Scotland road trip - please critique route / hotels / etc...

[havoc]

Been busy planning 5 days around Western Scotland, and this is what we've come up with. Pretty happy with the overall route, but wondering how to split the middle couple of overnights:-

Day-1: From Lancashire up to Oban.
- Up to Loch Lomond
- A83 to Lochgilphead (skirting Loch Fyne)
- A816 to Oban

Day-2: Oban to Torridon (or maybe Applecross)
- A828 to Ballachulish
- A82 to Invergarry
- A87 to Eilean Donan
- A890/896 to Torridon/Applecross

Day-3: ??? Wester Ross & Skye?

Day-4: Torridon to Glencoe (that area)
- back via A87 to Invergarry (poss including detour to Loch Ness)
- A82 to Glen Coe area.

Day-5: Glen Coe to Loch Lomond
- A82. Not very exciting.

Day-6: Head home.


With days 3/4/5, we're not sure how to split the accomodation...it'd be nice not to keep hotel-hopping every night, but we're worried that Torridon and L.Lomond are too far apart, and GlenCoe looks like a nice area for walking and sightseeing...but it'd be a good hour-plus back up the road if we stayed by L.Lomond on nights 4 and 5. Is that a big deal?!?

A few final questions:-
- is 2 nights around Torridon/Skye too much - not sure whether to bother with Skye this time or not...
- Any suggestions for things to do in those areas if the weather turns bad? Most of the planning so far has centred on roads and sightseeing.
- Any hotel recommendations? Don't mind if cheap&cheerful, or reasonably posh...up to £150/room/night, but preferably cheaper.
- Any restaurant recommendations? We like our food...

Thanks all,

Martin.

[cs174]

Sounds like it's going to be a great trip. When are you going?

If you haven't done it before, I'd highly recommend the Bealach na ba (Pass of the Cattle) to Applecross and the Wester Ross Coastal Route up to Torridon.

Also, if you have time, the A832 from Kinlochewe up past Loch Maree, Loch Gairloch and Loch Ewe is amazing.

Another option is the Road to the Isles (Fort William to Mallaig) stopping off at Glenfinnan Monument.

Colin

[whirligig]

Loch Lomond to Torridon is about a 4 hour drive (that's without stopping - I do it regularly and tend to break the journey in Fort William, if you are stopping off for photos etc it will obviously take longer!).

Day 3 certainly head up to Gairloch and maybe Ullapool (both pretty villages) from Torridon (come back from Ullapoool via Garve and Achnasheen for some exceptional driving roads). I would tend not to bother with Skye on a tight schedule but certainly include Applecross.

Don't be too fussed about including Loch Ness side - it's a slow twisty road and you'll almost certainly get stuck in frustrating traffic.

Day 5 you are going from Glen Coe back to LL - that's only about an hour and a half. Lodge on the Loch is nice at Luss on LL. Will give it more thought and post again later!

Edited by whirligig on Monday 8th March 08:00

[Pooh]

I would not bother with Skye in the summer, I would go to Applecross then continue North up to Lochinver, the roads and views up there are amazing and as whirligig said the Ullapool Garve road is superb if you can fit it in.
Should be a great trip.

Edited by Pooh on Monday 8th March 21:04

[v15ben]

I'm just dropping a bookmark in this thread as I'm planning to head up to this amazing part of the world in the 182 soon

[Semi hemi]

Food, Some of the places I have eaten and enjoyed good local produce.
Oban,
Daytime, The seafood Shack (the old green shed,not the caravans)on the pier by the McBraynes Ferry terminal, More a takeaway but freshest seafood you can get, straight from the boat.
Night time, The Seafood Temple. Top quality seafood at very reasonable prices.
Applecross, The Inn and The Potting Shed.
Gairloch area, Badachro Inn, The Old Inn(Gairloch), Myrtle Bank Hotel, Poolewe Hotel,
Laggan, (the locks on the Caledonian Canal) Spreadeagle Barge,
Ullapool, The Morefield Motel.
Kylesku Hotel

All are googleable and while all do great Seafood most do good local meat & fowl as well. A lot of them do accommodation as well so get clicking

[Sideways Rich]

The road to Applecross is a must - absolutely amazing, and the Applecross Inn for a superb lunch/dinner awaits! Simples!

[Herbie58]

The George Hotel in Inverary (Loch Gilphead)to both stay or eat is absolutely fantastic www.thegeorgehotel.co.uk

Your whole trip sounds fantastic - exactly the route I'd want to take myself!

[chrisj_abz]

if you are driving south from Fort William to Glencoe dont forget to take the road to Kinlochleven, not far out of the way but the north and south roads round the loch are great wee twisty routes and then the Ice Climbing place in Kinlochleven does fantastic breakfasts!

[havoc]

Best laid plans, eh?

Glencoe has some sort of historic motorcycle gathering that weekend, and it seems pretty-near fully booked-up! Kinlochleven too...which makes me wonder if it's off-road stuff...

Anyway, we were going to spend 2 nights there, so do we:-
- Move to somewhere nearby - what are Ballachulish and Onish like, or is there anywhere else that could be suggested?
- Tack an extra day on in the Wester Ross area and then just do an overnighter in the Glencoe area? (Again Balla' or Onish or similar)


Otherwise it's all coming together, and we've found some fantastic places to stay and interesting things to do/roads to drive.

[Pooh]

I would spend the extra day in Wester Ross.
This is a good site for Information about touring Scotland.
http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/

Edited by Pooh on Thursday 11th March 17:22

[whirligig]

Ballachulish - not an awful lot there but nice enough to spend a night for sure http://www.islesofglencoe.com/ perhaps?

Three nights in Wester Ross is plenty time to do it justice for a first visit. Best perhaps to base yourself in Torridon - spend one day doing the Applecross "loop" and another heading up to Gairloch and Ullapool (via the coastal route) then back to Torridon via Garve and Achnasheen and Kinlochewe. Alternatively, you could head up as far as Dornie (Eilean Donan Castle) one day, spend a night there, then head up to Torridon, via Applecross, the next.

[jet_noise]

Dear havoc,

Applecross loop, oh yes. The Cattle Pass and langoustines at the Applecross Inn is my last day on earth.

Plockton is quaint, too - where Hamish McBeth was filmed. The Hotel is great for seafood, too. I don't think hairy horny cows come into town any more. That's changed since we started going there, shame.

I definitely would go to Skye.
Especially if you can go one way over the sea to Skye on the Glenelg ferry (opens again April 1st clinky) and t'other over the bridge (er, from Skye).

You can call in at the Glenelg Inn. You'll be near Eilean Donnan Castle and can run screaming over the causeway and dressed in rags and painted blue (got a few odd looks that).
There are a few good pubs on Skye itself and the scenery is sort of Wester Ross+.
Portree has a great clothes shop called Skye Batiks, Mrs Noise loves this,

regards,
Jet

EFS dressed in rages ?!

Edited by jet_noise on Friday 12th March 13:57

[Dr Imran T]

I would recommend skye - I spent a week there over christmas and new year. I personally think that skye is one of the best places in Scotland - make sure you have a trip to Coral Beach on skye and the kilt rock waterfall.

You can get an amazing view from skye to the hebridies too

Plenty to do on skye

[Pooh]

Dr Imran T said:

I would recommend skye - I spent a week there over christmas and new year. I personally think that skye is one of the best places in Scotland - make sure you have a trip to Coral Beach on skye and the kilt rock waterfall.

You can get an amazing view from skye to the hebridies too

Plenty to do on skye

I agree Skye is great but it tends to be very busy in the summer compared to the NW, which can mean being stuck behind a caravan rather than enjoying the roads.

[ruddermode]

Pooh said:

I agree Skye is great but it tends to be very busy in the summer compared to the NW, which can mean being stuck behind a caravan rather than enjoying the roads.

Some of the roads on Skye are in a horrendous state at the moment since the cold weather - the council claim to be fixing them but I've not seen any evidence of it so far.

[Dr Imran T]

This place is nice - http://www.glenfinnanhouse.com/Default.asp?page=1 (not on skye)

Here are some pictures from our last visit to Skye.









Skye is a truly magical place.

Back on the mainland, if you have time, head over to the beach at Mallaig too.

[havoc]

ruddermode said:

Pooh said:

I agree Skye is great but it tends to be very busy in the summer compared to the NW, which can mean being stuck behind a caravan rather than enjoying the roads.

Some of the roads on Skye are in a horrendous state at the moment since the cold weather - the council claim to be fixing them but I've not seen any evidence of it so far.

Ah...now THAT could be an issue.

We're not planning on going to Skye (too little time and Wester Ross seems to offer almost as much in a more compact area), but we are going to be doing the long-way to Oban (left at L.Lomond, skirt the east coast of that peninsula then across-and-up), then up to Ft.William and on to W.Ross, then back down the A82 through Glen Coe and the Trossachs.

Any comments on what the roads are like in those areas, or should I be prepared to slalom down the road at 15mph?!?

[cat220]

Are you planning on going during the summer? When your heading up to Oban its worth considering going via Loch Awe, (turn right through the Arch at Inverary) great road with good surface. And nice views of Kilchurn castle and the Pass Of Brander.
The A82 is always pretty busy during the summer months especially up to Fort William (watch for Camera Vans on the Rannoch Moor and Speed Traps at Bridge of Orchy and deer) North of Fort William the roads open up and as mentioned previously head North of Ullapool and IMO you have some of the best driving roads in the UK.

[havoc]

Cheers cat - we're going in May.

Good point though...where do the camera vans and speed-traps sit/hide? It's hard enough to stick to speed-limits in the NSX around here, let alone on your sort of roads...