Things to see in NW Highlands

You will need to keep a close watch on the ferries Calmac seems beset by woes recently

I would try to visit the Abbey on Iona.

Um, Iona is nowhere near the road between Ullapool and Thurso...
If you take the long but scenic way around the NW coast, it will take a while, so you will have less time that you think. I have not thoroughly explored that part of the world yet, but Achmelvich bay is a relatively short detour from that road and looks stunning.

Hi, Ted,

I'm assuming that you're going to be flying in from Portland. If you are, a six hour drive to Skye (from EDI) or five hours (from GLA) is going to leave you pretty darned tired. And that's given light traffic. If you get stuck behind an accident on the A82, as we did last month, you could end up sleeping in the car.

Anyway, it looks as though you have a lot packed in to 12 days. That drive from Ullapool to Thurso is just over 150 miles, and while it may look easy on the map, it isn't. Normally, I'd recommend taking the A837 from Loch Assynt to Lochinver, then the B869 around by Drumbeg, for one of the prettiest drives in Scotland. But I fear that may put you behind schedule. My recommendation would be to head for Durness, and if you're doing okay for time, visit the beaches at Sango Bay and Balnakeil Bay, visit the John Lennon Memorial Garden off the A838, and the Strathnaver Museum in Bettyhill.

You'll be tempted to stop many times along the way, because the road from Ullapool to Durness runs through some stunning scenery.

Thurso to Drumnadrochit is a good four to five hours, again given light traffic, and Drumnadrochit to Edinburgh is a good four to five hours if you travel south on the A82. In the interest of saving time, it may be faster to backtrack to Inverness, then take the A9/M90 straight south to Edinburgh. There's a lot less chance of being held up in traffic on the A9, but beware of those "average speed" cameras!

I can see that you want to visit as many places as possible within your time in Scotland. I hope that you use what you see to make plans for a longer return visit, because you will come back!

Best wishes and safe travels!

Mike (Auchterless)

If I understand your question, you're looking for activities on the drive from Ullapool to Thurso...

We just drove the scenic route from Skye to Ullapool to Strathy Pt. That was a long day in the car, but stunning scenery made it worthwhile. Thurso is another 30ish minutes past Strathy. So that's likely out for you.

Use Google Maps and you'll see the shortest drive from ulapool to thurso is almost 3 hours without stopping. And it's not the scenic route (well, all of Scotland is a scenic route!). If you stop for lunch you'll have about three or four extra hours to play at best.

On the way from Strathy to inverness we stopped at Dunrobin Castle and enjoyed it -- particularly the falconry demo. There are only two per day. We saw the 2:30 flying and it lasts about an hour.

As one of the others posted, be aware of Calmac ferry cancelations. Our ride to Skye was canceled -- the whole day's schedule was, in fact) -- due to not enough crew (according to the email).

+1 to watch for CalMac cancellations. We were on Skye last weekend, and they cancelled the entire day's Armadale-Mallaig ferry schedule due to a ferry breakdown. We ended up taking a taxi across the bridge to Kyle and catching a bus to Glasgow (rather than our prebooked Mallaig-Glasgow train tickets).

Thanks for the suggestions, all! I'll definitely keep an eye on the ferries as we get closer. I know we're packing a lot into our time there, but I'm going with a group of six and the planning was not all up to me. Most of us have been to Scotland before but it'll be everyone's first time seeing the isles and we can't wait! Thanks again!