Hello, my holiday-destination for this year is Scotland, so I thought I'd ask around here a bit to get some places to go and things to do. Mode of travel is by campervan (yeah, so I'm getting old) and I have about 15 days time. Due to incredibly expensive direct ferries, I'l be going by Dover though, so I'll probably take two days up and two days down (if there's anything to see on the way in middle/north England) Some background info: -Traveling by campervan (so the smallet of single tracks are probably out) -Missus is pregnant (so not too many stills...a few will do) -General condition of a gamer + wife = no hiking up Ben Nevis or the likes -would apreciate some great countryside and views though. So: where to go and what too see in Scotland in the last two weeks of August? Best regards, Xir P.S. Decided on "The KLF: It's grim up north" as soundtrack will probably last about half a song before the missus turns Rammstein back on
Dumfries and Galloway. I live here and it's beautiful. It's also not to hilly and the roads are pretty good too. There are plenty of campsites dotted all over too. Also come up through the Lake district in cumbria - absolutely stunning
Dumfries is great, not much to do there though (unless you really really love farming). Obviously Speyside is a must (although it's a bit out of the way).
How far North are you prepared to go? If you want to see the real Scotland, then check out the one or all of the following The Cairngorms, Glencoe, The Isle of Skye.
Wow that's quick Dumfries rings a bell...is that from P.F.Chrisholm's "Surfeit of Guns"? Thank you for reminding me there's a part of Scotland starting under Glasgow, I'll include it in either the way up or the way down. Also, I like hills and mountains, just wanted to avoid tips like "take a backpack and walk for three days" Anyway, the lake district would be... the A591 up from Windermere? End of Mainland at least
Smoo Caves/Durness area is a pretty nice place. Its up around Cape Wrath at the top west of the country. Fort William in the foothills of Ben Nevis is quite nice too, my favourite place is a little fishing village called Mallaig, serves some fantastic seafood. You could also drive up the west of Loch Ness towards Inverness too. One of my favourite locations is a small place called Strathmashie, the GPS coordinates for the exact place I like are 56.981543,-4.360893 You could actually stop there in a van, its a large waterfall that feeds Loch Laggan and is stunning. It is also, despite being right beside the road, pretty well unknown. The only photo I can find is this, and it really doesn't do it justice: Loch Laggan has a massive castle on it where Monarch of the Glen was filmed too.
Been there! I agree with all the comments saying go North. The landscape is absolutely stunning the further you go - I wish I'd been able to go to the Isle of Skye. The roads around there are absolutely cracking as well - I had fun driving around in a supermini, so I'm sure you can still have some fun in a campervan. (although the missus won't like it!)
If you're going to the Lakes then you can do the tourist thing in Windermere or Ambleside and head up over the Kirkstone Pass to Patterdale and stay in Sykeside campsite which is pretty nice and has a nice bar / restaurant: http://www.sykeside.co.uk. There's good easy walks out of Ambleside (EG High Sweden Bridge) and it being in the mountains there's plenty of opportunities to make short walks longer. Also you talk about going to the "End of the Mainland" have you any idea how long it will take to even drive from the England / Scotland border to John O'Groats? A friggin' lifetime. Route planners says 7hours, and I say they're having a laugh. You're certainly talking about a day there and a day back and you'll drive past some pretty cool stuff on the way.
Isle of Skye is sooooo nice. There's also a lovely little village called Plockton that we stayed in nearby, at a compsite, lovely surroundings, could go canoeing etc. The North of Scotland is where it's at
One worry about going to Sky in August... bring LOADS of midgey repellant The *******s will be EVERYWHERE during august over there.
Thanks for the input guys, I'm looking up these places today! I'm planning on about at least 2-3 days up and at least 3-4 days down including Skye
Well that applies to sooo many places. I've been eaten alive climbing in the Peak District by the damn things but the West Highland Midge... O M G Most people think the devil is red with the horns and the tail and the pitchfork, I tell you they look like this: Buy midge nets and wide brimmed hats to go under them. Proper midge nets with a really fine weave.
Might I suggest heading up to Ullapool (about an hour to 1 hour 20 drive from Inverness) and taking a ferry across to the Isle of Lewis and checking out Harris while you are there. Been going there every year my entire life, some fantastic scenery (they even have a stone henge-esque circle of old stones) and if you're into fishing always a good place. However as the others have said take some Midgey repellant and a couple of nets because they are complete and utter ******s up there.
Thank you! I've thougfht about going from Ullapool to Isle of Lewis and then from there to Skye, but the ferries are quite expensive for such a short journey (for the campervan that is). There's no "Hopskotch" route from Inverness to lewis than to skye is there?
If you go to http://www.calmac.co.uk/ and in the bookings box to the right tick the Hopscotch checkbox and then in the drop down box select HOP13 (There are others but that seems like the one you're after) and then you can choose your direction and add in the vechile etc. I happen to be going up to Lewis tomorrow but i'm doing it as a foot passenger. Three trains a bus and a ferry, just under 13 hours travelling
Hah! that's the one...I looked on that page yesterday and looked through all the "Hops" and missed that one. Thx! I'll see if i've got 2-3 days to do that. Smoo Caves/Durness looks great, Mallaig is the town with the Isle of Skye ferry, right? Strathmashie...combining with CairnGorm and river Spey...check! Thx!
I've planned two nights in Ediburgh so far...that about right or would one dayandnight do it justice? How's Glasgow?
Right so far i've got: Dover - Newcastle (A1 instead of M1)? Edinburgh CairnGorm - Speyside Invernes - Loch Ness* Durness Ullapool - Isle of Skye (maybe per Hopscotch 13 via Lewis) Fort William Loch Lomond Glasgow Galloway and Dumfries Lake District, and down to Dover All in all about 17 days. That's 1000 Miles of Scotland (shortest route, which I won't be taking) + 850Mls to-from Dover (Motorway, meh.) Should be doable *Hey, I'm a tourist!
Sorry to keep bumping my own Thread but: How's Scotland on the "'No Overnight Stay" rules? They're not expecting me to drive somewhere after "tasting" some of the local product, do they?
Glasgow is ok, but nothing special in my opinion. Edinburgh has the fringe festival going on around when you are up, lots of comedy and entertainment going on so two days would be great, you also have the castle and everything else there. And yeah, Mallaig is where you can get the ferry, only a few (20) miles from Fort William and Ben Nevis as well. Believe it or not you could actually climb part of Ben Nevis, it is actually paved for a large part and very simple to do, its actually a pretty easy walk it just takes 4 hours to get up. Also, hope there will be a wee photo log put up of this
