Scottish Highlands Tour - The Official Route Planning Thread

[Houdini]

With the amount of interest shown in the Highlands Tour, this is shaping up to be one of the key events for next year. So I thought we'd get the ball rolling on this and start to get some planning done as this will no doubt take quite a lot of effort to get a finalised route plan and dates so that everyone is catered for.

Last night I worked out a route which would be the 'Premium' route version. In other words, the largest tour taking in as much of Scotland's highlights. I guess I worried myself a bit when I got to the end of it as it will take a lot of time and you would need to book a week's holiday if we go for this version!

The purpose of this thread, therefore, is to give you a heads-up on the early stages of the plan and get some feedback on whether it looks too large. I've already got a large spreadsheet running and there's lots of gaps at the moment, but once we get these filled this will be a very exciting trip indeed!

So, what's it going to look like? Well, here's a strawman itinerary for which you will need to dig out a map:

MUSTER POINT: Gourock. You would need to make your own way there, though no doubt there will be convoys from the South. We would stay overnight in Gourock before starting the tour the following morning.

DAY 1

Gourock to Dunoon by car ferry
Dunoon to Inverary via the A885, A815 and A83 (40 miles)
Inverary to Fort William via the A819, A85 and A82 (75 miles)

DAY 2

Fort William to Invergarry via the A82 (25 miles)
Invergarry to Auchtertyre via the A87 (47 miles)
Auchtertyre to Applecross via the A890, A896 and Bealach na Ba (49 miles)
Applecross to Plockton via the Bealach na Ba, A896 and A890 (42 miles)

DAY 3

Plockton to Uig (Isle of Skye) via the A87 (56 miles)
Uig to Tarbert (North Harris) by car ferry
Tarbert to Stornoway via the A859 (33 miles)

DAY 4

Stornoway to Ullapool (mainland) via car ferry
Ullapool to Inverness via the A835 and A9 (56 miles)

DAY 5

Either a rest day in Inverness

or....

Inverness to Pitlochry via the A9 (72 miles)
Pitlochry to Callander via the A9, A827, A85 and A84 (59 miles)

DAY 6

Either the above route on day 5, or GO HOME!! (possibly via Lanark)

The round trip will be over 500 miles, and much work will need to be done on hotels and V-Power accessability.

It will be impossible for me to please everyone, but now's the time to find out what you think of the route. Please can I have your coments.

[Mac-1]

Cracking start Frazer, you can’t get enough of the Scottish Highlands so to me it don’t look to bad at all if we are going to make a good 5/6 days of the trip.

The rout looks pretty good but can I sagest that we look at covering some of the rout from Stirling through to Fort William passing through Callander, Crianlarich, Bridge of Orchy, Glen Coe. The roads through to Glen Coe have some great scenery and are straight enough to overtake on the many straight sections.

Do you have any plans for the time of year, if we go in the summer months we will get caught up with those tourist things that tootle along and have caravans on the back of there cars.

1. Mac-1 & Caroline
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[presa900]

1. Mac-1 & Caroline
2. Presa & Mrs Presa (Andy & Nicole)
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Looking good Fraser, just a shame its difficult to get the A830 Fort William to Mallaig road into it, would mean a longer ferry trip across to Skye from there.

Steve - Glen Coe is already included in Frasers intinary in the trip from Inveraray to Fort William on the A82, I agree its a great road, really looking forward to this trip

Would it be worth putting up some maps of the route Fraser I could sort something out for you if people think it would be worth it, took me a while to work out the route from the list, an overall map and a map of each part of the route with stop off points would be useful and could also be further detailed and produced for use on the trip itself with information on V Power stops and accomodation etc Might be worth waiting until we have any further suggested routes to try and incorporate tho'

[Houdini]

Great comments, Steve and Andy

You're both absolutely right! I would love to get more roads in, particularly Mallaig. I would also dearly have loved to get you all down the Ardnamurchan Peninsula, but with the diversion distance and the length of road that would be single track we would all just simply get split up too much, hence the need to stick to some more main roads.

I will be looking to get a route map up once its finalised as we do need to have something which can be visualised. Equally, pics of the route will be important too.

Hotels will be another consideration as some of them may be quite small. If we end up with a large party then hotel selection will morph as the numbers increase. I have a few ideas in mind, and the plan is to have a mix of some cheaper places and one or two which are a bit more 'exotic'

Keep the comments flowing PLEASE. It really does help!

PS.... Gee / Dougie / bbigman - what are your thoughts??

[WR 1mposter]

Nearest Vpower near Gourock,Erskine 14.6m south.

Nearest Vpower to all other destinations seems to be Inverness !

Plenty of Octane boost required.

[Houdini]

Pooster does have a very good point.

From the time that you leave the Muster point to the time that you reach Inverness there will be NO Shell V-Power.

I will look into other petrol sources but a bit of octane boost will look like the order of the day.

[Houdini]

I've done a pile of research on fuel for the trip tonight, and the long-and-short of it is that we will have 97 RON at best. This will be available as super unleaded from a number of outlets throughout our trip, however there is a certain stretch of the tour where I cannot currently guarantee anything above 95 RON. I'm still working on finding suitable fuel sources but, as I say, Octane boost will likely be required.

In addition, I have PM'ed Mike Wood concerning longevity of 97 RON and 95 RON with Octane boost on our trip and hope to get an answer back soon. I'll keep researching, and I don't think this will present any problem to our trip.

So, more comments on the route PLEASE!....

[Houdini]

Feedback from Mike Wood attached, so it looks like we'll be OK...

The car will run best on V-Power but any 97 fuel will be fine. 95 will do in an emergency , particularly if you aren't empty.

Octane booster is an option but as we haven't tested any I can't recommend any particular one.

Mike

[danr55]

Spike was talking about a thing of 5th gear re Octane Booster decreasing power by 2%, so not sure how good this is for cars, might be worth doing some more research on this. I'll watch the repeat of 5th gear on Saturday.

regards route, I know nothing about Scotland, but count me in and I'll follow wherever!!

[Mac-1]

Any dates in mind for the tour Frazer

[Houdini]

Spike was talking about a thing of 5th gear re Octane Booster decreasing power by 2%, so not sure how good this is for cars, might be worth doing some more research on this. I'll watch the repeat of 5th gear on Saturday.

regards route, I know nothing about Scotland, but count me in and I'll follow wherever!!

Good man!

[presa900]

It looks like most of the so called performance enhancing additives on the market including octane booster are a waste of time. The test on 5th Gear did indeed show a 2% reduction in power output with all of the additives tested

I think they tested it on a normally aspirated K-Series Rover engine so it may prove different on a higher powered engine that thrives on higher octane levels like the scoob

Can't we get pooster to follow us in his Scania pulling a V Power Tanker

[Houdini]

Any dates in mind for the tour Frazer

Not yet, Steve. We have several options, but the scheduling will depend on a number of factors:

1. Whether we want to do Knockhill at the same time (which is not currently plumbed into the route, but is a confirmed event).
2. Whether people want to see sunshine or snow. We could do Easter but if the Acrtic Rally school happens then Easter might be too close
3. If we do summertime then either June or July look likely. June has more sunshine, but July is when the schools are on holiday in England and this may be a factor.
4. Spa/ring dates. We don't want to be too close to these either so that people can budget appropriately.
5. Whether we plan this over a bank holiday weekend to keep the burden down on those who need to book holiday from their work.

I'd like to get the route nailed down first, really. This may then change depending on whether Knockhill is possible, but we won't know that for some time. Then we can get the dates finalised but if we include Knockhill then this isn't likely to happen till next year.

Thinking about it, I probably should get another poll running to see who wants to combine Knockhill with this at all.

Hope that helps!

[Houdini]

It looks like most of the so called performance enhancing additives on the market including octane booster are a waste of time. The test on 5th Gear did indeed show a 2% reduction in power output with all of the additives tested

I think they tested it on a normally aspirated K-Series Rover engine so it may prove different on a higher powered engine that thrives on higher octane levels like the scoob

Can't we get pooster to follow us in his Scania pulling a V Power Tanker

Don't worry. I haven't finished my research yet

[Designerman]

Hope to be joining you for this tour next year but cannot say for definate yet. I just love it up in the Highlands.

Here is an excellent website with lots of information and links to accommodation etc. It even has recommended driving tour routes.
www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk

[Houdini]

Hope to be joining you for this tour next year but cannot say for definate yet. I just love it up in the Highlands.

Here is an excellent website with lots of information and links to accommodation etc. It even has recommended driving tour routes.
www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk

Good find Many thanks for that!

[dougie549]

HI Guys

Not doing things by half

Only one concern, is the front lip on my P1 going to make it onto the Ferry's i aint to sure?, and have any of you got the Sti Front Lip on the Wr1?

Dougie

[danr55]

HI Guys

Not doing things by half

Only one concern, is the front lip on my P1 going to make it onto the Ferry's i aint to sure?, and have any of you got the Sti Front Lip on the Wr1?

Dougie

Good point well made, I'm sure a few will have splitter and low front ends, presumably we can shove something in the boot to assist with getting on and off ferries if needs be...

[stijoy]

when we went to tobermory earlier in the year, we went on 2 ferries, the first one was at corran, getting off was very steep, the other 1 was at lochaline, to the isle of mull, now this one i think will be very hard to get off, i was in a tribeca so no problem, i know the rb would not have got on or off.

[Houdini]

HI Guys

Not doing things by half

Only one concern, is the front lip on my P1 going to make it onto the Ferry's i aint to sure?, and have any of you got the Sti Front Lip on the Wr1?

Dougie

Dougie, I've spent some time on the phone to Caledonian MacBrayne this morning (this is the ferry company, for those that don't know). They've been extremely helpful and certainly want us to avoid any damage to our vehicles. I'll be getting some details through from them by post as and when we have a postal service, and I now have the names of the Port Managers for each of our embarkment points so we can work with them to perhaps get our group boarded early as convoy and allow time for any potential problems.

The best advice we have is not to sail at low tide due to the ramp inclines. I can find out high/low tide details somehow, I'm sure, and we'll make sure we factor these into our itinerary. Once that's done I'll make calls to each of the ports to let them know we're coming so we can prepare ahead.

That aside, blocks of wood would be useful

Hope that helps.

[Houdini]

More news about petrol.....

I've badgered a very large bunch of filling stations across Scotland and the news is actually pretty good (apart from the size of my phone bill )

We will have super unleaded for virtually the entire trip on the current route. There are key filling points at Fort William, Kyle of Lochalsh, Portree, Ullapool, and Inverness, and many of these are privately-owned outlets selling V-Power

The only place where there is NO super unleaded is on the Isle of Lewis, however as our distances on the Outer Hebrides are not huge we will be able to get away with half a tank of normal unleaded (if at all required) before we reach Ullapool.

So, another problem crossed off the list

Many thanks to Shell UK, Scottish Fuels, Gleaner Oil & Gas, Central Garages and the Scottish Tourist Board for their help. Phew!

[danr55]

More news about petrol.....

I've badgered a very large bunch of filling stations across Scotland and the news is actually pretty good (apart from the size of my phone bill )

We will have super unleaded for virtually the entire trip on the current route. There are key filling points at Fort William, Kyle of Lochalsh, Portree, Ullapool, and Inverness, and many of these are privately-owned outlets selling V-Power

The only place where there is NO super unleaded is on the Isle of Lewis, however as our distances on the Outer Hebrides are not huge we will be able to get away with half a tank of normal unleaded (if at all required) before we reach Ullapool.

So, another problem crossed off the list

Many thanks to Shell UK, Scottish Fuels, Gleaner Oil & Gas, Central Garages and the Scottish Tourist Board for their help. Phew!

Nice work !

[presa900]

Excellent work Fraser, I will add these V Power locations onto the route map

[danr55]

Excellent work Fraser, I will add these V Power locations onto the route map

let me know about that route map if you want me to host it and link to it as PDF so people can have a look matey

[STEVIE SCOOBY DEE]

Dynamic work Houdini

[Houdini]

Thanks guys Still a lot to do. Keep watching this space....

[WR 1mposter]

HI Guys

Not doing things by half

Only one concern, is the front lip on my P1 going to make it onto the Ferry's i aint to sure?, and have any of you got the Sti Front Lip on the Wr1?

Dougie

Good point well made, I'm sure a few will have splitter and low front ends, presumably we can shove something in the boot to assist with getting on and off ferries if needs be...

Ours had a front lip and it went on the dover/calais ferry fine although I reckon the "tide" factor nmay have been a helping issue !
Did'nt matter on the way back .....it was no longer attached

[WR 1mposter]

More news about petrol.....

I've badgered a very large bunch of filling stations across Scotland and the news is actually pretty good (apart from the size of my phone bill )

We will have super unleaded for virtually the entire trip on the current route. There are key filling points at Fort William, Kyle of Lochalsh, Portree, Ullapool, and Inverness, and many of these are privately-owned outlets selling V-Power

The only place where there is NO super unleaded is on the Isle of Lewis, however as our distances on the Outer Hebrides are not huge we will be able to get away with half a tank of normal unleaded (if at all required) before we reach Ullapool.

So, another problem crossed off the list

Many thanks to Shell UK, Scottish Fuels, Gleaner Oil & Gas, Central Garages and the Scottish Tourist Board for their help. Phew!

Nice work !

Apart from Inverness these V-power sites are not on the tom tom lists

[Houdini]

More news about petrol.....

I've badgered a very large bunch of filling stations across Scotland and the news is actually pretty good (apart from the size of my phone bill )

We will have super unleaded for virtually the entire trip on the current route. There are key filling points at Fort William, Kyle of Lochalsh, Portree, Ullapool, and Inverness, and many of these are privately-owned outlets selling V-Power

The only place where there is NO super unleaded is on the Isle of Lewis, however as our distances on the Outer Hebrides are not huge we will be able to get away with half a tank of normal unleaded (if at all required) before we reach Ullapool.

So, another problem crossed off the list

Many thanks to Shell UK, Scottish Fuels, Gleaner Oil & Gas, Central Garages and the Scottish Tourist Board for their help. Phew!

Nice work !

Apart from Inverness these V-power sites are not on the tom tom lists

That's absolutely correct. I'm supposing that tom tom gets its information from Shell UK in Manchester. The stations I've found are privately owned, and supply super unleaded or V-Power. Many are supplied direct by Gleaner Oil and Gas, who have been very helpful in getting us the info we need. Thankfully, the tom tom won't really be necessary. Most places we're going aren't so large that we won't be able to find the filling station. I have the phone numbers for the stations anyway, just in case we get in trouble

[Houdini]

HI Guys

Not doing things by half

Only one concern, is the front lip on my P1 going to make it onto the Ferry's i aint to sure?, and have any of you got the Sti Front Lip on the Wr1?

Dougie

Good point well made, I'm sure a few will have splitter and low front ends, presumably we can shove something in the boot to assist with getting on and off ferries if needs be...

Ours had a front lip and it went on the dover/calais ferry fine although I reckon the "tide" factor nmay have been a helping issue !
Did'nt matter on the way back .....it was no longer attached

What happened this time, mate?