Scotland Scotland ?! Help please !

justa1972

justa1972

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Justin
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Hello

Apologies for slighlty dramatic title and for asking such a lot but I'd really appreciate some help !

The wife and I have decided that it really is time that we visited Scotland - specifically the West Coast and Highlands - at the age of 46 I'm ashamed to say I've never been. I think the combination of weather, midges, sheer travel time (you can get to France as quickly) and knowing where to start has always rather intimidated me !

So next year I would like to spend 10-14 days exploting a greatest hits lists !

My only starting point is to pay hommage to my favourite book and author - the Crow Road by Iain Banks so if i could pull some of this in it would be nice.

I have been to Edinburgh, Aberdeen and quite a few of the 7 Stanes MTB courses but obviously no time for photograpghy or sightseeing.

So I'd be grateful to anyone for advice - when is the best time of year to go ? Should I book one base or a couple to expand the area we can visit ? Is there a well trodden route to follow ?

thanks in advance !
 
My suggestion would be to stop off at Glencoe for a few days, then on to Skye for another couple, over the Lewis/Harris via Uig, again for 2-3 days, then back via Ullapool to explore the Assynt area. You can then make your way back down through the Glencoe area on your return and stop off again if you have time
 
Yes to 14 days - a week is too much of a rush, even in a single location never mind travelling. Partly because of weather - it can rain or have cloud down for days on end and the longer you're in a place, the more chance of some clear days.

Early June at the latest because of the midges starting. May is a lovely month generally, changeable weather with a fair chance of fine days. And daylight getting long. Ground still pretty wet after the winter rains and snow melt.

September - ground likely drier after the summer. Shorter days, earlier dusk (dusk can be an atmospheric time to make photographs).
 
Never assume you won't get midges before June because you will (on the west coast anyway). Smidge is pretty good. I'd echo late May though. In our camping days we used to go in late June and usually get horrendous weather and everyone saying to us 'you should have been here in May'. So now it's May. Very occasionally it'll rain every day for a fortnight, but not often. Anywhere in the north west from Kyle of Lochalsh northwards is stunning. You'll need two weeks if you're on the move (or more...........). Travel time for us is 2 days up (overnight stop), 13hrs minimum down, but it's so worth it. Think you may be a bit closer? Oh and the sunsets are to die for. Just go - you won't regret it.
 
I'd tend to agree May/June is usually good, as is September. However, you can get just about any weather at any time of the year. I been in the NW and have seen a month's rain in one day in May and, as happened in the first three weeks of November this year, I've been sitting in T shirt and shorts.

This was a sunset from Gairloch on 17th November after a day of wall to wall sunshine from dawn - https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/nw-sunset.688352/

You just have to be prepared for any weather.

As you are suggesting up to 14 days then a couple of bases would, I think, be a good idea - if you move on every, or every other, day it is easy to spend far too much time travelling. Just about anywhere in the Highlands is well worth a visit. Perhaps around Glencoe/Fort William for a week and then around Gairloch/Kinlochewe/Torridon(but I'm biased as I spend quite a bit of time there).

Have a look at the excellent WalkHighlands site - https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/ . While it gives good guides to walks from gentle strolls to mountain ascents it has lots of photos so you can see what an area looks like.

The travel time from where you are is not that bad. You could get to, say Glencoe, in an easy day's journey.

Midges are something else. If you are not attractive to them then the gods have blessed you. For the rest of us, their impact is way out of all proportion to their size. However, then again it is just a matter of being prepared. DEET based products are very good but I find them unpleasant - they sting my eyes, numb my lips and melt some plastic (not good news for photographers). At present my favourite repellent is Smidge - very nearly as good as DEET products but without the unfortunate side effects.

Dave

PS Scotland can be addictive.
 
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Midges are not a problem. They are an irritant but compared to acid attack London, gunman fest Paris, Killer Bear attack USA/Canada and killer malaria/big cat Africa midges don't register.

Scotland is probably the safest, if not the most scenic, place in the whole wide world for a photography trip.
 
Thanks so much for the replies - lots to go on there..

We are just north of Derby - should probably have put that. I have sensitive skin and I'm alergic to DEET !!!

Will certainly check out Smidge although can't see if its tested on animals which is something I also try to avoid.
 
Avon skin so soft lotion, i found best for midges even marines when on exercise up there swear by it.I love the gairloch area wonderful sunsets over the minch.Once saw a basking shark in the harbour and great whale watching bost trips.
 
SFTPhotography said:
Midges are not a problem.
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Maybe not to you Steve, but I'm very susceptible to them. Perhaps our metabolisms / temperaments are different!

To anyone who's not been to the Highlands but been bothered by the humble midges of the lowlands, they should be warned that the Highland midges are hugely more numerous and vastly more voracious!
 
droj said:
Maybe not to you Steve, but I'm very susceptible to them. Perhaps our metabolisms / temperaments are different!

To anyone who's not been to the Highlands but been bothered by the humble midges of the lowlands, they should be warned that the Highland midges are hugely more numerous and vastly more voracious!
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They are an irritant, nothing more. They won't (or shouldn't) cause you any pain and certainly pose no risk to your health, safety or well being. Wear long sleeves, and trousers but I go tapps aff in the high summer and it ain't no thing and I linger around midge hot spots, still water.
 
SFTPhotography said:
They are an irritant, nothing more. They won't (or shouldn't) cause you any pain and certainly pose no risk to your health, safety or well being. Wear long sleeves, and trousers but I go tapps aff in the high summer and it ain't no thing and I linger around midge hot spots, still water.
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You must live in a different Scotland to the one I live in!
 
I bought the Photographing Scotland book earlier this year ahead of a trip to Scotland.
Amazon link
It's a superb book, with all the right information you need including good directions and postcodes for satnav in order to find your way around efficiently and where to park (for example the 3 different car parks for different views on the Glenfinnan Viaduct)
I didn't manage many of the locations in the book, but it was invaluable.
I did bag my own version of a classic:

Epic Glencoe by Alistair Beavis, on Flickr

We drove up from London to the Midlands (day 1) then Midlands to Loch Lommond (day 2). Based there we explored the area and drove up to Glen Coe. Then we went to the Cairngorms and spend another 4 days there. We happened to go in May/June when it was really hot and dry and had hardly any problems with midges (they came out in force a week later as witnessed by youtube Thomas Heaton and noted by the news too).
Oddly I would have liked a little less of the blue skies, but the family were very happy, as the kids could swim in the streams and lochs.
Mads Peter Iverson has some good video guides on youtube like this

Make it a 2 week trip and enjoy.
 
When to go is one thing, and as has been touched on above, you never can tell for sure.

But a guide as to where to take photos has to take the biscuit. Can't you find your own? Will you take your painting-by-numbers kit as well?
 
SFTPhotography said:
They are an irritant, nothing more. They won't (or shouldn't) cause you any pain and certainly pose no risk to your health, safety or well being. Wear long sleeves, and trousers but I go tapps aff in the high summer and it ain't no thing and I linger around midge hot spots, still water.
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You are one of the blessed, Steve.

'Irritant', doesn't even feature on the lowest end of the scale for quite a lot of the rest of us.

I agree they do not cause pain or a health risk, but their impact can be huge.

Dave
 
droj said:
Maybe not to you Steve, but I'm very susceptible to them. Perhaps our metabolisms / temperaments are different!

To anyone who's not been to the Highlands but been bothered by the humble midges of the lowlands, they should be warned that the Highland midges are hugely more numerous and vastly more voracious!
Click to expand...
I find taking Bestbeloved along works well. The midges are so busy feasting on her they leave me well alone.
 
As for West Coast venues, I like Ardnamurchan, preferably in the autumn. If you take a quantity of peanut butter with you, you can entice the pine martins to pose.
 
droj said:
But a guide as to where to take photos has to take the biscuit. Can't you find your own? Will you take your painting-by-numbers kit as well?
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I think that's a touch harsh.
Not everyone has the time or freedom to go wherever they want on a trip and spend days looking for compositions.
For myself, I had a one week family holiday, so I had to fit in photography wherever I could get it. I didn't have time to walk for miles scouting locations. The best I had was an hour at Glen Etive where I got the shot above, while the kids played in the river.
Sure, if I had a trip to a place like Scotland all to myself, I'd do some research and find some original locations and compositions, but there's also nothing wrong with bagging your own version of an obvious shot.
 
ABTog said:
I think that's a touch harsh.
Not everyone has the time or freedom to go wherever they want on a trip and spend days looking for compositions.
For myself, I had a one week family holiday, so I had to fit in photography wherever I could get it. I didn't have time to walk for miles scouting locations. The best I had was an hour at Glen Etive where I got the shot above, while the kids played in the river.
Sure, if I had a trip to a place like Scotland all to myself, I'd do some research and find some original locations and compositions, but there's also nothing wrong with bagging your own version of an obvious shot.
Click to expand...

I agree - they also make good guide books
 
justa1972 said:
Thanks so much for the replies - lots to go on there..

We are just north of Derby - should probably have put that. I have sensitive skin and I'm alergic to DEET !!!

Will certainly check out Smidge although can't see if its tested on animals which is something I also try to avoid.
Click to expand...


We travelled up to NW Scotland in early November from West of Derby near Ashbourne and stayed in Plockton, the idea being that it was close to Skye and relatively easy to drive to the Torridon area too. It sort of worked but there was quite a bit of driving involved, particularly in the direction of Torridon and Applecross, so we ended up spending more time on Skye. I think next time we'll just stay around one single area as there is just way too much to see. Having said that, the area around Plockton was beatiful too.
 
Birdy06 said:
there is just way too much to see.
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............and not that many roads - something for anyone trying to cover everything in one hit to bear in mind. We were up near Gairloch one time when the road down the east side of upper Loch Carron was blocked by a landslip. The diversion was 150 miles :eek: That wasn't 'the official diversion is 150 miles but local drivers will find their own shorter route' - there isn't another route.
 
Birdy06 said:
We travelled up to NW Scotland in early November from West of Derby near Ashbourne and stayed in Plockton, the idea being that it was close to Skye and relatively easy to drive to the Torridon area too. It sort of worked but there was quite a bit of driving involved, particularly in the direction of Torridon and Applecross, so we ended up spending more time on Skye. I think next time we'll just stay around one single area as there is just way too much to see. Having said that, the area around Plockton was beatiful too.
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Ah thats interesting - I have been looking at cottages in Plockton !

Did you drive up in one go or stop over ? How long did it take ?

thanks
 
Birdy06 said:
I think next time we'll just stay around one single area as there is just way too much to see.
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Definitely this.
Do research, pick one area according to what you want to see/photograph. Plan on doing another trip later to see a different area.
Although it depends how you are doing it.
You say you have 10-14 days. If you had 14 days and were in a motorhome, you could easily see a lot. Even without a motorhome, if I had 14 days I'd be tempted to pick two areas and spend a week in each exploring as much as possible. Though obviously you lose one day travelling between area one and two.
 
justa1972 said:
Ah thats interesting - I have been looking at cottages in Plockton !

Did you drive up in one go or stop over ? How long did it take ?

thanks
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Plockton is definitely a nice place to stay! We did it in one go and stopped twice each way. I think the journey time was just under 9 hours. I quite enjoyed the drive too (well, the bit in Scotland anyway).
 
As a resident of the Scottish Highlands I can tell you that midges are a big nuisance, ok they won’t kill you or do any long term damage, but having a massive cloud of them crawling into your eyes, ears and nose is not very pleasant. The only really effective solution I’ve found is a midge jacket.
Try to get off the beaten track as the most famous locations will be very, very busy. You’re in Britain, so the weather can be lousy at any time. Our best visit to Glencoe was in mid November, we had great weather for most of the week with overnight snow covering the mountain tops and some glorious autumn colour.
 
SFTPhotography said:
They are an irritant, nothing more. They won't (or shouldn't) cause you any pain and certainly pose no risk to your health, safety or well being. Wear long sleeves, and trousers but I go tapps aff in the high summer and it ain't no thing and I linger around midge hot spots, still water.
Click to expand...

They may be just an irritant but try standing still long enough to take a photo.

You can try all the potions you like some may act as a deterrent, but if they are out in full force either cover up or stay inside, but there is some beautiful scenery on the west coast.
 
tarric said:
They may be just an irritant but try standing still long enough to take a photo.

You can try all the potions you like some may act as a deterrent, but if they are out in full force either cover up or stay inside, but there is some beautiful scenery on the west coast.
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I agree Dean, but there are, it seems, some people who are not seriously troubled by midges. There have been quite a few times (cloudy, still summer evenings) where I think I would have sold my soul to Devil to be one of those persons.

I think the best repellent is a DEET based product but I do not like them - it stings my eyes, numbs my lips and it melts some plastic, which is not good news for photographers.

My favourite now it Smidge. I think it is very close to being as good as DEET based substances but without the unpleasant side effects.

However, even though the midges are really bad I would never avoid visiting the Highland because of them. The scenery, space, wildlife and people are superb.

Dave
 
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