Scotland Planning - Need advice please!

[apokai]

Hi all,

I would like to share my schedule. I really need advices. I got 21 days to plan. I have several section planned but still have some problem to link everything up. Here`s the sections:

Section A - South Scotland (10 days)
A) 3 days at Edinburgh
- Edinburgh Castle and Royal Miles (1 day)
- St-John's Cat. (1 day)
- St-Mary's Cat. and Craigmillar Castle (1 day)
B) 1 day at Dunbar (Dirleton and Tantallon castle)
C) 2 days at Melrose
- Kelso and Melrose Abbeys (1 day)
- Dryburgh Abbey and Jedburgh Abbey (1 day)
D) 1 day at Dumfries (Caerlaverock Castle and SweetheardtAbbey)
E) 1 day at Hamilton (Bothwell Castle and Craignethan Castle)
F) 2 days at Stirling
- Paisley Abbey and Doune Castle (1 day)
- Stirling Castle (1 day)

Section B - North West of Scotland (6 days)
A) 1 day at Inverness (Urquhart Castle and Balverie Castle, Loch Ness)
B) 1 day at Elgin (Elgin Cathedral and St-Laurence's Nairn)
C) 1 day at Aberdeen (Dunnotar Castle)
D) 1 day at St. Andrews OR Dundee (St. Andrews Castle and Cat.)
E) 1 day at Perth (Elcho Castle and Dunkel Castle)
F) 1 day at Dumferlines OR Culross (Campbell Castle and Dumferlines Abbey)

I'm having a hard time to connect both since I would like to go see Eilean Donan Castle. Here's my questions

1) For night sleep,
1A) Culross of Dumferlines?
1B) Dundee or St.Andrews?

2) I want to see Eilean Donan Castle but having difficulties to plan it :

2A) From Stirling (or aberfoyle), go directly to Oban (77 miles - 1 night) then Dornie (110 miles - 1 night) and then Fort Augustus (48.6 miles - 1 night) and then Inverness (33.4 miles 1 night)

2B) Go Straight from Aberfoyle to Dornie (157 miles ! 1 night at Dornie) and then Dornie to Inverness (69.9 miles)

2C) Should I stay 2 days at Dornie and do Skye Isle?

2D) There`s also Fort Williams as a possibility

3) In order to avoid castle fatigue, I might take 2 days for hill walking (I LOVE trekking):
3A) Should I stop at Aberfoyle to go 1 day in the Trossachs + Loch Katherine?
3B) Should I book a full day for the Cairn Gorms?

4) Any other attractions or place I should do?

Many thk again all for your time !
Originally

[oneofthefew]

Hi again apokai.

Having had a quick look at your travel plans I think you need to make a few small changes. For starters, you maybe don't want to try to see quite as much in the short space of time otherwise you will spend all day travelling, leaving little actual time for sight seeing! However, I will try to make suggestions that stay close to what YOU want to do!

Your tour of southern Scotland is quite reasonable, but you might want to visit Paisley Abbey while you're staying near Hamilton - or maybe on the day you travel to Stirling. Likewise you can fit in your visit to Doune Castle at another time. See what you think of the following and maybe you can work some more out from there, which again I'll happily look at for you!

Before I start with that though, as many of the castles and abbeys you want to visit belong to Historic Scotland you might want to invest in one of their Explorer passes. £32 for the 10-day pass would let you in to all their buildings for free - I'll list the separate admission prices for each below to let you see how much you could potentially save!


Days 1-3 in Edinburgh visiting the castle (£11), Royal Mile, St. Mary's Cathedral, St. John's Church and Craigmillar Castle (£4).
Day 4 travel to Dunbar via Dirleton and Tantallon Castles (£5 each); you'll be passing through North Berwick on this section and its worth stopping there.
Days 5-6 visiting the Border abbeys (£4.50 for Dryburgh and £5 each for Melrose and Jedburgh); try to visit the Wallace Statue and/or Scott's View (to the north of Dryburgh) if you get the chance; Abbotsford (Walter Scott's home) is nearby too as is Neidpath Castle (near Peebles).

Entrance to the Historic Scotland buildings would have cost you over your £32 already so I think you should seriously consider it. You can ask for details/buy one at any of the Historic Scotland buildings you visit! Anyway, back to your trip:

Day 7 in the Dumfries area.
Days 8-9 in the Hamilton area visiting Paisley Abbey.
Days 10-11 in Stirling at the castle and (if time allows) the Wallace Monument plus Doune Castle and Dunblane Cathedral.

The above so far fits in well with your original plans, but could be subject to a few more small changes to make it easier for you. The next part of your journey is where a bit of work is needed! First of all I would suggest that if you want to visit the Callander/Aberfoyle area this would be about the best time in your holiday to do so. For the next part of your holiday this is what I would suggest:

Head north from the Callander/Aberfoyle area following the route in to the Highlands across Rannoch Moor and through Glen Coe to Fort William with an overnight stop there probably a good idea. Then from Fort William follow the Road to the Isles to Mallaig and get the ferry to Skye; leave Skye by the bridge allowing you to visit Eilean Donan Castle on your way to Loch Ness (stopping off at Urquhart Castle) and Inverness. You might want to consider another night somewhere along the way (maybe on Skye as there is so much there to see).

From Inverness head to Elgin then Aberdeen, Perth (via Dundee) and on to St. Andrews. From St. Andrews you would then head for Dunfermline, Culross and on to Castle Campbell (Dollar Glen offers plenty walking opportunities). I would probably suggest Dunfermline for a stop-over point as there will be more options for you there than Culross (and certainly more to see).

I am sure that gives you enough to think about for now. Let us know what you think although I am sure others might have completely different ideas!

[Babz]

Just a little more for you to think off !!

B) 1 day at Elgin (Elgin Cathedral and St-Laurence's Nairn)
C) 1 day at Aberdeen (Dunnotar Castle)

You could visit Elgin on the way to stay in Aberdeen(Dunnotar is at Stonehaven)

I suggest you call in at Huntly to 'Deans Shortbread Company', its on Depot Road,
not far from the main road(they do the best shortbread in my opinion).

There is a castle at Huntly it is also Historic Scotland so would be included in
the Explorer Pass !!


Also if you have not looked up hotels to stay in my dad found a nice one in Fort William,
he said the service was good !!

Clan Macduff Hotel

[apokai]

Thk Babz!

[kathyv]

Hi there, I agree with what oneofthefew has said, and Fort William and the ferry to Skye are well worth the effort and the ferry is fun! That does make Eilean Donan easy to do, in fact this in reverse is what my daughter and I did one time, (Loch Ness to Eilean Donan then the bridge to Skye and the ferry to Mallaig).

Abbotsford is also well worth the effort to see, it's beautiful and stuffed with great things to see. They give a really good tour as well. I've been there twice now and wouldn't say no to seeing it again!

Then, when you do go to Huntly, you can send shortbread out to your international friends! LOL

Make sure you give yourself time to stop and do some impulsive things that may not be on your itinerary, you may see some interesting little spot that would be a shame to miss if your intent is to get from point A to B as quick as possible. For example you may want to go through a Whisky Distillery once you get there or stop at some little village for a wander and a picnic. Don't forget to plan time to visit with folks, that makes a trip like this so memorable. I had a lovely chat with a man in St. Andrews where everyone else was watching golfers, I was visiting with this man and learning about his town and the history of the area, things that may not be included on the official tour. And he was as interested in my daughter and I and our story as we were in him. I also got to meet a couple out walking their pair of Golden Retrievers, we had a nice visit about them and comparing notes about our dogs, their's made me both lonely for my own retriever and content because their dogs were so happy to meet me and reminded me of mine!

Don't limit yourself to the sights, meet some people as well!

[Babz]

Originally Posted by kathyv

Then, when you do go to Huntly, you can send shortbread out to your international friends! LOL

For example you may want to go through a Whisky Distillery

Glen Grant is a good distillery to visit......its FREE

Glen Grant Distillery - The Distilleries of Scotland - scotchwhisky.net

I think that kathy means can you send her some of 'Deans Shortbread'

She really misses it !!

[oneofthefew]

Dallas Dhu is another good distillery to visit - its no longer a working distillery, but run by Historic Scotland (so covered by the Explorer ticket) as a tourist attraction!