Scottish Highlands
 

Hi,
Planning a trip with my parents to the highlands. Plan is to drive up from London with a night stop along the way - probably Windermere. Then onto the highlands the next day. Would like to do the Isle of Skye, Inverness, Loch Ness etc but don't have a specific itinerary / sequence in mind and was wondering if anyone had recommendations. We have around 7 days (including the stop in Windermere) so hopefully enough time. Any suggestions on routes and stay options would be greatly appreciated (reasonable B&B places - £25-40pppn).
Thanks,
Alok

Actually someone just recommended a circular route as under:
"Head up the West coast from Glasgow, past Loch Lomond, across to Oban, up to Fort William, then some time on the Isle of Skye, further up the coast to Ullapool, then across to Inverness and down through Perthshire including Crianlarich, through Saint Andrews and back to Edinburgh"
Does this work - specific recommendations for the places above, scenic spots, drives etc and ofcourse still need places to stay though love the attached for Loch Lomond
http://www.culag.info/CULAG/CulagIndex.htm
Thanks all,
Alok

That works.

Here's one I did earlier but in reverse. Pick something you like and we can work on it:-

Day One- Edinburgh to St Andrews

The Forth Rail bridge is worth driving past. The estuary of the Forth widens to superb beaches (with wonderful links golf courses behind them) and in Fife you have St Andrew's, home of golf (and the beach where they filmed the opening sequences of Chariots of Fire). To get there you go past Loch Leven, where Mary, Queen of Scots was kept imprisoned on one of the islands.

If you want to play golf, and you can’t play at the Old Course, there are courses all the way up through Fife. Amongst the best are Elie, Lundin Links, Ladybank and Crail

Day 2 - Dundee to Tomintoul

Cross the Tay Bridge to Dundee, then cut across country to Glamis (castle) then go on to Blairgowrie where you pick up the A93 to Glenshee, and down to Braemar and Deeside. This is where Lizzie Windsor has her summer place, much beloved of American tourists. It's also in a beautiful location and therefore worth the visit. Just at Crathie, which is where you will find Balmoral, if you're daft enough to want to, there's a sign to Royal Lochnagar distillery. (old Scottish joke- How deep is Lochnagar? Ha, ha, ha...it's a mountain!!! Well, it's funny if you're five). It's not the best whisky in the world but there's no such thing as a bad malt and it does a good tour.

Come back onto the A93 and continue east a few miles till you see signs pointing left to Tomintoul. Take that road and go over Gairn Shiel to Corgarff then turn left towards Cockbridge and up over the Lecht to Tomintoul.

By now, you have crossed two of Scotland's highest roads, and it's not yet tea time. There's a very good whisky shop in Tomintoul (much better than the tourist trap on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh) and, incidentally, there is also a very good wood carver right next door. I would suggest staying here.

Day 3, Tomintoul to Drumnadochit (but not in a straight line).

Go back on your tracks a bit and follow the road down to Dufftown. Here you will find Glenfiddich distillery. Still not my favourite dram, but probably one of the best sellers in the world and almost certainly the best tour.

Follow the road down to the Spey at Aberlour (or Charlestown of Aberlour, to give it its Sunday name). You are right in the heart of Speyside, on the Whisky Trail. If you want to see more, almost every second distillery is open to the public. If you have a favourite, ask at one of the tourist offices if they do a tour and just go along. The Macallan is probably the best Speyside whisky, but Aberlour itself is a good second. Follow the river to Grantown then go up to Nethy Bridge on the south bank. Outside Nethy Bridge you will find Abernethy Forest and Loch Garten, which is a huge nature reserve and is worth stopping at, to see the Ospreys.

Drive on to Aviemore, close your eyes so you miss it (a travesty of 1960s planning) and go straight up to Inverness on the A9. Spend a little time in Inverness and either spend the night here or (my choice) set off down Loch Ness towards Drumnadrochit, and find somewhere to stay on the loch side.

Day 4- Loch Ness to Port Appin.

Get up early and drive quickly down the Loch and the rest of the Great Glen to Fort William. Climb Ben Nevis. Look at the view. Climb down again. It’s said that there are 2 routes- one easy, and one a bit tougher. Either is an achievement. If you are not going up the hill, I would suggest a quick drive down Loch Linnhe to Corran, and catch the ferry to Ardgour on the west shore at Morvern. Drive along to Strontian (where they first discovered strontium) have lunch, then go back again.

Drive down to just south of Ballachulish. There is, on the coast off the main road, a little village called Port Appin. If you can afford it, stay the night in the Pierhouse (c£70 per head). If you can't, find a B&B and have supper there. The mixture of the food, ambience and location are next to unbeatable. The Aird’s Hotel is very highly rated for food too.

Day 5- Port Appin to Glasgow

Drive South to Oban, and absorb the atmosphere. Go to Lochgilphead, up to Inverary, over the Rest and Be Thankful to Arrochar, down Loch Lomond, and into Glasgow.

A great place to stay in Inverness is Ardgarry B&B. It is close to the center of Inverness. See: http://www.ardgarryguesthouse.co.uk/. I had wonderful experience there. Also, The Johnny Fox pub was a great place for entertainment.

sheila,
thanks for this. could start as you suggested though not being whiskey or golf fans could skip some of the stuff and maybe compress by a day. from loch ness i was wondering if it made sense to do the following trip but in reverse....so starting at John o'Groats and ending at Ullapool. Could spend a night there and travel down to Port Appin as you suggested. Though I guess there is a little backtracking could then go across to the Isle of Skye and spend a night or two there/in the region before heading down to spend a night on Loch Lomond and then heading back. Also between Oban/Fort William and Port Appin assume you're recommending Port Appin. Please let me know if you have thoughts on this plan and suggested routes, things to see along the way and ofcourse places to stay.


North & West Highlands Route - 140 miles/224 km
This route boasts some of the most magnificent scenery in Europe - wild mountains and lochs, foaming salmon rivers, rugged coastlines with mighty sea cliffs and secluded sandy bays, isolated crofts and large farms, small fishing villages and bustling towns. Starting at the thriving fishing village of Ullapool, the route winds its way north through magnificent mountain country, passing the picturesque villages of Achiltibuie, Lochinver and Kinlochbervie as it makes for Durness in the north-west corner of Scotland. From Durness, the route heads east through gradually softening scenery to John o'Groats, taking you from one end of Scotland's north coast to the other

thanks for this
alok

hi,
actually have someone joining me for the first part so will probably stick to the original and do it the start at loch lomond end at st andrews way but still need the same recommendations.
thanks
alok

Sheila's given you a very good itinerary, but at 5 days duration it won't fit well within your overall constraint of "7 days (including the stop in Windermere)". Adding the necessary travel days to what Shiela suggested for the tour in Scotland gives you:
Day 1: Drive from London to Windermere (about 6 hours)
Day 2: Drive from Windermere to Loch Lomond (just under 4 hours).
Days 3-7: rest of itinerary above, ending in St Andrews.
Day 8: Drive from St Andrews - London. This is a horrible long drive that will take you at least 10 hours, or more like 11, allowing for stops and traffic. If it was me, I'd be looking at another stopover which will add a further day to the trip.

It is realistic to put up with the aggro of driving up to Scotland for a week, but you'll need to allow adequate times to get to your starting and finishing locations in Scotland.

gordon/shiela,
her is what i was thinking:
day 1 - drive to windermere, night there (22nd)
day 2 - drive to loch lomond, night there (23rd)
day 3 - drive to port appin - check out oban on the way there, night in port appin (24th)
day 4 - drive to isle of skye - fort william on the way, night in Skye (25th)
day 5 - drive to ullapool, night there (26th)
day 6 - drive to loch ness, night there (27th)
day 7 - drive to st andrews, night there (28th)
day 8 - drive to buxton in the peak district, night there (29th)
day 9 - early drive back to london to get in by lunchtime
think its 8 nights so a bit longer. does this make sense. it will compress sheila's itinerary by a day i think. any suggestions/changes to the above and also on routes and places to stay appreciated. also does this make the travel times better.
thanks