14 replies to this topic

[bobby]

I can proudly claim that I have beaten the dreadful V-day ripoff!!!!

I have now been conned into a post V-day long weekend!! yes.I know...if something is too good to be true....it usually will bite you in the a***!


anyway....ive got an early morning run on a thursday from london to edinburgh (4am). Planning to do the city centre on thursday and go north on Friday, go west on saturday. Planning to stay in Edinburgh for 3 nights 19-20 feb.


Anyhelp on where to go for the GROIN™ and what to see for the boss in the passenger seat will be appreciated.


Thank you please!

[350doc]

The West coast is beautiful: Applecross (a crofting village), Port Appin.

There is good food on the way at Loch Fyne (oysters etc.).

[Paul_S]

I'll keep a close eye on this thread. Sarah and I are going for a weeks drive soon

[Ant Blain]

bobby, on 9 Feb 2009, 23:43, said:

anyway....ive got an early morning run on a thursday from london to edinburgh (4am). Planning to do the city centre on thursday and go north on Friday, go west on saturday. Planning to stay in Edinburgh for 3 nights 19-20 feb.


Anyhelp on where to go for the GROIN™ and what to see for the boss in the passenger seat will be appreciated.

So you're staying in Edinburgh but want some decent drives, or decent places to visit?

I've just come back from a week up at Loch Ness. Stunning scenery and driving roads!! From Edinburgh go north on the A9 (past Stirling) and the scenery starts getting nice; go far enough (maybe a 2-hour drive) and you're in Aviemore, stunning scenery but not much to do (unless you fancy a days skiing?). The A9 goes all the way up to Inverness; probably not worth a visit...


Over on the West / highlands things are even more beautiful but all single-carriageway A / B-roads; fantastic to drive when clear / good weather but can be a nightmare in the snow / rain. I thought Fort William and the like were a disappointment, but there's lots of nice whisky distilleries, castles, lochs and glens all around / up and down the A82, depends what you're after. Best thing to do round there is throw the car somewhere and go walking TBH!


Depending which way you go up (M6 or A1/M) watch out on the A74 / M74 when you get over the border - there are a LOT of traffic police, marked and un-marked. If you see one, chances are there will be one or two more waiting for you at the next junction so go easy!


And your car will end up looking like this:



...but at least it's a chance to clean it and get it looking like this again:

[Ant Blain]

More pics from last week...



Stunning scenery:











So cold even entire glens had frozen over:





Be warned, some of the roads are not accessible in a 350Z (I had to admit defeat after a couple of miles down this B-road at Glen Africh and abandon mine and continue on foot):





You'll love it...

[Gus]

Bobby,

Can you give more clues of sort of things you want to do - eg all day driving with great scenery, shorter drives with places to visit, are you interested in history ?, are you in to skiing ?, etc, etc.

I'm in Edinburgh so know pretty much how long it takes to drive to any part of Scotland.

At this time of year you're not going to be able to hammer it on the A and B roads, unless it gets a lot, lot warmer in the next couple of weeks, but there are still some great drives to do if you give me an indication of how many hours in a day you'd be happy driving.

Paul, feel free to fire any questions you have at me on a thread or PM

Ant - I was up in Glen Affric last weekend - fantastic place up until about mid June when the midges arrive - then it's hell !

Gus

[bobby]

Gus, on 10 Feb 2009, 21:39, said:

Bobby,

Can you give more clues of sort of things you want to do - eg all day driving with great scenery, shorter drives with places to visit, are you interested in history ?, are you in to skiing ?, etc, etc.

I'm in Edinburgh so know pretty much how long it takes to drive to any part of Scotland.

At this time of year you're not going to be able to hammer it on the A and B roads, unless it gets a lot, lot warmer in the next couple of weeks, but there are still some great drives to do if you give me an indication of how many hours in a day you'd be happy driving.

Paul, feel free to fire any questions you have at me on a thread or PM

Ant - I was up in Glen Affric last weekend - fantastic place up until about mid June when the midges arrive - then it's hell !

Gus

Thanks for the tips so far guys....

here is a bit more of detail....
Thursday is in Edinburgh doin all the tourist stuff. (need tips for a good place to for dinner)
Friday and saturday are planned to go see north and west scotland.(castles, lochs, distillaries, scenic areas and traditional villages) So the idea is to drive and stop for pics and some food for the whole 2 days. I would say a stop of an hr and a drive of another hr to each stop. I am hoping that the weather turns milder by next weekend. My planned route to Edinburgh is M1, M6, A702 to Edinburgh.

[Ant Blain]

Gus, on 10 Feb 2009, 21:39, said:

Ant - I was up in Glen Affric last weekend - fantastic place up until about mid June when the midges arrive - then it's hell !

Gus

The road in my last pic is at Glen Affric (well, up past Dog Falls on the way to Glen Affric), and the third pic is as near to the actual Loch that we got on our walk. Shame we couldn't get round it but just couldn't get any nearer in the car and the weather / hours of daylight were against us.

Tell the man somewhere nice to eat in Edinburgh, you'll know better than me...!!

[Gus]

Bobby,

Sorry for delay - here's some ideas, feel free to ask further questions :-

Nice food in Edinburgh : How much do you want to spend ??
1. Reasonable : Howies ( Victoria Street ), The Grain Store, A Room in the West End
2. A bit dearer : Stac Polly, The Atrium
3. Posh : Rhubarb, The Witchery, The Tower, Martin Wishart
try here http://www.finewined...uide.shtml#vitg

Driving routes. I think you want to do 2 day trips returning to Edinburgh in between - is that correct ? To see far north and west a 2 day road trip, stopping on route would have allowed you to see more, never mind, you still love it.........

West : M9 to Stirling ( castle ), A811 Drymen, A82 up side of Loch Lomond, Tarbet, A83 Rest and be Thankful, Inveraray ( castle ), Lochgilphead, A816 Oban, A85 Tyndrum, A82 Crainlarich, Lochearnhead, Crieff, A822 Muthill, Gleneagles, Yetts o'Muckhart, Knockhill Racing Circuit, B914, M90, Forth Bridge, Edinburgh.

North & West : A90 Forth Bridge, M90 Perth, A9 Dalwhinnie ( can stop off at Dunkeld, or Pitlochry or Blair Atholl on way ), A889, A86 Spean Bridge, A82 Fort William, Glen Coe, Rannoch Moor, Tyndrum, Crainlarich, A85 Lochearnhead, Callander, Sirling, M9 Edinburgh.

There's a small amount of overlap on these routes, and if you were prepared to do more driving you could get further north-west. ie you could carry on up the A9 to Inverness and then down the side of Loch Ness to join the above route at Spean Bridge. Any further than that and you'll be doing a lot of driving. Saying that I've driven to Glen Shiel ( on the way to Isle of Skye ), done an 8 hour walk and driven back in the same day, but that was a bit extreme !

Some great roads in the north east as well, around the Cairngorms but probably more summer roads, some go over high passes and may be shut.

Actually if any snow then a few of the roads on the routes I've mentioned could also be shut - hopefully you will be OK, I think the long range forecast looks OK.

I'm sure others will read this and say - oh but you've missed the Axxx - that's the best road ever ! So anyone else feel free to make some suggestions - these are just my preferences for a day trip from Edinburgh.

Gus

[stew]

I can personally spend days wandering around Edinburgh....

The routes looks good Gus.

Have a quick scan in the Jockland Hoon thread from last year. You'll see some pics in there from the West Highlands.

I have the route etc if you want a copy just shout. You could pick out a few good roads and from it.

[Paul_S]

Cheer Guys. We'll have a look at that too - we could start up our own official nissansportz Scotland drive:)

[bobby]

Thanks Gus! very valueable info there......ive got to plot it on a map and see how it all looks!!!!! Will give you a shout for more info once i have a basic plan set up.

Bobby

[Gus]

How was your trip Bobby ?

Hope you had a great time and that it wasn't too

Gus

[bobby]

Gus, on 24 Feb 2009, 19:22, said:

How was your trip Bobby ?

Hope you had a great time and that it wasn't too

Gus

Unfortunately the trip was postponed at last moment...Still p****d off about it! The mrs had a few interviews lined up at short notice....

the good part is that the weather will be better when we go!

We have now changed our plans to stay at different locations, so on the lookout for places to stay in different parts of Scotland!

[Gus]

Oh, too bad it was cancelled, but as you say you will hopefully get better weather later in the year.

Post up if you want help with recommendations for accomodation - someone may be able to help out

Gus