A wee trip to Orkney and down the west coast

[sofnolime]

Here is a write up of a weeks trip I did a couple of weeks ago to Orkney and then back down the west coast via Ullapool and back home to Linlithgow...

http://www.sofnolime.blogspot.co.uk/

Be gentle it is my first one!

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

Most excellent, thanks for sharing

 

[Packer]

+1, my wife and I took her MX5 up to Orkney last weekend and covered the same roads not surprisingly. Brilliant surfaces and easy overtaking on the long straights. If you like history and archaeology Orkney is a real eye opener, who would have thought those wee patches of land would be a world centre of civilisation 5,000 years ago.

On the road across to Durness racing to get to Cocoa Mountain before closing time I was roundly cursing the lack of performance of the MX5 compared to a bike, particularly when trying to get past the hoards of camper vans.

 

[Rich C]

Enjoyed that

 

[Camel Toe]

enjoyed that little insight into Scottyland...off up there in a week or two...

 

[Micky]

Many thanks for that sofnolime ... very enjoyable

I'm heading up the west coast of Scotland for three or four week in September, Island hopping and exploring. Islay, Jura, Mull, Skye, Harris and Lewis ... and Orkney. Much useful information there in your report .... thank you

....... particularly when trying to get past the hoards of camper vans.

I'll be in my VW camper with mi dawg

 

[peepingtom]

Great read and pictures, thanks enjoyed that very much

 

[(RIP) andrewgsadv]

Just in from work, that was an excellent way to wind down after a 12 hour shift. Most enjoyable, looking forward to your French Trip ,hope it works out for you both.

 

[sofnolime]

Glad you enjoyed it! I'm going to try and keep the blog thing going, as much for myself as anyone else. As I write things up I'll post them up here as well!

Just realised I posted this here a few weeks back I should not drink and be in charge of the computer at the same time!

 

[JoeC gs1150se]

14-08-15..

Thanks for all the work you put in for this, brilliant .. I'm presently "researching" aka reading everything I can get my grubby paws on , about the new North(ern) coast road et all. Have had my eyes on the whole area for many a long winter and this new route just seems to be ideal . With this in mind my thinking is to try and get up there this summer??? or that which is left of it . Going to be a long long haul from darkest Dorset of course - which might put it into the "Van" bracket for mode of transport . Bearing in mind of camping , cooking ,parking eating and scenery oggling , carrying space etc included . Weather (of the pis*ing down ) type and midgies are the only down side I can readily identify as of to day . So question 1/ is when do the midgies start - end , and 2/ when is the best weather window ? Time really is not the issue - takes as long as it takes - due to work being done n dusted at long last , 54 years man and dog are enough for anyone ,lol. Has anyone got ideas of the new route , or have done it of course? Thought welcome on a postcard or 20 ,lol.. Any help /comments will be happily received .. Your piece will be a good info base for planning etc ,thank you again for it ..
Joe C.
ps . My spelling is fine - it is my typing that is crap.

 

[sofnolime]

The midges have not been bad this year, so far. I use this site http://www.midgeforecast.co.uk/ to get an idea of what the wee bu**ers will be up to. The Smidge stuff they advertise on the site seems to work quite well, at least it does for me.
Weather wise you should be OK until the end of August/mid September. I have had some amazing weather up north late in the summer and into autum, this year has been wet though...and of course investments can go down as well as up!

On the trip I covered the whole of the North Coast 500 route (anti-clockwise) except the section from Loch Carron to Inverness, from Loch Carron I headed for Fort William.
Going north to Inverness and the start of the route, try and avoid the A9. At Perth take the A93 and head for Braemar, then the A939 for The Lecht, Tomintoul and Nairn then hang a left for Inverness - far better roads than the A9.

There are loads of campsites all along this route - have a look at http://www.scottishcampingguide.com/ for sites and information. I never booked any camping and never struggled for a pitch and remember you can wild camp in Scotland if you prefer that to sites or can't get a pitch on a site.

Most of all, take your time and enjoy it! On my last day I pressed on from Ullapool to home (I live in Linlithgow, almost bang in the middle between Edinburgh and Glasgow). I should have stopped over around Fort William and spent more time enjoying the section from Ullapool to Fort William.

For general Scottish info have a look here - http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/

Enjoy

 

[Posh Pete]

Useful report. Ta.

 

[JoeC gs1150se]

15-08-15... Great stuff, many thanks for your response / reply - a great help thank you again .. Best get kicking the tyres and lighting the fires by the sounds of it ,lolol..
Joe C ..

 

[Norrie]

Very enjoyable RR John thanks for sharing

Norrie

 

[HTB]

The midges have not been bad this year, so far. I use this site http://www.midgeforecast.co.uk/ to get an idea of what the wee bu**ers will be up to. The Smidge stuff they advertise on the site seems to work quite well, at least it does for me.
Weather wise you should be OK until the end of August/mid September. I have had some amazing weather up north late in the summer and into autum, this year has been wet though...and of course investments can go down as well as up!

'Skin so soft' - works great for anti midge - will be up at Loch Stack (north of Scourie, where the dykes are for any geologists here) next week to stand in the river (amongst other activities) either fishing or looking stupid (its a fine line) and we swear by it over stuff like Jungle Fever. You also smell nice, which is a bonus, but doesn't help catch anything. Failing that it's Marmite (i think the yeast puts them off) or Cocacola, which rots their teeth, are both good alternative anti-midge.

 

[llotse]

enjoyed that, ta