Autumn Tour of Scotland: expert advice needed
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I wouldn’t say I’m an expert but here goes. It depends how long you intend stopping at each location but I reckon it’s doable. Your longest haul is probably to 'do' Skye and it’s on the island you'll likely encounter the narrowest roads and the longest journey times.
I don’t know which sites you intend using but my preference would be Scone C&CC to see the Perth area and Dingwall C&CC for the Inverness area. Invercoe privately owned site is good for Glencoe.
As for booking, I’d not like to say what it'll be like this year. Normally I’d not expect a problem in Oct but this year isn't normal. Add in the likelihood of late season NC500 trippers over part of the route and who knows?🤷🏻♂️
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Looking at the hike in prices at Yellolwcraig from 16th to 25th Oct that's when the club thinks the school half term is.
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The longest / worst part of your 'plan' will be the slog from Pembroke to Glasgow & back, WTG !!
If you have an open mind with no "Must do" stops there is no problem for you since you can always extend / trim / bypass individual halts depending on your whims and / or the weather. At least you should not be suffering from midgies at that time of year
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Thanks, Kjell. Will have to keep that in mind if we do head up that way in September.
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I was looking at your Crieff, Pitlochry, Perth and Scone plans. You could possibly visit all from one of those sites. We often stay at the Milton of Fonab site at Pitlochry, a short stroll from the theatre, river and town and access to the places you mentioned is easy from there. Last year we stayed at the Blair Attholl site, slightly north of Pitlochry, another good site especially if you want to visit the castle etc.
If you can find the time you'd probably enjoy the historic waterfront at Dundee and the new V&A.
Strathpeffer might be your longest diversion and although worth a visit probably has the least to offer if your time is limited. Skye will take up quite a bit of your driving allowances.
Hope you enjoy making the plans, a nice trip!
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Agree with AD, the North Ledaig Site is very nice, and a good location for getting out and seeing plenty. We went to Mull and Iona from there, only a day, but a trip never forgotten.
I think one of the things we always tend to underestimate, both with caravan, and with MH, is the sheer distances in Scotland, away from the very few main motorways and big roads. Everything goes round either a loch or a mountain, and while the scenery is lovely, you can end up spending hours on the road. We nowadays tend to look at what we want to see and do in a given area, and explore fully that particular area, taking in the local history, the castles, gardens, big houses, little museums, etc.... We walk and cycle a lot as well, so like days off from motoring around.
We are looking at possibly Dumfries and Galloway as our first trip out. Depends what’s open. Nearly deserted beaches are what we want.
Edit: if you are going over school holidays, be careful in your choice of Site. Yellowcraig is one of our favourite Club Sites, but we had the misfortune to be there over an October school holiday, and for us it wasn’t a pleasant stay. Absolutely heaving, packed solid, we actually left early it was so bad. It is of course close to Edinburgh, so a popular holiday destination for thousands. But we got that trip oh so wrong......
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I see WTG mentions Balmoral, an easy site for that is the one in Braemar but unless visiting the east coast it's a fair old drive from the Cairngorm side for a day out. But you could have a long day out and travel from Pitlochry or Scone etc and go via Glenshee to Balmoral. We stopped off at the Balmoral visitor centre (the estate was closed) it's opposite Craithie Kirk and you can take a look inside the church.
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Using a MH, I would consider coming from Pitlochry to stop w at Braemar 2 nights, use the day on Deeside, then continue via Tomintoul and Grantown towards Inverness.
I would check that Culloden visitor centre is open.
The CCC site at Dingwall is also very popular with MHers, and not far from Strathpeffer.
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As we move out of the coronavirus lockdown, we’re pleased to be able to welcome back visitors to our outdoor spaces. Some of our buildings (historic buildings, visitor facilities, cafés and shops) remain closed. The toilet facilities at Culloden are closed. We hope to reopen the visitor centre in early August. We urge people to check opening times on the website and to carefully observe social distancing.
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WTG, good luck for your partner's hospital treatment. I hope it goes well and that you get back to the highlands. But if I were going back I wouldn't tour at all, but would just pick out one or two favourite places and go back to them.
If I were young enough to tackle the Cuillins again it would be Glenbrittle campsite on Skye once again, and see if I could tackle Sgurr nan Gillean a second time It's many years since I was pitched out of bed there to help carry a stretcher down the mountain in the middle of the night. But I know I can't possibly do that. So instead it would be a gentle revisit to stroll around Inverewe garden - the other Club has a convenient campsite on the spot .
Scotland is too big to tour and the NC 500 is madness in less than two months. I would just pick two or three places.
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The midges in the NW of Scotland are most definitely the highland variety. They certainly bite me.☹️ I don't seem to get the same problem with those further south. Although I suppose it could just be down to absolute numbers. They hunt in packs in the far NW.😂 We have found May reasonably OK and that was when we planned to be in the NW, this year and now postponed to next.
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