you about an hour en route to Edinburgh.

I have to say, I find teh comments about getting out of a B & B not my experience- but I don't use them much. Even when I eat breakfast, I'd not plan for more than 30 minutes pillow to pavement


It's fair to say, I wouldn't do what you're doing, but it's your holiday not mine.

Phew!

My thanks to bettyk, janisj, GreenDragon, pittpurple, historytraveller, AnnRiley and shiela (nice to hear from you again :) )

Loos: I have located a rather useful site on the net:

http://needaloo.org/

They list public toilets in the UK and even provide maps to help you find them!!
I have been printing out the maps of strategic towns along our route and I reckon I have most days covered from a comfort point of view. So rogeruktm's sarcastic comment about scheduling in loo stops turns out to be not far off the mark :)
On that subject; considerable experience has taught me that tea and coffee are the main villains in causing the bladder to want to work, so I avoid them like the plague before 5:00pm. At breakfast I have a small glass of fruit juice and then survive during the day by sipping bottled water. One bottle will generally last the day. By doing this I find I can go for 3 to 4 hours between comfort breaks. I then fill up on liquids when I reach the destination.

Food: I have chatted to my lady and she is confident that we will get by. She is not very fussy and I am even less so. I am happy to pick up a pie somewhere in the morning and eat it cold in the evening straight from the packet. She draws the line at that ;) I am hoping to find a few supermarkets that do takeaway salads. Those will keep all day and can be eaten cold with a plastic fork at any time. I am even prepared to eat cold baked beans straight out of the tin (I was raised on camping trips to extremely remote places). Again, I can't see my lady doing that, but who knows?

He he. Sorry about the Jacobites and Jacobeans.

Single track roads: I have been studying some sites on the etiquette of single track roads and know about:
- not parking in the passing areas
- using the passing areas to allow faster traffic to overtake
- not pulling into passing areas on the right-hand side but stopping opposite them
- backing up to the nearest passing place to let oncoming traffic pass
- watching well ahead for oncoming traffic and stopping in a passing area if possible
- giving way to traffic coming up hill
- reversing for traffic coming downhill.
Hope I got them all.

Castles: Looking at our route, which is the one castle you would spend time at and go inside of? (a couple of votes for Dunvegan already)

Driving: I have seriously re-examined the itinerary and two stretches really bother me: Skye to Gairloch and Gairloch to Durness. There are so many hours on twisty, single track roads. Fortunately, in both cases, I have the option of a more direct route. By the time we get there I will have driven quite a lot of roads like that on Mull and Skye and will know what I am capable of. If I think those routes are going to be more than I can handle I will take the direct routes but I will be very sad to miss seeing all that wild, lonely scenery.

&quot;<i>I am hoping to find a few supermarkets that do takeaway salads.</i>&quot;

I'm going to sound like a broken record here - but here goes.

People keep advising you to stop in supermarkets - just where on your route do you expect to find supermarkets? Except for maybe a small Tesco's or Morrison's in Ft William and a couple in Inverness you are not going to be anywhere where there are towns of any size let alone supermarkets.

The Scotsman headline will be edited to <b>&quot;Old couple dies of starvation - couldn't find a supermarket on their route&quot;</b>

Lol. Hi janisj, I really love your sense of humour but, seriously, don't folk who live in remote villages (like Gairloch) ever buy anything locally? Even the tiny village in Surrey (and it really is tiny) where my daughter lives has two little corner shops that sell a few groceries. Surely people who live in little Scottish villages don't all bake their own bread, grow their own vegetables, kill their own cows and make their own cheese? Someone must sell something. You would not believe what I can make a meal out of ;)

I remember that Portree on Skye had a co-op store (grocery), and so did Stornoway. The smaller villages, not so much. Many make their own, have things delivered, or, I assume, make trips into town when they need stuff. There was a small convenience store on Uig right near the ferry (Skye).



The drive to Durness is beautiful. Be careful you don't drive off a cliff while gazing at stuff :)

You'll get bigg (ish) supermarkets in Stirling, Oban, Fort William, Portee, Ullapool, Inverness, Aviewmore, Pitlochry. Perth Kinross and Edinburgh, and perfectly user friendly little ones in Callender, Tyndrum, Tobermory, Lochaline, Mallaig, Broadford, Kyle of Locgalsh, Gairloch, Poolewe, Newtonmore, Kingussie, and Dunkeld. But be aware thet the littler they are the dearer the decent food will be.

(I've missed out the Trossachs, and the bit between Poolewe and Inverness because my knowledge is very out of date).

I guess it is a semantics thing :)

There are grocers and shops. It is the &quot;supermarket&quot; bit I was on about.

You aren't going to Stirling (no time to see the castle so definitely no time to search for Tesco's)

No time to shop in Oban since you'll have a few minutes to catch the ferry

There is a supermarket in Ullapool - but it's the <u>only</u> one w/i 60 miles

and so on . . . . . .

Sheila, you were the one who told me about the Sma' Glen. We drove from Aberfeldy to Crieff and thought it was lovely. Don't remember it being bare.

And while Dunkeld CAN be done in an hour, we found it takes a little longer than that to do it justice. Of course, I'm the kind that can sit on a bench by the River Tay for hours...

Over the past few years, I've spent 5 weeks in Scotland based near Stirling. Here are some food ideas in an around Stirling for those in the area:

If you're doing a 'drive by' of Stirling, there's a huge supermarket-and-gas right on the edge of town. Tesco I think. When we were last there, it had back-to-school supplies including uniforms and lots of clothing and housewares. Pre-made salads and lots of other take away food are plentiful. We lived out of that shop for 3 weeks - well that and the Marks &amp; Spencer food hall that is in the Thistle Mall at the bottom of the hill - not far from the Stirling train station. It has tons of underground parking.

The next town over, Bridge of Alan, has a beautiful specialty food shop (cannot remember the name) right across from the Alan Water Cafe (great fish and chips and homemade ice cream).

Nearby Dunblane has a butcher shop downtown, Bennett's, with the best meat pies ever. If Yelpir doesn't have time, I do recommend these shops to anyone going to that area with a bit more leisure!

Hi Yelpir, Well done, that is a useful site ! Just be aware, though, that they are not all public toilets - I checked the listing for Edinburgh and some are in pubs. Of course it's not generally a problem to slope into a busy city pub &amp; use the loo without being a customer, but would be more of a problem in the country.

Yes, as others say there will be small shops in many villages but I don't think they will generally have salads. They will have the makings of sandwiches plus probably things like sausage rolls, though. (Presumably you are coming fully equipped with cutlery, tin-opener etc are you ? :-) And I guess you can stock up on things like plastic glasses, paper napkins &amp; wet wipes from a supermarket at the start of your trip.)

noe, I think I may have to visit Dunblane specially to try the best meat pies ever !

I have now printed out maps to all the public loos along our route and we seem to be well covered :)

Caroline: I didn't check the Edinburgh loos but those that I did check along our route all seem to be freely available to travellers, even when they are in commercial establishments.

My lovely lady has the most wonderful luggage. It never ceases to amaze me what she manages to squeeze into it. At the drop of a hat she pops it open and whips out knives, forks, spoons and a can-opener. Even a pair of scissors for cutting open vacuumpacks. Like you say, we pick up the other bits at a supermarket at the beginning of the odyssey and toss them away when we leave for home :)

noe847: Thanks for the supermarkets and eating places around Stirling. They may well come in handy.

janisj: As long as there are a few grocers around, we'll make out. It's extraordinary what my lady can sling together with a tomato, some cheese, some bread and some salt and pepper :) Throw in a banana and some sandwich spread and we have a banquet ;) I'm sure she will be up to the challenge.

GreenDragon and sheila: Thanks for that info on supermarkets and grocery stores. It has all been added to the plan ;)

Caroline, here's the website for the butcher, David Bennett &amp; Sons:
http://www.bennettsthebutcher.co.uk/
They are very nice people and the pies are from heaven.

Back in 2005, during a break in the bagpiping action, I decided to see the sights in Dunblane. I missed the hourly bus, so walked from our lodging at the back of the Univ of Stirling to the Bridge of Allan train station, then hopped the train for the few minutes to Dunblane.

On the main street I happened upon Bennett's butcher shop. The pies in the window were glorious. The shop had just won the Scottish Federation of Meat Traders prize for their pies, and they were all so proud! I bought 4 pies: regular steak, steak-and-black pepper, steak-and-guinness, and chicken-and-mushroom. They wrapped the pies well for my return journey: train to Bridge of Allan (with a stop at the market) and trudge back to Univ of Stirling with everything in my rucksack.

We had the pies for supper - they were the best things I've ever eaten. I was absolutely destroyed that I hadn't bought more, as we were self-catering (by bus and foot)!

The following year, we were based in Glasgow for 2 weeks, rather than Stirling. We went on the band coach to the Highland Games at the Bridge of Alan, but I just could not get to Dunblane to get meat pies. They called my name all day!

I still dream of the steak and black pepper pie!

Here's a link to the Scottish Federation of Meat Traders, where you can check out regional and overall winners of meat pies, bridies, and savoury pastries:
http://www.sfmta.co.uk/index.php?CATEGORY2=B-Best+Pies

The specialty market (and attached cafe) in Bridge of Allan is Clive Ramsay:
http://www.bridgeofallan.org/page-de...aspx?PageID=40

Yelpir,

This is one of the most interesting posts I have seen in a long time. It just goes on and on, much like your plan. I have looked through most of what you have planned and we have also traveled a similar route from London to Skye and back again. We traveled mostly by train up to Skye and drove back to Heathrow by car, using maps and asking directions. Nowhere in this thread did I see any mention of GPS unless I missed it. The only way I would ever drive in the UK again is with GPS. Maps are relatively meaningless in the UK without some inside knowledge of where you are and where you are going. If you plan on asking directions, good luck. I have never seen a worse group of direction givers in my life. Just something to think about. I hope you have a good time, but if you get from Callander to Falkirk by 1:00 that will be a new world record! Have fun!

Greg

noe, thank you so much for all that great info. &quot;the best things I've ever eaten&quot; - wow, I definitely have to go now !

The last time I was ao excited over pies was when our wine society stayed in Melrose for a weekend and during our free time between tastings &amp; meals on the Saturday discovered a very good butcher's shop there - I think the whole party left on the Sunday with their car boots full of meat products ! (Luckily it was cold enough for snow so they were fine in the car overnight !)

Hi Greg: The car rental company want 10 pounds a day to hire a GPS which would be 160 pounds for the trip. That's a bit too much for my budget so I will have to make do with good old-fashioned paper maps.

I think you mean Lake District to Falkirk by 1:00pm, which is the direction we will be travelling. The AA gives the distance from Hawkshead to Falkirk as 160.49 miles with a driving time of 3hrs 14mins up the motorway. Leaving Hawkshead at 9:30am it should be possible therefore to reach Falkirk at approx 1:00pm. If we don't make it by 1:00pm we will probably skip Falkirk altogether and go straight to Callander. However, we were sort of hoping to have a bite of lunch (soup and bread) in the visitor centre at the Falkirk wheel. We would also like to do some food shopping in Falkirk or in a supermarket on the outskirts of Stirling. It would be REALLY nice to pick up a couple of those pies that noe847 was talking about. Perhaps we'll stop for lunch in Dunblane instead of Falkirk. Dunblane may not have the wheel but it has &quot;pies from heaven&quot; ;)

Yelpir: Will you be taking a laptop with you on the trip? I so, you can use your laptop as a GPS with the help of Microsoft Autoroute and USB port GPS attachment. The cost of the software and attachment would be about 1/3 of what the rental company wants to rent you a dedicated unit, and you can plan out your route in advance. I used this on my trip to Scotland and found it immensely helpful.

twk: I would love to take a laptop with me on this trip, but I don't own one; just a big old clunky desktop. I don't even own a cellphone (mobile phone?). Yes, I know, I'm a dinosaur ;) Fortunately my lady is bringing her phone but it's not one of these fancy modern ones with GPS capabilities. I'm afraid I am stuck with my lady reading the instructions to me off a set of printed route sheets from the AA.

Hi Yelper,

I might be chimming in late for this thread, but I just wanted to comment.
When I was planning my trip to Scotland, I got a lot of 'you can't do this in one day' and 'that drive takes forever'. I was really worried about all the driving I had planned, but stayed to my plans.

It wasn't difficult at all for us. We saw everything we wanted to and more (ofcourse we need to go back to visit everything else:)
In one day we toured all around Skye, took ample time to tour Dunvegan, and took a hike, had leisurely lunch and dinner in Portree. In another day we drove from Skye to Inverness, touring 3 castles, the Clava Cairns, and Culloden Battlefield.
IT worked out fine. We never felt rushed, or like we were missing anything. Actually we were pleasently surprised at how quickly we got from place to place and were able to add things in.

So, don't worry. You'll get to see so much and you'll have a great time! The Scottish people are so friendly and hospitable. It will be great.

Don't forget the trip report!