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Scottish Highlands


The Mantis

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Finally made it to the North West of the country today. I've been as far as Laxford Bridge and Thurso before, but never joined the bit in between.

Drove up from Inverness via Ullapool and Durness. Brilliant wee day.

Even saw Scotland's staunchest mountain: Ben Loyal near Tongue.

Got my first wee glimpse of Orkney as well, next step is actually to get over the Pentland Firth to it. My next mission!

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4 hours ago, Le Tout P'ti FC said:

Finally made it to the North West of the country today. I've been as far as Laxford Bridge and Thurso before, but never joined the bit in between.

Drove up from Inverness via Ullapool and Durness. Brilliant wee day.

Even saw Scotland's staunchest mountain: Ben Loyal near Tongue.

Got my first wee glimpse of Orkney as well, next step is actually to get over the Pentland Firth to it. My next mission!

582df346bc4444ece1aa8a274b126314.jpgb9b89a0b1a5aec458bdbcceda5e11f93.jpg7a656efefb97ebc64ad331de421caf69.jpge98a44b4d0cacff1c38194c00277d385.jpge0d9a917c85b541f772fade01188efdc.jpgf94c8ec11e21a6a4fdff340d26062bc4.jpg

Stunning photos buddy.

Have been to a lot of the islands, but am embarrassed to say there are large parts of the Highlands I've never set foot on,

Guys from my lodge have spoken about making the journey north to do Ben Loyal for charity some time.  Heavy staunch points for climbing that one.

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  • 2 months later...

I'm at a bit of a loose end this week so I made a last minute decision  to visit Inverness for a couple of days. I haven't been here since I was a kid some 30 odd years ago.

The train journey up was quite nice. The two hours between Perth and Inverness had some pleasant views of hills and the Moray Firth.

The town centre doesn't seem to have suffered as much as other places in Scotland. It's quite clean and there appears to be fewer boarded up shops and junkies than in the likes of Montrose, Arbroath or Dundee. 

I'm staying in the hotel above the Black Isle Brewery's pub. It's a nice enough room, but quite small and probably not worth the £50 a night that I'm paying. I could easily have got a cheaper guest house elsewhere, but f**k it, I'm a fan of Black Isle beer. The pub is pretty cool though and I had a decent pizza and a few pints last night. 

I had a nice walk along by the river and across the bridges connecting the islands earlier. 

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I'd say that a couple of days is enough for Inverness itself, aside from strolling around and drinking there isn't that much to do. If I'd planned this out a bit better I'd go further into the highlands and islands. 

 

 

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53 minutes ago, Paul Kersey said:

 

I'm staying in the hotel above the Black Isle Brewery's pub. It's a nice enough room, but quite small and probably not worth the £50 a night that I'm paying. I could easily have got a cheaper guest house elsewhere, but f**k it, I'm a fan of Black Isle beer. The pub is pretty cool though and I had a decent pizza and a few pints last night. 

 

The Black Isle Pub is absolutely fantastic. Pizzas are great and they have a superb selection of beers, their guest tap list when I was up in November was top notch. Excellent choice of venue.

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  • 2 months later...
On 30/04/2022 at 10:22, Redgold said:

Has anybody of you ever walked up to Lochnagar?

I've done it twice.

Aye - 3 times. But thanks for the reminder. I raked out these pics which haven't seen the light of day since I took them in 2008.

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  • 2 months later...
1 hour ago, Empty It said:

Campervans have completely ruined the highlands for camping, full of ignorant arseholes who don't know how to drive and the campsites are full of screaming kids, not how it used to be.

They also don’t know how to pick up their crap and put it in a bin!

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I've found certain parts of the highlands to be an awful place to be during the season. Some bits are still class, avoiding anything "NC500" and Skye is bliss now. I find most of the time campervans not too bad on the road, they're slow moving, so meeting them in single or small groups is an easy pass. The fuckwits incapable of an overtake or consider any overtaking to be dangerous driving, thus allowing massive queues to form, should be executed. 

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  • 2 months later...
whats the drive from Stornaway down to South Uist like? Any tips. I presume 1 ferry required and how big is it? do you need to book in advance
Fairly dull drive through Lewis initially, then it becomes spectacular once the Harris mountains come into view and are then driven through.

Next to nothing in way of amenities after Stornoway until you reach Tarbert. Recommend stopping off in Tarbert. A few food and drink options, I liked the Loomshed Deli for my coffee and lunch.

After you leave Tarbert you come down to the string of Harris beaches. All of them are brilliant, I particularly like Nisabost and the very short climb up to Macleod's Stone. Must be nigh on impossible not to stop off at one of these if you have any time to spare.

Your ferry will be from Leverburgh. Not particularly scenic but Calmac port towns seldom are. Timetable for the ferry is here: https://www.calmac.co.uk/summer-timetables/bernera-leverburgh. Would always recommend booking. The capacity is 34 vehicles only.

Watch out for the section on that link aboce re tidal amendments. The ferry zigzags in and out of various rocks, meaning it's quite regularly curtailed due to tidal amendments. It's amazing how indirect the route the ferry takes is due to these hazards.

Once you land on Berneray it is a straightforward drive on to South Uist. Causeways link the various islands so no more ferries needed unless you are heading on to Barra from Eriskay.


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If its a really nice day, or a really wild day with big waves, I would recommend An Traigh at Horgabost for lunch on Harris.

The restaurant at the ferry at An t-Òb (Leverburgh is a colonial name) doesn't look much but is excellent .

If you fancy the latter but it's too big a drive in one go there is a good gallery/coffee shop at Hebscape, just the south side of the Clisham 

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 03/12/2021 at 18:46, Le Tout P'ti FC said:

Finally made it to the North West of the country today. I've been as far as Laxford Bridge and Thurso before, but never joined the bit in between.

Drove up from Inverness via Ullapool and Durness. Brilliant wee day.

Even saw Scotland's staunchest mountain: Ben Loyal near Tongue.

Got my first wee glimpse of Orkney as well, next step is actually to get over the Pentland Firth to it. My next mission!

582df346bc4444ece1aa8a274b126314.jpgb9b89a0b1a5aec458bdbcceda5e11f93.jpg7a656efefb97ebc64ad331de421caf69.jpge98a44b4d0cacff1c38194c00277d385.jpge0d9a917c85b541f772fade01188efdc.jpgf94c8ec11e21a6a4fdff340d26062bc4.jpg

Love Photo s two and four !

Edited by Ewan8472
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