Well the Scottish portions of our 10 week trip is now all sorted in terms of route, transport and accommodation. Just minor details like which distillery etc to visit, and which of the many, many castles which one do we actually visit!
Fly into Inverness on 25th April and then car
1 Kishorn (Begin North Coast 500 Route)
2 Poolewe
3 Ullapool
4 Clashnessie
5 Scourie
6 Rhiconich - (Visit the Isle of Handa for some hiking via the Handa Ferry <which is a very grandiose name for what is actually a zodiac! )
7 Tongue
8 Wick
9 Tomintoul (Complete North Coast 500 Route, visit Glenlivet Distillery)
10 Dalmunzie Castle Hotel ( Drive through the Cairngorms National Park on the Old Military Road < reputed to be the most scenic drive in the UK>, Balmoral Castle )
11 Arrive in Edinburgh and drop of car - Fraser Suites Edinburgh Hotel
12 Edinburgh
13 Edinburgh
Fly to Shannon Ireland
With the above we have mainly tried to at stay places that are walking distance to a pub/restaurant or where the accommodation has good food in itself. We have mixed it around a lot with two pubs and mainly B&Bs. some are in rural settings and most in smaller villages. Dalmuzie Castle is a bit of a treat and we will be dining and dining in-house
By ship, depart from Isle of Man (originate from Dublin) and then daytime loactions are:
1 On 21st May arrive at Iona and Lunga
2 Oban and Mallaig (Fort William Train)
3 Portree , Isle of Skye
4 Isle of St Kilda
5 Kirkwall, Orkney Islands
6 Lerwick, Shetland Islands
7 Noss and Fair Isle
8 Aberdeen
9 Eyemouth
and then continue on for 2 more nights off the English Coast before mooring just near the London Tower Bridge, Thames River, for the last 2 nights.
One slightly amusing part in researching accommodation for the Old Military Road segment was that I looked at the small village of Ballater, which for Scotland was pretty much in the middle of nowhere, and was surprised at the relatively high expense of most of the accommodation options there. Then on looking at Google Maps I discovered why, Balmoral Castle was just down the road!