We go the Torridon area from the Midlands about once a year (just got back last wek from our latest trip). We usually have a stopover at Loch Lomond (eg waterside Guesthouse, Duck Bay), but we have stayed in Glencoe at the Kings House Hotel (eastern end of the glen) which is ok, not upmarket but lovely location for a night or two. Some friends recently stopped at the Ben Nevis Hotel in Fort William and enjoyed it (especially the health club/swimming pool).
If you can consider Edinburgh I would recommend the Braids Hill Best Western Hotel, really well-run, a few miles to the south of the cntre but on a really good bus route (number 11) which if you stay on it will take you straight through to Leith (I recommend the tour of the Royal Yacht Britannia). We stayed in Edinburgh this year on the way up so that we could go to the Ultravox concert (not sure if I should admit that!:))
Enjoy the trip. IMO there's not much that comes to close to the NW coast of Scotland in terms of scenic grandeur. And some lovely driving (motoring link).
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Whilst out working in the garden today noticed the first dreaded midge of the season so don't forget your precautionary measures, never mind they will be away after a couple of hard frosts say mid October!
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talking midges as we werent,why go to scotland to get bit when yorkshire is full of them at the minute
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We have stayed on Loch Lomond a couple of times when travelling from Manchester to the Highlands when going via the A82
Good food, beer and setting.
www.oak-tree-inn.co.uk/
North of Ullapool, the scenery is spectacular.
A trip round the top via Durness and Tongue is highly recommended.
It is single track with passing places but traffic is light and visibility good.
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www.torlinnhe.com/
I stayed here at the Easter weekend very good, have a look at the Travel adviser Web site as it came out as highly recommended
lots of places to eat in Fort William at night
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3 of us went a couple of years ago on our bikes. Stayed in Fort Bill at the Nevis Bridge Hotel...good food/bar and quite reasonable.
Toured around Skye, Ardnamurchan, etc. Did the trip back to South Manchester in 1 hit but rained like mad from Fort William to around Lockerbie. A82 along Loch Lomond was awful, bad surfaces and lots of road work lights.
Went up by myself and met my 2 pals there. Went via Dumfries to Greenock, ferry to Dunoon, stayed the night and then a great ride up through Crianlarich, Tyndrum and Bridge of Orchy to Glencoe.
From Ullapool, go and see Applecross...supposed to be the most attractive place in the UK.
Have a great time
Ted
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ah, yes, midges - I recall a scout camp at Loch Goilhead 30(+) years ago, patrol tents, outdoor cooking, that sort of thing. Every meal time you had to scrape off the layer of suicidal beasts that were stuck to your enamel plate.....
But I go for a bicycle ride along the Aire & Calder navigation most weeks, so I can confirm the Yorkshire midges taste just as good :-)
Please keep the suggestions coming - it's all very open at the moment other than we are doing a week at Ullapool and a week on Skye - we are saving the East coast for another trip
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...a week on Skye...
When I was last there, there was a small car ferry from Glenelg to Kylerhea on Skye, so I went across on that and came back on the road bridge.
It's still marked on my 2005 atlas, but I heard somewhere the road bridge had more or less killed it.
Worth doing if it does still run.
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I've been to Skye on a school field trip - that was so long ago that we crossed from the mainland on a longboat skippered by somebody called 'Olaf' :-)
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It's not a trip to Skye without at least one ferry trip. I still haven't used the bridge, but have been to Skye three times since opened.
Fort William has plenty of eateries. Avoid the Corran Ferry Inn, food is fine, but the bar is a bit 'rustic' - it's a lean to on the back of the building which has seen much better days.
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Avoid the Corran Ferry Inn food is fine but the bar is a bit 'rustic' - it's a lean to on the back of the building which has seen much better days.
couple months back it was closed down
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1400Ted: From Ullapool, go and see Applecross...supposed to be the most attractive place in the UK.
Isn't that Plockton?
Applecross is much nicer IMHO
Fantastic seafood pub with good beer.
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Plockton, Applecross...everywhere great. Took the caravan up in 1970 behind our Super Minx drophead. Stopped in Ullapool, watched thec seals and saw the lights of the Russian or Polish fishing fleet out near the Summer Isles. Visitind the tropical gardens at Poolewe, drove past the incredible volcano, Stac Polly, Kylesku still had a chain ferry (free). Went up to Scourie, Durness, the cave of Smoo and Loch Maree.
Fabulous everywhere.
I'm inspired now, SWMBO, me, the Suzi V and the Eldiss might just be off again this summer ! Thanks !
Ted
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...and the Eldiss might just be off again this summer...
borasport,
Look what you've done now. :)
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Another lovely spot we discovered this year is Badachro, near Gairloch. Great pub next to the sea and the drive on the single track road from there to Red Point affords spectacular views of the Torridon Mountains to one side and Skye and other islans to the other.
I haven't been north of Ullapool for quite a while now and I'm now thinking about when I can get up there!
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A lot of the holiday accomodation on the west coast is fully booked for the season, we recently had to try many hotels and B&Bs to get a booking for four people in the Skye, Kyle, Plocton, Balmacara, and Strathcarron areas. Two of our London resident relatives remembered our praise of the area!
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Applecross might well be booked solid after the recent BBC programme about the place. Would recommend booking early that's for sure, because there's not much there apart from the Applecross Inn.
Can't remember the name of the BBC programme, but the presenter was Monty Hall or Halls. I'm sure Google could come to the rescue
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Well we are off in the morning - Onich on the way up, Arrochar on the way down, Ullapool and Portree in the middle.
don't know if it's the credit crunch and 'staycations', but plenty of places were booked up.
Should anything of motoring interest occur, I'll be sure to let you know, and thanks to everyone who ccontributed
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Have a great trip, bora. Let's hope the midges aren't active yet!
Incidentally, the road surface in many parts along the Loch Lomond (A82?)route is badly in need of repair so you may want to consider taking the route via Arrochar and Oban on both legs. More scenic, too.
Cheers (enviously)
Pat
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"Let's hope the midges aren't active yet!"
A colleague has just returned from Aberfeldy - they are!
Enjoy the trip - it it's still there Skye Silver has some interesting pieces, including pieces cast from coral off the Skye coral beach (also worth a visit).
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do a Wikepedia search on the Highland Midge. It mentions some Avon product that allegedly the midges don't like the smell of
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Avon Skin So Soft hand lotion. Which reported that it was not nearly as effective as DEET but many swear by it.
alfalfa
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Returned and recovered, thankyou. 1800 miles without incident, though suicidal bikers and foreigners who lose track of what side of the road they should be on (but who can blame them on a single track road) made things interesting
Recommended -
the food at The Ceilidh Place in Ullapool, and 'The Cafe' in Portree
the 4hr trip from Elgol round Soay, Canna and Rum in a rib ;-)))))))
Strangest sight - as we were approaching Elgol, a 12 house village at the very end of a 15 mile single track road, what was coming the other way - a Google Streetview car !
rib - rigid inflatable boat. We had enough fun in the one with 2 150 hp engines - their other has 2 x 250 !
Edited by borasport20 on 03/07/2009 at 14:42
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I agree with you on the rib - I had a trip round Jura (and had a fabulous view of a sea eagle) and into a rather mild corrievrecken. Perhaps it was only mild because of the power of the boat - this was maybe the rib with 2 x 250 hp. Lovely and smooth too - even in those sea conditions.
I was on a bike, but did largely behave myself :-)
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I went to Elgol a few years ago; about 15 miles down a good but mostly single track road ISTR. At the end was a small village and large village hall cum sport centre with a nice little cafe built in. I got a cup of tea and some nice home made cake and while paying said casually " I hope you got some help with this from the Lottery?" There was a very unpleasant pause and the, until then, very pleasant lady said thru gritted teeth "No, we got nothing, we raised the money and built it ourselves", Having apologised for being a dim Sasseenach, all was forgiven but it was an amazing effort from a small and isolated community!
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about 15 miles down a good but mostly single track road ISTR.
With too many bends on blind crests - my abiding memory is proceding at the appropriate rate of knots whilst being able to see nothing more that 12" of verge and the bonnet of the car :-)
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I seem to remember wearing a flower pattern rounded collar shirt while passing along those single track roads in 72.
The grass growing on the crown of the road picked up a 30 mile streak of black grease and oil from the Mini`s laden (corrosion proofed) underbelly.
I like to think that helped with brakepipe corrosion on other visitors cars as they passed over and perhaps amused the locals.
Good Yorkshire grease free to all and none of ye "Och no laddie - yea have to buy a roll" beady eye and withered finger in the Post Office pointing to a 100yd roll of tape - on requesting (as free here) a mere inch of tape to seal an envelope (bought from them) with insufficient glue.
That said - the later was in 86 with the 2CV - so could it possibly be cause and effect?
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oilrag
things change, things stay the same
the rib trips out of Elgol are a new development, but the other boat trips out of Elgol to Lockh Coruisk are still being run by the same bloke who took me out there on our school field trip in 197?
I've no doubt that the manky school minibus we were in at the time deposited more than its fair share of detritus on the roads of Skye, but at least this time I wasn't staying in the manky, damp youth hostel at Uig
big rant ?
at the best of times, sightseeing drivers annoy me. It's a road. Drive the car. If you want to enjoy the scenery, get off the road and out of the car. This applies, in triplicate, to the power of n, to gentlemen of a certain age in Boxters and SLKs doing sub 40 speeds on roads with a 60 limit where I can quite easily acheive 60 in my 1.5 diesel estate - oh, why isn't there a mimser death ray ?
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