2000 Mile Scottish Highland Road Trip - pic heavy!
Discussion
Last year I did 2000 miles around the Alps and Nurburgring which was amazing, but this year I decided to go closer to home – the Scottish Highlands!
It was a last minute trip so it ended up just being me and the 182 which was fine, meant I could drive as much as I wanted and I tried my best!
It was a great sunny day until I got to Scotland surprise, surprise! I headed up past Loch Lomond and then over the moors towards Fort William passing Glencoe:
I stayed in Corran Ferry, fantastic place and headed down the Ardnamurchan Peninsula on roads with views like these:
…and eventually got to a deserted beach:
The second day was an early start to head to the Isle of Skye. I headed up towards Kyle of Lochalsh passing scenery like this:
When I got onto the amazing Isle of Skye, I took a detour to a place called Elgol. Anyone going to Skye should definitely drive down this road, it’s like being Sebastien Loeb and there is barely any traffic at all!
And the best road sign you’ll ever see:
The rest of the day was spent being a hooligan around the Isle of Skye. Driving in Scotland is so much different to anywhere else, people pull over to let you through, indicate if it is safe to pass and enjoy seeing nice cars come flying past! There were some amazing roads and incredible views on Skye of course. A couple of places to check out, Quirang and the road north of Staffin to the remote villages of Northern Skye, incredible!
Day 3 and I took inspiration from this route; http://www.stevecarter.com/bestuk.htm and what a spectacular drive! It follows the coastal road from Plockton towards Ullapool with views like these:
It also meant taking what is arguably the best road in the UK; the road to Applecross! If you head over the tops, the road looks like this:
…and if you head along the coast you have 25 miles of virtually deserted coastal rally stage. Epic!
I then headed across the country through Inverness and ended up in Aviemore where I found some snow!
I was meant to head home on the Sunday morning, but decided that work didn’t need me on Monday so I rang in sick and turned right around to do more of those same incredible roads for another 2 days
I followed the amazing road from Inverness to Ullapool across deserted moors:
Then north of Ullapool to a place called Ardmair, spectacular! I also found a new house, but it might need work!
A few more stunning views including this stunning spot for a bit of lunch:
Back across the Applecross road of course but in the rain yet again!
The last day involved visiting an old family friend and taking a look at how their garden is coming along! (6500 acre garden that is!)
On the way home I saw my new favourite car.
Wish I could have borrowed that for a week of honing, but the 182 was pretty much ideal for this trip. Good fun on the tight twisties, enough power to overtake the slow tourist traffic and comfortable on the long motorway drag there and back. Anyone considering Scotland, just do it! Amazing roads, great driving standards and spectacular scenery. I’ve even got rid of a few of those annoying midges for you:
I also managed some quite decent figures:
Days: 6, Miles: 2190, MPG: 37.9, Gallons used: 56, average speed 45mph! I was quite scared by my credit card bill for the fuel when I got back - £312! – all worth it though!
It was a last minute trip so it ended up just being me and the 182 which was fine, meant I could drive as much as I wanted and I tried my best!
It was a great sunny day until I got to Scotland surprise, surprise! I headed up past Loch Lomond and then over the moors towards Fort William passing Glencoe:
I stayed in Corran Ferry, fantastic place and headed down the Ardnamurchan Peninsula on roads with views like these:
…and eventually got to a deserted beach:
The second day was an early start to head to the Isle of Skye. I headed up towards Kyle of Lochalsh passing scenery like this:
When I got onto the amazing Isle of Skye, I took a detour to a place called Elgol. Anyone going to Skye should definitely drive down this road, it’s like being Sebastien Loeb and there is barely any traffic at all!
And the best road sign you’ll ever see:
The rest of the day was spent being a hooligan around the Isle of Skye. Driving in Scotland is so much different to anywhere else, people pull over to let you through, indicate if it is safe to pass and enjoy seeing nice cars come flying past! There were some amazing roads and incredible views on Skye of course. A couple of places to check out, Quirang and the road north of Staffin to the remote villages of Northern Skye, incredible!
Day 3 and I took inspiration from this route; http://www.stevecarter.com/bestuk.htm and what a spectacular drive! It follows the coastal road from Plockton towards Ullapool with views like these:
It also meant taking what is arguably the best road in the UK; the road to Applecross! If you head over the tops, the road looks like this:
…and if you head along the coast you have 25 miles of virtually deserted coastal rally stage. Epic!
I then headed across the country through Inverness and ended up in Aviemore where I found some snow!
I was meant to head home on the Sunday morning, but decided that work didn’t need me on Monday so I rang in sick and turned right around to do more of those same incredible roads for another 2 days
I followed the amazing road from Inverness to Ullapool across deserted moors:
Then north of Ullapool to a place called Ardmair, spectacular! I also found a new house, but it might need work!
A few more stunning views including this stunning spot for a bit of lunch:
Back across the Applecross road of course but in the rain yet again!
The last day involved visiting an old family friend and taking a look at how their garden is coming along! (6500 acre garden that is!)
On the way home I saw my new favourite car.
Wish I could have borrowed that for a week of honing, but the 182 was pretty much ideal for this trip. Good fun on the tight twisties, enough power to overtake the slow tourist traffic and comfortable on the long motorway drag there and back. Anyone considering Scotland, just do it! Amazing roads, great driving standards and spectacular scenery. I’ve even got rid of a few of those annoying midges for you:
I also managed some quite decent figures:
Days: 6, Miles: 2190, MPG: 37.9, Gallons used: 56, average speed 45mph! I was quite scared by my credit card bill for the fuel when I got back - £312! – all worth it though!
I normally get 34 or so, but on the long trips I've tried to stick to 80mph on the motorways and found even with hooning around you can still get good MPG! Damn Ben, wish I'd made it over to Skye now - that's one hell of a road!
Trod some similar paths to you a fortnight ago (I AM sorting the photos, honest, but we've just accepted an offer on our house so things have gone silly this last week), and enjoyed ourselves immensely.
Applecross was very cool, and the coastal road would have been awesome if closed to oncoming traffic (there's also a story about Applecross involving a loose battery terminal, a panicking havoc, and a 10mm spanner to tell) - your car was far better suited to those roads than the NSX (which enjoyed the A87 far more!
)
mpg - I'm impressed - best NSX tank was 30mpg (on the way back) and the worst was 21mpg (A87 and Applecross)!
Trod some similar paths to you a fortnight ago (I AM sorting the photos, honest, but we've just accepted an offer on our house so things have gone silly this last week), and enjoyed ourselves immensely.
Applecross was very cool, and the coastal road would have been awesome if closed to oncoming traffic (there's also a story about Applecross involving a loose battery terminal, a panicking havoc, and a 10mm spanner to tell) - your car was far better suited to those roads than the NSX (which enjoyed the A87 far more!
)mpg - I'm impressed - best NSX tank was 30mpg (on the way back) and the worst was 21mpg (A87 and Applecross)!
What a fantastic trip & great write up!! Thanks for the interesting read…I am actually trying to plan a similar trip later this year with a friend of mine, him on his Hyabusa & me in the little Clio Cup. However still trying to finalise the route to take & over what period, but after stumbling across your post, it sounds perfect! If you don’t mind me asking what hotels/B&B’s do you recommend or did you stay at? Also if we had to cut it short anywhere, where would you suggest leaving out from the trip?
Any info would be great!
Also does anyone have any idea of best times to go – july/August for the better weather or perhaps a little earlier?
Cheers
Dan
Any info would be great!
Also does anyone have any idea of best times to go – july/August for the better weather or perhaps a little earlier?
Cheers
Dan
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