Holidaying in Scotland

[cygnet]

If you can get hold of a phone no. for where you'd like to stay, you might reduce costs. There's a price to pay for internet booking platforms, regardless of "discounts" or "sales'

[Wowbagger]

Alnmouth (turn right at Alnwick) has plenty of pubs and tea rooms. There's a very special tea room at Etal, and there's another on a 1960s double decker bus by the Chain Bridge over the Tweed. Kelso is well worth a visit if you have time, but then that also applies to most of the border towns: Melrose, Hawick, Selkirk and Moffat are all very fine. Berwick is lovely. Jan and I had a couple of nights there in a B & B a few years ago and we lay in bed looking out of the window at the trains crossing the viaduct over the Tweed.

The west coast is very good, but you are more likely to meet midges there: they will probably be active in June. My experience - based on the Met Office's weather records data - is that April/May is usually the best time for W. Scotland as it tends to be very sunny at that time of year. We had a great trip there in June 2012, with almost unbroken sunshine.

If you are on the East Coast, St. Andrews is compulsory. Beano/Dandy fan? Visit Dundee and look for the statue of Desperate Dan and Minnie the Minx. Also other great stuff in Dundee. Then there's the Cairngorms. The Glenshee Pass is the highest road in the country, and almost very time I've been over it I've seen eagles. The Lecht is (I think) the second highest road, but boasts the highest ski cafe/tea room by a small amount. St. Andrews & Dundee both have Fisher & Donaldson bakeries, where the legendary Fudge Doughnuts are to be found. There is also a very good ice cream parlour in St. Andrews and, of course, the North Point Café, if you are feeling particularly royalist: it's where (not so) Silly met Willy, or so they claim.

The Black Isle is also worth a trip if you can. Cromarty has lots for a small town, and if you come back via Fortrose, there's a point/peninsula where dolphins are often to be seen. It's probably worth contacting Jane on FB (I don't think she visits YACF any more) because I reckon she's about the most knowledgeable person I know when it comes to touring Scotland, although of course she always goes with her bike on the sleeper. I'd wager there's hardly anywhere that she isn't familiar with, and her daughter's partner is a Scottish Mountain Guide, having conquered all the Munroes by his mid-20s.

As a taster, here's Jan and Ruthie with Bamburgh Castle in the background. That was 2014.

[Auntie Helen]

Thanks for all the useful replies - sorry I didn't answer earlier but I have been knocked out for over a day with the lurgi. Seem to be over the worst now.

I have provisionally plotted our route. We wanted to visit Mull as there's a bench dedicated to my Dad there, but if it's super-midgey we might scrap that plan. My original plan to visit the Lake District or North Wales and then maybe to my Mum in Ipswich was completely unrealistic!!

This is our planned route - 1t's 1.800km.



No idea what it will be like - I hope not too many very narrow roads as I am a nervous passenger! The BMW Z3 is a fantastic car for such trips (it's the 2.8 straight six engine) but I don't find it that comfortable for more than 3 hours in a day so I want to limit the driving.

[Regulator]

Oh, and another short question.

I just looked how long it takes to drive from Newcastle Ferry Terminal to Edinburgh (as I find more than 3 hours in the Z3 is too uncomfortable) and it's a very convenient 2.5 hours which gives us an excuse to stop somewhere for cake. Google's route is the A1 which I see passes lots of good places (Holy Island, Bamburgh Castle, Alnwick) but I assume we have to get off the A1 and nearer to the coast to really see those. Is that correct?

Don't take the quoted travel times as gospel.  Past Newcastle, the A1 is single lane either way for much of the route and agricultural - with tractors abounding.  It can be slow going... but that gives you all the more time to enjoy the fabulous scenery!

Alnwick is worth a visit - and the cafe at Barter Books does good cakes (not quite up to German standards but good).

I'd recommend a night in Berwick upon Tweed.  We stayed here and it was fab!

If you like walking, a visit to St Abb's Head is worth it.

[fimm]

Thanks for all the useful replies - sorry I didn't answer earlier but I have been knocked out for over a day with the lurgi. Seem to be over the worst now.

I have provisionally plotted our route. We wanted to visit Mull as there's a bench dedicated to my Dad there, but if it's super-midgey we might scrap that plan. My original plan to visit the Lake District or North Wales and then maybe to my Mum in Ipswich was completely unrealistic!!

Midges are only really bad if you are camping. Almost any breeze will stop them. The only times I have had real problems with them is when I have been camping. I would not be put off going to Mull (or anywhere else in Scotland) by the midges. In a car and hotels/B&Bs you shouldn't worry.

No idea what it will be like - I hope not too many very narrow roads as I am a nervous passenger! The BMW Z3 is a fantastic car for such trips (it's the 2.8 straight six engine) but I don't find it that comfortable for more than 3 hours in a day so I want to limit the driving.

Virtually all of the section south of Durness, to Ullapool, is single track. You've got the Bealach na Ba on your route - you are not going to like that, it is narrow and steep with big drops. The whole circuit of the Applecross peninsula is single track (and easily avoided by going directly south from Sheildaig to Lochcarron on a normal road).

[Auntie Helen]

No idea what it will be like - I hope not too many very narrow roads as I am a nervous passenger! The BMW Z3 is a fantastic car for such trips (it's the 2.8 straight six engine) but I don't find it that comfortable for more than 3 hours in a day so I want to limit the driving.

Virtually all of the section south of Durness, to Ullapool, is single track. You've got the Bealach na Ba on your route - you are not going to like that, it is narrow and steep with big drops. The whole circuit of the Applecross peninsula is single track (and easily avoided by going directly south from Sheildaig to Lochcarron on a normal road).

OK, thanks for this - I can see if I can work out where you are talking about and do an alternative route.

EDIT - Found the area you were referring to and have done the shortcut on better roads.

I looked at Google Street View of a single track road in snow... not appealing to me. I don't mind single track roads with good visibility but I don't like drops either side so the Applecross Pass is out.

(Experience of some of the Alpine passes this summer showed me that I am a scaredy cat with regard to driving or being a passenger)

[Jaded]

The bit from Riconich to Durness is single track, so you cannot avoid it if going north. It isn't too bad in terms of drops and corners.

The main road from Ullapool to Riconich is dual track. However the prettiest bits are the two loops north and south of Lochinver. via Nedd and Drumbeg to the North, and Inverkirkaig to the South. On the South all is single track from Lochinver until you get back to the main road, going past the south side of Star Pollaidh.

All these single track roads are now at the mercy of NC500 traffic. The narrowest bits have length restrictions on them. To stop the campervans. Before they stop themselves and everyone else...

The bit from Tongue to John o Groats is a bit dull. As is the bit south on the A9 from Thick/Wurso A more interesting route is via Forsinard through the Flow country. But single track, however without drops and bends.

Single track roads are slow. 25mph average is a reasonable estimate.

[FifeingEejit]

I hope not too many very narrow roads as I am a nervous passenger!

Um... it's all relative.
I've been asked how I can drive so bloody fast on the single track road at the top of Trotternish by a tourist from the USA before, I wasn't trying at the time.


If you're in a LHD car then as passenger the drops on the Bealach na Ba pass are on the opposite side from you most of the time.

[L CC]

Don't take the quoted travel times as gospel.  Past Newcastle, the A1 is single lane either way for much of the route and agricultural - with tractors abounding.  It can be slow going... but that gives you all the more time to enjoy the fabulous scenery!

The dual carriageway doesn't end until after Morpeth, and it's dualled for a lot of the distance to Berwick. It's also undergoing a lot of upgrades. There's more caravans than tractors on the Northumberland stretch because people keep telling other people how lovely it is. Stop it. Northumberland is grim and you should avoid where possible.

Barter Books I haven't been to for years, I think it's become a destination rather than a bookshop.

The Chain Bridge is closed- in fact, it's in pieces.

[Auntie Helen]

If you're in a LHD car then as passenger the drops on the Bealach na Ba pass are on the opposite side from you most of the time.

That doesn't help as I don't want Klaus to die either ;-) Also I might be driving for some of it.

I've edited out Bealach na Ba but I think single track roads with passing places are survivable by me - particularly with decent sightlines. I've done some Google Streetview of the roads and it mostly seems like you can see what's heading towards you.

We have 2 weeks to do 1800 km and will get rid of 450km in the first two days of driving anyway, so we have plenty of time to go slowly round the scenic bits!

A website I looked at said that hotels are mostly booked out in the summer so we should pre-book. I am not too keen on that as we might want to change our schedule a bit, have a shorter day if the weather is crap, spend longer somewhere else etc, but I don't know if that could lead us into accommodation issues. Anyone have any experience of this? We will be travelling the last two weeks in June.

[fimm]

A website I looked at said that hotels are mostly booked out in the summer so we should pre-book. I am not too keen on that as we might want to change our schedule a bit, have a shorter day if the weather is crap, spend longer somewhere else etc, but I don't know if that could lead us into accommodation issues. Anyone have any experience of this? We will be travelling the last two weeks in June.

No direct experience, but I think pre-booking would be sensible. A friend who used to have a summer job in the tourist information office in Inverness says that there really isn't a lot of tourist accommodation in the Highlands.

(I do remember that Mr fimm and I once booked a B&B at fairly short notice because of various reasons, one of which was the weather forecast. But one good experience doesn't meant that would always work! And accommodation is particularly in demand on the North Coast 500 route.)

[fimm]

The bit from Tongue to John o Groats is a bit dull. As is the bit south on the A9 from Thick/Wurso A more interesting route is via Forsinard through the Flow country. But single track, however without drops and bends.

I was going to suggest this and then didn't because of the preference for non-singletrack roads. It is definitely the nicer route (the A9 is also much busier).

[Jaded]

A website I looked at said that hotels are mostly booked out in the summer so we should pre-book. I am not too keen on that as we might want to change our schedule a bit, have a shorter day if the weather is crap, spend longer somewhere else etc, but I don't know if that could lead us into accommodation issues. Anyone have any experience of this? We will be travelling the last two weeks in June.

No direct experience, but I think pre-booking would be sensible. A friend who used to have a summer job in the tourist information office in Inverness says that there really isn't a lot of tourist accommodation in the Highlands.

(I do remember that Mr fimm and I once booked a B&B at fairly short notice because of various reasons, one of which was the weather forecast. But one good experience doesn't meant that would always work! And accommodation is particularly in demand on the North Coast 500 route.)

There is an added issue that catering is also suffering staffing issues, so you may have somewhere to stay, but nothing to eat.

[Ham]

Can I suggest that your route North uses the A68? (turn right just before Hexham {and no that doesn't give you the right to put a spell on me}, go straight up)

It's not as quite as fast, but substantially more pleasant than the A1 and not much slower. There's a great stopping place at the border, before you get to Jedburgh that gives you a real sense of going into a different country. Streetview doesn't do it justice.

As far as the single tracks go, as long as you realise the impact on your likely speed, they really aren't scary, coz you aren't going fasterer than you can stop. I see that you've built in A9 route (you can hardly not) - consider if you have time, venturing off. If you look at the map, you'll often see the "old" road running alongside - doesn't make for fast transit, but it is a holiday after all. Oh yeah, and while we're on the subject of maps don't forget that the scale of most highlands maps drops - this can lead to expectation failure One page is mostly more than double the normal pages.

You don't mention any whisky inclinations - if you did have, Dalwhinnie is the nearest to the A9, has a great history and tour (book!) and also a great bit of parallel road to the A9 to enjoy. The best to visit (IMO, obv) would be Glen Grant because of their garden walk. Honestly worth going, and you can blag your way into the garden without paying, just by walking through, should you wish to, and their product is of the best, again IMO.

[IanDG]

Thanks for all the useful replies - sorry I didn't answer earlier but I have been knocked out for over a day with the lurgi. Seem to be over the worst now.

I have provisionally plotted our route. We wanted to visit Mull as there's a bench dedicated to my Dad there, but if it's super-midgey we might scrap that plan. My original plan to visit the Lake District or North Wales and then maybe to my Mum in Ipswich was completely unrealistic!!

This is our planned route - 1t's 1.800km.



No idea what it will be like - I hope not too many very narrow roads as I am a nervous passenger! The BMW Z3 is a fantastic car for such trips (it's the 2.8 straight six engine) but I don't find it that comfortable for more than 3 hours in a day so I want to limit the driving.

Disappointed - you're not visiting me in SW Scotland

[chrisbainbridge]

The fun of course with single track is seeing how fast you can travel. A Z3 is perfect,  good acceleration and good braking. Perfect to get in and out of lay-bys.
Great fun. You can really scare the tourists!

[FifeingEejit]

The fun of course with single track is seeing how fast you can travel. A Z3 is perfect,  good acceleration and good braking. Perfect to get in and out of lay-bys.
Great fun. You can really scare the tourists!

When I got a saab 99 airborne at 70 on the road west from Dunvegan I decided I'd stick to sliding the back wheels on the cattle grid at Carbost for the purpose of getting round the corner.

I'm marginally more sensible these days...

Sent from my IV2201 using Tapatalk

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Take it easy round the bends..  Scotland is where I got my only speeding ticket.  On New Year's Day, too.  Not a camera - they were lying in wait.

I can but wonder what they were out looking for...

Drugs?. I got interviewed in the back of the car (I don't like it when they lock the doors), and they asked some odd questions about places in Yorkshire, which of course I knew nothing about. Maybe driving a Mars red Golf GTI* might have caught their attention.  They got me on doing 38 in a 30 limit.  I was about 40 miles from my parents place and 330 miles from home.

*the ideal car for taking the back roads between Perth and Grantown, there was little traffic last century.

[FifeingEejit]

I suppose alcohol is a drug, there's 2 reasons we get the 2nd of January off work...

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[Auntie Helen]

So ladies and gentlemen...

I did some googling and it seemed very wise to pre-book accommodation as there really wasn't much (they want you to stay more than 1 day, mostly).

So I have done my best to split up the route into decent sized chunks, having read all your comments above about slow sections. I hope I've got this right.

I'd be very grateful for any comments on the below items. I have accommodation booked at all the destinations but it's all cancellable if I have made a major mistake.

18 June, 205km, Newcastle to Edinburgh


19 June, 255km, Edinburgh to Inverness


20 June, 182km, Inverness to Wick


21 June, 85km, Wick to Melvich


22 June, 120km, Melvich to Kinlochbervie


23 June, 80km, Kinlochbervie to Lochinver


24 June, 150km, Lochinver to Gairloch. (this day was really hard to find accommodation for)


25 June, 120km, Gairloch to Balmacara


26 June, 116km, Balmacara to Fort William


27 June, 110km, Fort William to Oban via Mull


From Oban we will make our way back to Newcastle but I think we can be more relaxed about accommodation as I expect we will find something, so I may not bother pre-planning.

By the way, I said to my chap "it's cool to be at Fort William as we can see Ben Nevis" and he said "What is Ben Nevis?"

Any suggestions of improvements/better routes please let me know!

[Mrs Pingu]

Do you not want to spend a bit longer on Mull? It's a nice place.
At Lochinver https://www.lochinverlarder.com/ does an interesting line in pies (and other stuff).

[Pingu]

26th June: go over the bridge to Skye and come back to the mainland on the Kylerhea ferry. It would add nearly 20km to your day.

[orraloon]

and he said "What is Ben Nevis?"

Scots boi here.  Never seen Ben Nevis in real life.  Those things called clouds...  Be lucky.

[SoreTween]

Hotels.com is my usual first call with booking.com 2nd.  No justifiable reason but habit. Both have a few places the other doesn't, more in favour of booking. Mostly they overlap IME.

[Wowbagger]

and he said "What is Ben Nevis?"

Scots boi here.  Never seen Ben Nevis in real life.  Those things called clouds...  Be lucky.

I've climbed Ben Nevis twice. Once in 1968, second time in 2005. Both times were really hot sunny days.