Visiting Scotland

[Nurburgring]

Good evening everyone!

In June I will be visiting the Lake District and wondered if I should pay a visit Scotland whilst i'm up there? The reasoning behind this is that I rarely get the chance to travel very far North and so the chances of me making a seperate trip to Scotland this year are slim. ( I live in Devon, SW England)

I will most probably be using trains as a mode of transport and so i'm wondering if anyone can suggest any must see places(cities? Edinburgh/Glasgow?) to visit which are within reach.

I'm not quite sure what the time scale is on this plan, although I'm sure I'll have atleast a few spare days to explore!

I have no idea what to expect and am pretty much open to any suggestions as I'm just thinking it through at this stage

Thanks in advance!

[F.M]

Plenty of good info here...just don`t go hillwalking in a t shirt up some mountains..Dress warm...
Best places to see....Glasgow,Edinburgh,taking in the forth rail & road bridges,Stirling for the castle..and a jaunt into the trossachs for the views...

www.visitscotland.com/

Edited by F.M on Wednesday 3rd January 23:51

[289]

Lost my dog on a 'Weir's Way' expedition on the hills
Anyone seen a wee terrier?

Tom Weir gave a good account of our country on Video and DVD

[F.M]

Los Angeles said:

Those are great pics, FM. Did you take them?

I copied and pasted them...does that count...?
The scenery is usually more of a blur when I take a jaunt up into the twisty`s...
...it never fails to take your breath away with the sheer presence of some of the mountains though....I`m sure a train journey up into the highlands would be a lovely scenic trip...and something I`ve been meaning to do...never been across the forth rail bridge on a train..it would be nice to do it on the way up.

[deevlash]

Nice hills and roads up here! The Borders would be a problem by train as there arent any that stop there. Edinburgh is very touristy but nice enough, Glasgow has more depth but its not as obvious.

[extreme-detail]

have a look on the scotrail site

www.firstgroup.com/scotrail/index.php

[Nurburgring]

Fantastic, great pics! Exactly the inspiration I needed
I'll have a spin through the rough guide/lonely planet, and then probably decide to scrap all that and leave the tourist trail alone!

[northo]

The West Highland Line is a must. As A PH'er, feel free to visit Rio Prestige if you want - you can get a train to Livingston!

[extreme-detail]

northo said:

The West Highland Line is a must. As A PH'er, feel free to visit Rio Prestige if you want - you can get a train to Livingston!

now thats a good idea take a TVR from Rio Prestige for a trip into the highlands for some of the best roads in the uk

Edited by extreme-detail on Thursday 4th January 19:14

[northo]

extreme-detail said:

northo said:

The West Highland Line is a must. As A PH'er, feel free to visit Rio Prestige if you want - you can get a train to Livingston!

now thats a good idea take a TVR from Rio Prestige for a trip into the highlands for some of the best roads in the uk

Edited by extreme-detail on Thursday 4th January 19:14

Thanks for that - its what we like to call a spontaneous free-form plug!

[extreme-detail]

lol no probs but got to say it is a good idea for some one to take one of your dream cars to the best roads in the uk and they could even get a wash from extreme detail up here to

[deevlash]

[GetCarter]

[northo]

GetCarter said:

Thanks Steve - shame is an emotion I am unfamiliar with.

[naetype]

northo said:

The West Highland Line is a must.

x2

[deevlash]

West Highland pictures (Maybe slightly different to what youd see from the train but I guess you wont have the time to walk the West Highland Way!)





Bridge of Orchy hotel, train stops here, does a cracking steak pie and has a nice pub which walkers stop in, and normal people too


We've got proper mountains up here


This is the local car hire companies rather boring fare too

[graham@edinburgh]

That reminds me - do steam trains ever run that line? Caught sight of that big viaduct near Bridge of Orchy this morning. Would make a cracking pic with a steamer running down it.

[GetCarter]

Steam Trains do the west coast line up to Malaig still (over the Glenfinnan viaduct, as seen in Harry Potter). The Royal Scotsman also goes to Kyle of Lochalsh. Not sure which route they take up but I'm sure googling Royal Scotsman would tell you.

[drybeer]

Hi.

Thoroughly recommend you exit the M74 at Moffat in Dumfries & Galloway, and drive the "tourist route to Edinburgh" the A701 which we locals call "The Devil's Beef Tub" road.

Fantastic scenery, and the road itself I would describe as the Scottish Nurbergring... Hills and troughs, narrow bridges, tight bends and tricky cambers, and then flowing fast straights with lots of room for some high speed cornering...

When you reach the other end of the road, Edinburgh touristy stuff can be done...

The run back down to south west scotland could be done by the A702, which runs back down a more straight route through Biggar before again joining the M74 at Abbington.

Enjoy,

Andrew Dryburgh

[northo]

drybeer said:

Hi.

Thoroughly recommend you exit the M74 at Moffat in Dumfries & Galloway, and drive the "tourist route to Edinburgh" the A701 which we locals call "The Devil's Beef Tub" road.

Fantastic scenery, and the road itself I would describe as the Scottish Nurbergring... Hills and troughs, narrow bridges, tight bends and tricky cambers, and then flowing fast straights with lots of room for some high speed cornering...

When you reach the other end of the road, Edinburgh touristy stuff can be done...

The run back down to south west scotland could be done by the A702, which runs back down a more straight route through Biggar before again joining the M74 at Abbington.
Love the Scottish Nurburgring idea - may have to use it in our marketing blurb if you don't mind.....

Enjoy,

Andrew Dryburgh