Western Scotland

Near Tongue. A summer shot ( or to be more exact - freak weather)

Did you get to Scotland? How did you get on?

I'm planning a trip at the start of July with the first stop being the Camping and Caravan Club site at Luss on the banks of Loch Lomond. I'm thinking that I could do it in one day. Does anyone have any thoughts on whether that's doable from Southampton area?

I'll have a night there, then a walk up Ben More near Crianlarich the following day with a drive up to Aviemore for the second night.

Third night I'm heading back South again, staying near Jedburgh for a days walking around the hills in Northumberland and then heading down towards Darlington for the fourth night before returning home the following day. It's about 1250 miles in total. 4 nights, 5 days in total.

Luss from Southampton would be 8-9 hours, plus traffic (seasonal/rush hours), plus stops. Depending on time of day I would definitely consider taking the M6 toll section in West Midlands. Once you get north of about Preston on M6 you'll be past the worst of traffic.

The best M6 motorway stop (by far) is Tebay, just north of J38, which is privately run and actually has quite good food and shop although not cheap.

But don't hit Glasgow (M74/M8 urban motorways) anywhere near rush hour on a weekday if you can possibly help it.

Velma's Dad said:

Luss from Southampton would be 8-9 hours, plus traffic (seasonal/rush hours), plus stops. Depending on time of day I would definitely consider taking the M6 toll section in West Midlands. Once you get north of about Preston on M6 you'll be past the worst of traffic.

The best M6 motorway stop (by far) is Tebay, just north of J38, which is privately run and actually has quite good food and shop although not cheap.

But don't hit Glasgow (M74/M8 urban motorways) anywhere near rush hour on a weekday if you can possibly help it.

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Thanks Velma's Dad

I've plugged 8 and a half hours into my spreadsheet using the M6 toll road plus I had 10 stops en route planned (now 11 with the Tebay tip) with breaks lasting 3 hours 10 minutes so the total journey time is around 11 hours 40 minutes but if things go wrong, I could drop a break stop or two. Leaving at 7am I should get there at about 6:40pm which doesn't seem too unreasonable really.

I'm still pondering whether to stop for an overnighter on the way up in the Lake District but would prefer to get up there in a day if possible.

Cheers

Mike

MickyTwoPints said:

I'm planning a trip at the start of July with the first stop being the Camping and Caravan Club site at Luss on the banks of Loch Lomond. I'm thinking that I could do it in one day. Does anyone have any thoughts on whether that's doable from Southampton area?

I'll have a night there, then a walk up Ben More near Crianlarich the following day with a drive up to Aviemore for the second night.

Third night I'm heading back South again, staying near Jedburgh for a days walking around the hills in Northumberland and then heading down towards Darlington for the fourth night before returning home the following day. It's about 1250 miles in total. 4 nights, 5 days in total.

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Makes me exhausted just reading that schedule!

We did Southampton to Luss in 2013 early start no issues until we got there! Worst attitude from warden at a campsite ever.

• drove through open barrier before checking in.
• wife had not signed her membership card

Meoncoast said:

We did Southampton to Luss in 2013 early start no issues until we got there! Worst attitude from warden at a campsite ever.

• drove through open barrier before checking in.
• wife had not signed her membership card

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Thanks Andy

What time did you set off and can you remember how long it took to drive?

MickyTwoPints said:

What time did you set off and can you remember how long it took to drive?

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Can not recall how long it took to be honest. Via M6 toll and very early start at about 4.30am to get as far north as early as possible. - worst midgies on our whole trip also at Luss - you have been warned.

I echo the suggestion of Tebay Sevices by @Velma's Dad
If you do stay over in the Lakes you could also park up and stay at Tebay.
Their services are so much better and nicer than the big chains, they own 2 others including Cairn Lodge just over the border that even had showers and charged £8 for the overnight stop

Take plenty of midge repellant if you are staying at Luss in July. Has the reputation of being the most midgy of all Scottish sites.

Thanks for your comments folks which have led me to have a rethink on my plans and to add an extra day on to my travels. So, it now looks like this:

Day 1 drive to Moffat Camping and Caravan Club Site just north of Lockerbie. That save me trying to fight my way round Glasgow in the rush hour and knocks and hour and a half off the drive on Day 1.

Day 2 drive to Ben More ... walk around there for a few hours then drive on to Cruachan C&C Site at Morenish on Loch Tay.

Day 3 drive to Aviemore for a look around then head down towards Perth for the start of the journey home staying overnight at Stone C&C Club site.

Day 4 - drive down to Northumberland, probably staying at the Clennell Hall Holiday Park.

Day 5 - spend most of the day walking along part of the Pennine Way in he Cheviots before heading further south towards Darlington, staying at the Countryview Caravan and Camping Site.

Day 6 - Head for home

I haven't booked any of the sites yet as I need to be sure that the weather will be OK before setting of as I don't fancy walking up Ben More if there's a storm brewing. This will also mean I avoid the midge magnet at Luss Campsite

Mike

MickyTwoPints said:

Day 3 drive to Aviemore for a look around then head down towards Perth for the start of the journey home staying overnight at Stone C&C Club site.

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I'm not sure what you are expecting of Aviemore but it's actually a modern, purpose built tourist resort town. Okay as a jumping-off place for walkers/climbers/cyclists/skiers doing the Cairngorms but not in itself much of a destination. I just wanted to manage your expectations on that.

You don't then say how you plan to get back to Perth from up there. The direct route on the A9 involves a fair amount of time stuck behind trucks. The A9 is a pleasant enough road with some quite pretty bits (and a chance to stop off at Blair Atholl which is the quintessential Highland castle). BUT you'd then miss the gorgeous mountain road that runs from Grantown-on-Spey through Tomintoul and Braemar to Blairgowrie.

Thanks for the info. I'm only going to Aviemore as I'm a geocacher and there's a specific geocache I want to find there. It's a bid odd I know but it gets me out of the house. So, it's just a flying visit really

I had intended to take the A9 to Perth as I didn't know any better. Is the alternative an obvious route down to Perth?

Cheers

Mike

Okay you geocachers are a strange bunch but whatever makes you happy...

The Braemar route is now called the Snow Roads' by the tourist authority. I haven't driven if for some years myself but looks like there's now a useful web page with a map, and a link to a printable leaflet:
https://visitcairngorms.com/snowroads

To get to the start of the route in Grantown-on-Spey you'd take the A95 north from Aviemore for about 15 miles.

The scenic route is then 90 miles and ends at Blairgowrie and from there it's a short (half hour) hop further down to Perth.

Thanks again, that's really useful. I'll check out the link as that sounds much more enjoyable that sitting behind a truck

Cheers

Mike

Ewan said:

Just to add to the suggestions and links (thanks @2into1 and @Velma's Dad !), I've grouped various articles about touring Scotland on my blog here: https://wildaboutscotland.com/experience/. In particular, this includes my favourite campsites plus an article on scenic roads with suggestions of things to see and do.

Happy travels!

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Hi Ewan
We are planning a tour last week of June and first week July (before the schools break)
At that time of year would we need to book campsites in advance (other than Skye)?
Thanks in advance

Greg

Hi Greg,

Scottish schools break up on 28th June and so you'll be travelling the first week of the Scottish school holidays unfortunately. Typically there will be lots of Scots and northern Europeans touring Scotland and so in the hotspot areas I'd advise booking ahead. Most Scottish families go on holiday the first fortnight of the summer holidays and of course this year will be the year of the staycation ...

The hotspots definitely include Skye and the W & N parts of the NC500, but will probably also include the more popular islands (Arran, Mull) and popular holiday centres such as Aviemore, Braemar and Fort William. But Scotland's a big place and so if you don't want to fix your travel plans there are plenty other places to visit.

Ewan