h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've been given a payrise in work and I'm thinking about going on my first holiday in about 5 years this summer.

What I'm thinking of is a train and ferry tour of the Western Highlands/Outer Hebrides, coming back via Inverness and Edinburgh. Got anywhere between a week and a fortnight. Two bits I must do are the West Highland and the Kyle of Lochalsh lines, and I'd like to spend at least one night camping on/near a beach and doing some star-gazing.

My questions are:
Is this a stupid idea?
Any must-sees?
Any ideas for possible routes?

Fab and groovy holiday to take.

For some reason, most of this is a bit hazy.....

A couple of years ago I took the train out to Oban from Glasgow and loved the scenery. Boy does it go the long way round - bludding mountains!

From Oban we took the ferry, bus and then a boat out to see Fingal's cave. Even Mrs PP who hates boats had a whale of a time.

I am pretty sure that the cost added up rather. We stayed in B&B in Oban.

The distillery is a must do visit at Oban.

I would recommend highly and do it again myself.

PP.

You'll want to factor in the Edinburgh Festival (to either visit or avoid, as you prefer) if you're thinking of going in August.

Not a stupid idea at all, except for the star-gazing bit; British weather, especially Scottish weather being what it is, it is possible to not see a patch of clear sky overnight for many weeks at a time. That said, October 'up north' has always been kind to me stargazing-wise. If you can leave planning the start time of your holiday to the last minute then you can watch out for predicted long periods of high pressure. Unlike most weather forecasting I've often found that when meteorologists say there is a stable high pressure system due over an area, it tends to be an accurate prediction; up to a week of still, clear conditions seems to occur a few times per year.

On the other hand windy conditions can also be good for stargazing because the clouds move so fast that there are frequently clear patches to gaze at.

In terms of 'must sees', everyone's ideas will be different, but your itinerary would seen to me to cover most bases and give you a good chance of seeing a wide variety of sights. Mountains and dramatic scenery from the West highland bits and world-famous city-scapes in Edinburgh and perhaps less-so in Inverness (but still worth seeing). I would perhaps be tempted to swap Inverness for Aberdeen; just a personal preference though. I find Inverness a little bland (except for the time I crawled into it after a week of walking the 73 miles of the Great Glen Way- then it was a heavenly sight).

Just a word of warning regarding Edinburgh though; due to tram-works which are now almost a decade old, much of the city centre and its surroundings are one huge bombsite. You will be able to see some lovely architechture and historic buildings and streets and of course the castle, but much of it will be observed through metal fencing, JCB's and with the soundtrack of a construction site.

I would also suggest that the Hebrides are kept for a separate holiday (and indeed the Orkneys and Shetland- each island group has a very distinct character).
Travel-wise it takes a long time to travel up the Hebridean chain; it is geographically big (around 150 miles from Barra to Ness on challenging single-track roads averaging 40-50mph, EXCLUDING all the side roads you really want to explore, leading to beaches, archaeological monuments, etc) with a brown tourist signs to investigate every few miles and of course some bits need a ferry to cross. It really would not do the Hebrides justice to try to squeeze them into a mainland holiday. That said, if you can set aside a week for them and a week for the mainland it could work

Your vacation can be anything you want it to be. Good luck, and enjoy yourself.

Aberdeen is a possibility. I've got a friend who is putting me up on Barra, which seems like too good an offer to pass up.

Check before you leave - it could be in his wheelbarra

Honestly? Way too much for one holiday. Scotland is a third of the size of England and except for the main cities, everything else is 'miles' away on very precarious rail and bus networks.

You live in Manchester, yeah? I'd train it up to Glasgow, then to Oban, go from there to Mull and have a couple of dats there if you want to see the island - everybody needs to go to Tobermory at one point in their life! From there get to Fort William, climb Ben Nevis - small children do it easily but pack well for December temperatures! -

Clicked too soon without previewing my spelling mistakes and without half my post!

From Fort William, head to Skye, then stay there forever. Slightly biased as I was brought up there but the most beautiful island ever. You can find a stargazing island there easily if you go to the West coast - I can't guarantee a clear night! From there if you make it to Inverness and then down south within a week/10 days then you have a canny way with timetables.

If you are coming from "down south" you can get an Inverness return train ticket that allows you to stop off as much as you want for about not much more than a single return - the proposition varies between peak and off-peak.

The thing is you can get off and on again within a month and it pretty much covers all of Scotland (there are limits in that you have to be on lines that connect Inverness and your starting station) but because it includes the West Coast and East Coast paths (both being permitted routes) it also include Edinburgh and Glasgow etc. I will let you work out the exact conditions but you are allowed to "break your journey" quite a bit.

Scotrail doesn't offer a lot of advanced ticket sales etc so you often has to pay full price for short trips which can add up to being quite expensive.

If you have a local railway station where they will have the time to go through it with you, you may be able to save a lot of money.

I'm in Leeds now Bea, same difference really. Was planning to leave Leeds early along the Settle-Carlisle line and get to Glasgow early afternoon, and seeing a little bit of it. Next morning I'll be off to Oban, catching a ferry to Barra and spending a couple of days there. After that I'll go back to Oban, take the West Highland Line to Mallaig/Skye, spend a couple of days crossing Skye before going to Inverness.

I'm going to take advantage of the fact there's a direct train from Inverness to Leeds: I can pre-book a ticket reasonably cheap and break my journey in Edinburgh for free. I know it'll be shallow but it's better than nothing.

I've had good experiences with Scotrail in the past: when you phone them they're pretty good at giving you deals. They got me from Leeds to Belfast for £25 for example.

"I know it'll be shallow but it's better than nothing" Consider it a taster holiday to give you an idea of the bits you'd like to see in more detail another time

To be honest, despite my earlier protestations of 'doing the islands justice', I now concede your plan really is a good way to cover a large area. There is little point in only visiting one small sub-section of a country if you want a flavour of the whole country. I could happily only ever holiday in the Scottish islands for the rest of my life (or live there), but I realise they're not for everyone. To some tastes, the Hebrides are an expanse of mostly nothing; if you're not interested in wide open landscapes, archaeology and wildlife it might be a waste of a week. A couple of days in Barra should give you a flavour of the Hebrides, though the next bit up; the Uists, are my favourite islands.

I'll be really interested to hear how you get on; let me know when you plan to be in Edinburgh; could maybe squeeze in a brief pub tour (Oh my gawd- when did winekey get a smiley?! Is this 2-legs doing?)

Pub tour in Edinburgh *hic*

Just got a text from a mate - turns out I'm going to John o'Groats tomorrow. My mate has decided he wants to go "because it is there" and he wants some company.

Well it wouldn't have been top of my list of must-see's . You'll spend all of half and hour there at a push. However drive east and you'll see some lovely cliffs and remoteness.

Sorry, I meant drive West... Look for Smoo caves in Durness.

I'm not complaining: I had no other plans for tomorrow and all it cost me will be lunch. I will suggest a jaunt to the west, see if he can be persuaded.

Means I'm quite tempted to put Ardnamurchan on this summer's itinerary: I've already been to the Lizard and Lowestoft Ness so it'd be cool to have all 4 extreme points of Great Britain.

Have a great time. Scotland is a brilliant place.

They should consider joining the UK.

PP.