Highlands & Islands - info appreciated

[welshbairn]

Train to Dingwall, bus to Strathpeffer, bus to Ullapool, pubs, ferry to Stornaway, pubs, Callanish Stones, bus to Harris, ferry to Uig, bus to Portree, pubs, bus to Armadale, ferry to Mallaig, train to Fort William, pubs, bus towards Oban. From Glencoe on you're on your own, there monsters be. Loads of historical ruins and distilleries enroute.

[Le Tout P'ti FC]

We were planning on doing a couple of days on Islay and checking out a distillery, probably Lagavulin.

Islay - get to Port Ellen, hire a bike. Pick up the new cycle path heading east. Dip into Laphroaig for some photos and a dram. Yes to Lagavulin tour (warehouse tasting if its on), then on to Ardbeg for lunch at Old Kiln Cafe. You will need coffee. Cycle path ends here, but onwards on a quiet coastal road to Kildalton Cross for history - you will see deer and seals, maybe an otter.

Zoom back way you came - a fast five miles back into town. If you've time, head round the bay a mile and a bit to see the Singing Sands beach and lighthouse. Enjoy the view.

Day 2 is trickier without a car. Bus up to Bowmore, visit the round church, get a coffee, and make sure you visit the Spar on the corner for a jaw dropping whisky selection. Go to Bowmore distillery and ask them to let you onto the balcony in their bar upstairs.

Head north by bus/cab, stop at Finlaggan for more history. Then wee bit further north takes you to Port Askaig and ferry home.

Plenty more you could do with a car. Kilnave Chapel is worth a trip. Military cemetery for naval disaster and celtic cross at Kilchoman. Shipwreck on Machrie beach. Neighbouring beaches are stunning too.

More military history at the Oa.

Woodland walks at Bridgend.

Did I say beaches?

I go once or twice a year and I can't speak highly enough, Islay is a real gem. Enjoy it!

[TheScarf]

Stay in Inverness, get MWI every day and night and pump a local 18 year old slag.

[alta-pete]

Avoid the Uists. 4+hrs on a cal mac ferry to go visit what could have been the inspiration for Craggy Island, complete with the 'I shot JR' t shirt wearing inbreeds. Have been once, box ticked, won't be back.

For the kids, Mallaig is good for both a whale spotting boat trip and the Harry Potter train back to Ft William. You also need to nip down to the beach at Camusdarach, featured in the film Local Hero.

[8MileBU]

Avoid the Uists. 4+hrs on a cal mac ferry to go visit what could have been the inspiration for Craggy Island, complete with the 'I shot JR' t shirt wearing inbreeds. Have been once, box ticked, won't be back.

For the kids, Mallaig is good for both a whale spotting boat trip and the Harry Potter train back to Ft William. You also need to nip down to the beach at Camusdarach, featured in the film Local Hero.

Meant to be going about April/May time. Looking forward to it! [emoji1]

[Bearwithme]

There are plenty distilleries on Islay of course. I did the Bowmore and Bruichladdich tours a few years ago and they were both good (and the samples were generous). I've been to the island many times.

[8MileBU]

There are plenty distilleries on Islay of course. I did the Bowmore and Bruichladdich tours a few years ago and they were both good (and the samples were generous). I've been to the island many times.

The Laphroaig tour is also very good and worth going to. They're also very generous with the sampling at the end of the tour and will happily empty the bottle.

[throbber]

It's shite.
Just mind they lock the swing parks up on Lewis on a Sunday. Quite right too.

As the old saying goes - The next time your Mrs tells you to kiss her somewhere wet and smelly take her to Mallaig.

[welshbairn]

54 minutes ago, throbber said:

 

As the old saying goes - The next time your Mrs tells you to kiss her somewhere wet and smelly take her to Mallaig.

 

It is a dump, especially in the rain, but you can take a 6 or so hour cruise around the Small Isles, Eigg, Rum, Muck and Canna for a tenner. Saw a massive school of dolphins pass yards away from the ship, well over a hundred.

[The Mantis]

22 hours ago, 8MileBU said:

 

The Laphroaig tour is also very good and worth going to. They're also very generous with the sampling at the end of the tour and will happily empty the bottle.

 

I can back this up, had a tour there, emailed them and said I wanted to take photos with a tripod. Got my normal tour where I was introduced to the other tourists as John the photographer  then was allowed to go round again on my own. Also the master blender and the manager had the still safe open so you could just dip your hands in (not sure if I should be saying this ).

Bowmore and Bruichladdich were very welcoming too, they would let you stay all day. The guy at Bowmore is happy to pose for photos turning over the malt with a shovel.

previous comments spot on about Ardbeg. Good restaurant.

if you like taking photos then avoid Lagavulin, they are owned by Diageo, shower of b*****ds who won't let you take any.

[The Mantis]

On 13/01/2017 at 18:48, 8MileBU said:

 

Meant to be going about April/May time. Looking forward to it!

 

 

Everybody's experience is different: mine was magic (been twice). Never met hospitality like it.

[DanielB]

Heading up to Grantown upon Spey this weekend with the Mrs for a few nights. Any recommendations for things to do in that general area at this time of year would be great appreciated!

[The_Kincardine]

8 minutes ago, DanielB said:

Heading up to Grantown upon Spey this weekend with the Mrs for a few nights. Any recommendations for things to do in that general area at this time of year would be great appreciated!

It's a beautiful part of Scotland...so put your boots on and walk up a hill or two...you won't regret it but make sure you're well-clad. Visit the Glen Grant distillery.  Drive up to the coast and see some dolphins in the Moray Firth.  

 

[8MileBU]

 
Everybody's experience is different: mine was magic (been twice). Never met hospitality like it.

Aye, a guy in my team at work goes to the Uists on a monthly basis and says the hotel he stays at is magic and the folk who run it and work there are different class.

[Big Rider]

On 8 January 2017 at 21:00, Ya Bezzer! said:

Went to Canna once from Mallaig.  The regular decent sized ferry was getting repaired so I was pretty alarmed when I saw the 20 foot open boat with cab affair that was the replacement.

The sea was quite rough going out and the old stomach was heaving a bit but little did I know....

The boat stopped at Rum first.  The boat 'skipper' said we'd be about an hour and a half there so we could stay on the boat or wander.  Why wasn't offered to us but maybe he has a gal in every port.  It was about 20 minute walk to, as far as I know, the only settlement.  I came to the community centre.  For some reason it had a giant pile of deer and ram skulls in front of it, very welcoming and in no way sinister and frightening, with some huge whale spine bones thrown in for good measure.  There was a girl who ran a sort of cafe there.  I say 'sort of cafe' because you could only get tea and cheese on toast and that was your lot.  I had tea and cheese on toast and walked back to the jetty to find the boat was gone. Then, fortunately, though obscured by bushes and rocky outcrops, I saw the boat moored at a different jetty about a mile and a half further away up the coast.  When I got there the skipper looked genuinely disappointed that I'd found the boat.  At that point I was the only one.  After an interminable wait the other 4 passengers arrived on an 8 wheeled off road buggy driven by a man with a sort "I eat raw rabbits with my bare teeth" kind of look.

The mountains were covered in mist.  It was getting darker when it should have been getting lighter and the sea was getting rougher.  The skipper allayed our fears by telling us how much worse it would be when we rounded Rum and got out into open water.  To be fair to him he was completely correct.  We rounded Rum and it became horrific. Up and down and rolling side to side, when previously it had only been up and down.  Looking left I saw a giant deep sea fishing trawler, about 5 times the size of our boat, that had been turned upside down and crashed into the rocks.

Eventually we got to Canna.  Even in harbour it was so rough it took a while for the skippers mate to tie the boat up as we couldn't land on the slipway.  To get off the boat I had to jump off the boat on to a ladder on the harbour sea wall with the boat flying all over the place and then clamber up to the car park with white knuckles and a rather perturbed look on my face. 

We should have had all day but before we left the boat skipper told us a big storm was coming in from the Atlantic.  We'd have to leave in two hours at the latest.  Looking out to the Atlantic you could see it coming.  It was awe inspiring, both beautiful and frightening.  The light was very strange, dark but not dull, sort of a mixture of strong black, purple and dark blues that had a sort of luminous quality to them.  Looking back to the mainland it was pink and cream with the mountains standing out in light blue silhouettes. It was astounding really. 

It was already very windy.  I literally had to hold my woolly hat on with both hands or it would have been gone.  I climbed a hill and walked as far as I could.  The scenery with the blue mountains, weird light, atmospheric colours, tall sea cliffs and sea stacks and rough white capped seas was incredible, not just to look at, it had a feeling that you connected to.  There was really no sign of civilisation at all except for St. Edward's church on the island of Sanday across the bay and even then it was constructed from rough hewn stones.  I genuinely felt like I was the only person on earth and that nothing existed except the island I was standing on and the mountains and seas all around. I couldn't walk the length of the island though because I wanted to be sure I'd be back at the boat within the allotted time.

I got back to the boat and it was just me and an American couple who must have been on the island before because they hadn't come out.  The skipper had a worried look, which concerned me as he didn't look like the kind of guy that usually worried much about things.  We went back out into the sea.  We weren't so much 'sailing' as slapping into building sized waves.  I honestly though the bottom of the boat was going to cave in as it made such a colossal and explosive bang every time we hit the water, which was roughly every 3 seconds for about two and a half hours.  Waves were coming over the open section of the boat so myself and the American fella, who looked like Sigmund Freud, took refuge in the cab.  At first I tried to sit down but it was awful careered around on the mountainous seas, so I stood up and clung to the skippers seat head rest with the power of a Harpy eagles talons.  The American lady took a different approach and did pirouettes, dressed in a sou'wester, in the open section of the boat waves crashing over the sides  "Honey! Isn't this amazing!!!! Weeeehhhh!  Honey! This is wonderful!"  I couldn't help notice he neither answered or joined his wife in her crazy briny ballet.

I was beginning to think we might actually make it.  Mallaig was in view now, framed by the mountains looking massive behind it, a stunning vista.  Then the skippers mate became animated.  Much to my dismay the skipper turned the boat round.  "Spotted a whale" he said.  We did various circles in the massive seas.  "Look there!" said the mate.  "Between the giant crashing wave and that other crashing wave" I thought rather sourly.  How the hell you were supposed to see anything I wasn't sure.  The boat was going all over the place and so was the sea was violently chopping up and down in huge crested waves. I certainly didn't see anything, even the size of a whale.

Mallaig got closer and the seas got a bit calmer as we came round a peninsula of Skye.  The relatively minor swell that had terrified me on the way out now seemed kinda fun, however I should stress I was still glad to get off the boat.

Incredibly it had stayed dry all day and so I sat on a bench and ate fish and chips before heading back in the dark to the alluring lights of the West Highland hotel with its old cracked leather sofas and wonderfully silly tartan foyer. There I sat down and reflected on a really wonderful day.

This is a cracking tale Ya Bezza. I took the family camping in the new pods on Canna last year during "the summer". We took the Calmac ferry but it was still a rough crossing.

It was a good adventure, my first trip there and the island is now one of my favourites. We got a wee bit of sunshine in amongst the rain and it was like paradise. It does feel really remote though. They do great food at cafe Canna but you need to book.

A Dutch family were staying in the pod next to us and had turned up with no waterproofs, just woollen jackets and brollies. They had seen the island on Dutch TV documentary and we're staying for 6 days. On the day we left it was pissing down and their kids were soaking so we gave our boys waterproofs to them to try and help them out a bit. Luckily the weather turned a lot better for the rest of their stay.

Hopefully we'll get better weather on our next trip.

[Ya Bezzer!]

6 hours ago, Big Rider said:

This is a cracking tale Ya Bezza. I took the family camping in the new pods on Canna last year during "the summer". We took the Calmac ferry but it was still a rough crossing.

It was a good adventure, my first trip there and the island is now one of my favourites. We got a wee bit of sunshine in amongst the rain and it was like paradise. It does feel really remote though. They do great food at cafe Canna but you need to book.

A Dutch family were staying in the pod next to us and had turned up with no waterproofs, just woollen jackets and brollies. They had seen the island on Dutch TV documentary and we're staying for 6 days. On the day we left it was pissing down and their kids were soaking so we gave our boys waterproofs to them to try and help them out a bit. Luckily the weather turned a lot better for the rest of their stay.

Hopefully we'll get better weather on our next trip.

I went in late October, I think 2 but maybe 3 years ago.

Is the trawler still on the rocks?  I did a wee bit research when I came home and it had been there for a while.  Seems like an expensive bit of kit to just leave there.  Here's the accident report, which is kind of interesting!  https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/547c6fa040f0b60241000045/JackAbryIIReport.pdf

[The Mantis]

On 08/01/2017 at 08:49, throbber said:

There was a campaign in Lewis to open the swimming pool up on a Sunday which was quickly shot down recently.

Bit optimistic that when even the seagulls don't fly on a Sunday...

[Big Rider]

2 hours ago, Ya Bezzer! said:

I went in late October, I think 2 but maybe 3 years ago.

Is the trawler still on the rocks?  I did a wee bit research when I came home and it had been there for a while.  Seems like an expensive bit of kit to just leave there.  Here's the accident report, which is kind of interesting!  https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/547c6fa040f0b60241000045/JackAbryIIReport.pdf

I didn't see the trawler when we were there last year so it must have been salvaged earlier.

Interesting report, tiredness, couple of drams, warm cabin, etc. Sounds like a recipe for disaster right enough.

[microdave]

I'm thinking of doing the North Route 500 in June. Has anyone been round? I don't know how long to take to do it since when the idea came up, I thought 10 days but after doing a bit of research (i.e Google) a few places had a five day itinery which seems a bit short to me.

[welshbairn]

54 minutes ago, microdave said:

I'm thinking of doing the North Route 500 in June. Has anyone been round? I don't know how long to take to do it since when the idea came up, I thought 10 days but after doing a bit of research (i.e Google) a few places had a five day itinery which seems a bit short to me.

Day and a half, no trouble.