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Torridon/Gairloch Scotland


Mentalmac
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Hi All!

 

Has anybody ever been to (or live) in Torridon or Gairloch in Scotland?

 

My sister is getting married there on Saturday so going to drive from sunny old Colchester in Essex right the way up (stopping over night in Carlisle) starting Friday night. Quite a drive I reckon, but looking at the map, those roads near Torridon look pretty interesting.

 

Any spectacular views I can visit on the way?

 

Or anything I should think about stopping off at on route?

 

Cheers all,

Chris

 

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sorry not spent much time in wester ross ,are you going A9 inverness orA82 / 87 fortwilliam the 87 is very scenic but slow, bring some fishing gear as there should be plenty of Pollack and mackerel or trout, by the way its wall to wall sunshine at the moment, if your going to wedding perhaps a spare liver !

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sorry not spent much time in wester ross ,are you going A9 inverness orA82 / 87 fortwilliam the 87 is very scenic but slow, bring some fishing gear as there should be plenty of Pollack and mackerel or trout, by the way its wall to wall sunshine at the moment, if your going to wedding perhaps a spare liver !

Thanks, haha I wonder if the wife will let me :-), I can't wait, I love it in Scotland, bet the kids won't be as impressed with me for a 11.5 hour car journey mind.

I was thinking to take the A9 and scoot accross from Inverness. If I had the time id pop by Bara (just to stay in the 'McNeill Suite' at the hotel for the obvious and not funny same name joke...).

 

Is the 87 much slower?

Yes!

 

My brother in law had a house on the edge of loch torridon, just get there, it's breath taking.

 

Check the torridon website and look at some of the images on there.

Wow, just looked - can see why she wants to be wed there. She lived in Scotland for a few years and said that that even marrying in a community hall was worth it In Torridon.

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Great place to visit. I try and get over to the Gairloch at least once a year. I was there earlier this month in fact. Are you actually going to the Gairloch or Torridon

Depending on how long you will be up there for so much to see and never enough time to see it all. There are some great land and sea scapes to be seen and if you get the chance you must go up the highest road in the UK from Kishorn to Applecross and dont forget to take a pair of bino`s and camera as the view accros to Skye is, if the weather is clear, fantastic. Although be warned you are going up a single track road and it can be misty at times. I have been on it when you can hardly see 10 feet in front of the car. Also something worth while remembering that looking at a map and the distances that you travel will take you a lot longer than you think. So add in a little extra time to your plan.

 

I would suggest that if time is against you in getting up to the area, dont go via Fort William and stay on the A9 to Inverness and then over to the Gairloch via the A835 Ullapool road and then onto the A832 at Gorstan . Although it may sound daft to go that far east before going west you will get there quicker.

 

How long are you going up for as I could suggest a number of places to go and visit

 

One thing I would stress though, if you suffer from mosquitio bites etc start a course of antihestimine and be sure to buy a good repelant spray as the migies just love southern blood :yes::lol:

 

Drive safe and enjoy and let us know how you get on.

 

Cheers,

 

BBL

 

(drop me a PM if you wish and I can tell you a little more)

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Big bad Linz pretty much covers it, I'm back up to Torridon climbing in Sept for a few days before going back down to our usual spot in Invercoe.

Torridon is stunning and Liathach in particular creates some cracking photo ops from the Loch.

 

As said before Applecross is worth the drive on a good day and if you really have time to kill head up to Poolewe and the peninsular.

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Great place to visit. I try and get over to the Gairloch at least once a year. I was there earlier this month in fact. Are you actually going to the Gairloch or Torridon

Depending on how long you will be up there for so much to see and never enough time to see it all. There are some great land and sea scapes to be seen and if you get the chance you must go up the highest road in the UK from Kishorn to Applecross and dont forget to take a pair of bino`s and camera as the view accros to Skye is, if the weather is clear, fantastic. Although be warned you are going up a single track road and it can be misty at times. I have been on it when you can hardly see 10 feet in front of the car. Also something worth while remembering that looking at a map and the distances that you travel will take you a lot longer than you think. So add in a little extra time to your plan.

 

I would suggest that if time is against you in getting up to the area, dont go via Fort William and stay on the A9 to Inverness and then over to the Gairloch via the A835 Ullapool road and then onto the A832 at Gorstan . Although it may sound daft to go that far east before going west you will get there quicker.

 

How long are you going up for as I could suggest a number of places to go and visit

 

One thing I would stress though, if you suffer from mosquitio bites etc start a course of antihestimine and be sure to buy a good repelant spray as the migies just love southern blood :yes::lol:

 

Drive safe and enjoy and let us know how you get on.

 

Cheers,

 

BBL

 

(drop me a PM if you wish and I can tell you a little more)

Wow, thanks for that :-), time is fairly limited really, will have sat morning and Sunday until lunchtime so hoping to just drive around taking in views :-). Any suggestions please let me know.

I've heard of that pass, so ill drive that in my nice shiny hire car haha (don't want to put 1300 miles on my own car you see).

In that case due to all your advice ill take the A9 route :-)

 

Hopefully the flies will realise after a few bites tha some Scottish heritage resides in my blood somewhere haha.

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Wow, thanks for that :-), time is fairly limited really, will have sat morning and Sunday until lunchtime so hoping to just drive around taking in views :-). Any suggestions please let me know.

I've heard of that pass, so ill drive that in my nice shiny hire car haha (don't want to put 1300 miles on my own car you see).

In that case due to all your advice ill take the A9 route :-)

 

Hopefully the flies will realise after a few bites tha some Scottish heritage resides in my blood somewhere haha.

There not flies, those you can live with miges take no prisinors and they just love me and i am scots. :lol:

 

I take it the wedding is on the Saturday. for you travel timings, depending how often you want to stop It will take you a good 6hrs from Carslie to Inverness (1-2hrs to Glasgow M74 onto M73 then onto Perth and onto the A9) if there no major road works or delays approx 3-4 hrs to Inverness. Then 1-2 hrs over to the west. So an early start from Carslie then. And dont forget to fill up in Inverness, as petrol stations are few and far between and some dont open on a Sunday.

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The Old Inn at Gairloch is good for grub, go over the bridge and turn right and you can have a nice walk into Flowerdale, plenty of places to look at and go to, a very pretty place, also be aware that the water table is about 4 metres (13' 2") per year, so there may be rain, it's rained every time l've been up there, still love going up there though.

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Torridon is my favorite place on the planet. the scenery is phenomenal! the views are second to none. However the weather can be a complete dog's mother.

Be sure to go through the Torridon valley and look up () if you do it, you'll understand why I say this!). If you enjoy a bit of 'spirited' riding / driving this can be the place for you, but watch out for blind crests.

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There not flies, those you can live with miges take no prisinors and they just love me and i am scots. :lol:

 

I take it the wedding is on the Saturday. for you travel timings, depending how often you want to stop It will take you a good 6hrs from Carslie to Inverness (1-2hrs to Glasgow M74 onto M73 then onto Perth and onto the A9) if there no major road works or delays approx 3-4 hrs to Inverness. Then 1-2 hrs over to the west. So an early start from Carslie then. And dont forget to fill up in Inverness, as petrol stations are few and far between and some dont open on a Sunday.

 

Thanks for that, if that's the case - it takes longer than Googlemaps says it does - thanks for pointing that out, I'll ensure we leave extra early :-).

The Old Inn at Gairloch is good for grub, go over the bridge and turn right and you can have a nice walk into Flowerdale, plenty of places to look at and go to, a very pretty place, also be aware that the water table is about 4 metres (13' 2") per year, so there may be rain, it's rained every time l've been up there, still love going up there though.

 

Thanks for that, i'll check it out if I can, sounds nice. We'll take plenty of wet weather gear I reckon.

Torridon is my favorite place on the planet. the scenery is phenomenal! the views are second to none. However the weather can be a complete dog's mother.

Be sure to go through the Torridon valley and look up () if you do it, you'll understand why I say this!). If you enjoy a bit of 'spirited' riding / driving this can be the place for you, but watch out for blind crests.

IS the Torridon Valley near the apple cross pass? Looking at google images of the roads around there, looks as though I may be nursing a rather worried partner haha

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Im sure the A9 has average speed cameras now, not suggesting you would speed just to inform!! Midges are evreywhere just now. Stunning part of scotland. Enjoy

Haha with my budget for traveling I'll be watching every drop of diesel on the way so won't speed at all :-).

 

Can't wait to see the views, just not looking forward to being eaten alive by midges or the Scottish women.

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Random piece of useless info Loch Torridon was the setting for "LochNess" starring Ted Danson a few years ago. On my wish list to go there

 

That was in a wee village to the north west of Torridon slightly, called Lower Diabeg - single track road for a few miles in to it :good: :good: :good:

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Hi Chris,

 

How was your visit up to gods country. I hope the weather was good to you and that your sisters wedding went well. No doubt you will be knackered after all that driving.

I am sure you will now know what everyone ment by the views and how it is a totally diffrent way of life compaired to the flat lands of Essex. You will want to come back :yes: I am sure.

 

BBL

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Hi Chris,

 

How was your visit up to gods country. I hope the weather was good to you and that your sisters wedding went well. No doubt you will be knackered after all that driving.

I am sure you will now know what everyone ment by the views and how it is a totally diffrent way of life compaired to the flat lands of Essex. You will want to come back :yes: I am sure.

 

BBL

Hi!

 

It was a lovely trip thanks, except from a few hick ups along the way.

 

We set off from Colchester at 6pm in the end after me being delayed at work a little. Got all the kids loaded into the nice new hire car (only done 4000 miles, a brand new toyota avensis fully loaded with extra's so quite nice actually, 2.0 diesel, really good MPG too).

We had to have the film 'Matilda' on over and over and over and over and over again on the DVD players I took that hook over the headrests for the kids - if I ever see that film again I'll scream.

We got to Carlisle by 12:40am after a few delays on the A1 as there was some road closures that weren't advertised until too late. Doh! Even bigger annoyance was the hotel issue we had. I had phoned Travelodge to confirm that our room would be fine after that time and even phoned 1 hour before and they were always saying all was well, then 10 mins before arrival they rung to say they had to find us another hotel in the area as there was a 'water leak' - it was a blatant lie (seen this around 5 times on trip advisor). Anyway, after a lot of arguing, swearing and pretty annoyed me and pretty upset kids we finally bedded down around 1:15am.

Up at 6:30am to get ready and set off at 7am to Scotland!

Quite enjoyed seeing all the 'Yes' and 'No' boards out by the road, and if you got some speed up on the A9 it was like a child's argument.

I really enjoyed Tesco's at Inverness, much better than my local one for sure, you can even buy a patio whilst you are out shopping - odd. Felt like the final frontier... it all goes a little small road after that, no petrol stations except ones where you look like you have to 'know' who run's it.

Then, we hit the roads just before Torridon and wow, kept having to stop and look around a bit and take pic's haha typical tourist.

The roads were great and would have been greater if dry and in my own car with no kids! but alas, it was a lovely bit of scenery.

The actual road to Torridon was amusing, if not a little stressful after having driven so many miles and was close to a complete sense of humour failure. There was a blooming cycle race on and if you weren't zooming into passing places for cars you were doing the same for cyclists, took a good hour to do a few miles I reckon.

The wedding bit was good, spent a few hours there and did the opposite :-).

We didn't get to drive on the apple cross pass due to our timings, however seeing how beautiful it is, I am already planning a return trip for a lot more time!

All the locals seemed nice too, and I enjoyed the little cafe on the front at Torridon.

F67C7183-3A44-4B76-9D83-CF174ED61381-153

 

All in all, a blooming long drive - but I really enjoyed being in Scotland and the highlands were simply beautiful. And the Macdonalds had more things than our ones I swear...

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Good write up mate. No mention of midges.....

Nah, didnae see any at all, guess the rain and fresh weather kept them at bay?

 

 

 

Nice write. Glad you enjoyed it.

Thanks :-), yea, I loved it - really want to go back there again now. Would almost consider taking a van so I could kip in some random places.

 

 

Glad to hear you enjoyed your visit and you made it up and down safely.

 

Single track roads are not great at the best of times but to hit the cycle race at the same time unlucky. Hopefully you wont have to show your passport the next time you come up.

 

so all together now "we all sing matilida" :lol:

Thanks, I know, I felt the wrath of what felt like 1000 lycra clad cyclists (I shouldn't moan, I am a cyclist myself, but the double standards game being male is all too normal).

 

I hope so too, I really hope it's a no vote and that everything calms down. Besides, you wouldn't want Salmonds face on a coin, the coin would need to be massive.

 

Even the kids haven't asked for Matilda since! haha, seems like they well and truly got it out of their systems.

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