Scotland

Only thing I can help you with is Edinburgh, we loved it. My suggestions for it are as follows: Castle, Royal Yacht, St. Giles, Museum, Graveyard where supposedly Greyfriars Bobby is buried. Our favorite though is Mary King's Close, just a very short walk down from the castle.
We all thought that was our best experience in Edinburgh, second would be the Yacht. None of us were impressed with Holyrood Palace. The time in Edinburgh seems just right for me. Oh, and just to stand down on the main road in Edinburgh and look up at the castle at night, WOW.

The trip looks doable as we have done much the same thing, except for the Isle of Skye...It only seems to me that you are backtracking too much... it is easy enough to find B & Bs that you can travel more in a big circle. We really enjoyed the Borders with the ruined abbeys and Galway with the ancient Castles. I think that you can take at least a day off your Edinburgh stay as it is actually rather small and most of the major tourist places can be done in 2 days. Don't forget the Whisky Distillaries! Loch Awe was a pretty location; we stayed in a wonderful manor farmhouse...we always just checked with the local tourist information office for bookings. May should have fairly light traffic. We were there in April. We also stayed in Dumphries which where Robert Burns lived. There is a Museum near there for John Paul Jones...he was a local guy gone rogue! We just traveled until we found someplace we liked and it worked out fine.
Bon voyage!

A really friendly and reasonably priced B & B in the area of Loch Ness is Craik Na Dav located at Invermoriston, Scotland. There web site is at www.craik-na-dav.co.uk Sisters Lindsey and Manda are very friendly and the location is nice and quiet. I highly recommend them, but hope you will not be planning to stay there when our friends and us plan to be staying there in May 2013, as they only have three rooms. Enjoy your trip, and hope the weather is as wonderful as it was for us this past May in Scotland.

In Pitlochry, we stayed at the Moulin Inn, a pub that brews their own beer and has some rooms upstairs. It was atmospheric and homey, good beer and food. We had dinner in the bar and breakfast in their dining room. A small town on the highway between Edinburgh and Pitlochry is Dunkeld, good for a tea stop. It has a ruined cathedral, an historic bridge and High St., and some good walks if you want to linger. In Glencoe, the Claichaig Inn has rooms. We did not stay over night but ate here twice while hiking in the area and thought it looked like a fun place to stay.
If you can possibly go to Glenelg on the way to Skye, it is a great hidden away place. From there,we took the tiny 2 or 3 car ferry to Skye, then the bridge at Kyle of Lochalsh back. Glenelg has several prehistoric ruins, a huge ruin of a 1745 barracks, and it's a glorious drive over an old military road to get there. We loved Scotland! You'll have a great time.

1. Make sure you do some research at the Undiscoveredscotland website! I still have it bookmarked even though ourvtrip was two months ago. I found a really fantastic driving tour from Oban through Glencoe there that I realky enjoyed taking. 2. The B&B we stayed at on Loch Ness was reaaly wonderful, if a bit pricey (85 pounds per night for two people in a twin room)it is the Pottery House, on the norteast corner of the loch near Dores Beach, about eight miles south of Inverness. It was built as a B&B not too long ago, so the rooms are just the right size, with big bathrooms that have comfy robes, a minifridge in each room with a fresh bottle of milk inside, and the best breakfast of our entire trip (not just the standard fry up, but a choice of French toast or a few other hot meals). We could even see the loch from our room! 3. In Edinburgh, we didn't see a lot, but really enjoyed Holyroodhouse Palace, and the shopping was great on the Royal Mile. There are three blocks of guesthouses along Mayfield Gardens Road which are in 18th century row houses. We stayed at the Ben Doran, which had lovely rooms and a decent breakfast. Mayfield is the main north south road that will take right to the heart of the Mile and then past Waverly Station and into New Town.

1. Make sure you do some research at the Undiscoveredscotland website! I still have it bookmarked even though ourvtrip was two months ago. I found a really fantastic driving tour from Oban through Glencoe there that I realky enjoyed taking. 2. The B&B we stayed at on Loch Ness was reaaly wonderful, if a bit pricey (85 pounds per night for two people in a twin room)it is the Pottery House, on the norteast corner of the loch near Dores Beach, about eight miles south of Inverness. It was built as a B&B not too long ago, so the rooms are just the right size, with big bathrooms that have comfy robes, a minifridge in each room with a fresh bottle of milk inside, and the best breakfast of our entire trip (not just the standard fry up, but a choice of French toast or a few other hot meals). We could even see the loch from our room! 3. In Edinburgh, we didn't see a lot, but really enjoyed Holyroodhouse Palace, and the shopping was great on the Royal Mile. There are three blocks of guesthouses along Mayfield Gardens Road which are in 18th century row houses. We stayed at the Ben Doran, which had lovely rooms and a decent breakfast. Mayfield is the main north south road that will take right to the heart of the Mile and then past Waverly Station and into New Town.

I've been traveling to Scotland for the past 15 years (alone). You have enough time but I too agree with another reply that you are back tracking a lot. Also, the roads on the Isles of Skye and Mull are single track. You might think about starting in the Highlands and travel down towards Edinburgh. Other suggestion, if you fly into Glasgow you can hit Mull and again travel to Skye, Thurso, Inverness, etc, and finally St. Andrews. I would drop off the rental car at the Edinburgh Airport and take the bus into town. You don't want to drive in Edinburgh (lots of oneway streets). Plus, I found it best to see Edinburgh by walking. I too make extensive use of B&Bs. There are lovely ones all over Scoctland. I will be leaving next week for my annual three week visit.
Suggested B&Bs. Isle of Skye - Roskhilll House. Also try the Three Chimneys Resturant. I don't usually stay in Inverness. I suggest the lovely town of Nairn. (Cawdor House B&B) It's very close to Ft. George, Culloden Battlefield, Clava Cairns, Cawdor Castle (connected to Shakespeare's Macbeth). I hope this information is helpful. Ann

Here's where we stayed. We did B&B's. We just stayed at simple, clean places in good locations. Nothing fancy here. Edinburgh - Kenvie Guest House Inverness - Castle View - great location, clean, basic rooms
Oban - Dana Villa. Anything on Dunollie Road is good. Easy to park on street and you can just walk all over Oban.

Thank you for your feedback. I am currently adjusting the itinerary to start at Glasgow and loop around up to the northwest and then back down to Edinburgh. One thing I did notice in the other itineraries I have reviewed both on-line and in guidebooks is that the northeast of Scotland gets little publicity. Peter
New Bern

Hi, I was in Scotland this summer. My suggestions: in Glasgow, stay at Adelaide's - simple, friendly, very helpful, affordable and central - best B&B in 3 weeks,and all were good. In Edinburgh, I stayed at Kirklea Guest House - not far from central, reasonable $, great breakfasts, clean, helpful, private. Take a drive around the outskirts of Edinburgh, hike up Arthur's Seat, the Castle, I liked Holyrood, Princes Street Gardens of course. When seeing St. Andrews, also see Crail or Anstruther, pretty fishing villages. Enjoy!

I don't think you're backtracking that much. I do have some major concerns about the day that drive from Inverness to Thurso to Durness to Ullapool and back to Inverness. We did that trip or a close facsimile and took three days to do it. ; ) More reasonable day trips are Thurso/John O'Groats, then west to Betty Hillcheck out the museum and then head back south through Strathnaver and back to Inverness via Lairg. But that is still a very, very long day. What is pulling you to Thurso? On the way there is a great castle, Dunrobin outside Golspie and I do like Stranaver and the museum at Betty Hill for the clearances. But it is very long. You could alternatively go further west to Tonguecheck out the beautiful loch! I think that a day trip to Durness is too far. But you can do a very nice trip to Ullapool from Inverness. You can head beyond it to Inverpolly. Or you could head south toward Gairloch. The Inverrew Gardens are wonderful. Pam

Peter, I'm so jealous me, but happy for you. I loved Scotland this past spring on my first visit and hope to get back many more times. It's beautiful and the people are so friendly and fun. When I do go back I hope to see more of Edinburgh. You should stay more than one night there. Maybe just two nights in Inverness will be enough of that lovely city and allow you to adjust your schedule. While in Edinburgh, I recommend that you hire a Blue Badge Scottish Guide for a two or three hour walking tour of Edinburgh Castle and the city (I'm sure you can find the organization online. Many guides will take you throughout the country as well.) The two that joined our tour for separate sightseeings were interesting, funny, informative and really added tremendously to the trip. Oh - be sure to bring plenty of memory cards for your camera. The scenery is stunning!
Jenifer