DATES: 2021 August 28th-September 8th ( 9 days/ nights )

TOUR COSTS PER PERSON

A. 2 PEOPLE IN A CAR, SHARING A HOTEL BEDROOM 

Cost per person £ contact us

B. 2 PEOPLE IN A CAR, WITH 2 SINGLE HOTEL BEDROOMS 

Cost per person £ contact us

The costs include the following:

• Accommodation in 3-star or 4-star stylish hotels ( 9 nights )
• 3-course dinners each evening
• Breakfast daily in hotels
• Rally plate
• Comprehensive road book with daily itineraries and detailed route instructions
• Michelin map of Scotland with the route highlighted
• Services of a Tour Director throughout the tour

NOT INCLUDED ARE THE FOLLOWING :

• Lunches, snacks, coffees, etc.
• Drinks with dinner
• Entry to places of interest eg. castles, museums, gardens, villas, etc.
• Motorway tolls

TOADS' SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS TOUR 

Our tour of the Highlands takes in part of Scotland's North Coast 500 route.

The North Coast 500 brings together a route of just over 500 miles of stunning coastal scenery in the far north of Scotland and was launched by the North Highland Initiative in 2015 as "Scotland's Route 66".

The anti-clockwise route officially begins in Inverness, the capital of the Highlands, before heading north to John O'Groats and Dunnet Head the northernmost point of Britain.

From here the route proceeds west along the north coast road through rolling grasslands to Thurso, famous among surfers then along the northern coast to Durness.

Here the route takes us down the northwest coast via Scourie, Unapool, Baddidarach, Ledmore to Ullapool. Then the route hugs the coastline around the peninsulas with views of Skye and the Western Isles. After passing through Glen Torridon and climbing over the Applecross Pass the route heads inland through Glen Carron and back to Inverness.

TOUR SUMMARY

A 9-day tour to Scotland's Highlands with 5 days driving part of the North Coast 500 route.

Our tour starts in Dumfries where participants arrive on the first day.

To arrive at Inverness have designed a spectacular route up through Scotland which incorporates:  Loch Lomond, the Trossachs, Rannoch Moor, Glen Coe, Fort William, Ben Nevis, Invergarry,

The next day we drive up through Loch Lomond, Rannoch Moor and Glen Coe to Fort William then up Loch Lochy via Invergarry, Fort Augustus, and Loch Ness. to Contin just west of Inverness, for the next two nights, where our hotel is based.

On our 3rd day, we drive west to Ullapool where we join the NC 500 route and visit Inverewe Gardens before returning to Contin. The next day west again to the Applecross Peninsula, following the North Coast 500 route again with a visit to Plockton, arguably the most beautiful village in the Highlands. We return via Glen Carron and Beauly to our new hotel at the top of Loch Ness.

The following day we drive a scenic route to the Isle of Skye where we have lunch in Portree before returning to Inverness

The next day we join the NC 100 route and cross the Cromarty Firth and up the north-east coast to Golspie where we visit Dunrobin Castle before returning to our new hotel overlooking the Beauly Firth.

On our final day in the Highlands, we drive up to Tongue on the north coast and follow the coast around to the northwest to Kylescu before returning to our hotel

Upon leaving the Beauly Firth we spend the next day driving through the Cairngorms, with visits to Aviemore, Balmoral Castle and Braemar before arriving in Alyth for the penultimate night of the tour. On the final day, we drive from Alyth to Lake Windermere in Cumbria, where we spend the final night of the tour in an iconic hotel overlooking the lake.

DRAFT ITINERARY

Day 1 Tuesday 31st August

Participants make their way to Dumfries  

Dinner tonight is in a country house hotel, in Carrutherstown, on the outskirts of Dumfries:

Day 2 Wednesday 1st September

Dumfries to Contin ( 255 miles including  90 miles on motorways )

We join the M74 and drive northwest to Dumbarton where, after 70 miles we leave the motorway and drive to Loch Lomond, where we stop at Duck Bay for morning coffee.

 

Leaving Contin we drive west for 2 miles and visit the Rogie Falls where salmon leap up river in summer.

 

We then drive via Black Water and Loch Glascarnoch to Ullapool, our morning coffee stop.

Here we join the North Coast 500 route to the Corrieshalloch Gorge where we visit the waterfalls.

We then continue on the NC500 route via Dundonell to Inverewe Gardens our lunch stop.

We then continue along Loch Maree via Kinlochewe and Glen Docherty to Achnasheen,

then drive east via Loch Luichart back to our hotel for our last night in Contin.

Contin to Inverness via the Applecross peninsula(  160 miles )

We say goodbye to the Coul House hotel and drive west to Achnasheen  where we join the NC500 route to Strathcarron.

Our morning coffee stop is Plockton regarded as "the jewel of the Highlands"  

 

Our route then continues over the Bealach-Na Bo pass to Applecross then through Kenmore to Annat where our lunch stop is the Torridon hotel

We then drive back to Contin and through to Inverness where our hotel for the next two nights is located.

 

 

Day 5 Saturday 4th September

Inverness to Skye return  ( 220 miles )

We leave our hotel in Inverness and drive down the east of Loch Ness to Fort Augustus, our morning coffee stop.

We then head to Invergarry then we drive on a scenic driving road along Loch Cluanie and the Five Sisters.

We then continue along Loch Duich to Eilean Donan Castle, our morning coffee stop

Day 6, Sunday, 5th September

Inverness to Dunrobin Castle, return (  130 miles )

We leave our hotel and drive around Inverness on to the Black Isle around the Cromarty Peninsula stopping to visit the pretty village of Cromarty, overlooking the Cromarty Firth and Moray Firth.

We then cross the Cromarty Firth

Here we rejoin the NC500 route north to the Glenmorangie Distillery in Tain.

A mile north of Golspie, we visit Dunrobin Castle, the largest house in the Highlands and modelled on a Loire valley chateau.

 

 

Dunrobin is the seat of the Sutherland family, once Europe's largest landowners, with 1.3 million acres! We then continue up the coast to Brora where we turn inland, on a scenic country route along Loch Brora, before returning to the A9. We then return back to Inverness where our hotel for the next two nights is on the Beauly Firth.

 

Day 7 Monday 6th September

Beauly Firth to Tongue, return (  230 miles )

Today we drive on some of the most remote roads in the Scottish Highlands right up to the far north coast.

Our route starts with a crossing of the Cromarty Firth

 

then up to Lairg via Bonar Bridge.

Our morning coffee spot is the remote Crask Inn on a single-track road to Tongue where we join the North Coast 500 route.

At Tongue, we drive anti-clockwise via the Laxford Bridge

to Kylescu our lunch stop.

After lunch, we continue on the NC 500 route to Ledmore where we leave the route and drive inland to Inveran then back to our hotel on the Beauly Firth.

Day 8 Tuesday 7th September

Beauly Firth to Alyth ( 120 miles )

Our morning route takes us to Inverness where we take the A9 down to Aviemore, our morning coffee stop.

We then take a scenic mountain route through the Cairngorms to Balmoral where we visit the castle.

Our lunch stop is nearby Braemar famous for its Highland Games.

We then continue on a scenic country road to Alyth where our hotel, for the last night in Scotland, is located.

 

 

Day 9 Wednesday 8th September

Alyth  to Lake Windermere, Cumbria ( 230 miles  including 135 on motorways )

Our scenic morning route takes us via Blairgowrie and Crieff to Doune, where our lunch stop is the Scottish Antique and Art Centre. After lunch, we drive to Dunblane where we take the motorway southwest around Glasgow then south to Penrith.

At Penrith, we leave the motorway and drive to Pooley Bridge, on Lake Ullswater, then down the lake and over the Kirkstone Pass to Lake Windermere where our hotel for the last night of the tour is located.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 4 Friday 3rd September

Contin to Invergordon, via Loch Ness ( 115 miles )

 

 

 

Tonight, we are using two hotels and the second hotel is a few miles away in Achiltbuie overlooking the Summer Isles.

 

Day 7 Sunday 23rd May

 

We then continue along Loch Gairloch and along Loch Maree, one of the area's scenic highlights, to Kinlochewe.

 

At Kinlochewe we continue along the North Coast 500 route through Glen Torridon then take the scenic coastal route via Shieldaig and Applecross then over the Bealach-na-Bo Pass to Strathcarron.

We then drive through Glen Carron via Achnasheen then via Loch Luichart and Black Water, back to our hotel in Contin where we stayed on our 4th night.

Day 8  Monday 24th May

 Day 9 Tuesday 25th May  ( 230 miles )

Pitlochry to Lakeside, Lake Windermere

Our scenic route takes us southwest along Loch Tay and then south-east over the Leny Pass to Stirling where we join the motorway south via Glasgow and Carlisle to Penrith where we leave the motorway. We then drive down Ullswater lake and over the Kirkstone Pass to Lake Windermere where our hotel is located at the bottom left-hand corner of the lake.

Dinner tonight, the last night of the tour, is in the hotel's restaurant.

Wednesday 26th May