Scottish Holidays

Hi All,

Me and the missus are planning to do our summer holidaying in the scottish highlands. We do not have a clue where to start really only been on a stag do to Edinburgh.

Anyone got any great idea's/experiences of where to go. We are hoping to have a bit of a hilly adventure with a bit of chill out by the beach also. I've heard there are some lovely beaches or is that cornwall

Im also hoping to tie it in with a race on the scottish calendar. We are going to be camping for 10 days and we need pubs

Any suggestions

Cheers
Jamie

Oh Blimey, where to start!! To chill out on some beaches try Tiree. Ab Fab. But for exciting hills and beaches try Skye. In fact anywhere on the West coast will be fabulosa. Kintyre peninsula....Knockout. Arran....Awesome. Even just tooling around within 20 miles of Oban would be lovely.
Very jealous.

Ah well now I can tell you, you have come to the right place. i am something of an expert on scotland having lived up here for a good few years and having toured far and wide both on foot and on the tandem with mrs C.
Give me a rough idea of what constitutes a good holiday for you in terms of level of activity, eating out, accomodation, tollerance to midges etc and I'll try to help

Cheers clodhopper.

We are camping for 10 days, probably do 1 big drive day at the start from eng - scotland then ease down on the driving perhaps 2 hours per jurney at the most. and then dependant on how far we get perhaps 2 long days home.

We are on a mega budget really, hence the camping. Like I say planning on getting a race in perhaps a biggy. The missus likes moderate walking, so I'll prpbably like to get some early runs in the morning. Then have a moderate 4 hr walk in the afternoon. Ben Nevis is a must for us, Like I say she wont be up for 10 days hills running and walking so, Ill have to mix it up with beaches and perhaps a few town breaks.

We'll probably be eating out about every other night, but cooking by the tent other nights. We both love pubs but not fizz palaces, and she also wants to go to Glasgow. Its all about give and take apparantly.

Cheers for your advice

Oh I have been told to get a ferry ticket and island hop. Any adive on this would be good

Jamie check out the following :-

www.capewrathchallenge.co.uk

It is a superb week of racing both on and off road with the highlight being the Marathon/ceilidh on the last saturday to end the week there is a full week of apre`s race events like wine tasting etc (well there was last year)

The campsite is on the cliff top above Sango sands beutifull white sands and surfing, pub about 60 paces from site.

It is agreat week and there are the Sutherland hills to go at as well.

I am going back for more this year, see you there maybe?

Very interesting john K, I like the way it said you can do any number of races and I quite like surfing also

Im gonna like this thread,

cheers

everyone

Jamie if your missus does a bit of running mine is intending on having a crack at the 10k while i do the half mara, she also walks while i am doing the Marathon, but there is plenty of company for non participants.

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Originally Posted by NotOnUrHelly

Cheers clodhopper.

We are camping for 10 days, probably do 1 big drive day at the start from eng - scotland then ease down on the driving perhaps 2 hours per jurney at the most. and then dependant on how far we get perhaps 2 long days home.

We are on a mega budget really, hence the camping. Like I say planning on getting a race in perhaps a biggy. The missus likes moderate walking, so I'll prpbably like to get some early runs in the morning. Then have a moderate 4 hr walk in the afternoon. Ben Nevis is a must for us, Like I say she wont be up for 10 days hills running and walking so, Ill have to mix it up with beaches and perhaps a few town breaks.

We'll probably be eating out about every other night, but cooking by the tent other nights. We both love pubs but not fizz palaces, and she also wants to go to Glasgow. Its all about give and take apparantly.

Cheers for your advice

Oh I have been told to get a ferry ticket and island hop. Any adive on this would be good

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Ok. Let me sleep on this I am going to give it some serious thought overnight and decide what i would do in your shoes. When are you going?

One thing that I generally recomend to people who want to introduce themselves to Scotland is to ditch the car in Glasgow and wlk the West Highland Way. That way you make the transition from city through lowland following scenic loch into the highlands propper finishing with the Ben via Carn Mor dearg and down the tourist track. Use 'Travelite' to ferry your packs each day. Travel back to Glasgow via train over the magnificent Rannoch More

Thats a suggestion to toy with but as I say leave it with me overnight

John

Just seen the date its a bit early in the year. She's a teacher and on specific holidays. Unless its some sort of half term.

Shame really, hows the weather been on your visits in the past?

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Originally Posted by clodhopper

Ok. When are you going?

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Probably summer time, in the six week hols.

July/August, not much fun camping for 10 days in the rain.

We where planning on New Zealand but we have ditched that till next year.

Scokland is the next best thing.

Cheers
Jamie

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Originally Posted by NotOnUrHelly

July/August

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I hope you like midges then :eek:.

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Originally Posted by david

I hope you like midges then :eek:.

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So ive been told, eek

you like tandeming you say? can you get panniers on it? - well take your car (with bike on roof rack) to oban - then get the ferry all the way to castle bay on barra, cycle round the island for your first day then ferry to south uist take a couple of days to cycle to bebencula then north uist then take ferry to harris then hop over to skye - cycle accross to the sligachan inn where you can get a bus back to oban which you can put your bike on!!

if you can take your tent on your bike you are laughing! I did this holiday the year before last at it was fab! (i think our island hopping ticket was £40!) in may though - so no midges..............

Cheers for your reply daleside,

I did not actually mention tandeming must have been one of the replies, but its a cracking idea. It would save money on paying to take the car on the ferries. Just adds another spin to the plans

Cheers
Jamie

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Originally Posted by NotOnUrHelly

Oh I have been told to get a ferry ticket and island hop. Any adive on this would be good

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Jamie; Colonsay has to have the nicest, cleanest, quietest,sandy, beautiful beaches I've ever seen. Idyllic.
Rhum's great for moderately sized hills, an old'ish (19th C) castle, and a real "got-away-from-it-all" feeling.

You'll have to post your photo's to make us all feel jealous! :)

sod it - lets all go! - lets have a forum holiday he'll think he's really 'getting away from it all' and we all turn up on our bikes, tandems, canoes and surfboards!!!

:d :d

Blimey DS! Shall I bring my welding kit up this weekend? Turn your 2 bikes into a tandem??? :D

I can get the canoe from no 64! They also have a boat but it's got a hole in it!

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Originally Posted by Daleside

sod it - lets all go! - lets have a forum holiday he'll think he's really 'getting away from it all' and we all turn up on our bikes, tandems, canoes and surfboards!!!

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:D :D :D

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Originally Posted by NotOnUrHelly

:d :d

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Let us know what you decide on Jamie....just so we can hear how things work out...;)

Well, seeing as you have never been into the best parts of Scotland and taking into account the brief you gave earlier, this is what I would propose you do.
Go for a two-centre holiday. Spend your first few days on the Island of Mull then spend your remaining time at Fort William.
If you can time it so that you can be there on 21 July you have the Isle of Mull Hill Race It's not a big race but the course is spectacular if you get a good day. The views from Ben More are breath taking. There's an excellent camp site at Craignure just by the ferry terminal and the Craignure hotel does great food, has a nice cosy oldie worldie feel with good atmosphere and friendly folk.
Craignure is a good base for exploring the southern part of the island with some great walks and runs direct from the site.
At the northern end of the island is Tobermorey. A really quaint little seaside town with its brightly coloured buildings and a good Indian restaurant. Try the locally made bread from the Co-op, delicious. There's a little campsite about a mile out of the town.
At this end of the island you are handy for the ranger led trip into the heart of the island to see the gigantic Sea Eagles that bread here. They're even bigger than the Golden Eagles that also breed in good numbers here too. Info on this here.
Also on the wildlife theme I'd highly recommend the sea trips to se the whales, dolphins etc
Then if you can tear yourself away from Mull, leave the island from Fishnish (camp site here too) and drive along Loch Linnie to Fort William. I'd highly recommend the Glen Nevis camp site as a base. It really is first class and very reasonable too.
There are masses of things you can do from here, routes to numerous to list. You have Glen Coe just down the road where you could spend weeks exploring (if you do nothing else, see Glen Coe).
If you want to do some cycling you can hire bikes at Off Beat Bikes including tandems. There are loads of mountain bike routes round here too.
If you fancy a lazy day take a steam train to Mallaig for fish and chips and a stroll on the beach, perfect if the weathers dodgy. It's a famous rail journey due to its scenery.
Finally the Ben. If you do The Ben then please do it justice. Do not follow the hoards up the tourist track. Go past the golf course on the Spean Bridge road and go up toward Coire Leis then go up Carn Mor Dearg before using the Arrete which forms a knife edge bridge to Ben Nevis. The views of the North Face and the scramble along the ridge are far more satisfying than plodding up the tourist track. Use this for the descent before swinging back at the Lochan toward the car.
Well that’s what I'd do anyway. Island hoppings great too but I just think you can cram more into your holiday doing the above, particularly if you've never been to the highlands before.
Hope this helps.

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Originally Posted by NotOnUrHelly

Hi All,

Me and the missus are planning to do our summer holidaying in the scottish highlands. We do not have a clue where to start really only been on a stag do to Edinburgh.

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God how I envy you with all that great countryside yet to discover.

Follow Clodhopper's advice and you'll not go far wrong, just hope you get decent weather to do it justice. The western seaboard of Scotland is a fantastic place. Pay special heed to Clodhopper's remarks about Glencoe and the Ben (Geln Etive is really good too).

A word of warning though - it will probably be the start of a lifelong addiction.

Thanks for the time to write that lengthy reply, July time is the defo the time that we are going.

Catherine (missus) mentioned visiting mull, its just nice to have the pointers that you suggested. As you say fort William and the ben is a must for us also and we probably would have ended up following the tourist path.

It may take some persuasion to ge the missus off the beaten track a bit. Not because she does'nt want to. Its my navigation, we did the fairfield horseshoe on a completely clear day from grasmere and ended up at Brothers Water. So I need to regain her confidence.

Thanks for your great advice and links. Love the bit about Whales and Dolphins.

I was also quite into a bad called "mull historical society". Who sung about a zoo at tobermoray.

Thanks Again its all logged and noted.
Now to get planning

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NotOnUrHelly

Thanks for the time to write that lengthy reply, July time is the defo the time that we are going.

Catherine (missus) mentioned visiting mull, its just nice to have the pointers that you suggested. As you say fort William and the ben is a must for us also and we probably would have ended up following the tourist path.

It may take some persuasion to ge the missus off the beaten track a bit. Not because she does'nt want to. Its my navigation, we did the fairfield horseshoe on a completely clear day from grasmere and ended up at Brothers Water. So I need to regain her confidence.

Thanks for your great advice and links. Love the bit about Whales and Dolphins.

I was also quite into a bad called "mull historical society". Who sung about a zoo at tobermoray.

Thanks Again its all logged and noted.
Now to get planning

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No probs. It's not too tricky navigating up onto the ben via my route but navigating off the summit of the ben in clag is very tricky even on the tourist route. Be careful.

Will do, I'll cast my eyes over a map, and get my planning cap on. I may be back in touch. Hopefully this thread will grow with loads of great places.

Like Average Punter said, its addictive. Hope not I have an addictive personality

Last year me and a mate did the Ben Nevis race then went up to Mallaig,had an overnight there then caught the ferry to the Isle of Rum for another overnight stop and then coming back we stayed at :D Arisaig where the best beach in the world is !

I have memory map software at home. Ill mark up all these places. Keep them coming peeps

If you go to Mull, you used to be able to hire mountain bikes in Salen. Great way to explore the island.

Islay and Jura are my favourites. Magical places.

Combine this thread with this thread and you have the perfect holiday combination in Scotland.

Just spoken to mrs cobbydale, who is half scottish and half welsh ( i know!) She has suggested that you head up to the Kyle of Lochalsh,Findhorn bay or Oban.Over the top of my head but there you go im from Silsden!

Just rescueing this thread, Its sunk to page three of the pub.

I plan to map all of the places mentioned this week. Keep them coming

Thanks

Jamie