Planning a long trip - Need survival tips

[Lochstone]

Greetings !!!
I'm planning a long trip to Scotland, from Hadrian's Walls to Mousa Broch. I intend to visit Berwick, Haddington, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stirling, the Trossachs, Oban, Glen Cole, LochNess, Inverness, Aviemore, Skie, Orkney ,Shetlands, the entire country if I can... What I need for now is some basic information about cost, simple stuff, like how much is a bottle of water or a bottle of whisky, how much is a meal, like a dish of beef or lamb or salmon. Can I survive ( without luxury of course ) with 5$ pounds a day? The best and cheaper transport: Bus, Train, Car, By foot ? It's better to rent a car, drive trought A9 and sleep on it or walk carrying a tent and camp in some castle ruins ? How much is a boat ticket from Scrabster to Stromness. Information like that I can't find in the Internet but only with real people. I hope you can help me. Thanks !!!

[hutcircles]

Thats some trip lochstone! as most pepole find when they try to plan trips they shove as much into the trip as possible and they never end up seeing as much as they thought they would. So it is good to hear that you are going to take your time to do all this. How long are you going to be here?
$5 a day! ( around £3.57 at today exchange rate I think! ) or £5 pounds a day ( around $7 ) you'll be hard pushed to pay for meals at that budget. but buying from stores and cooking on a stove and camping is the chepest way by far. This is what I do when I've been to the USA although I stayed in a much more localized area. Don't make the mistake & think Scotland this wee place! as it is bigger than most pepole think & it always takes longer than you would think.
Bottle of water? bigger the cheaper at large stores where the average joe buys his, is always the place to go for any food stuff, like one of those small hand held suck bottle probably around 60p larger 2L maybe £1.50 I'll check this out to be sure. If you are camping which would be the cheapest way! you can just drink the free water of Scotland as that is more or less whats in the bottles anyway. If I were you, buy a filter pump eg; PUR hiker microfilter cost from REI in Seattle in 2000 $78.00 then you can just stop anywhere you like & drink out of the burn/lochs.
Bottle of whisky Macallan 10 year old malt from £16.00 to £18 or you can get cheap blends for as low as £10.50.
My local pub meals range from £4.50 for a main course to £11 for a stake supper say! ($6.30 to $15.40) so as you can see not that cheap, especially in the touristy places. but if you go to fish & chip shops now & then £3+ for fish supper & £1.80 for a haggis supper.
When it comes to transport by foot & thumb it is the cheapest, if you've got the time? and are on your own but not near the cities as its not possible to hitch on the main roads with 2 or more lanes. To get from say a city to the contryside bus is by far the cheapest. At the end of May I'm going to hike the Great Glen Way I have to get to Inverness from Elgin so thats bus £6 ($8.40) 40 miles then change to Fort William £7.50 ($10.50) then hike back to Inverness 73 miles then bus back home. Renting a car is better so see all over but cost alot if you're renting more that 2 weeks ( small car £160 a week -$224) although you would get a good deal for longer! Camping at sites with wc showers etc. around £6 a night there are cheaper than this but not much. Castle ruins most are owned by the national trust for Scotland, well all the famous ones so they are out for camping in. but having said that up here in Moray which has 311 castles (ruins) to choose from most are not out of bounds at night, but remember that castles are in the most out of the way places eg; not near shops etc. which is good if you want to get away from it all! E-mail me if you want or post more ? here.

[hutcircles]

sorry if I've assumed that you're from the US !

[Lochstone]

Hi! Hutcircles, thank you very much for you reply. No problem if you assumed I was American, in fact I'm glad to know you understood what I wrote with my sloppy brazilian english. You gave me the exact information I'm looking for, by the way, I used the wrong symbol "$" instead of "£".Sorry, you were right, I'm meant £5 pounds. That's almost R$15 Reais ( Brazilian currency )enough money here for a simple meal. £1.80 for a Haggis supper ???? I'll eat Haggis every day. Renting a car is really expensive, traveling by Bus seems to be the best way, but you gave me a great idea. For example I was thinking about going from Oban direct to Inverness but I can go to Fort Williams and hike the Great Glen Way to Inverness. Maybe I can plan a great trip by selecting diferent hiking trails along the way with some bus travel and sometimes a good B&B to rest the skeleton. I'm planning at least a two month trip maybe more, all alone, just me and the sky, that's why I need to make some day by day cost calculation or I will end up eating stones at Shetland's. If you have some interesting hiking website links please send me. I'll start the math now, with all the prices you gave me to see how much it should cost. Last question, how is the weather august and september, freezing cold for some one used to a 100 degree at winter? ( Rio de Janeiro Temperature )
Thank you again
Lochstone

[hutcircles]

No need to apologise for your English - it's better than my Portugese! If you like to hike there are lots of trails that you can take if you have got the time and the energy. From Glasgow you can take the West Highland Way which takes you to Fort William, from there you can take the Great Glen Way to Inverness. The whole thing would probably take you two weeks of continuous walking (168 miles altogether) but there are lots of places to stop off in between where you could have a few days R&R.You could even take the bus and miss some bits out if you get tired. There is a long distance path which starts/finishes at Aviemore called the Speyside way and this one takes you right past our door or at least past our local pub where you will be very welcome. If you've never had haggis have a read of one of my posts to niquie in penpals.
If you are planning on staying at B&B's they will cost more if you are on your own as there is usually a supplement for one person in a double room.( On average you would probably pay around £25). There are backpackers hostels in the touristy places like Inverness and you will also find bunkhouses which are fairly basic and are really just a roof over your head dormitory style for about £7 a night. Iy you join the international youth hostel association you will get loads of info about cheap accommodation even if you are not a youth(we certainly aren't).
As for the weather, it is famous for being unreliable at any time of year. For instance a few days ago it was 72 degrees and at this very moment there is a howling gale and earlier it was snowing.The tempearture forecast for tonight is 28 degrees so as you see you have to be prepared for anything! That said you have chosen a good time to come as September can be one of the nicest months to visit. One thing to beware of is the notorious highland midge. In the USA they call them no see ums but we get them much worse here. They will eat you alive so be prepared to get some bug repellant.
If you are coming to Scotland for the weather you won't be disappointed- we get lots of it! On a good day Scotland is beautiful, on a bad day it's wet and beautiful.
There are several choices if you want to take the ferry to Orkney. You can take the car ferry from Scrabster to Stromness as you say, it takes 2 hours. Or you can take the passenger ferry from John O' Groats which is the most northerly point on the mainland to South Ronaldsay which takes 45 mins. If you find yourself in Aberdeen you can take the ferry to Stromness but it takes 10 hours!
Beware that if the weather is bad the ferries may be cancelled.

[hutcircles]

Here are afew websites that might be useful to you
http://www.west-highland-way.co.uk
http://www.greatglenway.com
http://www.robroyway.fsnet.co.uk
http://www.orkney.org
http://www.calmac.co.uk
The last one is about ferries on the west coast of Scotland and the Orkney one will tell you about ferries to Orkney. Some places will start to wind down at the end of September so check timetables etc if you are travelling after that. Let us know how your plans go and we will try to answer your questions, no matter how trivial. We have been in your situation and it was a great help to get information from the "natives". Good Luck.

[kathyv]

Be warned! When I did Great Britian on a budget, I found that everything cost more than I anticipated. We didn't blow much on extras but meals were about twice what I thought they were. There is no way you can do meals on $5 or even 5 Pounds a day. Figure that per meal espically if you are hiking! There is an excellent public transport system and you may be able to buy a pass that would save you money in the long run. Petrol is spendy but if you need a car then be prepared! A good website is http://www.ricksteves.com Lots of practical and frugal tips from actual travelers! They also have a message board where you can find great info in a wide variety of topics. Have a wonderful time! It's well worth the expense!