thinking of touring scotland next year.

[Hamish]

As others have said, Arran, Mull of Kintyre, Islay, Jura, Moidart, Etc, etc.  all fantastic. 

There is a foot ferry (a big RIB) from in Antrim  to  Campbeltown .  The trip across in itself is worth it.  I did it this summer in flat calm conditions.  We were skimming along at 30+ knots between Scotland and Ireland with dolphins rising either side of the boat. 

The ride up Kintyre from Campbletown is lovely and gives you loads of options to branch off at the top. 

One key difference between Scotland and the rest of the uk and I guess Ireland is that wild camping is possible.  Just be careful of the ticks in moorland areas. 

[6527richardm]

I followed the NSCR from Edinburgh up to Tongue and would recommend the route. To me the best part was from Inverness upwards the A road is single track with passing places and is remote but beautiful. Camping and stopping places are infrequent but there are plenty of places for wild camping. I stayed at the Crask Inn They have a bunkhouse and I thing they also allow camping.
As I am sure you know the weather can be wild at any time of the year I went in May and had to alter plans due to the (70 miles an hour) severity of the wind.

[Fred A-M]

Cheers Fred and happy christmas buddy.
Fred did you take photos of that trip

Cheers Jags, a happy Xmas to you also - yes I did but alas not digital ones and haven't got around to scanning them yet.  Also an error in earlier post, you catch the ferry to Tarbert from the western side of the Trotternish peninsula, not the eastern side!

[peter jenkins]

What a great idea Jags!!

I wish I could join you.

When I did LEJOG I rode from Gretna Green to Dumfries to Ardrossan then the ferry to Arran. Thence to Oban and along the Great Glen to Inverness. There's a great off road option beside the Caledonian Canal! From Inverness to Bonar Bridge, to Crask, Tongue and then across to John o Groats!

It was fantastic! The SYHA is a well organised and Carbisdale Castle YH near Bonar Bridge is particularly good.

There are a few spots where you can feel that you really are in a remote area, which I enjoyed particularly. Frm the Crask Inn north to Tongue was very pleasant indeed.

Also, I discovered Scotland's national drink. It's called Irn Bru and I took to it with gusto.

Scotland was the best part of the whole LEJOG experience. If I can work out how to attach photos to this list I will post a couple.

Cheers Jags and I hope Santa was kind to you.

Cheers,

pj

[jags]

cheers peter all just a dream at this moment work is not to plentyful so money is pretty tight.
but having said that its no harm planning a tour just in case.
i'm sitting here in my cycling gear waiting for the rain to stop the sky is black and it's lashing it down .
think i'll have another coffee.

chers
jags.

[Matt2matt2002]

cheers peter all just a dream at this moment work is not to plentyful so money is pretty tight.
but having said that its no harm planning a tour just in case.
i'm sitting here in my cycling gear waiting for the rain to stop the sky is black and it's lashing it down .
think i'll have another coffee.

chers
jags.

Yep, me too. I spend ages planning trips. Next one will see me travel from Dumfries to Kirkwall and back in 5 days.
It's doable if the ferries run to time!

[jags]

ah i will more than likely spend most of my  time next year cycling the country lanes here,
a few overnighters will do me fine i reckon yeah sure i'de love to get away but you need money for any kind of tour somethng i dont have at the moment 

[peter jenkins]

Hi Jags,

Dan kindly PM'd me to explain photos, attaching, procedure for.

But I uploaded a small selection to Photobucket instead.

http://tinyurl.com/brbhf4e

And then it occurred to me that I took these because they appealed to me from my own selfish "Australian" perspective and you may not find them as interesting, seeing as you live in a greener place than I do!

Cheers,

pj

[jags]

thanks peter really beautiful photos glad you posted them .
looks like you had great weather as well.
cheers
anto.