Scotland -- stay in Arisaig?
 

We will have a week in Scotland next June, planning to stay the whole week in one place (renting a cottage). The men in the family would love to play golf one day at Traigh golf course near Arisaig. There is a cottage adjacent to the course which looks wonderful. I am wondering if Arisaig, with the single track road and construction to widen it lasting into next year, would be a difficult place to get in and out of since we will also want to take day trips from there to Glenfinnan, Skye, and Glencoe. Can you suggest other places near enough to visit easily in one day? My other choice is a cottage at Kinlocheil near Fort William. I'd like to be close enough to Arisaig for the golf day, but not in an inconvenient location for the rest of the sights.

I think it very much depends on what you are after. (for me, it's a no brainer- Arisaig every time).

Arisaig is small village, with a road junction south through Ardnamurchan, one wee pubby hotel, a great big country house hotel, and a couple of shops and cafes.

And the most glorious views, and beaches, and walks, and the ferry terminal for the Small Isles, a few minutes drive to the Mallaig ferry terminal to Skye, close to Glenfinnan, and the Prince's Cairn.

Kinlocheil is an industrial suburb of Fort William, the (only?) town in North West Scotland which spoils its location.

It will give you better links to Glencoe. And that's it.

But Arisaig is a place to go and chill out, not to go clubbing, and not to tour anything but scenery exhaustively.

If I were staying there, I'd also visit Mull using the little ferry from Kinlochaline, and I'd consider that a week well spent (Glencoe, Glenfinnan, Skye, the Small Isles, Ardnamurchan and Mull- on second thoughts, I'd consider it a fortnight well spent).

bookmarking

Rent or borrow the video/dvd of the film Local Hero. Much of it was filmed in Arisaig. You can then decide whether it is for you.

PS it is also a very sweet and funny movie

Spent 1 night in Arasaig and loved the place!
There's no more to say as Sheila has given you brilliant advice!

Thank you all. We are not into "nightlife" and really do want to soak in the scenery so a sleepy little town is really attractive. I was concerned more with getting in and out of Arisaig (with the single track road) to go on day trips. Thanks for the warning about Kinlocheil -- I had no idea what kind of place it is.

Sheila already approved of the first spots I mentioned for possible day trips -- Skye, Glenfinnan, and Glencoe. It sounds like there are lots of single track roads on Skye. Can anyone suggest where we should go on the island and what to see which wouldn't take up the whole day struggling on the roads? (I'd like to see the Trotternish Penninsula, but it is as far away from where we would land by ferry as you can get, so I am resigned to give that up.}

I would like to go to Eilean Donan Castle. I have the feeling it would not be a good idea to combine that with the day to Skye by ferry from Mallaig. Is that your opinion? Should we consider a drive from Arisaig to Fort William, Invergarry, to Dornie? That seems like a long way to have to drive twice (to go back the same day), but it would be new territory. All of that being said, how different is that scenery there (on A87 to Dornie) from what we will have seen between Fort William and Arisaig? Perhaps we would do better to go a different direction.

I haven't booked the cottage in Arisaig yet, so I can still consider a different base if that seems best. (I am leaning heavily toward Arisaig)

I'm going to get "Local Hero" to check out the scenery. Thanks.

Single track roads are not scary nor dangerous - nor that much slower than regular 2 lane roads. I don't see why you are resigned to missing out on the Trotternish . . . . .

Arisaig is marvelous - and you'll get used to the driving.

Arisaig also has a station on the railway from Fort William to Mallaig, one of the most beautful lines in Britain. You can take the train to Mallaig then a ferry to Skye or the boat to Inverie on Loch Nevis - the village cannot be reached by road and the pub is the most isolated on the British mainland (www.knoydart-ferry.co.uk). There are also boat trips from Arisaig to the islands of Eigg, Muck and Rum (www.arisaig.co.uk).

Off topic comletely but Local Hero was filmed at Pennan on the Aberdeenshire coast. The beach scenes were filmed at Morar, on the west coast.

Local Hero was filmed lots of places. I went crazy trying to figure it out from the scenery until I rolled all the way through the credits and saw "Thanks to the people of . . . ." IIRC, Arisaig was one, but I am not home so I can't check it out. I stand corrected if I am wrong. But it was funny in the movie to think about building oil platforms where the Cuillin were visible in the background. A long haul to the North Sea!

Still, anything that gets people to look at Bill Forsyth movies is worth it!

The filmed at Camusdarach and at Arisaig, and some other places. Any road up, Morar is just inches from Arisaig.

There is a website on Scottish movie locations that has a lot of good information. Don't have the linke here at the office, but you can probably find it with a google search.

As to single track roads, we drove the road to the isles in June and my recollection was that the single track stretch was fairly short (although it did have relatively heavy traffic, and was the only place I encountered an oncoming bus on a single track road), but I wouldn't let that put me off. We stayed at Plockton rather than staying on Skye proper and had to deal with several miles of single track roads to get anywhere, but only found that to be a slight nuissance.

I would probably make the trip up to Eilean Donan if I had time. Making it in loop fashion (taking the ferry from Mallaig to Skye, then on around) would be an interesting trip, but given where you're staying, I would hope that wouldn't be the only time you venture over to Skye.

I was feeling resigned to missing the Trotternish because we will only have one day to go over to Skye, returning to Arisaig that evening. Many of the posts I have read about seeing Skye involve staying on the island for several days.

Could we drive from Armadale all the way to the northern end of the island with time to be out of the car at least for lunch in Portree (or elsewhere you may suggest), to walk at the Fairy Glen and time to stop long enough to take pictures at Kilt Rock before heading back south to Armadale for the ferry?

I don't see why not. On this summer's ferry schedule (Mon-Sat), the first ferry departed Mallaig for Skye at 0810 and the last ferry departed Armadale for Mallaig at 1840.

Alhtough not constrained by ferry times, we covered a similar amount of ground coming from our base in Plockton on our trip, stopping to take the distillery tour at Talisker before heading to the Troternish Peninsula. We went through the Quiraing (taking the road from Uig to Staffin) for the spectacular view, but I'm sure going around the point would take a similar amount of time (and probably be as visually interesting). That whole trip was probably from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. or so. We probably had time to see Dunvegan Castle or do some other stuff if we had desired.

We will have a separate day to actually explore Skye. So, for visiting Eilean Donan, you would suggest taking the Mallaig ferry, driving from there to Kyleakin and the Skye Bridge instead of going the longer way around by Fort William - Invergarry.

THANKS to everyone who has responded to my questions. This is a wonderful tool for planning!

If you're going to cover the Sleat Peninsula of Skye on another trip, doing the loop I mentioned might not make as much sense. I just try to avoid travelling the same roads more than once, when you've got other interesting ground available. However, if you are making multiple trips from Armadale, then that cancels out that theory.

Now, one thing you might consider if you do get over to Skey twice is, on one of those trips, taking the detour off of the A851 to the west side of the Sleat Peninsula over to the settlements of Tokavaig and Tarskavaig for some great views.

On the day we devote just to Skye, I wanted to go up to the northern part of the island, so I wouldn't plan to stop at all until Portree. Perhaps on the day we go to Eilean Donan (via Skye), we could spend a part of the day to take the detour you suggest. I'm glad to hear the ground you covered and an approximate time that it took. Very helpful.

rosslang: Don't worry too much about touring Skye. If you are on an early ferry across, you will have <u>plenty</u> of time to see the Trotternish/Storr, drive across the Quiraing and also see other parts of the Isle. Including Portree, Dunvegan, and Talisker if you are interested. 2 or 3 days are better of course, but you can se a LOT of Skye in one day.

Local Hero is my all time favourite film. I wish Bill Forsythe would make more ... what became of him?

I am now thinking we may do better to stay on Skye instead of in Arisaig. There are so many things to see on Skye! (Trotternish, Sleat, Dunvegan) I think the non-Skye places we want to see -- mainly Eilean Donan and Glenfinnan -- are close enough to go on day trips. Would it be possible to combine an afternoon of golf at Arisaig with a morning visit to Glenfinnan or should those be two separate days (thinking of ferry times)?

I now have to decide which part of Skye to rent a cottage in. I know the more central places (like Portree and Broadford) make sense, but would a more remote place (like Edinbane, Elgol and Fiscavaig) make it difficult to see the places on the island which are furthest away?

Does anyone know those 3 more remote areas and what might be very interesting to see close by? I'd like to hear some pros and cons...

Thank you all!