Scotland/England August itinerary questions

August is the Edinburgh Festival: https://www.edinburghfestivalcity.com/festivals/edinburgh-international-festival

I have never been to the Festival (I have been to Edinburgh multiple times). I have heard from several friends who have visited during Festival time that the city is very crowded, to the point they didn't enjoy their visit due to crowds. Perhaps some on this board can relate their experiences, or you can do some further research to see if the Festival will impact the touring you wanted to do.

Thank you so much for that info, adds another reason not to visit, at least for us.

Unless you are going to the Festival, August is the worst time to try to visit Edinburgh. Very crowded and prices are at their hightest. (And Edinburgh hotel prices are not cheap to begin with.)

Let me make a suggestion for you regarding accomodations for Edinburgh and St. Andrews.

Consider Dundee. It's about 75-80 mintues by train to Edinburgh and 13 miles to St. Andrews. (If
you didn't want to drive, the #99 bus goes from Dundee to St. Andrews every 15-20 minutes.) Hotel prices will be lower in Dundee than Edinburgh or St Andrews.

You can also get a direct train (no changes) with LNER from Dundee to London. Or, for a real adventure, Loganair has a nonstop flight from Dundee to Heathrow. The Dundee airport is tiny and the planes only hold about 40 passengers.

There is no reason why you can't visit both Eilean Donan and Castle Leod, rather than have them as options.

It is only 90 minutes drive between the two, although I would very much suggest taking the deviation up through Lochcarron, Torridon and Kinlochewe. Or even make it a full day drive up through Gairloch and Poolewe. You have come all this way, you might as well see more of some very grand Highland scenery.
You could even stop off at the ruined Strome Castle demolished after a siege by the MacKenzie Clan subsequent to the Battle of Morar.

There are lots of places to stay in the area of Eilean Donan- the obvious being the Dornie Hotel (next door) but I would suggest staying in Plockton, a few minutes drive away, or possibly Duirinish (a tiny village close to Plockton where the Highland Coos roam around freely- one of your best chances of encountering the Coos in the wild).

Then I would suggest staying in Strathpeffer itself (a spa town) rather than Inverness itself.

You could amend the schedule and head for Bath from Dundee/Edinburgh. There is a daily train at 0933 from Dundee to Bristol arrive 1731 (change for the frequent 15 minute ride to Bath). The train also calls at Edinburgh. Thence end the trip in London.
Yes a 1550 flight (check in 1250) you could transfer from Bath that morning, but always better to be in your departure city.

The other option is to fly from Aberdeen to Bristol on Loganair, then the air coach from Bristol Airport to Bath. The 90 minute flight is at 1755 - that would allow you to explore the coast up from Dundee to Aberdeen (not least Dunnottar Castle). The £109 fare is almost exactly the same as the train fare from Dundee to Bristol before railcard discount.

Easyjet also fly from Edinburgh to Bristol, a fast bus service connects Dundee and Edinburgh Airport in 80 minutes 24/7.

For your trains get a Two Together Railcard for £30 (if you buy before March, £35 thereafter) to save you 33% off all rail fares (on a weekday applies after 0930).

The Edinburgh FestivalS is/are the world’s largest arts festival. To give you an idea of price inflation in August, a few years ago I was in Edinburgh in, I dunno, November - and the Ibis hotel in the city centre had a sign offering rooms for £70. When I was back there for the Fringe the sign had gone up to £249,

And that was a good few years ago - these days £249 a night for a hotel room during the Fringe would be considered a bargain.

There’s even more price-gouging this year as Oasis have scheduled their Edinburgh gigs for August.

I speak as someone who often spends the whole August in Edinburgh as a performer. I can’t afford it this year and a lot of my fellow acts feel the same way. It’s such a shame.

However if you want to see Edinburgh, it’s very easy to do as a day trip from Glasgow - frequent trains, takes about 40 minutes. Or from Stirling, a smaller city - again, very easy train ride into Edinburgh. And Edinburgh Waverley (the main train station in the city) is right there in the heart of the city so it makes it very easy to do a day trip.

I'm actually thinking- one way to St Andrew's from Inverness to St Andrew's happens to be down to Stirling then through Alloa.
One of the features of Alloa is the Alloa Tower- one of the 4 towers on the Clackmannanshire Tower Trail.- a series of fortified keeps so quite different from the castles of the Highlands, but linked in to the story of Stirling and it's Castle.
I'm not sure if you need to do any work on your Alloa family tree but there is the Speirs Centre there which might help you in that regard.

EDIT- Just checking the records- in Dunoon Castle Gardens there is a plaque to commemorate those of the US Navy who served on the Clyde- at the south end of the gardens below the Castle, on a stone plinth.

Thank you all so much for the help/ideas! I think we will visit Edinburgh from Glasgow. I will continue to look into the great ideas about getting from Scotland to Bristol/Bath and seeing both Eilean Donan and Castle Leod and more.