Best Scottish driving roads ?

[shadytree]

I am taking delivery of a new Aston soon and thought what would be better, than a run upto Scotland and enjoy my car with some great scenery.
Anyone here got any suggestions on great roads that are fun to drive ?
I heard the A87 to Isle Of Skye was voted best road in GB by Caterham drivers ?
Any input would be great.

Shady

[rab c]

The Inverness to Ullapool to Lochinver road is superb and the scenery up around Lochinver is the best in Scotland imho, it is well worth the extra distance north. An alternative route to Ullapool is up the west coast past Fort William and throgh Torridon this is superb as well but a lot slower than going up the A9 to Inverness and accross. If you have the time a circular route up the west coast and back down the A9 is well worth doing. As for Skye, it is a beautiful place but best avioded in the summer as it gets overrun with carvans etc, you can see better scenery and drive on better, quieter roads by going North and avoiding the most touristy bits. Try to avoid Loch Ness it is nothing special and is always busy.
I hope this helps, have a great trip,
Robert.

[shadytree]

rab c said:

The Inverness to Ullapool to Lochinver road is superb and the scenery up around Lochinver is the best in Scotland imho, it is well worth the extra distance north. An alternative route to Ullapool is up the west coast past Fort William and throgh Torridon this is superb as well but a lot slower than going up the A9 to Inverness and accross. If you have the time a circular route up the west coast and back down the A9 is well worth doing. As for Skye, it is a beautiful place but best avioded in the summer as it gets overrun with carvans etc, you can see better scenery and drive on better, quieter roads by going North and avoiding the most touristy bits. Try to avoid Loch Ness it is nothing special and is always busy. I hope this helps, have a great trip, Robert.

thanks for the advice

[gilesm]

Shadytree

You'll be spoilt for choice, here's a few:

If you come up the M74 exit Junc 15 and take the A701 Moffat to Edinburgh road.

The A822/A826 Crieff to Aberfeldy lots of fun.

A93 Bridge of Cally (just north of Blairgowrie) to Ballater, then A939 through Tomintoul to Grantown-on-Spey, (not one for the winter).

rab c said:

The Inverness to Ullapool to Lochinver road is superb and the scenery up around Lochinver is the best in Scotland imho, it is well worth the extra distance north.

Totally agree with Rab c, but don't stop at Lochinver, go on up to Durness, on the A894/A838.

Have fun

Giles

[gilesm]

Forgot to say, yes the A87 to Isle Of Skye is a great road.

Giles

[rab c]

[quote=gilesm]Shadytree


A93 Bridge of Cally (just north of Blairgowrie) to Ballater, then A939 through Tomintoul to Grantown-on-Spey, (not one for the winter).


I live just beside Blairgowrie and regularly drive this road, it is great but some parts (particularly Blairgowrie to Glenshee) are very twisty and rough, so you need to allow plenty of time over this route.

[shadytree]

After spending the evening looking at a map, here is my proposed route so far:

M74 - Carlisle to Glasgow
A82 - Dumbarton to Fort William (via Glencoe)
A82 - Fort William to Invergarry
A87 - Invergarry to Invermoriston (via Dundreggan)
A82 - via Loch Ness to Inverness
A9 - Inverness to Aviemore
A9 - Aviemore to Pitlochry
A9 - Pitlochry to Perth
M90 - Perth to Edinburgh
A68 - Edinburgh to Hexham/Newcastle

If anyone has a suggestion of parts to avoid or maybe a slight detour, I'd love to hear from you ?

cheers Shady

[Size Nine Elm]

shadytree said:

... A9 - Inverness to Aviemore A9 - Aviemore to Pitlochry A9 - Pitlochry to Perth

No no no... the A9 is a mindless, caravan stuffed boring road.

Go from Inverness, Tomintoul, Ballater, and then A93 to Perth. It wil take a bit longer, but you're after good driving roads, not going from A to B...

[shadytree]

Size Nine Elm said:

shadytree said: ... A9 - Inverness to Aviemore A9 - Aviemore to Pitlochry A9 - Pitlochry to Perth No no no... the A9 is a mindless, caravan stuffed boring road. Go from Inverness, Tomintoul, Ballater, and then A93 to Perth. It wil take a bit longer, but you're after good driving roads, not going from A to B...

LOVELY.... that's the kind of input i'm after. cheers Size Nine Elm

[Size Nine Elm]

shadytree said:

LOVELY.... that's the kind of input i'm after. cheers Size Nine Elm

Actually, quick alteration, go from Tomintoul to Cockbridge - fantastic, high road, great sight lines, long straights and sweeping corners. From Cockbridge head south, but skip Ballater and head stright for Braemar, its a better road, not quite single track, but narrow - and still great driving and views over Deeside/Donside.

If you want more fun roads south from Perth, head west to Crieff, then south past Gleneagles, and then through Glendevon. You can then head over the hill past Knockhill before hitting the motorway into Edinburgh.

[andy4200]

shadytree said:

After spending the evening looking at a map, here is my proposed route so far: M74 - Carlisle to Glasgow A82 - Dumbarton to Fort William (via Glencoe) A82 - Fort William to Invergarry A87 - Invergarry to Invermoriston (via Dundreggan) A82 - via Loch Ness to Inverness If anyone has a suggestion of parts to avoid or maybe a slight detour, I'd love to hear from you ? cheers Shady

I quite like this route. I've been up and down many a time without the dundreggan part.
Another option would be to Fort Augustus then up the back road, B862, to Inverness, absolutely brilliant. Single lane a bit of the way, opening out into straights when you get to the top then on the B852 down to Foyers (lovely little waterfall here) and along the bottom or stay on the B862 along the top. Both roads meet at Dores and on to Inverness. Far more fun than the A82 which is mind numbing in the summer with tourists.
Or come back down this way from Inverness all the way to Spean Bridge and then cut across to Dalwhinnie on the A86/A889. It used to be a fun road but I haven't been on it for a while.

Andy

[WilliamBall]

Size Nine Elm said:

shadytree said: ... A9 - Inverness to Aviemore A9 - Aviemore to Pitlochry A9 - Pitlochry to Perth No no no... the A9 is a mindless, caravan stuffed boring road. Go from Inverness, Tomintoul, Ballater, and then A93 to Perth. It wil take a bit longer, but you're after good driving roads, not going from A to B...

Agree 100% - avoid A9 like the plague. A93 from Ballater to Glenshee particularly good.

Hey, of you take this route you should pass all 5 Scottish Ski areas - Glencoe, Nevis Range (North of Fort William), Cairngorm, the Lecht and Glenshee. OK, there'll be no snow (so not much different from recent winters ) but might make a theme for the tour.

WB

[shadytree]

Looks like I leave out the A9 then !

[GetCarter]

Hi there

I did the A87 (again) yesterday... passed 2 cars in about 40 miles.... a simply stunning drive.

You may care to visit my 'best drive in the UK' page:

www.stevecarter.com/bestuk.htm

What Aston are you getting? DB9 I presume. I've been considering one myself (currently have order in for AMV8 - but am going to find it VERY hard to part with the missile I'm driving at present)

Steve


>> Edited by GetCarter on Tuesday 27th April 13:47

[shadytree]

GetCarter said:

Hi there I did the A87 (again) yesterday... passed 2 cars in about 40 miles.... a simply stunning drive. You may care to visit my 'best drive in the UK' page: www.stevecarter.com/bestuk.htm|www.stevecarter.com/bestuk.htm What Aston are you getting? DB9 I presume. I've been considering one myself (currently have order in for AMV8 - but am going to find it VERY hard to part with the missile I'm driving at present) Steve >> Edited by GetCarter on Tuesday 27th April 13:46

Hi Steve,

Yep DB9.... getting very excited now. popped up to the factory for a look last week. It should be with me in 10 days I hope.
Love the website. those kind of roads are what i'm talking about ! (nice pics)

[gilesm]

name said:

I did the A87 (again) yesterday... passed 2 cars in about 40 miles.... a simply stunning drive.

I spent the first weekend in April on Skye, got to drive the A87 both ways

Shadytree, looks like a good route, just watch the speed cameras on the A68, loads between the border and Edinburgh.

Giles

[shadytree]

Ok chaps, after alot of input of do's and don't and a lot of map studying, here is my new route taking in some of Scotland's best roads.

M1/M6 Southend-On-Sea to Kendal
M6 Kendal to Carlisle via Penrith
M74 Carlisle to Glasgow
M8 Glasgow to Dumbarton
A82 Dumbarton to Fort William via Glencoe
A82 Fort William to Fort Augustus via Invergarry
B862/852 Fort Augustus to Dores via Foyes
B862 Dores to Inverness
A9 Inverness to Bogallan
A938 Bogallan to Grantown-on-Spey
A939 Grantown-on-Spey to Rinloan via Tomintoul
B976 Rinloan to Crathie via Braenaloin
A93 Crathie to Bridge of Cally
A924 Bridge of Cally to Pitlochry
A9 Pitlochry to Ballinluig
A827 Ballinluig to Killin
A85 Killin to Crieff via St.Fillans
A822 Crieff to Muthill
A823 Muthill to Dunfermline via Gleneagles
A90 Dunfermline to Edinburgh
A68 Edinburgh to Corbridge
A69 Corbridge to Haydon Bridge
A686 Haydon Bridge to Alston
B6277 Alston to Barnard Castle via Langdon Beck
A66 Barnard Castle to Scotch Corner
A1/M1 Scotch Corner to Southend-On-Sea

[Size Nine Elm]

shadytree said:

Lots of roads...

Looks good. Enjoy...

[trackdemon]

Wow! How jealous am I! Well done....

Hopefully she'll be nicely run in for one of our Sunday morning Essex runs - you fancy coming along to one?

[andy4200]

How many days is that over?