West coast of Scotland - Easter
Discussion
Our Ghibli is heading back to Parks in Glasgow for a wheel refurb, new brakes, and other love.
It's a 3 or 4 day stretch with their courtesy car.
I've never been to Scotland for anything other than military pain, training, wet, cold, more pain.
Any ideas for me, my wife, and our 10 year old son for 3 days of gentle strolling and stuff. I can't justify a driving trip as their courtesy car is unlikely to be another Maserati.
Many thanks.
It's a 3 or 4 day stretch with their courtesy car.
I've never been to Scotland for anything other than military pain, training, wet, cold, more pain.
Any ideas for me, my wife, and our 10 year old son for 3 days of gentle strolling and stuff. I can't justify a driving trip as their courtesy car is unlikely to be another Maserati.
Many thanks.
Depending how far north you're heading..
Oban's quite a nice little harbour town.
Fort william and glencoe is an outdoors mecca. Fort William itself is a bit lacklustre, but.. If you can find tickets, you can take the Jacobite steam train from Fort william to Mallaig and back. (The Harry Potter train). Spectacular at sunset. Fish n chips in Mallaig were good.
Skye is stunning, and the old man of storr is a 30 minute climb, but very rewarding views at the top.
Oban's quite a nice little harbour town.
Fort william and glencoe is an outdoors mecca. Fort William itself is a bit lacklustre, but.. If you can find tickets, you can take the Jacobite steam train from Fort william to Mallaig and back. (The Harry Potter train). Spectacular at sunset. Fish n chips in Mallaig were good.
Skye is stunning, and the old man of storr is a 30 minute climb, but very rewarding views at the top.
Oban and Ullapool are nice, get a ferry out to the islands. You can do a driving holiday in something other than a Masarti, you know? The roads and scenery are the same, no matter what car you're in! Part (arguably the best part) of the NC500 is along there too, up over Applecross way. As already mentioned, Glencoe is not far, there might/should be snow at Easter if you can ski or even if you want to toboggan.
It's a lovely part of the world, with some cracking beaches, Easter might still be cold, but could be okay if the sun comes out. At least there won't be midges.
EDIT - just seen you're in Glasgow, you can easily spend a day or 2 in Glasgow.
It's a lovely part of the world, with some cracking beaches, Easter might still be cold, but could be okay if the sun comes out. At least there won't be midges.
EDIT - just seen you're in Glasgow, you can easily spend a day or 2 in Glasgow.
XplusYplusZ said:
Depending how far north you're heading..
Oban's quite a nice little harbour town.
Fort william and glencoe is an outdoors mecca. Fort William itself is a bit lacklustre, but.. If you can find tickets, you can take the Jacobite steam train from Fort william to Mallaig and back. (The Harry Potter train). Spectacular at sunset. Fish n chips in Mallaig were good.
Skye is stunning, and the old man of storr is a 30 minute climb, but very rewarding views at the top.
Skye is stunning and a good suggestion, to get the Old Man it takes 30 minutes to get to but there and back and bit of exploring iid say 2 hours. To get a better view above it is a 5 mile hike, a very good one at that.Oban's quite a nice little harbour town.
Fort william and glencoe is an outdoors mecca. Fort William itself is a bit lacklustre, but.. If you can find tickets, you can take the Jacobite steam train from Fort william to Mallaig and back. (The Harry Potter train). Spectacular at sunset. Fish n chips in Mallaig were good.
Skye is stunning, and the old man of storr is a 30 minute climb, but very rewarding views at the top.
Also Quiraing is a good hike, but not overly difficult. I love the Cuillins, most like to look at them as they are spectacular but I love hiking them.
Some fabulous wildlife around Skye too, Fairy Glen, Dinosaur Foot Prints, Spar Caves (check tides), Neist Point, Mealt Falls, easily spend a good few days ther. But very outdoor place don’t expect lots of shops and restaurants and you have to book.
Oh and expect weather
Glasgow itself has the Transport Museum. There's Kelvingrove Park, the Art Museum and Gardens too. Parking can be expensive in the city centre but Google is your friend to find the cheaper parking spots. Not on the coast but there's Strathclyde Country Park. The Falkirk Wheel if that interests you.
For seaside towns you have Ayr. Check out the Electric Brae if going to Ayr. If the weather is good Ayr has a big beach with a kids play park nearby. You could head down the 77 to it, but on the the way back follow the coastal roads and get on to the M8. There's a few more towns you can stop at on that route such as Largs.
If heading up Loch Lomond way, the drive around Loch Lomond is decent but some of the roads are a bit tight, especially when there's tourist coaches which you should expect around Easter. If heading further up towards Oban etc there's Glencoe and Fort William to name a couple.
There's a lot of good driving roads, but I'd recommend planning ahead. Or, at least having a rough idea of where you're heading and when. Most of the places to visit are small towns / villages and can get boring if you spend too long in the one place. Try avoid traveling in and around Glasgow during the rush hour as it will get frustrating.
For seaside towns you have Ayr. Check out the Electric Brae if going to Ayr. If the weather is good Ayr has a big beach with a kids play park nearby. You could head down the 77 to it, but on the the way back follow the coastal roads and get on to the M8. There's a few more towns you can stop at on that route such as Largs.
If heading up Loch Lomond way, the drive around Loch Lomond is decent but some of the roads are a bit tight, especially when there's tourist coaches which you should expect around Easter. If heading further up towards Oban etc there's Glencoe and Fort William to name a couple.
There's a lot of good driving roads, but I'd recommend planning ahead. Or, at least having a rough idea of where you're heading and when. Most of the places to visit are small towns / villages and can get boring if you spend too long in the one place. Try avoid traveling in and around Glasgow during the rush hour as it will get frustrating.
Oban is a great base for a few days. Its not far from Glasgow with some lovely roads nearby. You have access to the slate islands, whirpool and Whale sightseeing tours, plus the power station tour.
https://www.visitcruachan.co.uk/the-experience/
https://www.seafari.co.uk/our-tours/whirlpool-spec...
https://www.visitcruachan.co.uk/the-experience/
https://www.seafari.co.uk/our-tours/whirlpool-spec...
Skye is indeed fantastic, I spend a lot of time there. But it's a 5 hour drive from Glasgow, and it's a big island with its share of single track roads, so you need to allow time to get around. Quirang to Glen Brittle (Fairy Pools and Cuillen) or Storr to Neist Point are both over an hour in the car. It's not somewhere to go if you are setting off from Glasgow on day 1, and need to be back before the car workshop closes on day 3 to collect your Maserati.
The poster above has listed some excellent walks on Skye, and whilst none of them are overly difficult, the Quirang or the hike to the top of the Storr (on the ridge, not just to the Old Man) are probably not what most people would class as gentle strolls. There's very much a 95:5 rule on Skye, with 95% of the tourists flocking to 5% of the sites. Personally I'd avoid the most popular areas at a busy time like Easter. The weather can change on a dime, so worth making sure you have the right gear.
The poster above has listed some excellent walks on Skye, and whilst none of them are overly difficult, the Quirang or the hike to the top of the Storr (on the ridge, not just to the Old Man) are probably not what most people would class as gentle strolls. There's very much a 95:5 rule on Skye, with 95% of the tourists flocking to 5% of the sites. Personally I'd avoid the most popular areas at a busy time like Easter. The weather can change on a dime, so worth making sure you have the right gear.
I mentioned the walking and outdoor options to my wife.
Her eyebrow was raised and the question came forth "is there nothing else to do apart from your outdoors stuff?"......my reply, " It's Scotland, the outdoors bit is the best bit"......
We've decided to go up 3 days earlier to have a bit of time in a nice Edinburgh hotel, drop the car off, collect the courtesy car (just found out that is a Maserati which is cool) and then we are heading off to Fort William area. Ben Nevis cable car, try and get 'on the day' tickets for the Harry Potter train, and I might get an our or two for a walk!
My wife is not one for cold, wet, and walking. Never mind.
Her eyebrow was raised and the question came forth "is there nothing else to do apart from your outdoors stuff?"......my reply, " It's Scotland, the outdoors bit is the best bit"......
We've decided to go up 3 days earlier to have a bit of time in a nice Edinburgh hotel, drop the car off, collect the courtesy car (just found out that is a Maserati which is cool) and then we are heading off to Fort William area. Ben Nevis cable car, try and get 'on the day' tickets for the Harry Potter train, and I might get an our or two for a walk!
My wife is not one for cold, wet, and walking. Never mind.
If you want a rewarding, atmospheric, not too hard and not too long walk I'd recommend the following at Glencoe - unless theres been a dump of snow it should be doable with nothing more than some sturdy shoes/boots and a rain jacket.
https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/fortwilliam/lostva...
https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/fortwilliam/lostva...
Gassing Station | Holidays & Travel | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff