StanS Posted June 23, 2005 Posted June 23, 2005 Hi, Planning a 10 day tour of the West Coast of Scotland, so who better to ask for recommended scenery/roads/B&B/Hotels etc than the "locals" !! Any recommendations would be appreciated ! Cheers, Stan
johns Posted June 23, 2005 Posted June 23, 2005 Hi Stan, there are so many fantastic roads around the West Coast you literally are spoiled for choice! The A82 through Glencoe is very scenic, and ideal for photo opportunities. Watch out for police on this road though, there is an almost constant police presence as it's a busy tourist/commuting road. I can recommend the Isle of Glencoe hotel as a good place to stay for a night or two. Always had great food and service there. The coastal road north of Oban is great. As you've got some time to spare, the trip up to Mallaig is well worth it, even though it is a dead end and you have to come back again (unless you take the ferry to Skye!). The road from Fort William up to Kyle of Lochalsh is a cracking road. Open, fast flowing and excellent scenery. Remember to stop at Eilean Donan Castle on your way up. A few places in Kyle/Plockton (where the palm trees are!) for lunch/dinner etc. You must go over to Skye and spend a day on the roads there as well. On the way back, go over the road to Lochcarron. This starts off fast and flowing, but climbing rapidly. It then gets very tight and turns into a single track road with passing places. Views from the side of the mountain are superb. There's even a tunnel as you near Strathcarron to exercise your car along!! There's an art gallery/restaurant before you reach Strathcarron itself which was very good the last time I was there a couple of years ago. When you get to the T junction out of Strathcarron, turn left to go through Lochcarron. There's an excellent seafood bar selling fresh local seafood a few miles along the road at Kishorn village. Out of Kishorn, take a left to Applecross. It's a single track road, but very steep and great views at the top and the way up. Good coffee/cakes etc at the cafe place in Applecross. Then continue along the coastal road to Shieldaig (reasonable pub lunch in the hotel there). You can then go along past Torridon and you have a choice of routes. I'd go left along the coastal road to Gairloch (say hello to JK who has a cottage there!) and onto Ullapool, but you can also continue right through to Achnasheen and on towards Garve. Here you can drive on one of the amazing stretches of fast open road in the UK. Nice wide road, smooth tarmac, excllent visibility and endless gentle sweeping bends. At Garve turn left and head up to Ullapool, again a great driving road. North of Ullapool is my favourite driving road of all time on the way to Laxford Bridge. It starts off slow, but then opens up into an amazing fast stretch of road with lots of gentle corners. The single track road from there down to Lairg is superb. Very quiet, and very surreal, almost lunar landscape to start with. I'd recommend this on the way back, but on the way up, head north to Lochinver, and once you've had lunch there etc, you can head further north to the NW corner. Some great roads (mostly single track), and some of the best beaches in the UK (I kid you not!). The road from Tongue across to John O Groats is quite dull in places if truth be told, and I wouldn't bother visiting JoG unless you really want to say that you've been there. If coming down via Lairg to Conon Bridge, and onto Inverness, then take the short-cut mountain road, instead of following the A9 around the coast. Much more interesting, and usually faster! Watch out for police on the A9 though, and stick to the speed limits on it at all times! Those are some of my favourite roads in the area, and I'm sure the others will add in their favourites as well. John
StanS Posted June 24, 2005 Author Posted June 24, 2005 Hi John, Thanks for your fantastic reply - just printing it off !! Always meant to "do" Scotland - where half my ancestors came from. Hope the weather is like this - maybe a bit cooler ! Cheers, Stan
the squiggle Posted June 24, 2005 Posted June 24, 2005 Dont mean to spoil the party but John neglected to mention the distinct lack of Shell Optimax stations on the west caost from Clydebank in Glasgow all the way to Inverness Best stock up with some booster Grant
col666 Posted June 25, 2005 Posted June 25, 2005 Achnasheen to garve.......what a stretch of road! went through there a few sat evenings ago about 9pm,no cars at all sun setting behind the hills and my speedo needle hitting the reset button was a bit wary of the scabby old sheep munching away at the road side though. Agree about applecross,fantastic views and a road you'll never forget!
Gumball Posted June 25, 2005 Posted June 25, 2005 get yourself up the west coast. loch lomond crainlarich fort william spean bridge skye
MY94 Posted June 25, 2005 Posted June 25, 2005 Not really the weast coast,but u must take the road to loch rannoch via loch tummel.Loch rannoch is a dead end so to speak,so miles of B roads/twistys and very few people on them,the scenery is great and takes u past the famous queens view up loch tummel.No cameras or police for miles after loch tummel......................have fun!!!!! I beleive there are a few Optimax pumps around those parts too,although they may have gone BP since I was there last year. I think John S covered most of the rest. Enjoy
StanS Posted June 25, 2005 Author Posted June 25, 2005 Thanks very much for the info guys - much appreciated. I'm marking the Optimax stations on the map from the list they published, but thanks for the reminder Grant. Also all the suggested places, roads - cheers Chris n Col ! Looking forward to the trip ! Thganks again guys Stan
Gee Wr1 Posted June 25, 2005 Posted June 25, 2005 & remember midge repelant, those west coast midges have big jaws
StanS Posted June 27, 2005 Author Posted June 27, 2005 I'm too tight to part with any of my blood ! Just checked out Optimax stations North of Glasgow on the West coast - NONE LISTED !!!!!! :eek: Are there any Forty William area ??????? help.............. Stan
the squiggle Posted June 27, 2005 Posted June 27, 2005 Not a jot between Clydebank in Glasgow all the way to Inverness Booster it is and Super Unleaded Grant
Gumball Posted June 27, 2005 Posted June 27, 2005 no problem hope you have a great time mate. Its a myth anyway in my mind. rock about a few bottles of booster but just use whatever you can. Its worked for me so far in extreme tours and journeys and hasnt popped. have a good time.
tayscooby Posted June 27, 2005 Posted June 27, 2005 quality roads been on all of them on bike and car...live near ranoch but think its a tad dodgy road for foreigners on wrong side of road....no optimax round hear best is bp ultimate at pitlochry then not a lot till inverness...aint been back home in lairg and sutherland area for a while but cant see there being much up there either.need to get back up there again soon,the roads around there are amazing and quiet.....ENJOY
StanS Posted June 28, 2005 Author Posted June 28, 2005 Checked the Shell staion list and it seems there are no ststions N of Glasgow on the W coast as has been pointed out by Grant. Iwas hoping there may be one which had been left off the Shell list (like the one in Bury St Edmunds they missed off the list !). As Mine's mapped for Optimax and 5l of methanol/tank, don't really fancy carrying 25+ litres of methanol in the car on a touring holiday - it'll really slow it down (!) - oh and I suppose there is the risk of a major problem if in an accident ! The cheap booster solution has a drawback - doh !! Stan
johns Posted June 29, 2005 Posted June 29, 2005 Stan, there are a few places that do sell Esso Super Unleaded along the West Coast. Fort William is one, and I understand there's also a petrol station on Skye that sells SUL. There's a Shell garage in Contin (15 - 20 miles outside Inverness), and there's a Shell garage in Beauly as well that sells Optimax (or it did last time I was there). The Shell station in Ullapool quite often sells SUL/optimax as well, thoguh not all the time. If you phone ahead, then they will get soe sotcks in for you, though they tend to do that for bigger groups of cars. I've found in the past that one tank of fuel will do a day or two's general touring/driving around, and then it's no more than 30 - 45 minutes drive on average for a quick drive to the nearest SUL station if you plan things correctly. A bottle of two or Octane booster will do the trick if you run very low and need to put in £10 on NUL and a bottle of octane booster to get you to the next station. In reaity, with a bit of forward planning, it's not really a big issue. John
johns Posted June 30, 2005 Posted June 30, 2005 I've been informed that the Optimax station in Beualy is no more. Been demolished to make way for a block of flats !
corsa Posted June 30, 2005 Posted June 30, 2005 Ullapool has SUL all of the time,we were up at easter and had a fantastic time round the roads up there yet again. Have a great holiday. Davie
StanS Posted June 30, 2005 Author Posted June 30, 2005 Thanks again for all the info/help - much appreciated especially John, until I went through all the roads you gave me, I hadn't realised it was virtually a complete touring holiday plan !!! Am working out mileages for stopovers/meals etc. Can't wait ! Stan
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