Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

I've a week driving holiday in a few weeks time, and I'm planning to head on up into the Lake District and then Scotland to enjoy some open roads, good views, and take a few decent photos....

Any recommendation of must-see places in Scotland (haven't been before), good views, or good drivers' roads??

Cheers in advance,

J

The West Coast is wonderful. If you can get to any of the islands, so much the better. Skye is a brilliant place - great scenery, food, etc. Plenty of photography to be done there.

You'll inevitably encounter single track roads with passing places, so don't expect to be bombing around the place at high speeds.

Just head north from Glasgow - you can't go far wrong, really. Head up through Glencoe to Fort William and on to Kyle of Lochalsh to Skye.

The area around Oban's pretty nice, too.

On your way up, after The Lakes, have a stop around Carlisle, then drive cross-country ffrom West to East towards Edinburgh. On the approach to Edinburgh, the towns and views are stunning.

18 years ago we drove up to Orkney via the east coast route then back down past Loch Ness and down the west side.

We went to Orkney because my Ma had spent her formative years there and hadn't been back since the end of the war.

The whole country is SPECTACULAR.

I am not usually imaginative but Glen Coe had the little hairs on the back of my neck standing up.

Just make sure you have a good spare tyre and your car can stand it. We had a puncture at 2pm 50 miles North of Fort William (ie 50 miles from anywhere) and had one of thiose mini spares, 50 miles at 50mph. We only just made it.

We would book the next night's accommodation at a tourist office as we left in the morning.

We went in May when there was plenty of accommodatiuon available, so you should be OK in October.


Of course we had very long evenings too, that won't be so good for you.

I should have mentioned that if you get the chance, visit Culloden.

When you see the size of the mounds of raised earth where the various clans are buried, you get some idea of how much slaughter took place that day.

So up the East coast, down the West then?

And they say the fields of Culloden are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the slaughter.

Glasgow, Loch Lomond, Crianlarich (gate to the highlands)up to Glencoe, Fort William, Road to the Isles (to Mallaig) (sorry but that's a dead end) back to Fort William, Great Glen (visit Nessie en route) and down the east coast via the Spey distilleries.


Alternatively just go to the Speyside distilleries!

Now there's a good idea.

As we went to Orkney my husband visited the Highland Park distillery. I was pregnant so couldn't go.

soc wrote:And they say the fields of Culloden are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the slaughter.

I don't recall seeing any icebergs at Culloden !

Perhaps it was so cold when I was there it felt like there should have been icebergs

It's difficult to go wrong in Scotland really. As someone said, once past the cities, Glasgow and Edinburgh you will have miles and miles of beautiful roads, mainly to yourself. I often visit Scotland at various times of the year and there is nothing better than driving along those scenic roads with not a car in front of you and not a car behind you.
One advantage of going up at this time of year: if you are visiting the western half of Scotland you shouldn't be troubled too much by the dreaded midgies now. I once rented a cottage on the banks of Loch Lomond, the weather was really hot but it was impossible to have a single window open at the cottage as the the place was soon full midges!
If you're heading up the M6 I always find a good place to stop for a good Scotish breakfast is Moffat. A pretty, small town with a few decent pubs that serve food.

englishangel wrote:18 years ago we drove up to Orkney ......
Just make sure you have a good spare tyre and ......

.... and if you go all that way, make sure you have adequate flotation and a spare suit of sails.