Flights are booked for Scotland in May 2020!

[revdpatience]

Lovely Wife and I are excited to continue planning our first-ever trip to Scotland.

Using my Delta miles earned by incessant business travel, we have booked our flights to and from Heathrow May 2-14, and we plan to take the train back and forth from there.

Now to fill in the days in the middle!

I have two main "bookends" in mind: A day or two in Inverness and the Black Isle, especially Avoch, for one and a trip across to the Isle of Mull for another. Those are the family connections of the Patiences and the McColls.

But in between we are open to most anything, and I would welcome advice for a first-timer. We're more the history/museum/shopping than the hiking/camping types. I no longer drink, so we'll limit the distillery tours to one (probably Tobermory while we're on Mull).

And though I'm a clergyman, I'm on warning that we're not churchcrawling.

We're mindful that we will not be able to "see everything" in one trip, and we have no intention to try. But if you have suggestions, we'd love to hear them.

[kilted redleg]

If you get a chance try to make it to Edinburgh where on the front gate {city' motto} are words to live by "NISI DOMINUS FRUSTRA"
Roughly translated to "Without God All Is In Vain."

[Jock Scot]

The train makes life simple, but is slightly limiting from a sightseeing point of view. Although the train does allow one to see the views in comfort. However the bus routes are pretty good at filling in the gaps and failing that, taxis are fairly plentiful and obliging, though they will add to the cost. One thing to remember!-------------And many visitors don't!

THERE IS NO TRAIN (or track) DIRECTLY BETWEEN INVERNESS AND FORT WILLIAM.

There is a good bus service though from Inverness to FW, which will go on to Oban when required. You will probably sail to Mull from there.

[neloon]

Since Jock has mentioned rail travel, here is the rail map of the UK. Not to scale in terms of travel time, of course.
https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stati...ilmaplarge.pdf
I'm always banging on about the Northeast of Scotland so here are some "attractions"
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/scotlan...oi-sig/1318151

Alan

[Kiltedjohn]

If you get a chance try to make it to Edinburgh where on the front gate {city' motto} are words to live by "NISI DOMINUS FRUSTRA"
Roughly translated to "Without God All Is In Vain."

Edinburgh would fit in well with the "history/museum/shopping" theme. It has all three in abundance!

[revdpatience]

We’re booked into a Marriott hotel in Edinburgh near Waverly Station for the first couple of nights. Also have another booked near Heathrow on the last day before departure. Points make those first and last hotels easy to arrange.

In between is what we’re working on next.

I appreciate Jock’s insights about buses between Inverness and Fort William, and will pore over Alan’s rail map. They’ll help as we plot our course.

[revdpatience]

So here are the bones of our itinerary:

Sun 3 May — Arrive LHR, train to Edinburgh for three nights; see the sights in Edinburgh; meet friend who is rector of St. John’s, Princes Street; day trips to Stirling/Peebles/Rosslyn?

Wed 6 May — Train Edinburgh to Inverness for three nights; visit Avoch, Black Isle, Culloden, and more

Sat 9 May — Buses Inverness to Fort William to Oban for three nights; day trip to Isle of Mull on Mon 11 May

Tue 12 May — Train from Oban to Glasgow for one night

Wed 13 May — Train Glasgow to London for one night.

Thu 14 May — Fly home

[neloon]

This is the usual site to explore rail bookings.
https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/
Have a great trip - and then come back again.

Alan

[revdpatience]

Alan:

We haven't even been yet, and we definitely intend to come back again, which is why for this first trip we decided to focus on my family connection sites (Avoch and Mull).

And we know ourselves well enough to know we'd rather stay in a place for a few days and explore instead of racing from pillar to post.

Thanks for the helpful rail information!

Rodger

This is the usual site to explore rail bookings.
https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/
Have a great trip - and then come back again.

Alan

[Jock Scot]

So here are the bones of our itinerary:

Sun 3 May — Arrive LHR, train to Edinburgh for three nights; see the sights in Edinburgh; meet friend who is rector of St. John’s, Princes Street; day trips to Stirling/Peebles/Rosslyn?

Wed 6 May — Train Edinburgh to Inverness for three nights; visit Avoch, Black Isle, Culloden, and more

Sat 9 May — Buses Inverness to Fort William to Oban for three nights; day trip to Isle of Mull on Mon 11 May

Tue 12 May — Train from Oban to Glasgow for one night

Wed 13 May — Train Glasgow to London for one night.

Thu 14 May — Fly home

Fort George just outside of Inverness(about opposite Avoch on the opposite side of the Moray Firth,) is almost a must see, superb views from the ramparts (keep an eye out for the dolphins), an interesting regimental museum within, along with being an almost intact materpiece of Georgian military defensive architecture.

At Fort William, right in the centre of town is the West Highland Museum. Its quite small, but is well worth a visit as it has some superb exhibits.

Have fun!