Trip to Highlands (Any advice)

[nesty]

Once my van LPG'd at the end of April. I am considering a trip to the Highlands. I am in process of making sure the T25 got enough battery power on board in case lack of campsites & that I am equipped for the journey.

I have only been to Edinburgh before, never driven Highlands.

I got a route planned & am travelling alone. However wanted to know about any tips, what others have done & what you got be aware of. IE is there vast distance between petrol stations, are the roads narrow etc.

I am going to start out from Glasgow go up the West coast to Cape Wrath, across to John O Groats then loop back via the Grampains then down to inverness then around via Aberdeen down to Perth.

Any suggestions welcome.

[terryvanman]

Once my van LPG'd at the end of April. I am considering a trip to the Highlands. I am in process of making sure the T25 got enough battery power on board in case lack of campsites & that I am equipped for the journey.

I have only been to Edinburgh before, never driven Highlands.

I got a route planned & am travelling alone. However wanted to know about any tips, what others have done & what you got be aware of. IE is there vast distance between petrol stations, are the roads narrow etc.

I am going to start out from Glasgow go up the West coast to Cape Wrath, across to John O Groats then loop back via the Grampains then down to inverness then around via Aberdeen down to Perth.

Any suggestions welcome.

I suggest you just go and enjoy it,,,,,join the caravan club and use their well cared for camp sites when you need a good wash and brush up and use CL's in between

[nesty]

Cheers whats CL's?

[Oldiebut goodie]

I have been going up there for 35+ years - never use a campsite. Ensure that you have various means of obtaining water and top up whenever possible (I use a Nature Pure filter and use streams for water). Don't hammer the engine, just take it easy. There are plenty of one track roads:-
if you want to get into the out of the way places.
You will enjoy it.

[BigTam]

Aye, watch out for the midges

[Nicola&Tony]

Cheers whats CL's?

Certified Location. Both the Caravan Club and the Camping and Caravan Club have their full-on campsites with all the facilities and then they also offer CL's which are much smaller with basic facilities (e.g. space for 5 vans, no showers etc, but usually have a fresh water supply and somewhere to empty a chemical toilet). Often found on farms. I think you'll find that there's a lot more campsites in Scotland than you're maybe expecting there to be.

However there are also loads and loads of quiet, out-of-the-way places (i.e. sleepyspots) where you can just park-up overnight. The law about this is different in Scotland compared to England, but at car parks you're still likely to find "no overnight parking" signs.

As for driving on lpg, there can be a long way between lpg stations in some parts of Scotland, so make sure you've got plenty of petrol in your tank as well, and that you've got lpg poi's on your satnav or the Autogas map book (which also includes the opening hours, which can be useful in some areas where filling stations aren't always open 24hrs).

It's a great trip that you're planning, I'm very jealous! How long are you planning to be away for? There's a lot to see if you haven't been before.

Tony

[nesty]

Many thanks for this. Never been to Highlands only Edinburgh and Ayr! The Highlands is one piece of my UK tour. I plan to cover the whole UK (hopefully in 2010).
The intial plan for the Highlands tour is to be away for about 16 days! I am hoping that should be enough for me to complete my route! I do want to scale Ben Nevis, so that's 1 whole day gone there!

I haven't really undertaken a trip like this and haven't used most of the facilties on the van. Ie water tank for drinking and chemical toilet & battery power. The van being LPG'd by Gas-sure at end of April and the UK tour should get the mileage up to pay for it's self in time!

Looking forward tothe trip though. Haven't decided to go late May or June yet, but got loads of time to prepare.

[Nicola&Tony]

The earlier in the year you go, the more likely you are to have fewer problems with midges. Check with Steve at Gasure 'cos iirc you need to get the conversion checked after the first 500 miles, unless this has changed since we were gassed a couple of years ago.

Tony

[nesty]

The earlier in the year you go, the more likely you are to have fewer problems with midges. Check with Steve at Gasure 'cos iirc you need to get the conversion checked after the first 500 miles, unless this has changed since we were gassed a couple of years ago.

Tony

I take it when people say Midges they mean Mosquitto's? A friend said to me Scotland gets them bad in Summer?

Well with the 500 mile thing. That will fit in ok with what I have to do. I got Norfolk scheduled 1st week in May. I could get the conversation checked out enroute when I drive up to Scotland, that would be about 500 miles up then!.

[Willoughby]

Im a member of both the cc & cc&c and go camping every other weekend. IMHO wild camping is better than the CL's up here.

First you need to visit some of the islands. good place to start is request a cal mac brochure. http://www.calmac.co.uk/Contact%20Us/br ... quest.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Glasgow is well worth a visit but aint so good for campsites.
There is a good CC&C site at Luss on the banks of Loch Lommond and its only an hour from Glasgow.

For me Glencoe is a must, http://www.redsquirrelcampsite.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; the views are stunning and it has a cracking pub just along the road.

After that Arisaig. If you only visit one place this has to be it. North of that you will be fine.

One the way back down the coast road is a bit dull from Aberdeen south so would head in land via Pitlochry to Perth.

LPG will be OK, Doing that route I fill up in (corpach) Fort William, Skye, Inverness.

Here a few photies to get you started.





http://www.prunty.me.uk/willo/gfx/sep08/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; <--- few more here.

Kev

[nesty]

Looks lovely really looking forward to the trip.

[Flibbertigibbet]

I am planning on doing the inner hebrides and spurred on after watching 3 hungry boys http://www.channel4.com/food/on-tv/thre ... index.html check out some of the sites they visited 1 month withiout spending any money but had loads of fun awesome

[nesty]

Nice photo's. The only leg of my Scotland tour I am unsure about is when I get back down to Inverness from Highlands.

Intially looking at going via Elgin, Huntly on to Aberdeen. Then taking the A93 via Braemar & down to Perth. Then in to Dundee over the bridge to St Andrews. Not really a golf person, but my Dad is. So would like to see some good photo's & something from him from there.

Is there a better scenery route back down from Inverness?

[Nicola&Tony]

I take it when people say Midges they mean Mosquitto's? A friend said to me Scotland gets them bad in Summer?

No, they mean midges, they're a lot smaller than mosquittos. If you happen to be allergic to being bitten by midges (like Nicola is) then the bites turn into big red lumps which can be very uncomfortable.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highland_midge" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midge" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Tony

[Nicola&Tony]

The only leg of my Scotland tour I am unsure about is when I get back down to Inverness from Highlands.

Intially looking at going via Elgin, Huntly on to Aberdeen. Then taking the A93 via Braemar & down to Perth . . .

Is there a better scenery route back down from Inverness?

At Inverness you're still in the Highlands. Personally I wouldn't bother with the run across to Aberdeen, I'd go down the A9 to Aviemore and then go exploring the Cairngorms National Park.
http://www.cairngorms.co.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Tony

p.s. well worth having a look at:
Rough Guide; Highlands and islands