Help with Two Week Scotland Itinerary - part two

Your instinct is correct - this is an exhausting schedule.

• Your Grantown-on-Spey day is a bit unrealistic. It's a 90 minute drive between Grantown and Urquhart Castle just going the most direct route. So you can say 3 hours just driving to the castle and back again. But then you want to visit Culloden, probably worth at least a couple of hours, and 'maybe a couple of other castles and a distillery or two'. Most distillery tours last at least an hour and if you visit e.g. Cawdor Castle that might be another 2 or 3 hours. So that will be a very long day, without building in a lunch stop and the travel time between the various castles and distilleries.

• The next day you want to drive north around the NC500 (A838) route from Grantown to Ullapool. Yes the drive is amazing. But only when there are few other cars on the road and you're not having to stop in every single passing place to let oncoming vehicles (doing the exact same thing as you but clockwise) get past. Build in the frustration of sometimes having to reverse into passing places because you've overshot and the oncoming traffic isn't giving way, and the scores of badly driven, rented, camper vans and that would be my idea of a day in hell. What makes that part of the country amazing is the stunning scenery, which you will only get a sense of if you have time to park up and hike away into the hills off the A838. This route is a triumph of marketing over common sense. If you want to understand more about how locals view tourism in this area, have a look at local resident Gail Anthea Brown's Blog, or this more recent piece by her. I'd really urge you to reconsider this part of your trip and see whether you can build more time into exploring this part of Scotland rather than dashing through it in one day. You could cut the Oban section of your trip and build more time in for the far north?

Thank you kindly Skyegirl for your response and insights. Also thank you for sharing the information about the impacts of the increasing popularity of the NC500. I too would be appalled at tourists treating my home with such disrespect.

I’d agree with Skyegirl’s comments. The Grantown upon Spey day is much too ambitious and unrealistic - unless you are using it as a tick exercise and just looking at the outside of the different places. You are trying to cram two days into one. Also Grantown is possibly not the best place to stay given the things you are wanting to d. You would be better off based nearer Inverness. If you don’t want to be in Inverness. look at Nairn instead.

Also remember Scotland has very strict drink driving laws, so the driver won’t be able to sample any of the whisky during a tour.

I also feel the estimate of 5+ hours driving for the Grantown to Ullapool day is unrealistic. Roads are narrow and slow. I would be planning on at least 6+ hours and then time for stops. Maybe think about removing Reay Foresat and Lochinver and heading across to Ullapool after Muie.

Thank you wasleys. We have adjusted our plans for the Grantown-on-Spey day, and opted for a shorter route from there to Ullapool so we're not trying to cram too much in. We'll also look into staying in Nairn. We had originally chosen Grantown-on-Spey for a two-day stay with the intention of doing a Cairngorm walk, but with only one day we will be prioritizing other things. Can't do it all!