F&C Trip to Scotland - Gauging Interest & Opinions - Booked!

General area & dates of possible Scotland trip

  • Highlands

    Votes: 12 92.3%
  • Lowlands

    Votes: 4 30.8%
  • Arran or another island

    Votes: 12 92.3%
  • September 2018

    Votes: 9 69.2%
  • October 2018

    Votes: 10 76.9%
  • November 2018

    Votes: 6 46.2%

  • Total voters
    13
  • Poll closed .
Messages
1,188
Name
Janet
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Yes
Hello everyone! :wave:

After some discussion in another thread, it looks like quite a few F&C'ers would be interested in a trip to bonny Scotland. So, I thought I'd put up a thread and poll to try and see how many people would fancy an F&C holiday up there this Autumn. The Highlands and the Isle of Arran were mentioned in the other thread as possible areas to look at and I've included other areas in this general poll too.

It would have to be a week's holiday due to the distance that some people might have to travel. However, if we were able to find suitable accommodation with spare beds it could be possible for someone to come for less than a week.

If you're interested, please vote and also post up more details such as whether you would be on your own or with a partner, any specific dates you couldn't come and any preferences with regard to location / area etc.

Let's see if we can make this happen! ;)

Confirmed:
@Mrs Snap & @Andysnap (full week, unavailable early September)
@Carl Hall & Angi (full week, unavailable 19-21 Oct)
@Woodsy & @nikki_s (full week)
@raathistle (full week)
@kendo1 (full week) & Evey (couple of days)
@steveo_mcg (couple of days)
@ChrisR maybe plus 1 (full week)
@StephenM & Sue (full week)
@RaglanSurf & Shireen (full week)
@medwaygreen (full week)


@Peter B (Cannot commit to dates at the moment so will make a decision nearer the time if dates and spare beds are available)
@desf (Cannot commit to dates at the moment so will make a decision nearer the time if dates and spare beds are available)


Interested so far:

Looks like the Lowlands and November are probably out.

Update 3rd April:

Cuilcheanna House booked from Sat 6th to Sat 13th October.

http://www.cuilcheanna.co.uk/
http://www.unique-cottages.co.uk/cottages/west-coast/lochaber-ardnamurchan/cn3-cuilcheanna-house?

Confirmed attendees are:
@Mrs Snap & @Andysnap (both 7 nights)
@Carl Hall & Angi (both 7 nights)
@Woodsy & @nikki_s (both 7 nights)
@raathistle (7 nights)
@kendo1 (7 nights) & Evey (2 nights, Sat & Sun only)
@steveo_mcg (2 nights, Sat & Sun only)
@ChrisR (7 nights)
@StephenM & Sue (both 7 nights)
@RaglanSurf & Shireen (both 7 nights)
@medwaygreen (7 nights)

Costs have been calculated based on 14 people staying for the whole week and 16 people staying for 2 nights. Rental plus booking fee is £1738 which equals £248.29 per night.

(£248.29 x 2) / 16 = £31.04 per person for 2 nights on Sat & Sun
(£248.29 x 5) / 14 = £88.67 per person for 5 nights from Mon - Fri (therefore £88.67 + £31.04 = £119.71 per person for 14 people staying the whole 7 nights)

Deposits of £36.92 per person have been taken from everyone staying the whole week. The two stopping for the weekend only have paid the full amount of £31.04.

Balance is due before 25th August and I will be in touch to collect monies a couple of weeks beforehand. There is a refundable good housekeeping deposit of £400 which will also need to paid on this date.

Update 6th August:

I've got some changes to let you all know about. First off, @ChrisR is more than likely bringing Mrs ChrisR. I'd been holding on to the final bed for her decision so I've added her to the list of attendees and will be billing Chris for 2 people!

Also, a couple of months ago @Woodsy asked about bringing a friend of his along (beds permitting). Whilst it's now confirmed that all 17 bed spaces will be in use for the first weekend, a couple will become vacant on the Monday. Therefore, if there are no objections, Woodsy's friend would like to come for 5 nights from Mon to Sat.

So, confirmed attendees are:
@Mrs Snap & @Andysnap (both 7 nights)
@Carl Hall & Angi (both 7 nights)
@Woodsy & @nikki_s (both 7 nights) & Woodsy's friend (5 nights)
@raathistle (7 nights)
@kendo1 (7 nights) & Evey (2 nights, Sat & Sun only)
@steveo_mcg (2 nights, Sat & Sun only)
@ChrisR & Sheila (both 7 nights)
@StephenM & Sue (both 7 nights)
@RaglanSurf & Shireen (both 7 nights)
@medwaygreen (7 nights)

I've recalculated the costs accordingly:

2 nights - £29.21 per person (@steveo_mcg & Evey) - already paid in full so small refund required
5 nights - £77.59 (Woodsy's friend)
7 nights - £106.80 (everyone else!)

The balance is due before 25th August so I will be in touch shortly to confirm costs and arrange payments.

There is a refundable good housekeeping deposit of £400 which will also need to paid on this date. I propose splitting this at £25 per person for the 16 people who are staying for more than a couple of days to encourage you all to help leave the place clean and tidy! ;)
 
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Woop! Been waiting for the next F&C meet :) I'll be there for sure if the actual dates don't land on a weekend I'm busy on. I've spoken to Angi and she'd like to come along too if it's September or October. As for locations, I'm happy to go with wherever! :)
 
Two of us obviously (unless I can find a way to leave him at home) ;)

Prefer Highlands or one of the islands but would also be happy with the Lowlands. I think any dates are okay at the moment (y)
 
whats f&c ??
you don't want to do the highlands in september unless you like getting up close with
the highland midge !!!
 
I'm easy. I don't have anything booked for that time of year yet, but I'll probably have a trip to Barcelona in September rather than October.
In October the temperature will be dropping and consequently the midges will be dying off.

I would rather go to the Highlands or the Islands as I live in the Lowlands!
 
whats f&c ??
you don't want to do the highlands in september unless you like getting up close with
the highland midge !!!

Film and Conventional. :D
 
The later the date the further north the location, the less hours of daylight.
 
The later the date the further north the location, the less hours of daylight.

But the later the sunrise and the earlier the sunset. :D
 
... more time in the pub :)
It's a Scottish thing.
 
No pubs, it's bars, it's a Scottish thing, apparently.
I can't remember the last time someone said to me they were going to a bar.

Folks around here go to the pub. It's an Edinburgh thing. :)
 
Perhaps it is an Edinburgh thing, but each time I've been to Scotland (admittedly not very regularly as I've never felt all that keen on going back there after each visit) it's been a bar, and I've not liked the beer. :(
 
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I've never felt all that keen on returning after each trip

I feel the same way, but as our cats are in England, we grit our teeth and return. I say "grit" but it's probably midge bodies that get used :D

We normally go to Scotland for a fortnight each year, at the end of May/beginning of June; one year we had to postpone to September and found the reduced hours of daylight limiting, although as we generally spend a week at the Glenmore campsite (Aviemore) it did have the advantage that sunset took place before (rather than after) the campsite was locked down for the night at 10pm. What was undoubtedly different was the range of fungi to be found.

Our holidays are generally one day touring round alternated with a day spent locally; obviously the time for travel was less with fewer hours of daylight and that colours my view of the later season.
 
OTOH if you get lucky, autumn in Scotland is frankly fabulous...
 
I’d be up for this, as usual that’s dependent on the work/money situation and so would Mrs Surf.
 
Is anyone coming up for the Edinburgh festival and Fringe?
 
I think we'll end up flying up and then renting a car for the week. I get really bored on long journeys so 12 hours would drive me nuts lol. Thankfully there are return flights from Bristol to Glasgow for around £54!
 
I think we'll end up flying up and then renting a car for the week. I get really bored on long journeys so 12 hours would drive me nuts lol. Thankfully there are return flights from Bristol to Glasgow for around £54!

Someone nice might offer to pick you up and drop you back at the airport.... if the flight times are reasonable!! ;)
 
Someone nice might offer to pick you up and drop you back at the airport.... if the flight times are reasonable!! ;)

That would be mighty kind if someone could! They seem to have three or four flights most days, so I'm sure we'd be able to sort it out to be as little inconvenience as possible.

The hardest bit will be trying to figure out which cameras to leave behind for the flight... It's not like Cornwall where I could just load the van up and bring everything :D
 
F&C sounds like discrimination to me.....lol! I'll be in Scotland afore yeeeeeee, where me and my true love will never meet again on the bonnie bonnie banks of Loch Lomond! *drums and pipes*.

It's my playground. If I can help with anything then let me know even though us digi's aren't permitted ;)
 
F&C sounds like discrimination to me.....lol! I'll be in Scotland afore yeeeeeee, where me and my true love will never meet again on the bonnie bonnie banks of Loch Lomond! *drums and pipes*.

It's my playground. If I can help with anything then let me know even though us digi's aren't permitted ;)
If you ask nicely (and chuck them a roll of film to sweeten them up) someone might lend you a proper camera. F&C forumites are a friendly bunch from what I've seen on here. Hopefully I'll be available for one of the meets at some point. Any major holiday time is pretty much spent up on friends weddings this year though [emoji39].
 
That would be mighty kind if someone could! They seem to have three or four flights most days, so I'm sure we'd be able to sort it out to be as little inconvenience as possible.

The hardest bit will be trying to figure out which cameras to leave behind for the flight... It's not like Cornwall where I could just load the van up and bring everything :D

I was going to suggest checking out flights to Prestwick, but I've discovered they don't seem to offer UK destinations. Bristol/Barcelona/Prestwick would work...
 
F&C sounds like discrimination to me.....lol! I'll be in Scotland afore yeeeeeee, where me and my true love will never meet again on the bonnie bonnie banks of Loch Lomond! *drums and pipes*.

It's my playground. If I can help with anything then let me know even though us digi's aren't permitted ;)

Digital cameras have been known at previous meets, though the emphasis is very definitely on film, of all sorts. The camera porn is amazingly exotic!
 
That would be mighty kind if someone could! They seem to have three or four flights most days, so I'm sure we'd be able to sort it out to be as little inconvenience as possible.

The hardest bit will be trying to figure out which cameras to leave behind for the flight... It's not like Cornwall where I could just load the van up and bring everything :D

This might be completely impractical and/or too expensive but could you package up your cameras & film safely into a box and post/courier it to us to stick in our car? Then we could send it back afterwards. (Mr Snap is in charge of all the posting and deliveries in our house so I've no idea whether it's a good idea!! It might be cheaper just to pay for extra bags on the flight! :D)
 
"Highlands" is a pretty big catchall for "not Lowlands or Arran"... Could make a case to divide it into 3 r so areas: Argyll and islands (some of which is accessible from Arran), that middle bit from Glencoe to Skye, and the northwestern bit from Applecross through Torridon to Ullapool and beyond. Not that there aren't plenty of other interesting bits... Outer Hebrides is definitely on my list, but probably not for just a week.

I'd be inclined to think Argyll and Bute as a "highlands" destination for a group would be reasonable. Or have I go this all wrong?

BTW, definitely 1 and possibly 2 (not that I've asked yet). September tends to involve my ladies disappearing off to the Med, so depends on dates anyway...
 
It is a big area and, to be honest, splitting it into smaller areas is possibly a waste of time due to the availability and price of potential cottages. There are a lot of extremely expensive large houses that are way out of my budget! ;)

Whatever we book has got to fulfil a lot of criteria such as size, suitable interior bedroom & bathroom layout, location, price etc which has already narrowed the field considerably. The suitable ones I've found so far are quite widely spread.

The 'highlands' areas I'm searching are mainly north of Glasgow & Perth and south of the Great Glen. Focus has been on Cairngorms and Fort William (ish) so far.

I've found very few suitable on Arran, Mull etc so far so we may have to go to the Highlands by default!
 
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Highland Council schools get a full 2 weeks off in October, from Monday 15th to Friday 26th, so that might have an impact on available accommodation.
 
It is a big area and, to be honest, splitting it into smaller areas is possibly a waste of time due to the availability and price of potential cottages. There are a lot of extremely expensive large houses that are way out of my budget! ;)

Whatever we book has got to fulfil a lot of criteria such as size, suitable interior bedroom & bathroom layout, location, price etc which has already narrowed the field considerably. The suitable ones I've found so far are quite widely spread.

The 'highlands' areas I'm searching are mainly north of Glasgow & Perth and south of the Great Glen. Focus has been on Cairngorms and Fort William (ish) so far.

I've found very few suitable on Arran, Mull etc so far so we may have to go to the Highlands by default!
There are two farm houses that sleep 8 -10 each very close to each other on Arran. They are available in October.
There's a youth hostel in Aviemore...
 
We're all young at heart :)
All you need is a youth hostel membership. You have to be under 105 to qualify.
 
Phew, just scraped in... the way I feel, anyway!
 
Thanks for the link @kendo1. I'll have a proper look at it later. I've also found these so far:

https://www.sykescottages.co.uk/cot...ional-Park-Newtonmore/Alvey-House-934608.html

Limited availability in Sep and Oct.

http://www.unique-cottages.co.uk/cottages/west-coast/lochaber-ardnamurchan/cn3-cuilcheanna-house

Good availability in Sep and Oct.

Two properties on the same site are definitely an option I'm looking at. However, we normally try to book somewhere private for meets wherever possible rather than sharing with other people .
 
Thanks for the link @kendo1. I'll have a proper look at it later. I've also found these so far:

https://www.sykescottages.co.uk/cot...ional-Park-Newtonmore/Alvey-House-934608.html

Limited availability in Sep and Oct.

http://www.unique-cottages.co.uk/cottages/west-coast/lochaber-ardnamurchan/cn3-cuilcheanna-house

Good availability in Sep and Oct.

Two properties on the same site are definitely an option I'm looking at. However, we normally try to book somewhere private for meets wherever possible rather than sharing with other people .
I stayed in Onich years ago on a West Coast trip. Nice place, very quiet. It made the IOW look like Vegas :)
 
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