Scottish Highlands.

"And Louie the King said, 'Let me think for a minute, son'"

There aren't a lot of large towns along the northwest coast, but the best towns for accommodation and places to eat along the way would be Plockton, Lochcarron, Applecross, Sheildaig, Gairloch, Aultbea, Ullapool, Lochinver, Scourie, Kinlochbervie, and Durness.

Ullapool is the largest town along the way, due to it being the ferry terminus for the Stornoway run. Most of the others, with the possible exceptions of Gairloch and Lochinver, would only qualify as villages, not towns. Plockton, the "Jewel of the Highlands," is a great place to stay, but it may not be far enough from Skye www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZKaC5WNHyc

Applecross: "Getting there is half the fun!"

Gairloch, Aultbea, and Lochinver are all good places to spend a night. Lochinver for spectacular drives around the B869 and the "Wee Mad Road;" Scourie for access to Handa Island; Kinlochbervie for the hike out to Sandwood Bay, mainland Scotland's most beautiful beach; and Durness for Smoo Cave, Balnakeil Beach, and Cape Wrath.

Hope that gets you started. You didn't say when in the autumn you're going, but if it's early autumn, advance lodging reservations may be a good idea. You'd still be competing with the NC500 crowd.

Best wishes for your holiday. You'll be heading in to one of the most beautiful places in the world!

Mike (Auchterless)

I agree with the suggestions for places to stay. Personally, I really enjoy Ullapool. There are lovely walks in the hills directly above the town. There are some nice restaurants, bookshops, and one of my favorite woolen wear shops.

We stayed in Gairloch for our first night on a trip that took us from Strathpeffer west to Gairloch and then up the west coast where the next stop was Lochinver. Then we were on to Durness for the third night. We went east to Betty Hill before heading south to Helmsdale where we spent the night before heading back to Strathpeffer. On this trip, we had time to stop and enjoy ourselves. You can cut it shorter in some places or go further east and lengthen it. It's now called the Scottish 500. We did it before it was named. :) The road to Drumbeg is amazing. The sands as you go into Durness are amazing. The lochs along the top of Scotland where the convoys gathered prior to heading across the Atlantic in WWII are beautiful. Betty Hill and Strathnavar are haunting.

On another trip, we did go to Applecross. And we went in the rain which was interesting. The mountains were literally weeping water out of the rocks. Applecross is pretty small. You will want to book for this trip. We booked each night the day before, but that was in September and it was before they started promoting this route so there were few people. It is a wonderful trip.

Is this a route that one can do gracefully with public transport?

Hi, janettravels44,

It's almost impossible to do some parts of this journey by public transport. There are bus services to Gairloch, Lochinver, Ullapool, and Durness, but currently there is no single bus service which goes directly up the coast. If you wanted to travel from Kyle of Lochalsh to Gairloch, for instance, you need to take a bus from Kyle to Inverness, and back out to Gairloch.

There is a bus service, #707, operated by Graham Nash. No, not that Graham Nash! I'm sure that he doesn't need the money! Anyway, the bus operates once daily between Gairloch and Ullapool. There's very little information on the internet about that route, but I suppose that you could contact the TI office in either Gairloch or Ullapool. Otherwise, it would be a CityLink bus from Gairloch to Inverness, then back out to Ullapool. You could also change buses at Strathpeffer or Dingwall, but there's more to do in Inverness!

There appears to be some sort of bus service between Ullapool and Lochinver, and as most of these smaller services do, it only operates on weekdays.

You could possibly try the Durness Bus www.thedurnessbus.com for more information. They appear to run as far south as Ullapool, and as far east as Thurso. They use 16 passenger minibuses, and seem to cover a great deal of the far north west corner of Scotland. Otherwise, if you're going from Ullapool to Durness, it's a lengthy journey by way of Inverness.

The Applecross peninsula is actually served by public transportation. There is a small (by necessity) bus which is operated by the Lochcarron Garage. It takes passengers twice weekly from the Inverness bus station to Applecross, stopping in Lochcarron along the way. Reservations are STRONGLY recommended. 011 44 1520 722205. DMK Garage operates minibuses from the Strathcarron train station (on the Kyle line) to Shieldaig and Torridon. 011 44 1520 722682.

So the answer is yes, it can be done by public transport, but it won't be easy. If you do decide to tackle those routes by bus, it will take a great deal of planning, and advance lodging reservations.

Best wishes, and I hope that you have the opportunity to visit one of the most beautiful places on Earth.

Mike (Auchterless)

And you will probably need lots of time.

It sounds like an intriguing area, and I don't really mind long bus rides if I'm traversing pretty countryside, but I decided not to try it, despite having 26 days to spend in Scotland. Maybe next time.