Help on planning scotland tour?

[yearoneracing]

Hi i'v put this in travel too but someone on here might well be the expert! i'm looking for some help in planning a trip up the west coast of Scotland with my girlfriend in October. We will be leaving from Edinburgh on a Friday morning and returning to Edinburgh on the Monday afternoon so where should I go?

I'm thinking Friday up to Fort William area but no idea after that as i'v never been up there... What are the must see and must drive areas to go to as i'll be in a GT3? I would like to go to Skye i think for a night and any accomodation recomendations would be very welcome too, the nicer the better! Its more about the scenery than the roads this time...

Thanks in advance

Henry

[Pooh]

There have been quite a few posts on this sort of subjet(try a search) and PHer Steve carter www.stevecarter.com has some ideas for routes as well as astounding photos to wet your appitite.
www.undiscoveredscotland.comhas some good info too.
IMO the best bit of Scotland(for scenary and roads) is the far NW through Torridon and up to Lochinver(I try to go up there every year), so it would be well worth going up that far.
I am sure you will have a good time especially if you get decent weather.

[P17_GTA]

Road to Fort William has about as good as you can get for scenary in this country, I was there at the weekend.

Any chance of you linking up with the Oban meet on the way up?......just a thought if you heading that way on the same weekend.

[yearoneracing]

Great thankyou i'll get onto those.

No chance of meeting the Oban lot unfortunately, dont think my girlfriend would appreciate it on our romantic break!

[RDM]

1st day head for Inverarnan, just north of Fort Bill, have a nice night then out to Plockton
or Skye in the morning. If possible then North to Applecross. The road to Plockton from
Inverarnan is heaven, it was in a C4S, in a GT3 it'll be out of this world!

[GetCarter]

This may help: http://www.stevecarter.com/bestuk.htm

e mail me if you want more info

Steve

[northo]

This might help.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en...

[billberks2]

northo said:

This might help.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en...

well done. alot of work into that. it take you long?

[northo]

billberks2 said:

northo said:

This might help.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en...

well done. alot of work into that. it take you long?

Doing the map was easy enough - it was the 20 years of driving round exploring the whole of Scotland that took the time .

I now do at least 3000 miles a year just scouting roads/ hotels etc for events in Scotland. There are worse jobs.

Try viewing the map in Google Earth - even better!!

Edited by northo on Thursday 25th September 09:49

[billberks2]

northo said:

billberks2 said:

northo said:

This might help.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en...

well done. alot of work into that. it take you long?

Doing the map was easy enough - it was the 20 years of driving round exploring the whole of Scotland that took the time .

I now do at least 3000 miles a year just scouting roads/ hotels etc for events in Scotland. There are worse jobs.

Try viewing the map in Google Earth - even better!!

Edited by northo on Thursday 25th September 09:49

Great stuff, have you stayed at knockinaam or waterfront hotel, portpatrick?

[Nefarious]

Some road recommendations for the southern section.

A701 Moffat to Edinburgh (actually slightly better the other way IMO, so maybe pick it up on your way back)
Trossachs Trail: From Callendar A84, A821 to Aberfoyle, A81 back to Callendar
Then follow A84 up to Lochearnhead, A85 to Comrie, then B827 to Braco.
A822/A823 to Gleneagles, then follow A823 to Pool of Muckhart.
From there you can pick up the A91 to take you back to the motorway at Sterling...

It's a long-ish run, but well well worth it (especially the Dukes pass section of the Trossachs trail, the Comrie/Braco road and the Glen Devon road (A823).

The road to the Skye bridge (A87) is also fantastic, but you'll be doing that anyway. Last time we were there, we took the ferry over to Mallaig (spotting some whales along the way!) and took the A830 back top Fort Willam, which has great views everywhere and excellent driving in the wider and better sighted places.

We also stayed at the Kinloch Lodge (http://www.claire-macdonald.com/) on Skye. Location/views were absolutely spectacular, and the food/wine was michelin quality. Rooms were a bit "homely" rather than top hotel style, but I think they've refurbed since we were there.

Good luck and enjoy yourself!

Edited by Nefarious on Thursday 25th September 15:11