I was up this way recently and would recommend the Na Mara restaurant in Strath, Gairloch - brilliant food Na Mara Restaurant The Old Inn at Gairloch does good beer and bar meals. The Gairloch hotel, which was a grand place in its heyday, now is used more by coach parties, but has nice sea facing large rooms at a good price. Breakfast is not great, but it is warm and dry!!
Tx but i already spent 32 GBP on the ferry booking ... i did integrate the road to Oban though! grtz Koen
One road you are missing out on is the Struie, its called the Highland TT because its got all sorts happening and is an awesome road, it is also a very picturesque road instead of the route you are proposing. The change would be instead of going over the Dornoch Bridge, turn right before it and head for Bonar Bridge, go over the Bridge and head for Tain, basically going round the Dornoch Firth, then about 4.5 miles past Ardgay(pronounced Ardguy) turn off on the B9176. Follow this and it takes you out at Evanton, just before you rejoin the A9 you can pull into the Skeach Filling station where you can get some good food and petrol. The road round Tain, Alness that you are presently going is pants, no view, and bypasses of the villages. Oh, if you do the Struie then after about 2 miles of joining the road you climb up a long hill, near the top stop in the viewpoint and have a picture, on a good day you can see Ben Loyal in the distance, and 3 hills back can see the top of the croft I was brought up on! If you see what looks like a local biker do not race him though, it takes years to learn the road and has off camber followed by 90 degree bends that can catch out the unaware!! I love it!!! Been on it on a moped at 14!, then cars, then tractors, then artics, then sportsbikes!!
Many tx ! Your tip has been added to the route! it stretches the day ride with only 14 km and a clear gain in scenery is a sure plus! i have no intention to race anybody.... that is left to the 999 on the track 0nly on night to go and off we are! ps : that tractor bit must have given you the profound knowledge of the scenery... grtz Koen
final tour! V4.0 Thanks to all your input we now have what should be a fabulous tour of Bonny Scotland! here it is Should any one want it , i'll be glad to mail the GPX files to you! Many thanks to all of you!
Thought this might be worth mentioning (prompted as the wife complains of another mozy bite!) - with the wet summer mosquito populations have boomed over here and I'm guessing the same applies for Midges in Scotland (a problem in some areas at the best of times).........take some good insect repellent! ;-) Midges
So, back now since Sunday and what a blast it was... Torrential rain, cows blowing of the top of Ben's, and completely in love with the country! Scotland, how dear you've come to me!.. and to us, now loved every minute of it! i've working through the 1000 + shots that all were shot in RAW (so need some attention to them) for the last two days and hope to have a fine extende selection ready by the weekend with some thoughts and ideas on what has been a rivetting trip! And Andy was 100% on the mark about the musquito's. The five minutes it didn't blow a gale, we were eaten alive! grtz Koen
Glad to hear your back safe and enjoyed the trip so much despite the rain! Looking forward to the photos and more comments on the trip......RAW format, you're a keen photographer then?!
