Driving in the Scottish Highlands

maverick.munish · 1st October 2014, 17:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by snan

All in all for Indian passport holders, its good the Scottish independence did not happen - one less visa to take on top of UK :-)

Snan

Could not have agreed more.
I work for a client in the UK who have a few locations within Soctland. (Perth)
They were really in a dilemna around the Independance referandum.
Thankfully it did not happen and we can traverse on a single visa.

abhinav.s · 1st October 2014, 21:03

Wow! Awesome pics. The location looks serene, peaceful & lovely. Thanks for sharing.

centaur · 2nd October 2014, 13:05

Scotland and the Scottish Highlands in particular are amazing locations in terms of climate, roads, traffic and are a treat to the eyes. I was in Glasgow for a year and thoroughly enjoyed it there though I did not get much to drive as I was there for my PG. Did not see much jams there apart from on the M8 occasionally.

ramkya1 · 4th October 2014, 20:25

Nice short account.

Reminded me of our End to End drive in UK a few years back. Would be interesting to see some more photos.

--Ramky
=======

manasmadaan · 18th May 2015, 14:36

Hello,
I will be travelling to UK in june and plan to self drive from london to scotland. Have already hired a VW golf estate for that.
We ll be three people. Me, my wife and my 5 year old daughter.

Our planned itenary for this road trip is:

10th june: drive from london to lake district and stay there for one night.
11th june: drive from lake district to inverness.
11 and 12th june: stay at inverness
13th june: drive from inverness to glassgow and stay there. Visit edinburgh if possible.
14th june: drive from glassgow to coventry.

I would like to have opinions about the above itinerary regarding its feasibility, the travel times, precautions and any other advices that i may need.

I have already obtained the international driving license here in India.

Thanks in advance

shreyak_ss · 18th May 2015, 19:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by manasmadaan

Hello,
I will be travelling to UK in june and plan to self drive from london to scotland. Have already hired a VW golf estate for that.
We ll be three people. Me, my wife and my 5 year old daughter.

Our planned itenary for this road trip is:

10th june: drive from london to lake district and stay there for one night.
11th june: drive from lake district to inverness.
11 and 12th june: stay at inverness
13th june: drive from inverness to glassgow and stay there. Visit edinburgh if possible.
14th june: drive from glassgow to coventry.

I would like to have opinions about the above itinerary regarding its feasibility, the travel times, precautions and any other advices that i may need.

I have already obtained the international driving license here in India.

Thanks in advance

Hi Manas,
when we visited London and Scotland last year in April, we stayed for few days in London after which we drove to Scotland. I would suggest that instead of staying at Lake district, you take a halt at Manchester and then drive to Edinburgh first. You can easily cover Lake District on the way. Stay at Edinburgh for 1 day and the drive to inverness. It's a beautiful drive through the highlands and you'll thoroughly enjoy it. While travelling to Inverness via Edinburgh, you can visit the famous Loch ness and take a cruise too if time permits. I would recommend visiting Edinburgh rather than Glasgow and for Inverness 1 day is more than enough. You should visit Isle of Skye which is said to be a beautiful place something which we couldn't cover. PM me for any other details.

Regards,
Shreyak

manasmadaan · 19th May 2015, 10:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by shreyak_ss

Hi Manas,
when we visited London and Scotland last year in April, we stayed for few days in London after which we drove to Scotland. I would suggest that instead of staying at Lake district, you take a halt at Manchester and then drive to Edinburgh first. You can easily cover Lake District on the way. Stay at Edinburgh for 1 day and the drive to inverness. It's a beautiful drive through the highlands and you'll thoroughly enjoy it. While travelling to Inverness via Edinburgh, you can visit the famous Loch ness and take a cruise too if time permits. I would recommend visiting Edinburgh rather than Glasgow and for Inverness 1 day is more than enough. You should visit Isle of Skye which is said to be a beautiful place something which we couldn't cover. PM me for any other details.

Regards,
Shreyak

Thanks a lot. i will be going to glasgow to visit a friend who stays there. we ll be going to Edinburgh from glasgow with my friend so that ll be covered. Isle of skye can be thought of and i ll need to do minor modifications for that.

gadadhar · 19th May 2015, 17:07

I just finished a trip in the same route during May 1st to 17th. After spending few days in London, we flew down to Edinburgh and took a 7 seater Alhabra from Enterprise rentals (were 2 families) and drove to Aberdeen. On route We stayed in Sterling and Inverness and the drove through country roads covering Urquhart Castle, loch Ness etc. We returned car in Aberdeen to stay with relatives for few days and flew back to London. I would rate the route as one of the most scenic I have seen in life.

manasmadaan · 22nd May 2015, 07:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by gadadhar

I just finished a trip in the same route during May 1st to 17th. I would rate the route as one of the most scenic I have seen in life.

Thats why i insisted on driving through this route and not going by air, train or coach.

mufazzal123 · 22nd May 2015, 10:07

I also did a similar trip last year. August. Drove from Coventry to Fort William. Had a cottage booked there for a week. Then just keeping it as base drove to Inverness, Isle of Skye. One of the best trips of my life. A82 is just one of the most scenic road. The trip from Glasgow to Fort William only took us by awe.
Some of my photos. No where as crisp as yours, but then I am not as good a photographer either. Steal falls near Ben Nevis range. Did a nice hike. Definitely recommended if you like to walk away from the regular tourist spots. My mom in the pic.Then some pics of Ullswater and Loch Lomond.

cooldudesunny · 26th May 2015, 05:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by manasmadaan

Hello,
I will be travelling to UK in june and plan to self drive from london to scotland. Have already hired a VW golf estate for that.
We ll be three people. Me, my wife and my 5 year old daughter.

Our planned itenary for this road trip is:

10th june: drive from london to lake district and stay there for one night.
11th june: drive from lake district to inverness.
11 and 12th june: stay at inverness
13th june: drive from inverness to glassgow and stay there. Visit edinburgh if possible.
14th june: drive from glassgow to coventry.

I would like to have opinions about the above itinerary regarding its feasibility, the travel times, precautions and any other advices that i may need.

I have already obtained the international driving license here in India.

Thanks in advance

Hi Manas,

Driving through Scotland indeed is a beautiful experience. We loved it so much that we did it twice.

While you get more details of our trip here.

Our favourite places had been:

Glencoe, Oban Village, Portree Village, Isle of Skye, Fort William, Fort Augustus, Fairy Pools of Scotland, Staffin, Quiraing.

No road trip in Scotland is complete without driving along the magical road through Glencoe to Fort William. You can pull off to the roadside bay viewpoint and picnic area to stretch your legs and soak up some stunning views. However the top ones are:

Inverness to Isle of Skye.
Isle of Skye to Glencoe.
Glencoe to Fort William.

Let me know if you need any more details!

r_nairtvm · 28th June 2015, 11:42

HELP

Hello all,

I am in planning stages of self drive trip in UK/Scotland, this summer

What I have in mind is a 7/8 days of travel in addition to 3 days in London and at least a day 2 days stay in Leeds (family there in Leeds).

Any suggestion from people who have done this would be really appreciated. The trip will have to start and end in London (logistical reasons)

Also any tips on car rental will be very welcome.

Best Regards & Drive Safe

Ram

manasmadaan · 28th June 2015, 15:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by r_nairtvm

HELP

Hello all,

I am in planning stages of self drive trip in UK/Scotland, this summer

What I have in mind is a 7/8 days of travel in addition to 3 days in London and at least a day 2 days stay in Leeds (family there in Leeds).

Any suggestion from people who have done this would be really appreciated. The trip will have to start and end in London (logistical reasons)

Also any tips on car rental will be very welcome.

Best Regards & Drive Safe

Ram

We did the same route just around 15 days back.
Our route was as follows:
We started from london on 10th june and stayed at lake district on that day. its a journey of around 4 hrs.
Next day we left lake district around 1.30pm and reached inverness (highlands) in scotland around 7.45 pm. we stayed there for 2 days and saw the adjoining places.
After that we went to glasgow for 1 day followed by new castle, coventry, birmingham and finally back to london.

glasgow to new castle upon tyne is around 2.5 to 3 hrs.
new castle to coventry around 3.5 hrs.
coventry to birmingham 40 min.
birmingham to london around 2-2.15 hrs.

i hired a self rental mercedes GLA CDI AT from SIXT. Wonderful car on lovely motorways.

1st October 2014, 21:03	#17
abhinav.s Senior - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: B'lore,Coorg Posts: 2,796 Thanked: 1,324 Times	Re: Driving in the Scottish Highlands Wow! Awesome pics. The location looks serene, peaceful & lovely. Thanks for sharing.
	() Thanks

2nd October 2014, 13:05	#18
centaur BHPian Join Date: May 2009 Location: -- Posts: 897 Thanked: 1,171 Times	Re: Driving in the Scottish Highlands Scotland and the Scottish Highlands in particular are amazing locations in terms of climate, roads, traffic and are a treat to the eyes. I was in Glasgow for a year and thoroughly enjoyed it there though I did not get much to drive as I was there for my PG. Did not see much jams there apart from on the M8 occasionally.
	() Thanks

4th October 2014, 20:25	#19
ramkya1 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Palakkad, Keral Posts: 1,829 Thanked: 434 Times View My Garage	Re: Driving in the Scottish Highlands Nice short account. Reminded me of our End to End drive in UK a few years back. Would be interesting to see some more photos. --Ramky =======
	() Thanks

18th May 2015, 14:36	#20
manasmadaan BHPian Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Amritsar Posts: 329 Thanked: 326 Times	Re: Driving in the Scottish Highlands Hello, I will be travelling to UK in june and plan to self drive from london to scotland. Have already hired a VW golf estate for that. We ll be three people. Me, my wife and my 5 year old daughter. Our planned itenary for this road trip is: 10th june: drive from london to lake district and stay there for one night. 11th june: drive from lake district to inverness. 11 and 12th june: stay at inverness 13th june: drive from inverness to glassgow and stay there. Visit edinburgh if possible. 14th june: drive from glassgow to coventry. I would like to have opinions about the above itinerary regarding its feasibility, the travel times, precautions and any other advices that i may need. I have already obtained the international driving license here in India. Thanks in advance
	() Thanks

19th May 2015, 17:07	#23
gadadhar Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 1,373 Thanked: 1,163 Times View My Garage	Re: Driving in the Scottish Highlands I just finished a trip in the same route during May 1st to 17th. After spending few days in London, we flew down to Edinburgh and took a 7 seater Alhabra from Enterprise rentals (were 2 families) and drove to Aberdeen. On route We stayed in Sterling and Inverness and the drove through country roads covering Urquhart Castle, loch Ness etc. We returned car in Aberdeen to stay with relatives for few days and flew back to London. I would rate the route as one of the most scenic I have seen in life.
	(2) Thanks

22nd May 2015, 10:07	#25
mufazzal123 BHPian Join Date: May 2015 Location: Pune Posts: 27 Thanked: 9 Times	Re: Driving in the Scottish Highlands I also did a similar trip last year. August. Drove from Coventry to Fort William. Had a cottage booked there for a week. Then just keeping it as base drove to Inverness, Isle of Skye. One of the best trips of my life. A82 is just one of the most scenic road. The trip from Glasgow to Fort William only took us by awe. Some of my photos. No where as crisp as yours, but then I am not as good a photographer either. Steal falls near Ben Nevis range. Did a nice hike. Definitely recommended if you like to walk away from the regular tourist spots. My mom in the pic.Then some pics of Ullswater and Loch Lomond. Attached Thumbnails Last edited by ampere : 22nd May 2015 at 10:10. Reason: Formatted Text
	() Thanks

28th June 2015, 11:42	#27
r_nairtvm Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Dubai/TRV/BLR Posts: 2,112 Thanked: 2,608 Times View My Garage	Re: Driving in the Scottish Highlands HELP Hello all, I am in planning stages of self drive trip in UK/Scotland, this summer What I have in mind is a 7/8 days of travel in addition to 3 days in London and at least a day 2 days stay in Leeds (family there in Leeds). Any suggestion from people who have done this would be really appreciated. The trip will have to start and end in London (logistical reasons) Also any tips on car rental will be very welcome. Best Regards & Drive Safe Ram Last edited by r_nairtvm : 28th June 2015 at 11:44.
	() Thanks