Holiday with Ben Nevis in mind. What else while in the area?

[Gingerbread Man]

I previously put a thread up about tackling the 3 peaks. I've got a holiday booked in the Lakes for mid August. The week before this, the girlfriend and I fancy heading up to Scotland and ticking off Ben Nevis.

We'll be travelling up from Hampshire, to Ben Nevis area and then back to the Lakes for a further weeks holiday with friends before heading back home.

With the main idea of walking Ben Nevis, what else is good to see and where is good to stay for a a shade under a weeks round trip of Scotland (we'll probably spend a night or two in the Yorkshire Dales on the way up, so this takes slightly away from the week)? Is it easy to pop up to the Isle of Sky?

We basically need to decide on a base for this aspect of the holiday. For the whole week or for part of.

[ChrisBMW]

I spent 5 days in Scotland last may and covered about 1600 miles and still didn't get to see all the sites, if Ben Nevis is number one on your list you probably don't want to have to drive miles to get to it so you will probably want to stay in the fortwilliam area which isn't great to be honest. We never made it to sky as we spent so much time further north and west which was stunning but our trip centred around driving rather than walking.

There are some nice lodges around argyl but I'm not sure if this would be close enough to Ben Nevis for you.

[whirligig]

Certainly Fort William is not the nicest place to stay for any prolonged spell. You could do the Isle of Skye in a loop - ie cross ferry at Armadale and back via the bridge at Kyle, down to FW again but personally I'd keep on the West Coast but head northwards. To: Plockton, Lochcarron, Applecross, Torridon, Gairloch, Ullapool, Lochinver for the best of the scenery and the best roads (although tends to be at its busiest in August and the dreaded midges are at their worst - much better to come end April/May or late Sept/early Oct)

Edited by whirligig on Sunday 24th March 15:25

[Gingerbread Man]

Stuck time wise with the Missus and her teachers holidays. So climb Ben Nevis then get the hell out of there seems to be the right thing to do!

I do fancy a hoon around the highlands, but don't think it'll be that type of holiday this time around.

[GoneAnon]

Drive north and stop off at Loch Lomond or Perth before heading on to Fort William for one or maybe two nights, where you can do Ben Nevis and maybe walk a part of the West Highland Way.

Then I'd get in the car and head for Skye. En-Route, Spean Bridge has the Commando Memorial where you can see where they did their WW2 training and understand just why the ones who passed became so very tough and resilient! Also stop at Eileen Donan Castle - it's been in so many movies and TV shows, including the New Avengers with Purdey walking out in her underwear and a German greatcoat (mmm!), and the castle hides an impressive secret too!

Unless you really want to use a ferry, I'd use the bridge going onto Skye and coming off - it is quicker, easier and cheaper!

Once on Skye, the Cuillins are every bit as good for walking and there is more to see/do with some excellent hotels and restaurants, though the Three Chimneys might be fully booked already.