Originally posted by southlander While you're on air Kerrowdown, I'm thinking about a self drive holiday in Scotland in 2019...potentially a long loop starting in Manchester, up the west coast, a good pause in Skye, eventually to Edinburgh and back to Manchester via Yorkshire and Leeds. Pondering September after the summer tourist peak passes but before the weather deteriorates. Is that a good time or is late spring better (I like being a shoulder season traveller). And is it worth tracking around the top from Skye to John O'Groats? I'm planning on spending a month or so doing this and not booking very far ahead so I can just chill and go with the flow.
Ok, here we go... I would say September (weather can be hit or miss anytime of year, it's Scotland we're talking here
) as the schools will be back functioning again, i.e. no kids aboot.
Best bit of advice I can offer to anyone visiting is... take your time, relax, have a dram, take in the views and don't try to do too much. In the Highlands especially, couple of inches on a map, 50 miles by road, could take up to 2 1/2 hours, so chill go with flow. We're very laid back up here and no ones dying of stress, that is apart from visitors who choose not heed my advice.
"(I like being a shoulder season traveller)" your gonna have to explain that to me, you've lost me back someways.
Depending what your looking from your trip, bearing in mind I don't know if your oot doorsy folk, climbers, walkers, canoeists etc, or like the old Kerrowdown just relaxing and making fine imagery of what's in front of me.
Skye is not such a big place, so I would have thought a couple days to be more than enough, I would use it as a stepping off point to the Western Isles. I've just come back from the Isle of Harris (Uig, Portree to Tarbett, Ferry 1 1/2 hours crossing, car + 2 folk £80.00) IMHO a place to die for, see attached couple of images.
As for the far North John O'Groats and the like, I would be tempted to perhaps give that a miss, there's just so much more to see in Scotland.