All, I am looking for a reality check. My wife, myself, and our 10 year old son will be in Inverness in July. We will have a car, and are looking a full day driving up to John O'Groats from Inverness and coming back that evening. Is this crazy? The trip seems appealing to us, but I'm trying to gauge whether this is just too much to take on for a day's driving from your perspective.
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA
1068 posts
I'd do it in a heartbeat! One caveat - the scenery will be STUNNING, so I would recommend one spouse drive one way, and the other spouse drive back, so you both get ample passenger seat time to gawk out the window. (I've almost gotten us killed on a number of occasions when I hollered, "OMG look at THAT!" to my husband as he was negotiating a hairpin turn.)
And another caveat: I say "I'd do it!" as someone who counts two cross-USA road trips in a Ford 150 step van, and a trip to Nova Scotia that was 36-hours of driving/ferry round trip from Brooklyn, as three of her top 10 life moments. So there's that. It is a lot of driving.
Still, I'd do it. Wow.
Posted by
Bloomington, IL, USA
9371 posts
If you love to drive, do it! And the suggestion to switch off driving is a good one, so that everyone can see. Like the previous poster, I don't mind a long drive. I do a 19-hour drive to Florida in one go (alone), so I may be a bit warped.
Posted by
3123 posts
In July you have many hours of daylight and fairly low chance of severe weather. Personally I'd stay overnight (at least) and drive back the next day, but to each his/her own.
Posted by
New York City, NY, USA
5678 posts
You can do it. You'll just need some discipline to not stop too often. :)
Posted by
Redding, California
244 posts
Are you familiar with the website North Coast 500? here This is a new website that is promoting tourism in the North coast. If you have Facebook, look up North Coast 500. They have many articles and great resources. We traveled north then towards the west coast. It was an amazing trip! Someday we will need to take the drive you are thinking about. Here is a great article about the entire 500 mile drive, here.