Glencoe to Glascow

You could visit Oban while basing yourself in Glencoe. Doesn't really make sense to me to go to Oban after Glencoe and on the way to Glasgow. Loch Lomond is lovely, but the drive is not for the faint hearted. There are some very narrow sections of road, with tricky bends to negotiate and you are very likely to encounter large trucks and coaches coming towards you. Take your time and keep your eyes very much on the road. You could pause in Tarbet and/or Luss for lunch on your way to Glasgow. Alternatively you could turn left at Crianlarich and explore something of the Trossachs, maybe Loch Katrine, before heading south to Glasgow.

I agree with Skyegirl about using the Trossachs route instead of Loch Lomond, especially as you get further into summer because the roadside along the Loch has a lot of trees and bushes and as the foliage develops the views get shorter. However, which way did you intend to get from Stirling to Skye because that might be almost the same route and you would be double tracking a lot of mileage. There is another route to reach Skye via A9 and A86 which is a similar travel time (but is longer distance) but is there anything in else in the outward journey that needs to be covered?

I will be there in early May. So you think the route to the east is more scenic that the one along the west side of the loch? The early part of my trip is north from edinburgh, through pitlochry to inverness, then down to skye. I was thinking of spending the night in Luss to have more time along the way. I appreciate your thoughts (both of you!) sue

Glasgow btw.

Two Gs no Cs. Pronounced to rhyme with “go” not “cow”.

Sue, this is a Youtbe video of the southbound Loch Lomond drive which seems (judging by the posting date) to have been made in May 2023. https://youtu.be/W-EtVaVy-cY?si=eQGxumLmoFac5O3G Look at it as the driver and note how much of the scenic view is obstructed by trees. Also note that since the bigger mountains are to the north there is no view of them when heading south (the passengers might be able to twist around but the driver has no chance). This may have been a Sunday since the road is suspiciously light on large trucks - this is the main truck route from Glasgow to the northwest.

Your plan to reach Skye via Inverness means you won't be using the Trossachs route on the outward leg so if you did use it instead of the A82 there would be no "double back" with passengers seeing the same thing twice. Coming south, from Crianlarich use A85 to where it becomes the A84 (the A85 goes off east) and then the A821 (Trossachs Trail) followed by the A81 - the final roads depend on exactly where in Glasgow you are headed

This from the same Youtuber (and also in May) is the A821 southbound, it's far less claustrophobic for the driver and the road gets far fewer trucks https://youtu.be/09X1IO8tmLw?si=CIIVstRL5t4RRFhf - not ethis driver turns on to the A821 heading north on the A84, you would be approaching from the opposite direction and turning right at the point of the opening video title. The yellow gorse is at it's best in May!

We happened to drive the other direction on the Loch Lomond route, and the traffic going south way was at a complete standstill for the entire length of the Loch. It was apparently all due to the Bank Holiday (folks returning from their weekend). There's another one on 4 May.

I guess I'll switch my plan. This is why this forum is so great. Thanks so much. sue