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Suggestions for Route from St Andrews to Mallaig by car

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I'm doing a walking trip on the Fife Coastal Path ending in St Andrews in September. We are planning to rent a car in St Andrews and take a day or two to get to Mallaig before we head over to Skye. Would love input on the following questions:
1) The day after we arrive in St Andrews there is a Highland Games in Pitlochry. Is it worth going to the games for a day? This is my first trip to Scotland, and am not sure if I want to spend a precious day out of a 10 day trip doing that. But also see it as an opportunity to do something different. Also it looks like we can get there by train for the day and then back to St Andrews to spend a day or so there before we pick up our car. Thoughts?
2) What do you suggest we see in St Andrews? Should we plan more than a full day with two nights there? (or 3 nights if we spend a day at the games)
3) Leaving St Andrews, we plan to head to Mallaig to catch a ferry over to Skye and are looking for ideas for 1-2 days in between. We are more interested in the countryside than cities and at this time don't plan to head up to Inverness, but we are open to suggestions.
4) After Skye we will be going to Glasgow or Edinburgh to catch a train to London. We will have already spent a few days in Edinburgh before our walk and are wondering if we might enjoy a couple of days in Glasgow vs. going back to Edinburgh.

Thanks in advance for whatever input or ideas you may have.

Posted by
6396 posts

Regarding St Andrew's, are you a golfer?

Posted by
460 posts

1) I'm not seeing direct train service between St. Andrews and Pitlochery. I believe you would need a bus to Perth and the train to Pitlochery.

While Highland Games are a lot of fun with bagpipes and dancing and the caber toss, you would be traveling 4½ hours round trip.

2) On Sundays in St. Andrews you can walk the famous Old Course either on a guided walk or on your own.
The Himalayan Putting Course is a fun time even if you only play a few holes. There are the Cathedral ruins and the Castle ruins. And of course, the University. If your lucky, there will be an choral Evensong service at St. Salvator's Chapel on Sunday.

3) There are several options from St. Andrews to Maillig.

You could head to Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park via Stirling (stopping at the Castle, if you like) and then up through the absolutely gorgeous Glencoe Valley on your way to Maillig.

Or you could drive north to Pitlochery and Blair Atholl through Dalwhinnie and then drive along Loch Laggan
through Spean Bridge and Ft. William to Maillig.

Both are scenic, but the first route, IMO, is spectacular. You will have castles, both in ruins and intact, hiking, scenic drives. You could easily spend a couple days in the area.

Be sure to book your car reservation for the ferry to Maillig far in advance.

4) Glasgow is a different feel than Edinburgh. It has quite a few wonderful museums and galleries, the Necropolis, Botanical Gardens.

You're going to have a great time!

Posted by
4 posts

Thank you so much for your thoughtful suggestions! I really appreciate the info about the length of travel to the games. We had a different impression after a cursory look.

We are not golfers, although I like the idea of seeing the course.

Posted by
2646 posts

You can easily spend a full day in St Andrews - it is an attractive small university town with a good range of shops as well as the golking connections, ruined castle and cathedral. . You could join a guided walk of the town or explore on your own (details here.)

I've never been to a Highland Games, so can't comment as to whether it is worth going too.

There are lots of options for travelling between St Andrews and Mallaig. I would avoid the A9 up through Pitlochry and the A82 up along Loch Lomond . Both are very busy. Instead I would suggest the A84 which takes you up through Callander and the Trossachs.

You can either take the A91 which takes you across the centre of Fife to Stirling (you could easily spend several hours here visiting the castle and the Church of the Holy Rude).

OR Head across the Tay Bridge to Dundee and then pick up the A90 for Perth (consider a short detour to the ruined Huntingtower ) to Stirling.

At Stirling, pick up the A84 there through Dunblane (good cathedral) and Doune (ruined castle beloved by Monty Python fans) to Callandar.

Callander is often referred to as the Gateway to the Highlands. The scenery does get more rugged from now on. Leaving Callander you pass the Trossachs Woolen Mill in Kilmahog. There are usually 2 or 3 highland cows in the field next to it for a photo stop.

Continue along the A84 to the junction with the A85 and A827. You may want to do the short detour down the A827 to Killin at the head of Loch Tay and the Falls of Dochart. If you are wanting to stretch your legs, this is a nice easy short walk from Killin.

Now pick up the A85 to Tyndrum where you join the A82. This is a super run across the edges of Rannoch Moor with lots of small lochs, before descending down Glencoe with its Visitor Centre telling the story of the Massacere as well as other history of the area.

The A82 runs along the shores of Loch Linnhe to Fort William. From here you pick up the A830 to Mallaig. This follows the route of the West Highland Railway. Plan a stop at Glenfinnan viaduct (especially if you can time it with the Jacobite Steam train crossing the viaduct. (The train to Mallaig crosses about at 10.45am and 1.15pm. The train to Fort William at 2.50pm and 5.40pm.) The car park is always busy so you need to be there in plenty of time. In the other direction is Loch Shiel and the Glennfinnan Monument marking the place Bonnie Prince Charlie landed in 1745.

This is about 200 miles so could be done in a day. However, there is so much to see and do along the way it makes sense to take two days over this. Where you decide to lstop will depend on how much you want to see and do on day 1. Possible stops would be Callendar or someewhere bewtween Glencoe and Fort William. Fort William has a lot more choie of accommodation.

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