Scottish highland road suggestions?
Discussion
Hey Folks,
My friend and I run onelasttrip.net, in which we buy cars for less than £150 off ebay, and then take them on long roadtrips around various parts of the country (and eventually, europe, hopefully).
Our next trip is going to be around Scotland (including the isle of skye), and then back down to London. Generally, we try to put together a routing that takes in the best scenery, most challenging and fun driving roads, and includes places to see/sleep along the way. Problem is, in this case, neither of us have ever actually been to the highlands before, and so having checked out the usual suspects in terms of driving road websites, and found a few suggestions, it's hard to gauge exactly whether they're worth including in our routing.
The cars we take are rarely what you'd call performance cars - the last one was a '93 Ford Fiesta LX with a 1.3 engine in it -, but, they're perfectly capable of being lots of fun on tight, twisty mountain roads, and of course the possibility that the engine could explode at any moment when in the middle of no-where in the pouring rain without phone reception just adds to the excitement!
Having been a long time lurker around these parts (about 4 years, just without an account!), I figured that the pistonheads might be the best people to ask for suggestions of roads we absolutely had to include.
Thanks in advance
My friend and I run onelasttrip.net, in which we buy cars for less than £150 off ebay, and then take them on long roadtrips around various parts of the country (and eventually, europe, hopefully).
Our next trip is going to be around Scotland (including the isle of skye), and then back down to London. Generally, we try to put together a routing that takes in the best scenery, most challenging and fun driving roads, and includes places to see/sleep along the way. Problem is, in this case, neither of us have ever actually been to the highlands before, and so having checked out the usual suspects in terms of driving road websites, and found a few suggestions, it's hard to gauge exactly whether they're worth including in our routing.
The cars we take are rarely what you'd call performance cars - the last one was a '93 Ford Fiesta LX with a 1.3 engine in it -, but, they're perfectly capable of being lots of fun on tight, twisty mountain roads, and of course the possibility that the engine could explode at any moment when in the middle of no-where in the pouring rain without phone reception just adds to the excitement!
Having been a long time lurker around these parts (about 4 years, just without an account!), I figured that the pistonheads might be the best people to ask for suggestions of roads we absolutely had to include.
Thanks in advance
If going to Skye, for the full experience I would recommend taking a ferry, there are two ferries that run to Skye, one from Mallaig and the other, a much smaller boat and shorter trip, from Glenelg.
Glenelg is a tiny village at the end of a small single track road that goes over a mountain to get there, so for an 'experience' I would use it as one of your routes. Though the road to Mallaig is very nice and now pretty good nearly all the way, it is a lot busier with lorries and coaches on it.
Ok, how about, presuming start point of M6/M74 Glasgow.
Head north on the A82 towards Fort William, passing Loch Lomond and on through Glencoe. A few miles before Fort William take the small ferry to Corran, and then on the A861 to Strontian and on to Salen.
At Salen decide whether you want to head out to the Ardnamurchan peninsula (the most westerly point of the British mainland) which is one road in one road out. Or turn north to Acharacle and on to Loch Ailort, there you join the A830 and head for Mallaig.
On Skye do a loop or two and make sure you take in the road from Uig over the Quiraing to Brogaig.
Leave Skye either on the bridge or the previous mentioned Glenelg ferry, then with either route head for the A890 to Lochcarron, with the option of a loop through Plockton.
Lochcarron then gives you the option of 'doing' Applecross and the Bealach Na Ba. Then it depends on how much time you have as to whether you keep going north round the coast or head inland and make a way back south. Which should involve the A939 and A93 from Nairn(ish) to Perth.
I have picked some of the roads and ferries on this route due to the types of car you will possibly be driving as they might not be ideal for more sportier lower cars, but will be fine for cheap bangers, and should take you to places that are to some extent a bit off the usual tourist routes.
Have fun.
Glenelg is a tiny village at the end of a small single track road that goes over a mountain to get there, so for an 'experience' I would use it as one of your routes. Though the road to Mallaig is very nice and now pretty good nearly all the way, it is a lot busier with lorries and coaches on it.
Ok, how about, presuming start point of M6/M74 Glasgow.
Head north on the A82 towards Fort William, passing Loch Lomond and on through Glencoe. A few miles before Fort William take the small ferry to Corran, and then on the A861 to Strontian and on to Salen.
At Salen decide whether you want to head out to the Ardnamurchan peninsula (the most westerly point of the British mainland) which is one road in one road out. Or turn north to Acharacle and on to Loch Ailort, there you join the A830 and head for Mallaig.
On Skye do a loop or two and make sure you take in the road from Uig over the Quiraing to Brogaig.
Leave Skye either on the bridge or the previous mentioned Glenelg ferry, then with either route head for the A890 to Lochcarron, with the option of a loop through Plockton.
Lochcarron then gives you the option of 'doing' Applecross and the Bealach Na Ba. Then it depends on how much time you have as to whether you keep going north round the coast or head inland and make a way back south. Which should involve the A939 and A93 from Nairn(ish) to Perth.
I have picked some of the roads and ferries on this route due to the types of car you will possibly be driving as they might not be ideal for more sportier lower cars, but will be fine for cheap bangers, and should take you to places that are to some extent a bit off the usual tourist routes.
Have fun.
onelasttrip said:
Problem is, in this case, neither of us have ever actually been to the highlands before, and so having checked out the usual suspects in terms of driving road websites, and found a few suggestions, it's hard to gauge exactly whether they're worth including in our routing.
As a first timer, you are in for a real treat and will want to go back again and again. By far the best driving to be had in the UK.JM said:
On Skye do a loop or two and make sure you take in the road from Uig over the Quiraing to Brogaig.
+1Not to be missed.
After Applecross take the coast road via Kenmore and Shieldaig to Kinlochewe. From there if time permits head for Gairloch and Ullapool then the long loop north to Durness and Tongue. Back via Altnaharra and Lairg to Bonar Bridge. Thence along either bank of Dornoch Firth to the A9 and south to Inverness.
If strapped for time head east from Kinlochewe via Achnasheen to Garve. From there either take the direct route to the A9 at Tore or loop via Dingwall, Muir of Ord and the southern shore of Beauly Firth to Inverness.
Finally the short hop across to Nairn and down to Perth as previously mentioned.
Some things for a first timer to note. Keep the tank topped up as your fuel consumption will be higher than normal and garages are not plentiful in the Western Highlands. Many don't stay open late. There will be plenty of single track roads, especially if the northern loop is attempted. This includes A roads! Locals will appreciate it if correct etiqutte is observed.
Over 90% of all roads in Sutherland are single-track, meaning one lane both ways, with passing places. Single track roads should always be driven with drivers realizing there is a left and a right. Always favour the left hand side. Drivers should constantly check their mirrors and if there is a traffic build-up, should park temporarily in a passing place on the same side of the road ahead to let faster traffic go by. Visitors should never park in those parking spaces except to let faster traffic proceed. Never, ever, veer to the right to use a passing space there, it will not help but only confuse the driver travelling the opposite way. Single track roads collisions and near misses are major traffic problems that can stop traffic completely not just for minutes but for hours and can lead to complete road closures both ways.
Beyond the confines of towns and villages the land is mostly unfenced so watch out, and slow down, for sheep and other wildlife. In any collision you car will almost certainly come off badly and future progress might well be on the back of a recovery truck.
Wow! You guys are awesome 
I've punched those roads into google maps, and I can see what you mean about the need to come back - there are just so many brilliant roads up there it'd be impossible to do it in one trip. Since we don't know where the car is going to be located yet, it's still a little up in the air, but, I think there's definitely enough mileage there for at least two trips!
We'll be taking 4 days to do the trip itself, and are planning for a max of ~190miles per day, with less on some days than others - we want to actually see some of the scenery and towns and such this time around. Our last trip into Wales was great, but by the end of it we hadn't really seen anything except tarmac for 3 days straight (and smelled like it too!); as fantastic as the roads were, hours and hours of video of a car travelling through mountains/along a roads/through villages really isn't that interesting. This time the plan is to anchor the whole thing around many places of interest, along with back-story to go with it, and lots of photographs... that should make it significantly more interesting as an end result than the wales trip was.
I must admit, I chuckled at the thought of some silly inexperienced southerner attempting passing maneuvers by diving into passing places on the opposite side of single track lanes.
We're always as careful as possible to respect the locals while enjoying their roads, and I like to think I have fairly decent roadcraft; heck, half of the fun of driving twisty single track roads is the observation and making good progress while keeping a safe stopping-distance-aware speed through the blind sections (our day2 video on the website has some examples of single track driving through the Llyn Brianne pass; though it's incredibly shaky footage, unfortunately). Having a fantastic road-rally navigator as co-driver takes some of those question marks about what may lay ahead road-wise out of the equation too!
Here it is on gmaps - 963 miles of sheer awesome.
Points D and E came about quite randomly, as there are apparantly two Salens in close proximity! Not sure if that island section is worth us considering though - the castle drew our eye a little, but, there are lots of castles in Scotland afterall. Up in the north east, there's a bit of a deviation to take in Cromarty - blame the shipping forecast for that! -, and of course, Loch Ness and John O'Groats.
I honestly cannot thank you guys enough for giving me such a brilliant starting point in the route-planning for the next trip, and will definitely be giving honorable mentions!
Thanks again
I've punched those roads into google maps, and I can see what you mean about the need to come back - there are just so many brilliant roads up there it'd be impossible to do it in one trip. Since we don't know where the car is going to be located yet, it's still a little up in the air, but, I think there's definitely enough mileage there for at least two trips!We'll be taking 4 days to do the trip itself, and are planning for a max of ~190miles per day, with less on some days than others - we want to actually see some of the scenery and towns and such this time around. Our last trip into Wales was great, but by the end of it we hadn't really seen anything except tarmac for 3 days straight (and smelled like it too!); as fantastic as the roads were, hours and hours of video of a car travelling through mountains/along a roads/through villages really isn't that interesting. This time the plan is to anchor the whole thing around many places of interest, along with back-story to go with it, and lots of photographs... that should make it significantly more interesting as an end result than the wales trip was.
I must admit, I chuckled at the thought of some silly inexperienced southerner attempting passing maneuvers by diving into passing places on the opposite side of single track lanes.
We're always as careful as possible to respect the locals while enjoying their roads, and I like to think I have fairly decent roadcraft; heck, half of the fun of driving twisty single track roads is the observation and making good progress while keeping a safe stopping-distance-aware speed through the blind sections (our day2 video on the website has some examples of single track driving through the Llyn Brianne pass; though it's incredibly shaky footage, unfortunately). Having a fantastic road-rally navigator as co-driver takes some of those question marks about what may lay ahead road-wise out of the equation too!
Here it is on gmaps - 963 miles of sheer awesome.
Points D and E came about quite randomly, as there are apparantly two Salens in close proximity! Not sure if that island section is worth us considering though - the castle drew our eye a little, but, there are lots of castles in Scotland afterall. Up in the north east, there's a bit of a deviation to take in Cromarty - blame the shipping forecast for that! -, and of course, Loch Ness and John O'Groats.
I honestly cannot thank you guys enough for giving me such a brilliant starting point in the route-planning for the next trip, and will definitely be giving honorable mentions!
Thanks again
onelasttrip said:
Points D and E came about quite randomly, as there are apparantly two Salens in close proximity! Not sure if that island section is worth us considering though
Yea a full lap of Mull could be worthwhile, that would be a very good way of doing it, I forgot all about the ferry from Tobermory to Ardnamurchan, and I thought it was just a passenger one when I saw it on your route. From O (kinlochewe) head for Gairloch and follow the coast round.
Also north of Ullapool take the road to Achiltiebuie and after a tour round there head north for Lochinver on the coast road. Stop for a pie at the Lochinver Larder/pie shop.
And follow the coast road again through Stoer (head out to the lighthouse) and Drumbeg.
Also from south Loch Ness head to Tomatin over the hills, another small single track road, will miss out Inverness and a stretch of A9. Then head to Granton on Spey and the A939 south to Royal Deeside' for Blamoral and the A93 through Glenshee south to Perth.
You full trip will take more than 4 days though!
onelasttrip said:
I must admit, I chuckled at the thought of some silly inexperienced southerner attempting passing maneuvers by diving into passing places on the opposite side of single track lanes.
My apologies if I seemed to be preaching to the converted. The percentage of such roads is far higher up there than in Wales.On my last trip I was on the way up Bealach na Ba with a fellow club member about 100 yards behind me when I encountered a clueless d
d here.I had already seen him coming down and worked out that we would pass at the sign visible in the picture. He must have sped up a little because I had expected to reach it first. What I hadn't fully anticipated was for him to come steaming round the corner at around 35mph having made no attempt at speed reduction whatever! Fortunately I was already slowing in anticipation of stopping at the passing place because his lack of observation/awareness was truly frightening.
As you can see there are not many options to get out of the way on the left. I kept as far over as I could and braked as hard as dared given that I was partly off the tarmac. He slammed on and skidded to halt, peppering the front of my car with loose stones/gravel. He finished up less than 6" from my bumper. To crown it all he swore at me, refused to back up, and then attempted to force his way through! A singularly pointless exercise given that there were now two cars he would have to try to get past. His wife didn't seem too impressed by this display of bravado. Eventually he bowed to the inevitable and reversed back to where he should have stopped in the first place. The last thing I remember as we gave him the coffee beans and drove past was his wife calling him a prize p
k. Cheered us up no end.I sometimes wonder how such a s
t-for-brains and others like him manage to obtain a driving licence.Much of the highlands single track roads have more purpose specific passing places than those in Wales, and they are clearly marked and usually plenty wide for comfort. Wales' passing places by contrast are usually just incidental wide parts of the road and very rarely marked, so if you have experience in Wales you will cope fine.
I agree with the Skye recommendations above, its a nice place, my personal favorite is the turntable ferry, scary at times but an amazing drive to get to the landing on the Skye side.
I agree with the Skye recommendations above, its a nice place, my personal favorite is the turntable ferry, scary at times but an amazing drive to get to the landing on the Skye side.
onelasttrip said:
I must admit, I chuckled at the thought of some silly inexperienced southerner attempting passing maneuvers by diving into passing places on the opposite side of single track lanes.
It's nearly always forgein tourists often in hire cars that do that move.I also had one recently pull over to the right when a small section of two lane appeared, I was mid way to overtaking him at the time, and he never saw me, I managed to abort the overtake, but it was pretty close.
One of his passnegers must have corrected him and he pulled back left, so I did pass him cleanly and safely, but it was a bit of a surprise at the time.
11 reg Skoda Fabia seems to be the main hire car choice this year.
How about Oban to Invergarry by Loch Lochy -
http://worlds-best-drives.com/route.php?route_id=T...
Or there is also a lot of routes bestbikingroads -
http://www.bestbikingroads.com/motorcycle-roads/mo...
http://worlds-best-drives.com/route.php?route_id=T...
Or there is also a lot of routes bestbikingroads -
http://www.bestbikingroads.com/motorcycle-roads/mo...
JM said:
Yea a full lap of Mull could be worthwhile, that would be a very good way of doing it, I forgot all about the ferry from Tobermory to Ardnamurchan, and I thought it was just a passenger one when I saw it on your route.
I'll definitely keep it for consideration then, the ferry I haven't double checked yet - I don't particularly trust gmap's ideas of where crossings actually are, but will check if it turns out we can fit that part of the route in this time around.Thanks for the pie shop recommendation! We'll definitely include Lochinver on this trip to sample their wares. Right now, these are just going into one master route map; it's definitely too much for one trip, and what we'll do once we know where the car is going to be, is sit down together and choose the best routing to take in various things on the way, drive some brilliant roads, and eventually end up back down in London. We'll thin it out a lot during that process to bring it to a max of 750 miles spread across the 4 days. I'll post our final routing once we've got it! Anything we miss, we'll use for the next Scotland trip
Red Devil said:
My apologies if I seemed to be preaching to the converted. The percentage of such roads is far higher up there than in Wales.
Not at all! Better to preach to everyone than have some num-nuts you could have called out driving around alienating the locals!It's sad really, the number of people around who are exactly like that idiot you described having encountered - seems like they go into mental shutdown, concentrate on a spot about 6' in front of their car with a lead right foot, and then wonder what happened when things go wrong. The fact he refused to back up to let you by just sums the whole thing up entirely!
JM said:
It's nearly always forgein tourists often in hire cars that do that move.
I'll keep my eyes out for 11 plate cars in that case, and give them a wide birth.We had a similar experience to your overtaking one while doing the loop around Snowdonia; the going the entire way was slow due to camper vans and other touristy cars (combined with it raining, everyone was doing about 20-30mph in NSL), and it wasn't until we were past Waunfawr (going anti-clockwise and cutting off the top of the loop) that we were able to give it the beans. We eventually caught up with an old VW Camper running dutch plates and travelling at ~40mph, which we followed through some blind sections waiting for a chance to go by (in a 44hp Ford, the overtakes were somewhat difficult and needed long straights). My wonderful navigator had told me that there'd be a blind corner into a lovely slightly narrow but two-lane road that extended for about 1/4mile of clear visibility, so I'd slowly dropped back from the van to give us enough clear air to get up to speed (yep, overtakes often required this much pre-cognition, especially from leaving a 30 limit), and as we were just approaching the overtake (us doing NSL, him doing 40mph) in the RHL with a gap of about 20' between us, he decided that he preferred the middle lane of the narrow-but-two-lane road ( gmaps streetview). Was a definite brown-trousers moment. He stayed in the middle for another two miles or so before the road turned wide enough that it didn't matter and we could safely overtake.
That said, the brilliant twisty & challenging roads, beautiful scenery and amazing locals who would pull in to let us go by if they saw us coming (including a local bus service that pulled into a lay-by to let us go by!) totally make up for the complete idiots on the road.
RedRose123 said:
How about Oban to Invergarry by Loch Lochy
I'll add that one to the list! I did take a look at best biking roads originally, but, it didn't really give much information about what was there or why you should drive them.
Did very similar run to the one you have planned back in June.
Had a fantastic time with no problems on any ferries sometimes even given extra space.
Only disappointment was road quality on Mull however Tobemory was great, Chimaera actually became grounded (stuck) on one road due to the potholes and we had to turn back.
Applecross and Strathcarron just brilliant, and the road on Skye north of Portree.
Ended up covering 1700 miles in 12 days.
Had a fantastic time with no problems on any ferries sometimes even given extra space.
Only disappointment was road quality on Mull however Tobemory was great, Chimaera actually became grounded (stuck) on one road due to the potholes and we had to turn back.
Applecross and Strathcarron just brilliant, and the road on Skye north of Portree.
Ended up covering 1700 miles in 12 days.
Loch Ness gets my vote, went up there in April for a birthday roadtrip and enjoyed every second! The A82 along the west side is a good drive with stunning views over the Loch, but the real driving fun is to be found on the B roads on the other side. Glencoe further south has some truly breath-taking scenery - the roads are good there too but there are better ones as others have suggested.
This was on the east side of Loch Ness:
Having married a Scot, visiting the in-laws isn't such a chore!!
This was on the east side of Loch Ness:
Having married a Scot, visiting the in-laws isn't such a chore!!
I've just recently posted this one on another forum. it takes me takes me from home, over the Lecht Ski centre, over the Cabrach and then home again. Two of the roads that are worst affected by snow in the winter so you can imagine how remote they are.
Keith - Bridge of Avon - Tomintoul - Rhynie - Dufftown - Keith
Keith is my hometown and is also part of the "Whisky Trail".
Mix great driving roads with some guided distillery tours. Highlights would be Strathisla Distillery (Home of Chivas Regal) and Glenfiddich distillery.
Plenty of Castle tours that can be done up this neck of the woods too.
Keith - Bridge of Avon - Tomintoul - Rhynie - Dufftown - Keith
Keith is my hometown and is also part of the "Whisky Trail".
Mix great driving roads with some guided distillery tours. Highlights would be Strathisla Distillery (Home of Chivas Regal) and Glenfiddich distillery.
Plenty of Castle tours that can be done up this neck of the woods too.
The Crack Fox said:
Did anyone mention Applecross pass yet ?
Me and some mates are off to Applecross on 13/14 August with a 1978 Spitfire, a 1980 Rover SD1 V8 and a 1985 Alfetta GTV.Can't wait. I think I'll be taking the lead on the way up the pass as I am unconvinced about the other guys brakes
eMpowered said:
Loch Ness gets my vote, went up there in April for a birthday roadtrip and enjoyed every second! The A82 along the west side is a good drive with stunning views over the Loch, but the real driving fun is to be found on the B roads on the other side.
This was on the east side of Loch Ness:
Sshhhh, don't tell everybody This was on the east side of Loch Ness:
I used to go to school at Fort Augustus so after I learnt to drive I was a regular visitor to that road.
JM said:
On Skye do a loop or two and make sure you take in the road from Uig over the Quiraing to Brogaig.
Here's a couple of pics from the April 2009 tour.
Unfortunately we weren't able to spare a couple of hours spare to do this walk. http://www.walkingenglishman.com/scotland07.htm
An omission which will be rectified next time.
We took a break here at Scourie to stretch our legs on the 2009 trip. It was a cloudless day just like this and I thought what a superb location for one's final resting place.
In the main street is this WW1 memorial. It struck me what an incredibly high percentage of casualties it was for such a tiny village.
In the main street is this WW1 memorial. It struck me what an incredibly high percentage of casualties it was for such a tiny village.
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