Back to OP - thank you improviser - I am loading your site - I prefer to avoid booking sites and always look to book directly with lodgings where possible.

For those on the board still interested, available accommodations at this time are listed in the last posted related to my original thread. Thank you.

PS

Just throwing a curve ball but what about flying into Glasgow.
Drive to Stirling, about an hours drive depending on traffic, and stay there for a couple of days.
From Stirling you can make day-trips to The Trossachs, Loch Lomond, Killin, Callander, Dunfermline, Linlithgow, you can even have fish ´n chips in Anstruther.
Why the Wallace monument ? It is a 19th century folly which only really provides good views of the Trossachs but since you want to go there anyway you get a much better view.
Near Stirling are the remains of Cambuskenneth abbey and the Romanesque church at Dunblane which are more interesting really but that is a point of view of course.

From Stirling you can get to Skye via Glencoe and from Skye you can get to Loch Ness but the only point of interest there (apart from the monster) is Urquhart Castle.

From Inverness or thereabouts you can drive to Edinburgh in a day.

Point about the distances debate that raged earlier.
This is Scotland !
There is a huge difference between distance in miles and the time it actually takes to go from A to B.
Some roads up north and on the islands are so narrow that they will admit the width of one car and you have to pass another at specially constructed passing places.

As tourists go Edinburgh beats Glasgow, Skye beats Mull, west coast beats east coast (not looking for an argument !).

What you need to do, if I may be so brazen, is figure out what you want and NOT what other people think you should see.

Please keep in mind that the road from Edinburgh to London is about 400 Miles long taking the direct route and can take up to 8 hours. if you´re lucky.
Hadrians wall runs roughly east to west whereas E´burgh - London is roughly north to south so keep in mind that trying to do that in one day would be bordering on recklessness.

Don´t want to stoke the fires, just want to add something hopefully constructive.

Welcome to Fodors TheLinteam.

>>What you need to do, if I may be so brazen, is figure out what you want and NOT what other people think you should see.<<

Agreed. We've tried every sort of permutation for weeks. For some reason the OP can't settle on a plan.

"Driving/parking in central Edinburgh is more than a bear."

Oh please, give me a break. There is no problem driving in Edinburgh or finding parking unless you are not a confident driver and don't know that a sign with a big P on it means parking.

Having driven in Edinburgh countless times, I cannot recall(because it never happened) even one time I had difficulty finding parking near where I wanted to be.

Perhaps if you are comparing it to some small hick town in America janisj it is a 'bear' and parking is difficult but anyone used to driving in a major city will find it no harder than at home. Try Mumbai or Ulaanbaatar if you want to see a hard city to drive in. Edinburgh is never going to make the list of 'top ten worst cities to drive in'.

If someone wants to have a car in Edinburgh for the convenience of having a car then I see no reason not to do so.

To know whether it would be better for you to stay in the city or the outskirts traveling, you would have to define 'better'. Mid-range also needs to be defined. It can mean half as much to one person as to another.

I do agree you should start your own thread. Generally, in any forum, 'hi-jacking' someone else's thread is considered rude.

What a load of . . .

I have driven in Edinburgh MANY times (likely many more more than you).

To say the 'big dig' does't affect traffic/driving in Edinburgh simply is untrue. Even the several Edinburgh residents who regularly post here advise folks to avoid driving IN Edinburgh. Even the cab drivers in Edinburgh who drive all of it every day - hate the mess/construction/congestion. When was the last time you tried??

But go ahead, misinform folks who actually <i>need</i> our help . . .

Wow! Didn't mean to be "Rude". I believe the original thread was regarding "lodging help". We are from NY, so driving in traffic is not an issue. I assume there are public parking garages in Edinburgh. We do prefer the convenience of having a car, and dropping the car off at the airport and then taking a cab back into town and then taking another cab back to the airport for our flight seems a bit time consuming of valuable "touring" time. We got a pretty reasonable rental rate for the car for the 8 days we are in Scotland. Is parking in the city expensive?

Socialworker, I will check out 53 Frederick St. Thank you.

I will start my own thread. You people seem to be a bit consumed. JanisJ, hopefully you can help me out on another post. Thanks.

Travelling - don't worry - constructive responses here can only serve to help others - we never knew about the whole hijacking thing either as we are not usually active forum users.

Janisj - good to see you back - "for some reason the OP can't settle on a plan" - it's availability, as noted in previous posts, so not sure why the reason would be unclear.

In Team - - not clear though if you are responding to Travelling or to our posts? Did look at going Glasgow - Stirling - then onto Glengow but it seemed to backtrack when we traced it out.

In Team -For us - Mull or Skye - we are interested in the highlands and dramatic landscape, scenery, history, culture - as noted, distilleries, shopping are not on our lists. Edinburgh will have more suited to our travel style than Glasgow. Availability has the last word though.

Also In Team - we hoped to see Housesteads and one other Wall site following Edinburgh, plus we wanted to stop at the standing stones just before the Northern Lakes. Do you mean that driving Edinburgh to London would be too much? We would proceed from Edinburgh, East to West, along the route of the Wall, 'til stopping in the N. Lakes. Is this doable?

Improviser - your link was great plus it popped up several other links that I have now saved. Unfortunately though, still only limited options - I am waiting on another reply for lodging. For now though - the choices remain: Loch Ness, North Skye, Aberdeen. We've looked everywhere now - I had a couple of leads in St. Andrews but so far they haven't turned anything up.

Travelling - we have never been to Scotland but from what I have read, and learned from everyone here, it's best to stay centrally in Edinburgh. What about the Scotsman? It sounds like it is well located. On cars and the city, we are retaining our car as we need it when we exit Edinburgh. However, if we were not doing this, we would be return it on arrival in the city.

Goodness me, just reacquainting myself with this thread…

you say <<<Just spent several days looking up accommodations in the Fife area - actually, the closest I came with availability for a family is at a place near Aberdeen>>

Really?? Aberdeen!!!

Have you checked the official Visit Scotland site www.visitscotland.com/accommodation/ or contact the local tourist information centres in Fife www.visitfife.com/contact I wouldn't stay in Aberdeen if you're visiting Fife.

Hello TravelGEEK, I was responding to your post.

I do not see how my hint is in any way backtracking.
If you arrive in Glasgow, travel north-east to Stirling.
Use Stirling as a base to explore the surrounding areas like Trossachs, Loch Lomond and maybe even Fife.

From Stirling you travel north-west to Glencoe and north again to Kyle of Lochalsh and Skye.

From Skye you cut across eastward to Inverness / Loch Ness and from there you can go south toward Edinburgh.

If you have the time in Edinburgh you can use that as a base to drive to Hadrian's wall, maybe via the abbeys of Kelso and Jedburgh, as a day trip.
That way you can leave the standing stones for your trip back to London but that would probably mean having to take the M6 back south rather than the more obvious M1.
Beware that it is a long drive !

When in Edinburgh you can visit the castles of Craigmillar (often neglected by tourists although within the city of Edinburgh), Roslin, Borthwick, Crichton and Tantallon among others.
Other places worth a look in E'burgh are the villages of Cramond (site of Roman fort and river Almond walk) and Duddingston.
Another thing you can do is take a ferry to Inchcolm in the Forth and visit the abbey.

Thanks linTeam - sorry about the confusion - marking overnight spots and was not able to find anything in Stirling - but I was able to find something in L. Lomond for a night which means:

1) start in Edinburgh - see Wallace, Stirling and sites en route to Loch Lomond - stay L. Lomond for one night and then head to Glencoe, or

2) arrive Glasgow - skip overnight stay at L. Lomond then up to Glencoe for first night

3) arrive Glasgow - see Stirling etc., then head back toward Glencoe for stay there

The third option seems like a lot of driving in one day but I don't know the country so well.

After all that, 3-4 nights Glencoe - onto our "middle" place - then to Edinburgh to finish.

The middle bit can be:

North Skye (4 nights)
Torridon by Kyle (2-3) nights (found some space there)
Loch Ness area (3-4 nights to cover off castles, E. Donan, etc.)
Aberdeen (2-3 nights)

These are the places were accommodations are open to us- this is why they are included here. We have to chose the best of these options (we are glad we have options at this point...).

Sofarsogood - sorry but I should have worded my message better. We were trying to find something in Fife based on Gardyloo's suggestion but so far we have not succeeded. We did find something in Aberdeen - yes, a different area - it would mean learning about the area and its sites (e.g. Dunnottar castle) as we haven't been looking at Aberdeen.

linTeam - After driving along H. Wall we will stay a day or two in the Northern Lake District before driving to London and staying there a few nights before the return home. What we are wondering is if going from Edinburgh to the Northern Lake District will be impossible if we are trying to make a few stops along the way to see a bit of the wall and standing stones.

Hi travelGeek.

If it were me I´d fly into Glasgow, go to Loch Lomond for the night (about an hours drive away) to see the sites and rest up a bit.
Go from Loch Lomond to Glencoe and from there to Skye.

As far as the middle bit goes, I wouldn´t call Torridon a middle bit !

Don´t wait till you get to the middle bit to go see Eilean Donan castle by the way.
If you drive from Glencoe to Kyle you´ll probably pass it.

Driving from Edinburgh to the Lake District is no problem at all.
You can go the long way via Newcastle or or more direct via Carlisle.

Thank you for the re-assurrance regarding the drive to the Lakes from Edinburgh. We'll skip overnighting in the area near the wall then and use that extra night in Edinburgh.

Why would you not call the Torridon the middle bit?

If you had to choose between the Torridon and say, Kinloch Lodge on Skye, which would you chose and why? Also have you heard of the Cameron House?

TravelGEEK and traveling, I'll repeat myself.

There is no problem driving in Edinburgh or finding parking unless you are not a confident driver and don't know that a sign with a big P on it means parking.


Yes there is construction, yes the locals thing it is a big inconvenience, no it doesn't mean you can't drive in the city. I'd rather drive in Edinburgh with construction than in NYC any day of the week. If you can handle NYC or LA or any of numerous other cities, you'll be fine in Edinburgh.

Edinburgh to Windermere is a 3 hour plus drive. If you want to detour to make a few stops along the way it would be quite doable in a day obviously.

And then there is an uber confident driver (Jim Russell driving schools, Morgan plus 4, sports car and kart racing, Formula Ford, ex-defensive driving instructor, etc) who is practical/sensible. Is totally capable of driving IN Edinburgh, London, San Francisco, Paris, and does, but doesn't often because there are so many (much) better options . . .

No, driving in Edinburgh is not impossible - but it is NOT pleasant, nor is it generally necessary for visitors.

ps: Some like to post their 'credentials' so we take their word for things. . Just thought it fitting to include mine . . .

This might be helpful regarding driving in Edinburgh: http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/info/152...ourney_planner

Colleague of mine was there last Wednesday and Thursday and he said it was mayhem (although to be honest he always thinks Edinburgh is mayhem).

travelGEEK, in my view (and it is purely my view !) Torridon is a bit too far north and west to be classified as "the middle bit".
From Skye across to the Loch Ness area / Grampian will give you a much easier trip down to Edinburgh.

Janisj, when were you in the Jim Russell Race Driver's School? I went through the school at Snetterton in the early 70s, and did some Formula Ford racing afterwards. The advantage of racing is that everyone is going the same direction (more or less) and there are no intersections. There are also fewer idiot drivers on the track than on the road. I agree with you — when there are better options I prefer not to drive in the city.

Heimdall: Wow (!) -- I was at Snetterton in '78. My ex took the course too, in 77 and 78. I took another course at Sonoma in the late '90's.

In the early 70s Jim also had a school at Mallory Park in Leicestershire, where I raced a couple of times.

Emerson Fittipaldi was one of Jim's protégés before he started racing F1 for Lotus. I watched Emerson have his first ever drive in an F3 car at Snetterton. He was so good that by the end of the season Colin Chapman had snapped him up for Lotus, and the rest is history. I have a lot of fond memories of those days. :-)

That's neat - I saw EF win at Silverstone in '75. I know we had paddock passes but to be honest I don't remember anything about who we saw in the pits. Also went to the GP at Brands Hatch n '76 when Hunt -- Oops, Lauda won :)

Then in '86 at the last Brands Hatch GP.

Now back to the main event - getting travelGeek to Scotland . . . .