Scotland for two months.....

I would suggest that you look at www.visitscotland.com website. It is great gateway to all of Scotland locations, including accommodations and transportation. There are many worthy locations that seem to be by-passed by more famous and more crowded locations such as Skye. There is also a lot of Scotland with Medieval castles and abbeys and Rennaissance palaces south of Edinburgh. I would consider driving between day hikes. It is not as easy to hike everywhere, as some pathways are rugged with long distances between the next stop. Check out the National Parks, some have cabins and boats. We did our laundry at one camp. We mostly stayed at owner occupied b&bs, including a farm manor house.

When we were in Shetland in May, we also added 4 nights in Orkney. I would highly recommend Orkney and we also did a week on Lewis and Harris. Wonderful walks, fabulous beaches, Viking and Neolithic sites. All kinds of wildlife and birds, doesn’t get much better!

The obvious places to stay in Shetland are at Lerwick or the ancient capital of Scalloway.

I don't know where your husband would have been based- maybe Sumburgh or Saxa Vord.

Lerwick/Scalloway are well placed to visit the Mainland and the Southern Isles, with the inter island flights running from Tingwall.

But if you wanted to visit the North Isles it may be better to base on Unst for a few nights - Baltasound is the only real town up there.

I would do that at the start of the trip in case the inter island ferries get weather bound.

Sumburgh is under the hour by car from Lerwick. If arriving late in the day by air you my like to stay the first night at the Sumburgh Hotel then pick up the car the next morning.

If arriving by ferry from Aberdeen just turn right out of the port and drive up to Unst, making advance reservations on the inter island ferries. Rather than joining the race between the two ferries on Yell you may like to take some time to explore that island, booking a later Yell to Unst ferry.

If going on one of the Inter island flights don't do that on the day before departure as the air strips are pretty basic and it is not uncommon for flights to be suddenly cancelled due to weather. You could get stranded, notably on Fair Isle.

Saxa Vord is now a spaceport and a distillery.

“Rather than joining the race between the two ferries on Yell you may like to take some time to explore that island, booking a later Yell to Unst ferry.”

😁😁 Just did this today! On Unst you can spend the time doing “the most Northerly” - castle ruin, bus shelter, gas pumps, standing stone, Victorian tearoom, lol.

I’m on Shetland right now for 6 nights. It’s my first visit so nothing to compare but if you want to have a base slightly out of Lerwick in the country, my small group tour is staying at Herrislea House near Tingwall. It’s small, 8 rooms. I’ve eaten dinner in the restaurant once and it was really good. Lovely owner, first year.

If you have any interest in Neolithic sights, I’d go with time on Orkney as well. Wow, what a good time I had there.

As mentioned, transport can be tenuous. Lots of flight cancellations so plan to stay in your mainland town for a couple of days in case things get screwed up. I overnighted for 2 nights in Aberdeen on the way up. My flight to Kirkwall went fine but if I’d known I’d have planned it for a day there was also a ferry from Aberdeen to Kirkwall. Fingers crossed on going back from Sumburgh to Aberdeen. I only gave myself 1 night on the way back before starting my international trip and I probably should have done 2.

No midges on Orkney or Shetland. A lovely place to be to escape a heat wave!

Do plan to come fully outfitted in waterproof everything- jacket, rain pants, shoes, gloves or glove covers and waterproof hat. I have a hood on my rain jacket and wear a basic ball cap under the hood to keep the wet off my glasses. It’s getting soaked from the wind. Next time I’d go for a goretex ball cap. Had to buy a stocking cap on Orkney. Not really cold (50’s-60-s) but the stocking cap feels good.

That's great to hear from Pam mid trip. Pam will be a good source of right up to the minute information on Shetland for you.

I hope all goes well for her return flight back to ABZ.

If you like to hike then do check out Walk Highlands website. It's a great source of hikes, many off the beaten track, and graded by difficulty and terrain as well as distance and altitude. There are plenty of places on Skye where you can hike all day and not see another soul. You'd just want to avoid what I call the honey pot site, which are Kilt Rock, Old Man of Storr, Quiraing, Fairy Pools, Fairy Glen and Neist Point. There's plenty of amazing scenery to go around.

Portree (a large village) is the only thing even approaching a town on the island. If you are staying a whole week then I'd suggest doing Saturday to Saturday, which will open up the potential for a 'self catering' rental property (mostly let out from Saturday for 7 nights). There are some stunners out there. Good agencies include LHH and Unique Cottages. Personally I wouldn't want to stay right in Portree as there are much more scenic spots especially if you are self catering. There's a supermarket in Portree as well as smaller grocery shops dotted around the island. If you plan to arrive on Skye via the Mallaig to Armadale ferry then bear in mind that you need to reserve your ferry in advance.

Best wishes
Jacqui (Skyegirl)

PS: It's Stirling - not Sterling

@ isn31c/Stuart - One of the staff at the hotel on Orkney made us tablet (candy) for one of our picnics. I’m carefully hoarding the last few pieces. Not everyone liked it so I snagged the leftovers!!

Pam: tablet is very easy to make!
Lots of recipes online, and homemade is the best!
We had a tablet making contest at work once among all of us with Scots' connections.

I must admit I have never had tablet, just as I don't eat Kendal Mint Cake in the Lake District (a very sugary concoction- an energy candy for walkers) in the greater interests of my teeth!

I will admit to having a very sweet tooth, but tablet would be pushing my luck.

Now Tunnocks wafers that's a different story!!

By the way does anyone know what has happened to 'Auchterless' - it's quite a while now since we've heard from him.

Is tablet anything like Macintosh's Toffee? I think those may be similar ingredients.

If you want/need anymore info pm me. I can email you more info. I am perusing forum on my phone. Hard to type every thing on my phone.

My 2nd great grandfather was from Shetland. I visited Shetland in 2010 for their Hamerfarin. I went back again in 2022 ( same tour Pam is on).

We took ferry from Aberdeen in 2010. Flew over in 2022 and ferry back to Aberdeen.

2010 we rented a self catering cottage and rented a car. ( my cousin and sister) on west Burra island. We cooked breakfasts, made picnic lunches, ate dinner at restaurants. Not alot of restaurants in Lerwick but the ones there are pretty good. Sometimes, if busy you may need to book a table. We did go to yell and Unst, also.

Not sure what info you want but I am happy to help.

Not sure if I did trip report last year or not

Kim

Thanks everyone....I think I've got a better idea now; Scotland is a challenge to plan, what with having to consider ferry, train, and bus schedules! I bought a big wall map of Scotland and placed it on a wall and highlighted my route....plan to leave last week of August next year either to Glasgow or Edinburgh, and spend time in those areas (visiting Stirling, St. Andrew's ??? ...there for one week)...before being picked up to embark on a self guided walking tour of the West Highlands, 9 nights....after which we'll end up in Fort William, take a CityLink bus to Portree on the Isle of Skye for 5 nights; take a CityLink bus to Inverness early morning and go on to Thurso for the night; take a taxi to Scrabster and catch the ferry to Stromness where we'll spend four nights in Kirkwall; then go from Kirkwalll to Lerwick where we'll stay four nights and then move on to Scalloway for five on Shetland; leave and sleep on ferry back to Aberdeen....(now this is where my plan starts to fall apart, but I think it's doable and I really don't want to. cancel and rebook hotels so...)...want to ride scenic train to Inverness from Aberdeen, stay there for a night or two and then take train from Inverness to Glasgow to fly out....looks like we'll be in Scotland for about 6 weeks....

I would not call the train from Aberdeen to Inverness massively scenic but obviously information elsewhere says otherwise. (Inverness to Glasgow/Edinburgh certainly is scenic).

So YMMV may vary. The railway line, or indeed the main highway, is inland for almost all the route.

For the coastal scenic route the better alternative is to take a succession of local bus routes up through Peterhead and Fraserburgh and along the coast really as far as Elgin, then pick up the express bus or citylink coach (the definition is blurred) from Elgin onwards -the same vehicle is both local bus and citylink coach onwards from Elgin.

It is very do-able.

Personally I would end that day at Elgin and stay overnight in Elgin. Then continue next day, after seeing the ruins of Elgin Cathedral-a much shorter day, on local buses to Nairn and on via the amazing Fort George to Inverness. You could do it all as a one day trek but that is pushing it.
You can even divert from Nairn via Culloden if you want but that is probably better as a day trip out of Inverness.

I'm not quite sure what you mean.....and what is "YMMV"?...so, once we get off the ship in Aberdeen, we should bus it to Peterhead (worth a stop?) and then stop over night in Elgin? (the only place i think that we are renting a car is on Shetland)......

then the next day continue to Inverness...stay there for a night and then take that train to Glasgow or Edinburgh (wherever we'll be flying from)?...

YMMV means Your Mileage may vary, and essentially means that everyone has their differing opinions. If you're going round the coast I think you have to change at Peterhead for Fraserburgh or my route did anyway. Peterhead and Fraserburgh are both worth stops- the latter for the Scottish National Lighthouse Museum.

YMMV = Your Mileage May Vary… in other words your experience may be different from mine.

Will you have a car on Orkney? If so, I can recommend the hotel we stayed in on Burray, The Sands. It is an excellent way to be immersed in Orcadian life. Wonderful owners and staff. I’d honestly not stay in Kirkwall particularly if it’s days when cruise ships are in town.

If you want to visit Skara Brae you’ll need advance tickets. Try to go on a non cruise ship day but I’d also do it the 1st day you can. The site will close if it’s raining too hard so you don’t want to leave it to the last minute, if that makes sense.

I just can’t even express how awesome Orkney and Shetland are!

If you are not renting a car on Skye then you will really struggle to get about. The bus service is largely based around getting kids to and from school. I think you would find it very frustrating to be here without a car. There are indeed lots of trails but the island is big! How are you planning to get from your accommodation to the walks you'd want to do?