Jamier45

If your heading up to Lossiemouth, Aberdeen, Inverness way give me a shout and if I'm about I don't mind showing you around a bit and some of the pubs

TMM1982

Hey folks, is it possible to camp in the Loch Ness/Glen Affric area? I made a Scottish friend and she said she could bring her tent. Hoping she's not a serial killer but anyways, thoughts on this?

HIDDY

Yes you can either camp wild or use official camping sites. Wild camping in Glen Affric is easy Loch Ness less so unless you get away from the loch shore....better to use a camp site there.

boydphotographer

Camping in Scotland is possible. Worst part is perhaps the wind. One time in Isle of Skye I had to put the tent next/under the car to block the wind and that only 1/2 worked. Car wasn't big enough and turns out direction of wind can change. Camping sites are overpriced. Scotland does have an amazing thing called "right to roam" which means you can go on any land on foot. Isn't relevant to camping as it means passing through but it could be handy? Tried to send you a message about raw cameras and gopro but your settings don't allow you to receive private messages. Essentially it should be in the picture quality settings. Some gopro's might not have the option. Hard to say without looking at it.

TMM1982

Hey body, I was suspended for a week but am back now. If you don't mind, maybe try sending that PM again? Thanks a lot.

farci

I hope you enjoy your Scottish camping sojourn - it's a magnificent place with friendly people. Just let me throw in one warning - Midges

This little insect can make your outdoor trip a misery so take precautions

TMM1982

Thanks for that farci.

jason8612

To tack on to the OP, we will be in EDI next week and will have about 4 days there (Wed afternoon - Sat night). Other than the must see sights in the city, would it be worth it to rent a car for the day? How is parking in the city (we could rent a car for a few days and just return it back at the airport) or is there plenty in the city to do for those few days? And being up in EDI, any good distilleries that are close by that we should visit?

lwildernorva

Parking in the Old Town/New Town sections in the center of Edinburgh is virtually impossible. The times I've rented a car, I've been either near the University of Edinburgh or Newington and either walked or taken buses into the center of the city.

Definitely rent from the airport. Renting in the center of the city almost certainly means pickup/dropoff from Waverly Station, and I've found that experience generally unpleasant. You could probably find enough to do in Edinburgh for the time you're there, but if you want to do a day trip, especially one with distilleries, consider taking the A9 north to Edradour or Dalwhinnie. Glenkinchie is closer than either of these distilleries, but I think the drive, especially as you get into the Cairngorms, is vastly better. Dalwhinnie is about 2 hours from the airport; Edradour is closer to 90 minutes.

If you want to hit both distilleries and spend a night out of the city, Pitlochry, the small town where Edradour is located, Aviemore, 30 minutes beyond Dalwhinnie, or Inverness, an hour north of Dalwhinnie, would be good options. Pitlochry and Aviemore are small towns and during the summer can be quite busy so finding accommodations can be a challenge. Inverness is much larger with more hotel/motel/B&B options.

stut

If you don't fancy driving and want to get out of town, there are a number of trips possible by train, such as:

Over the wonderful Forth Bridge to North Queensferry, walk down to the shore for views of the Firth and the bridges (carry on up the Fife Coast for some very pleasant coastal walks).

Linlithgow Palace and Loch are a short walk from Linlithgow station.

Perth and Pitlochry and Stirling are an easy day trip. As mentioned above, there's distilleries up there, although some will need an additional taxi ride.

For great scenery, though, the West Highland (Glasgow to Oban/Mallaig) and Kyle (Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh) lines are by far the best. But that's more than a day trip.

Of course, you won't have the same flexibility as driving, but it's pretty easily done.

Oxon Flyer

When I was staying in Central Edinburgh I bought a Central Scotland Rover - Ł36 for 3 days unlimited train travel, excluding the weekday morning peak. But you should be enjoying your Full Scottish Breakfast then anyway. Used it to make trips to Glasgow, Falkirk (for the Wheel), Linlithgow, Stirling, North Berwick, the Fife coast and a couple of trips over the Forth Bridge, alighting at both North Queensferry and Dalmeny to enjoy the view.

As an added bonus, it's also worth making a lap of the quirky Glasgow Underground (aka the Clockwork Orange), which is included in the price.

Trains are frequent and it was so much better than driving and parking. And Waverley station is a magnificently fitting place to start and end the day too.

lwildernorva

As they say, every day you learn something is a good day. I was unaware of this option, and I appreciate your bringing it into this thread.

MADPhil

You might enjoy the Borders Railway, though it is not covered by the Rover: http://www.bordersrailway.co.uk/

Efrem

Given your schedule and the amount of time you have, I wouldn't bother with more than one distillery. While there are substantial differences in the end product, the manufacturing processes tend to be similar. There will be a great deal of overlap among the tours. Unless you're a real whisky aficionado, one will be enough. If you want to taste a variety of whiskies, a pub is the place to do it, not a series of distillery tours - plus, any two distilleries close enough to visit as a pair will produce whisky with the same regional characteristics.

(Think car factories. There are huge differences between driving a Toyota Corolla and driving a two-seater Porsche, but the differences in how they're built are much smaller.)

By the way - if you have enough time on Skye, the Talisker distillery has a fine tour.

jason8612

Very interesting. So the Central Scotland Rover would cover:
North Queensferry (shore views and nice walks)
Linlithgow (Palace and Loch)
Glasgow
Stirling (Castle)


So we could do a schedule like:
Wed - See Edinburgh and the city (castle, gardens, parks, etc)
Thurs - ?
Fri - Linlithgow (Palace and Loch) and Stirling (Castle)
Sat - More time in Edinburgh and do North Queensferry (shore views and nice walks)


I want to do a distillery for sure. One should be good enough. If we did Glengoyne or Auchentoshan, they seem to be accessible from Glasgow (so I could make that a Thurs trip to do a distillery and Glasgow) by bus and a short walk.

If we did Glenkinchie, it's closer to Edinburgh, but there is a 2mile walk (or taxi ride) that would need to be factored in.

Right now Glengoyne seems really cool. They have a 5hr tour which covered everything about whisky including a class to learn how to taste and smell the notes along with some bottling course (though it is 150GBP per person) and they also have a 2hr warehouse tour and some other shorter tours. Auchentoshan seems quite cool as they got options like you can bottle your own or a very detailed tour.