Tackling Scotland in 7 Days
 

Please help...looking for some advice planning an itinerary for a 7 day tour around Scotland. Here is the plan so far...

Day 1-
Morning- Arrive in Edinburgh
Afternoon- Tour Edinburgh Castle, Royal Mile, etc.
Day 2- Continue seeing Edinburgh
Day 3- Depart Edinburgh
Morning- Phoenix Falconry "Meet the Birds" (Blackford)
Afternoon- SPLASH Canyoning (Archarn Canyon)
Evening- Inverness
Day 4-
Climbing/Abseiling w/ Scotch on the Rocks
(Location TBD...hopefully Old Man of Stoer)
Evening- Ullapool
Day 5-
Morning- Drive from Ullapool to Eilean Donan Castle
Afternoon- Tour Isle of Skye
Day 6-
Morning- Skye Boat Tour (Skyexplorer or Elgol Boat Trips)
Afternoon- Pony Trekking (Glenshiel Highland Ponies)
Evening- Fort William
Day 7-
Morning- Stirling Castle and Wallace Monument
Afternoon- Depart from Glasgow

I know this schedule is pretty ambitious so any comments or advice would be greatly appreciated. I have not secured lodging for any of the trip yet so any recommendations would be great.

Thanks!

I can't get my head around your plans. Day 7 for instance. You want to leave Ft William, drive to Stirling (usually a 3 hour drive) and visit the Castle and Wallace Monument THAT SAME MORNING? And then get to GLA for an afternoon departure. This is impossible. Stirling Castle is massive and even just a quick overview takes more than an hour.

Even just Ft William to GLA is difficult for an afternoon flight. Depending on how late in the afternoon of course. But this is a 3+ hour drive too. Plus you have to build in time for returning the car.

Day 3 is pretty tough. Edinburgh to Gleneagles takes about 1.5 hours. Then Gleneagles to Aberfeldy is another 80-90 minutes. And Aberfeldy to I'ness takes about 3 hours. Just a LOT . . .

I think you should savor Scotland vs. tackle it!

Ps. I agree, your last day is impossible.

"<i>I think you should savor Scotland vs. tackle it!</i>"

I love that :)

Thank you for your comments and suggestions. Your honesty is especially helpful. My hastily made itinerary did prove to be more than a bit off. I have dropped and reordered some activities and used google maps to get a better idea of drive times (you will see these in parentheses). Hopefully this go around is a bit more feasible, if still a bit "ambitious."

Day 1 & 2- Edinburgh

Day3-
0800-0830 Breakfast-Edinburgh
0830-1000 Drive Edinburgh to Stirling (1)
1000-1230 Stirling Castle
1230-1400 Wallace Monument
1400-1430 Lunch-Stirling
1430-1530 Drive Stirling to Gleneagles (.5)
1530-1730 Phoenix Falconry
1730-2000 Drive Gleneagles to Fort William (2.25)
2000-2015 Check in B&B
2030-2200 Dinner/Pub

Day 4-
0800-0900 Breakfast-Fort William
0900-1100 Drive Fort William to Glenshiel (1.5)
1100-1300 Highland Pony Trekking
1300-1400 Lunch
1400-1430 Drive Glenshiel to Eilean Donan (.25)
1430-1630 Eilean Donan Castle
1630-1800 Drive Eilean Donan to Portree (1)
1800-1815 Check in B&B
1830-2100 Dinner/Pub

Day 5-
0830-0930 Breakfast-Portree
0930-1015 Drive Portree to Kilt Rock (.5)
1015-1130 Kilt Rock
1130-1200 Drive Kilt Rock to Uig (.5)
1200-1245 Lunch-Uig
1245-1400 Faerie Glen
1400-1700 SkyeXplorer Boat Tour
1700-1900 Drive Uig to Plockton (1.5)
1900-1915 Check in B&B
1930-2100 Dinner/Pub

Day 6- (waiting for word from guide about location of canyoning/climbing)
0800-0900 Breakfast-Plockton
0900-1100 Drive Plockton to TBD location
1100-1300 Canyoning/Climbing
1300-1330 Lunch
1330-1700 Canyoning/Climbing
1700-1830 Drive TBD location to Inverness
1830-1845 Check in hostel
1845-2000 Dinner/Pub

Day 7- Flight INV to LON

I greatly appreciate you taking the time to help me. I look forward to hearing your suggestions and continuing to refine my schedule.

P.S. As I am a rugger I tackle much more naturally than I savor ;-)

"<i>google maps to get a better idea of drive times </i>"

Sorry but you can't use any of the mapping sites for drive time calculations. Just doesn't work in real life (or even fantasy life). Those are times for a local driving the speed limit w/ no traffic, no herds of cattle in the roads, no caravans (motorhomes/travel trailers), no nothing. You need to add 25% to 40% to the most drive times. For instance Eilean Donan Castle to Portree - your 1 hour will be more like 80-90 minutes unless you are VERY lucky.

And you <u>really</u> can't plan :05 or :15 (or even 1:00) increments. You itinerary sort of looks like a military exercise instead of a vacation.

(BTW -- Some B&Bs have specific time periods when one can - or can't - check in.)

I wouldn't be QUITE as definitive as Janis, but I was wondering where you bought your seven league boots? Or if you had a working version of the Star Trek teleporter?

Day3 is doable. Horrible, but doable

Day 4- has only one problem and a possible solution. No-one goes pony trekking for 2 hours- you would barely be out of the stable yard. But no-one really wants to see the inside of Eilean Donan either. Take a photo from the car window as you pass. That's all you need. Add the time on to the pony trekking.

It's still horrible but now doable.

Day 5- It will take an hour and a half to get from Staffin to Uig- not half an hour. It takes up to two hours to walk the Fairy Glen from Uig. I There's something wrong with the Skye Xplorer web site so I can't see if a later departure is possible for the three hour trip, but you might be better to take the Boat trip first and then do the Fairy Glen after. It would make you late for Plockton, but that's not a problem.

Day 6- doable.

Much better than the first pass.