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Topic: motorhome trip to scotland

bubbles67

30/7/2013 at 9:24pm
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Hi folks,
Is there any fellow motorhomers who could point us in the right direction for our forth coming trip to Scotland, it is our first time on this sort of holiday and would welcome any advice on campsites routes etc we are on a 9 day trip at from about the 19th of August, hope to hear from you soon.

Thanks

Lea-Anna

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Capt Lightning

31/7/2013 at 1:36pm
Location: Turriff Aberdeenshi
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It would be useful to know where you're starting from and what sort of holiday you want eg. beaches, whisky, castles, cities etc... or a general 'taster' of what the country has to offer.

Some people think that Scotland consists only of a West coast - wrong! There is a great variety of things to see and do - N, S, E and W.

A few more details and I'll see if I can help.

p.s. Scottish schools go back around that time, so things should be getting quieter.

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Two drifters off to see the world.

I'm tired of reality, so I'm off to look for a good fantasy.

bubbles67

31/7/2013 at 1:57pm
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Thanks for the reply, we are traveling up from Liverpool and would like to see the lochs and the unspoilt countryside, we want to avoid the cities if possible as we live in a big city and fancy the tranquility of the beautiful highlands, to be honest we don't really know what we're after but defiantly not the cities.

Thanks

Lea -Anna

debsy

31/7/2013 at 5:29pm
Location: North Wales
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The first time we went to Scotland in our van the kids were about 7 and 8 then we went to Loch Lomond - we live about 21 miles from you - stayed in the forest campsite there on the edge of the loch. And I mean the edge of the loch - son had his wellies on most of the time!
Then we went up the A82 to Glencoe and did the stuff there - stayed in the Red Squirrel Campsite - terribly twisty road, depends if you get travel sick or more so in your van! Then we went on to Fort William - can't remember where stayed then. Then we went up the Great Glen so past all the lochs and stayed on the edge of Loch Ness - you'll see the campsite on your road map. Went to Urquahart Castle )sp?

Then we went to Culloden cos I wanted to see the field etc - then we went to Rothiemurchus - near Aviemore - that was the best place - the Cairngorms and loch Morlich are our fave place - so much for the kids to do - tons of activities, although not cheap. Then we came back down again.

That took about 10 days and was the first of our Scottish tour rounds - always went at Easter and must have gone again for the following five or six years - always different routes but always going to the forest campsite at Loch Morlich despite it being quite dear.

We used to go at Easter to avoid midgies - usually had fab weather, one year snow! It got more difficult to go at Easter with kids exams so haven't been for about four years although did go in the summer a couple of years ago, plenty of midges then!

I still have many places I want to see so we will be going again in a couple of years but maybe only the two of us!

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Capt Lightning

31/7/2013 at 5:38pm
Location: Turriff Aberdeenshi
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Lea-Anna, the first place I suggest that you look is a touring map and :-
Undiscovered Scotland

Coming from Liverpool, the most obvious route would seem to be up the M6 and then clockwise. A few initial places I'd suggest are..

The Blacksmith's shop at Gretna Green
Along the A75 to Ayr
Bypass Glasgow and up to Loch Lomond & the Trossachs.
Up the West coast to Oban, Ullapool etc - possibly across to Skye.

On through Wester Ross & Assynt - this is real unspoilt country - you could almost be on the moon!

Across the north coast to Thurso and John O'Groats. (Pretty dire village, but you can say you've been there)
Possibly a day trip to Orkney.

Don't miss the late Queen Mother's home at the Castle of Mey.

Down the East coast past Wick and on to Dornoch and then to Crommarty for Whale and Dolphin watching.

Cut down to Braemar and Royal Deeside and out at Aberdeen.
Head south taking in the Falkirk Wheel, bypass Edinburgh and head for the Borders.
Then it's back across to N.England and home.

That should cover most aspects of the country.

Note - the West is rugged, wet and full of midgies.
The East is much drier, less touristy and has few midgies, but less dramatic scenery.

TAKE MIDGIE REPELLANT!!

-------------
Two drifters off to see the world.

I'm tired of reality, so I'm off to look for a good fantasy.

chelsea girl

31/7/2013 at 6:09pm
Location: Devon
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Lochalsh/Plockton, Skye is my favourite area, and will not disappoint on scenery. Bunree CC site near Fort William is on the way and a nice scenic spot for a couple of nights. Morvich CC site at Inverinate is set under the Five Sisters of Kintail - , pop into Eilean Donan Castle for an afternoon out & fab photos. Lochcarron is also a favourite of mine.

Bear in mind getting anywhere seem to take longer than normal (especially on Skye) - if you went across to Skye - could easily use up 9 days just on Skye and still not explore the whole island. Of course depending on the size of your motorhome too you may be restricted on what roads you could go down (eg Applecross - amazing drive but the pass to Applecross is a no go for motorhomes!)

Weeksy

31/7/2013 at 9:50pm
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We've just got back from a fortnight in the Highlands and NO midges at all! Have we just been incredibly lucky?

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AdminBob

01/8/2013 at 7:56am
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Quote: Originally posted by Weeksy on 31/7/2013We've just got back from a fortnight in the Highlands and NO midges at all! Have we just been incredibly lucky?

Hiya, sounds pretty lucky to me!

Any chance you can review the sites you visited please so all visitors to this website can read about them please?

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nicdak

01/8/2013 at 8:56am
Location: Nottinghamshire
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Hi the midges are more found on the west coast, if you go to the highlands and east coast its lovely and no midges!

Capt Lightning

01/8/2013 at 9:46am
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Very lucky, Weeksy. I've just returned from Kinlochewe and you could hardly see through the swarms of midgies.
Loads of campers & cyclists wearing protective mesh headgear. Had similar experiences in Morvich.

Great here on East coast - very few midgies and much drier.

-------------
Two drifters off to see the world.

I'm tired of reality, so I'm off to look for a good fantasy.

evenstephen

01/8/2013 at 3:53pm
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Having toured Scotland on many occasions over the years I would agree with Debsy's itinerary as reasonably relaxed in 9 days and a good introduction to Scotland (though you will be missing out quite a lot you can always plan to go back another time), but I think Capt Lightning's itinerary is a bit ambitious for just 9 days - it would be doable but you will be on the go most of every day with not a lot of time for stopping and seeing the sights. Really depends how much driving you want to do every day. But as someone has said, don't underestimate how long it will take to drive in Scotland (you have to drive a bit slower on many of the roads and a lot of the roads aren't quite as direct as you might think). I agree Undiscovered Scotland is a very very useful and informative website.
If you wanted to add to Debsy's general itinerary I think I might be tempted to go up "the Road to the Isles" to Mallaig, cross over to Skye and then come back down Glen Shiel to join the Great Glen and Debsy's route.
It's possibly stating the obvious but I would try whatever route you think you might have a go at through a route planner (but make sure the speeds used are a bit lower than normal) to see what is achievable and how long you might have to be on the road each day to cover the ground.

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Capt Lightning

01/8/2013 at 7:39pm
Location: Turriff Aberdeenshi
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Fair point, my trip would be ambitious for 9 days. There really is a lot to see and a lot different landscapes within the one country. Living on the N.E. coast (and whose family comes from the Borders), I am naturally a bit biassed to those regions and feel that many people miss out by not visiting a really great part of Scotland.

You could always go North as far as Ft.William, across the great glen to Inverness, South to Aberdeen, Royal Deeside and south to Perth via Glenshee. Whatever you do, I'm sure you'll want to return to see the bits you've missed.

One book I would recommend (Maybe your library has one to borrow) is "Scotland's 100 best walks" by Cameron McNeish - a bit of a guru when it comes to walking.
This covers most areas of the country.

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Two drifters off to see the world.

I'm tired of reality, so I'm off to look for a good fantasy.

bubbles67

01/8/2013 at 9:23pm
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Thank you all for the replies so far they are very helpful, keep them coming guys.

Cheers

Lea-Anna

ficklejade

02/8/2013 at 9:02am
Location: Isle of Mull
Outfit: 2 x Outwells Kairos 400 Caranex

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My friends are currently being eaten alive on Speyside!!

I'd echo everything that has been said about travelling times - everything takes that bit longer. The topography is partly to blame but also that many of our main A roads are simple twin track (as opposed to single track with passing places!) often quite twisty and carrying a lot of traffic plus have very few alternatives. The other thing to remember is keep fuel levels up. Only a few days ago a tragic accident caused some folks a 200 miles detour - with rural filling stations few and far between.

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" When I die I don`t want my life to flash before me in an instant, I want it to be a 3 hour epic !"

Capt Lightning

02/8/2013 at 9:29am
Location: Turriff Aberdeenshi
Outfit: Romahome R30 Dimens

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I've only ever experienced midgie problems on the West coast and certainly not in the N.E. , however I'm not often round Speyside, so perhaps the midgies are on vacation too!

Your advice about roads and tanking up is very sound. The expression you learn is MAMBA - miles and miles of bugger all, so go prepared. However, this is mainly the case in the north west and north of the country. From Thurso south, the roads are very good.

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Two drifters off to see the world.

I'm tired of reality, so I'm off to look for a good fantasy.

ficklejade

02/8/2013 at 4:17pm
Location: Isle of Mull
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Capt Lightning - agree less midgies over on east side but it seems that the brutes were out in force at the C&CC Speyside site last night - but it was great for bat watching!

I know I'm probably paranoid about fuelling but I got in the habit years ago when on the way to Skye. Had long detour and was busy finding my way and forgot about fuel. Desperate - only garage was shut but went and asked next door - he was in the middle of a meal and came out unlocked everything and served me. That was in the days of many more single tracks in the Highlands! I still get a bit nostalgic when I see some of the old stretches half submerged or used as passing places - sad I know!

Sorry OP my ramblings aren't resolving your quest for info. As you're just wanting a flavour of the country I feel the abbreviated route is best and that you'd be hard pressed unless you really like driving to attempt Capt Lightning's full itinerary in the time available.

By having a look at the Undiscovered Scotland (and other) websites you'll get a bit of a feel for the landscapes and you can work out a route that you fancy. The advantage of a circular route is that you can reverse it if (God forbid) horrendous weather forecast on one side and not other - bad weather doesn't usually last that long.

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" When I die I don`t want my life to flash before me in an instant, I want it to be a 3 hour epic !"

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