Pat, not been in here much lately (to be honest can't be bothered with the aggro I see here ) but I see you were up the NW of Scotland?
Enjoy it, what route did you go?
Cheers
|
|
We were in that area at the same time as Pat and Ian. Our route was Edinburgh area, Bruar, Aviemore, Inverness, Wick, John o' Groats, Thurso, Ullapool, Aultbea, Poolewe, Inverness, Mallaig, Fort William, Glen Coe, Callender, Stirling, Edinburgh area. With lots of small detours to visit places of interest.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Fri 1 Jul 16 at 22:17
|
sounds fabulous - weather obviously wasnt brilliant last couple of weeks but OK enough to allow you to get out and about?
John O'Groats is kind of, well, boring isn''t it?
|
>> John O'Groats is kind of, well, boring isn''t it?
>>
Duncansby Head and the sea stacks are nearby, and the ice cream shop is good! The weather was changeable and it only seemed to rain when we were in the car. :-)
Last edited by: Old Navy on Fri 1 Jul 16 at 22:28
|
|
I found Cape Cornwall to be more interesting than Lands End... I think most of it was donated by the Heinz company to the NT late in the 20thC.
|
Morning Bobby
Yes, we're just back from our Scottish adventure which ended up as a round trip of 2300 miles in 12 days.
The first night was spent at Berwick after a flying visit to In-laws at Scarborough then the fantastic drive up to John O Groats where we had 2 nights in a Natural Retreats lodge on the clifftop.
The longest day saw us sitting on the decking at 3.15 am huddled in warm clothes and with toast made from fresh baked bread and local butter found in the welcome hamper waiting for us (The bottle of wine was drank the night before!). The sunrise was beautiful, the air was so clean and the wildlife and birds were abundant. What a perfect way to start a holiday.
We visited the stone circle at Acavanich, Wick, Dunnet Head and Dunscanby Head, but as was to become a feature of the next few days, the towns held little attraction for us and most of the time was spent exploring tiny dead end tracks with the aid of an OS map and getting views some others wouldn't have bothered with.
Our next leg, and probably the best one, was the drive from there over to Kinlochbervie. With our inability to resist discovering what was at the end of every side road this took some time but was a most amazing experience and one we'll always remember.
We learned the hard way that Costa coffee hadn't made it up there and pub lunches don't exist along the way so managed a Mr Kipling lunch from Bettyhill Post Office where an armed Policeman was buying his as well!
We wanted to visit Cape Wrath but the boat wasn't running.
Being early risers, and with so much daylight we found a few hours out exploring before going back for breakfast was the way to go.
Sheigra and the surrounding area at 5am is to be recommended.
The route to Ullapool was interrupted as we followed the coastal route visiting Scourie, Drumbeg and all of the Assynt area which we were particularly taken with.
Our 2 planned night at The Royal at Ullapool quickly turned into a plea to management to let us stay for two more which after some persuasion the did as they were full but it was well worth it as there was so many places we still wanted to see.
Among them were Poolewe, Gairloch, Altandhu peninsula along with Altubea. The views over Loch Maree were really quite something and the weather was still fine and sunny in the daytime too.
Our next stop should have been North of Uig on Sky but staying an extra two days at Ullapool put paid to this and we vowed to come back and do from Sky downwards another time.
So from Ullapool we went to Fort Augustus (wouldn't go back again!) but we had a great boat trip on Loch Ness and loved Drumnadrochit.
The next 3 night were spent at Oban where we loved the view of Dunstffnage Castle and the marina off the balcony but missed the solitude of the far North.
In hindsight we would have stayed longer in the top end and had more time to discover the out of the way spot which work far better for us.
We will return as we need to do Knoydart, Plockton, Sky and Mull at some point but are a bit anti tourist areas, being unsociable and disliking crowds. We don't really do stately homes and gardens preferring to put the XC60 through it's paces with the help of the OS map.
So glad we sold the caravan and ventured beyond the main roads, and found that by sight seeing for 3 hours when no-one else was up and before hotel breakfast time we can make it work perfectly for us both.
The XC60 performed brilliantly, returned an average of 48.5mpg and was so comfortable and easy to drive through the worst the A1 could possibly throw at us on the journey home.
Pat
Last edited by: Pat on Sat 2 Jul 16 at 07:31
|
|
Scotland is just fabulous.
|
So are the people, pity about the neighbours though..
;-)))
|
>> Scotland is just fabulous.
So I gather from one of my Scottish colleagues. Can't be that good though, he still insists in living down here in the South instead of clearing off back home ;)
|
Cheers Pat - very interesting reading and away now to do some searches on google maps!
Am ashamed to say that I don't really know my own country too well. When American relatives come over they always have a list of places they want to visit and I usually need to ask - wheres that?
[As a side note, many years ago my dad and his various relatives in UK and USA seriously considered clubbing together to buy the castle at the heart of our Clan with the idea to organise conducted tours and stays for USA visitors]
Last year we camped in the Outer Hebrides and I will definitely go back there. As scenery goes, its absolutely stunning. Interesting you did it staying in hotels - I didn't realise you had sold your van.
Would definitely love to do this sort of trip in a camper van that would allow me to do some wild camping. I like the idea of finding a nice sport, parking up and enjoying the view. Would probably more be a VW caravelle as opposed to the big huge vans, especially on the single track roads!
As many people say, if Scotland had decent weather, you really wouldn't want to go anywhere else. But i guess the lush views are helped by the large doses of watering they get.....
Have spent many a New Year in Fort Augustus - ourselves and a group of friends used to hire an old house up in the hill behind it to bring in the New Year. Park up the cars on 30th Dec and they never got touched till the 3rd Jan. Wood burning stoves, home made soups and lots of drink, sing songs and food. On one occasion, it was touch and go whether we would get there as it was minus 15 outside and the pipes were frozen. But that didn't stop us! There was a good chippie in the middle of the town and the petrol station was the main shop!
Thanks for taking the time to write up your notes - appreciated.
|
This is one of my all time favourite campsites www.portabhaigh.co.uk/index.html
Making me feel I want to go back up there again soon but had main holiday already this year.
|
I'm not a camper but the Scottish country side is very nice.
Might have a run up there what is left of the summer.
|
|
My trip to London next week will be about 200 miles less than our trip around Scotland.
|
For Pat - Old Navy
