Be Excellent To Each Other

Having completely neglected your whole country all my life save for a snowboarding trip in Aviemore I've decided it's time for a look around. So we're planning a scenic drive around your bit for a few (5 or 6) days this June. Setting off from the bottom left hand side what places should we definitely go to? I'd ideally like to get right up north and then head back down, passing through all the mountains etc.

Going up the left you want to stop at Oban, maybe cross to Kererra island (on foot) or even Mull (by car). It can be lovely if the weather is nice.

From there I'd go up to Ballachulish and venture into Glencoe a bit, for a look at the impressive mountains or a bit of a walk if you fancy it.

Then the main route is up to Fort William and then Loch Ness. Loch Ness, there's not actually a lot to see and it can be very busy with tourists so I'd be inclined to drive through it but take a detour some distance along the A87 to skye for some better scenery.

Once you get to Inverness it's a good half a day driving to get to Thurso, but at least you can say you've done it, and it's impressively barren up there Also do check out the leaky nuclear power station, from a distance.

More when I think about it. I actually started to write a guide based on our sight-seeing tour of Hydro Power Stations of the Highlands, will try to dig it out.

Cripes, and I thought that poxy little stream down the road from my workplace would be a bit too deep to drive the car through!

*Packs bag*

"Things to pack:

- Chloroform
- Rubber gloves
- Police baton
- Warm sweater"

What kalmar said. Only with whisky. When heading up the west it would be madness not to stop in Oban and there are some lovely little seafood restaurants there as well. The drive up the west is gorgeous as well with loads of hills and mountains-flat countryside always looks very odd to me. Once you start coming back down the east, the Speyside region is home to some wonderful distilleries and they are very cheap to go and tour which includes nosing and sometimes tasting sessions as well. I'd love to go up to Elgin and tour Roseisle, it only opened last year and cost an awful lot of money but it was built with a large focus on renewable energy and the pictures I've seen of all the copper stills together look brilliant.
If you wanted to visit any of the islands while you were here as well then you would need to decide which ones-you can get the ferry to Arran from where I live in Ayrshire and slightly further north you can travel to Islay (another place I want to go, they make my favourite whiskies there). I'm not sure I'd recommend any islands further north than that but that's probably just because I knew a girl from there once and she was right weird.

10 points for the weak lemon drink.

Distilleries and Seafood?

Need to tailor make the itinerary for Mark to include Shortbread Factories and the Irn Bru vault.

I've never actually done a distillery tour! Even though I've been to Islay several times. This needs rectified.

I'd like to see the smack field at harvest time and tour the factory where they sew on fag packet pockets on t-shirt sleeves.

Awesome, cheers Kalmar/Gill.

Z, you're welcome to join us as long as you don't mind riding shotgun, on the boot rack.

I'll price up some goggles.

Can I throw in a recommendation for the lovely Trossachs region? It's a beautiful part of the country on the highland/lowland margins.

All of Scotland is very pretty from my limited experience. One thing I will add is this. MIDGES.

Wull ah lov mah Midgee. See yoo.
\

One thing folk haven't mentioned is the drive up is fucking boring, however near Gretna there's a turn off for the A76 (The Dumfries road) that'll take you up some fun twisty roads & through a wee forest. It'll also bring you out near Kilmarnock & from there your only about 15 miles from a cuppa wi' me & Gill

Also, watch out for the traffic popo on your way through Cumbria, it's getting as bad as South Wales at times.

FTFY.

I've just thought, if you pack you board & can sneak off for a quick play then Evolution skatepark is a lovely concrete heaven at Saltcoats/Stevenston* & on the East coast you have Livingston (Livi), my all time favourite park & if it's pishing it doon there's always The Unit in Dumbarton & The Factory in Dundee

Cheers Wullie, I might well take a diversion to Livi as it's one of those places I feel as though I really should have visited as a UK skater but never have.

Aye, I love it there. It's like a perpetual motion park, you never have to push.

Is it near to the Electric Brae?

Wrong hole coast, fool.

The Electric Brae's just down the road from here. It's shite, I've never had the illusion that I was rolling uphill