Two Weeks in Scotland's Highlands

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wgerrard

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I'll be driving around Scotland's Highlands for two weeks next month. Advice, suggestions, do's and don'ts happily accepted.

We're talking slow and leisurely here. I don't plan to summit Ben Nevis or mountain bike the trip.
 
Be careful driving is all I have to say. The roads are nuts, you're on the wrong side, and people come barreling right toward you! Otherwise it's beautiful!
 
The real beauty is in the islands:

Orkney is wonderful - pre historic stones and landscapes.
Skye - go to Elgol and the Quiraing.
Harris and Lewis - more stone circles and breathtaking beaches.
 
Took a similar trip last summer. Edinburgh, Skye (Portree), Harris, Lewis (Stornoway), Ullapool, Inverness, Scone, Sterling and home.

We rented the car as we left Edinburgh and managed to put nine hundred miles on it. We had not had a drive-on-the-left experience before. Harrowing at first! All of our (US) habits and peripheral vision cues were wrong. We were both glad to have an extra set of eyes and ears to help.

I carried one of my Bessa Rs with a CV 35/2.5 and my wife used our Nikon DSLR.

Would take that trip again in a heartbeat!

PM me if you like.
 
OK, car booked. Pickup and return in Inverness. Considering establishing "base camp"in three different places in the Highlands, plus a day to two in the Orkney's and/or Shetland, so I don't indulge my habit of spending endless hours in the car.

Gear choice is between an R4M with a CV 21/4.5 and CV 35/1.2, or an OM-2N with a Zuiko 35/2 and 85/2. Also taking a Sigma DPS-2.
 
enochRoot said:
Be careful driving is all I have to say. The roads are nuts, you're on the wrong side, and people come barreling right toward you! Otherwise it's beautiful!
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I beg to differ, I think you will find that he will be on the right side. The right side being the left side of course. :D

Please don't photograph Buchaille Etive More. Yes it is beautiful but hardly a week goes by without it appearing in some photo magazine or other in the UK. You would think there were no other mountains in Scotland!

Have a good trip.
 
chris000 said:
I beg to differ, I think you will find that he will be on the right side. The right side being the left side of course. :D

Please don't photograph Buchaille Etive More. Yes it is beautiful but hardly a week goes by without it appearing in some photo magazine or other in the UK. You would think there were no other mountains in Scotland!

Have a good trip.
Click to expand...

Yes, by all means have a great trip. I must say while I really like visiting Britain, well England, haven't been elsewhere yet - - the driving issue is no damned joke. I mean it is very confusing so be careful!
 
Its not much fun the other way around either ..nearly got me shot in Spain.
After Franco died the country was very tense.
I and others were driving through in an English car and stopped for a rest one night outside of Salamanca.
I was woken in the early hours by the Guardia Civil shoving a gun in my face telling me to drive on.
Took a few fraught minutes to convince him that the steering wheel was on the other side.
That `ll not happen in Scotland.
 
Also compulsory is a photograph of Eilean Donan Castle ;)

chris000 said:
Please don't photograph Buchaille Etive More. Yes it is beautiful but hardly a week goes by without it appearing in some photo magazine or other in the UK. You would think there were no other mountains in Scotland!
Click to expand...
 
traveler_101 said:
Yes, by all means have a great trip. I must say while I really like visiting Britain, well England, haven't been elsewhere yet - - the driving issue is no damned joke. I mean it is very confusing so be careful!
Click to expand...

Not really. The only real risks are when you come out of a car park, petrol station or driveway onto a deserted road, and automatically drive on the side of the road you're used to: it happens to people who drive on the proper side of the road too. It also helps if you get enough sleep! Neither I (from the UK) or my wife (from the USA) has ever had much difficulty in switchiing from one side of the road to the other. The only thing Frances had a problem with is roundabouts (traffic circles) but you quite soon get used to them. I never got on with the superstitious American regard for stop signs, for that matter. DON'T treat a roundabout as a stop sign, or you're apt to get rear-ended. Even if you don't get rear-ended, it may take you forever to get onto the roundabout (advice from Frances again).

It's also worth remembering that in the biggest democracy in the world, they drive on the same side off the road as they do in Britain, Japan, New Zealand, Malta, and quite a few other islands.

I'll second the comment about the midges. My father used to live on the edge of the Highlands, outside Aberdeen. And I hope you know that B&Bs tend to be unpretentious good value and to provide excellent breakfasts, whereas in the USA they tend to be a lot more twee and expensive.

Cheers,

R.
 
wgerrard said:
I'll be driving around Scotland's Highlands for two weeks next month. Advice, suggestions, do's and don'ts happily accepted.

We're talking slow and leisurely here. I don't plan to summit Ben Nevis or mountain bike the trip.
Click to expand...


Ha! I'll be doing the same thing next week! You'll be surprised...when you ask, not many people want to give you concrete answers. I'll expect non-natives to chime in more than the natives.

So...I'm also interested on what people have to say. Haven't had much luck asking people directly (usual answers: haggis, kilts, whiskey, bagpipes...I'm sure Scotland is far much more than that, specially photography-wise).
 
I did the same thing about two years ago, wonderful trip! Don't expect too much from the hotels in Ullapool, but do enjoy the food and go for a walk along the coast up there, it's incredibly scenic. Did you consider Oban? Nice area too, and the seal watching boat was a highlight of the trip. Fantastic seafood restaurants right on the water, book ahead or right when you arrive as they fill up quickly.

Make it a small car, skip the upgrade even if its free, aside from the environmental and economic benefits, it's much easier to keep a small car on the wrong side of the road. ;)

Cheers,
Rob
 
chris000 said:
I beg to differ, I think you will find that he will be on the right side. The right side being the left side of course. :D

Please don't photograph Buchaille Etive More. Yes it is beautiful but hardly a week goes by without it appearing in some photo magazine or other in the UK. You would think there were no other mountains in Scotland!

Have a good trip.
Click to expand...

I've driven a lot in the UK, but not for 20 years. Booked an automatic, and Inverness is the biggest town I'll be in. I should be OK. (Lesson I learned on my first trip, to Wales: Get to your destination before dark.)
 
Roger Hicks said:
Not really. The only real risks are when you come out of a car park, petrol station or driveway onto a deserted road, and automatically drive on the side of the road you're used to: it happens to people who drive on the proper side of the road too. It also helps if you get enough sleep! Neither I (from the UK) or my wife (from the USA) has ever had much difficulty in switchiing from one side of the road to the other. The only thing Frances had a problem with is roundabouts (traffic circles) but you quite soon get used to them. I never got on with the superstitious American regard for stop signs, for that matter. DON'T treat a roundabout as a stop sign, or you're apt to get rear-ended. Even if you don't get rear-ended, it may take you forever to get onto the roundabout (advice from Frances again).

It's also worth remembering that in the biggest democracy in the world, they drive on the same side off the road as they do in Britain, Japan, New Zealand, Malta, and quite a few other islands.

I'll second the comment about the midges. My father used to live on the edge of the Highlands, outside Aberdeen. And I hope you know that B&Bs tend to be unpretentious good value and to provide excellent breakfasts, whereas in the USA they tend to be a lot more twee and expensive.

Cheers,

R.
Click to expand...

Hi, Roger. I've never found it difficult making the switch, although diving into serious urban traffic first thing is foolish. I can handle most roundabouts, but multi-lane affairs at motorway junctions are... annoying. Double roundabouts can mystify me.

Locals here put in several circles on a busy downtown street. Some folks still stop even when the circle is empty.
 
I hope you have a wonderful trip! As has been suggested, don't forget to drop in to Ffordes - fantastic camera shop not far from Inverness. If you head North West from Inverness you get to Ullapool on the West coast after about an hour of driving - my favourite part of mainland Scotland is the coastline from there up to Cape Wrath at the "top left corner" of the country. This area of Sutherland and Assynt has stunning coast and mountain scenery, remarkable looking hills like Suilven and Stac Pollaidh - all extremely photogenic. There's a cafe/restaurant in Lochinver (on the coast in Assynt about an hour beyond Ullapool) called the Lochinver Larder where they have a fantastic selection of pies! Not to be missed. Orkney is incredible, we lived there for a few years, the coastline and the neolithic remains are amazing. Shetland's a long haul, about 12 hours on the ferry from Aberdeen (whereas Orkney'as about 90 minutes on the ferry from Scrabster)...oh, and great beer in Orkney, the Red McGregor and Dark Island. I can feel myself getting jealous!
 
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