June travels to Scotland

**Dixiecat** · 20th April 15, 05:14 PM

Originally Posted by brewerpaul

Im sure it will be obvious as a bright red beacon on my car that Im a tourist so I plan to play it very safe. Drinking is something we enjoy and explore, especially local brewed ales, so I dont plan to see the other side of iron bars unless it is in one of the castle dungeons. Most of our days will be spent hiking or biking so the rare occasion we tourist to some castles will be the only chance we might share an ale with lunch. Otherwise we prefer our pints after dinner and an evening walk back to our B&B. Ive even entertained the thought of a large sign in the back window stating "Yes I am an American tourist, Ill try to stay on the correct side of the lane".

You can drop the American bit. It seems that 98% of the world drives on the right.

**brewerpaul** · 20th April 15, 06:13 PM

Originally Posted by Dixiecat

You can drop the American bit. It seems that 98% of the world drives on the right.

You are correct there so Ill just have tourist in bold. I seem remember when I was in Nepal they drove down the right... and the left.. sometimes the middle between to other vehicles. The only thing safe from the honking horns were the cows.

**Jock Scot** · 20th April 15, 10:59 PM

Just a thought as you like local brewed ales. If you have a spare hour, have a look at the Black Isle Brewery. Its about 3 miles North of Inverness just off the A9. There is also the Skye Brewery on Skye . OK that sounds obvious doesn't it? Well, don't rely on businesses being situated necessarily where you think they might be!

**frank_a** · 21st April 15, 07:01 AM

I would love to visit Inveraray, simply because it is one of the only planned villages in Scotland. A former Duke of Argyll didn't like having all the rabble living so close to his castle, so he designed a village for them, built it, and moved the bunch of them down to the loch!

Having said that, the possibility of me ever getting to Scotland gets a bit dimmer every year. I hope all you folks that can go (yes, YOU Paul!) have a great time and keep us posted. If nothing else, I can live vicariously.

Frank

**brewerpaul** · 6th May 15, 08:44 PM

Well things are going well and we are excited about getting to Scotland. We do have a car rented and everyone talks about ordinance maps. We do like the back roads, scenic view and less than visited roads so these maps seem to be the way to do. Id like to know where they are sold so I can pick some up in the regions we are going. It seems they will point you to lesser know ruins, castles and vistas not normally visited. That is our want, to see these out of the way places and enjoy every bit of them. I would appreciate some info on where to pick up these maps for our travels. Many thanks in advance.

Let me edit this post with a link to OS Maps that I can buy in a one month to 12month plan. The link is below. Has anyone used it. I might be interest in a 3 month plan so I can start looking at the maps on my pc..

https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/

**Jock Scot** · 6th May 15, 09:09 PM

These days OS maps are sold in many and various places, but Tourist information offices, post offices and outdoorsy type shops would be my first thought. Followed by the local shop(stores), garage(fuel station), and quite often the local hotel. They are not difficult to find.

**brewerpaul** · 6th May 15, 09:19 PM

Originally Posted by Jock Scot

These days OS maps are sold in many and various places, but Tourist information offices, post offices and outdoorsy type shops would be my first thought. Followed by the local shop(stores), garage(fuel station), and quite often the local hotel. They are not difficult to find.

Many thanks Ill keep an eye out. As we are doing as much outdoors, walking and hiking, we are going to want to get some. Thank you Jock Scot.

**Jock Scot** · 6th May 15, 09:28 PM

Go for the "explorer"(1:25000 scale) and "land ranger"(1:50000 scale) versions and with our weather as it is a really good idea to go for a map case(a clear plastic bag these days) to keep off the damp! They can be bought at almost any Outdoor, skiing, hill walking type shop------well, in Fort William they are! There is a very useful guide on the back of the maps that shows you clearly the map numbers of the neighbouring areas, often the bit that you want to see is on the edge of one map so having the next map over is handy.

**Pleater** · 8th May 15, 08:14 PM

The vehicles I have hired recently have all been fitted with sat nav boxes - which - if they have the features, can be very useful in finding places to stop, park, eat and visit.
The really clever ones - I was most impressed last year when I encountered one for the first time, can direct you around road closures due to accidents.
The portable ones can be very useful when on foot - particularly for finding the shortest route back to the car again, but I am not sure how easy it is to get a map downloaded. I met some visitors who had decided not to pay for the map and download it at home, and when they arrived in the UK the providers were most uncooperative and would not allow them to have a download.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

**SeumasA** · 9th May 15, 05:07 AM

It's been a few years since our trip, but at the time the fee for the satnav was more than the daily car rental. We brought our own, but primarily used our maps.
I still like to look at a map to get the big picture, instead of that little screen on the GPS.