The West Coast of Scotland Trip 2017. Dates booked.

[Kingster]

Haha no chance 

[windy]

Why are you doing the scrabster ferry? The Gills bay to St Margaret's hope is a modern catamaran and is a very fast crossing. Also it is excellent value. They have a hydraulic ramp so fine for low cars with poor ground clearance like westies.

[Gary Taylor]

Cheers windy will have a look see and see what the options are

a quick look on the map says it would take us around scrapa flow past the Italian chapel

thanks for the heads up didn't know about it hence scrabster

[Gary Taylor]

Ok folks thanks to windy option for the ferry crossing

gills bay to st Margaret's hope depart 9.30 arrive 10.30

return 07.45 arrive 08.45

cost car with driver £108 or £140 driver and passenger

has anyone booked the scrabster one yet or thoughts on this option it's about 15 miles on from scrabster with a quicker crossing

check in minimum 60 mins before departure,

this route would take us over the Churchill barriers past the Italian chapel and to our accommodation 

thanks again windy

[Gary Taylor]

a wee taster o' orkney

[windy]

Much better ferry the pentalina. It's run by a guy who's battled against the subsidised ferry to offer a better service to Orkney, so will always be my choice of getting to the islands. 

[windy]

Have you got an itinerary for Orkney? I can give you some tips for places to visit. Don't forget you will have 24hrs of daylight in June to explore. It never gets dark that time of year.

[Gary Taylor]

 Yes we wanted to see the Churchill barriers and weather / tides permitting the wrecks , Italian chapel skarra bear st magnus' 

but open to any suggestions 

cheers

[windy]

Ring of Brodgar, Maes Howe, Stones of Stenness and The Ness of Brodgar are all in the same area. Well worth a visit - it's on the telly at the moment Monday bbc2 9pm. If you are in Kirkwall you must visit Trevor Steadman at Steadspeed restorations. He is a restorer of ford capris and other old ford stuff. I'm sure he'd be glad to see some fellow petrol heads for a chat and a cuppa! The Orkney brewery is also worth a visit when you are out to Skara Brae as it's nearby. If you have the missus with you take her to Sheila Fleet I'm sure she'll appreciate it!

[Gary Taylor]

Yes I saw it ont telly the other night 

Trevor sounds like a nice stop

will add the others to the list to see

being nosey are you from up there?

[windy]

Not from up there but been going for last 6 years to Orkney mainland and the surrounding islands. 

[Ali and Gail]

Hi all

Sorry I've been a bit quiet recently but its time to join the fun world again and start smiling. We were burgled in mid December and the upstairs of the house was literally turned upside down and before they left they decided to put the plug in the bath and sink and flood the house, yep I know no one can get there head round that act!

Still thankfully the garage was left alone and Mrs P(our Westy) and my Harley where left alone.

Gary, the flight over Skye works for us to. Please let me know when we need to book or if its better to book as a party as you seem to have it in hand. I will happily transfer money to you if we need to pay in advance.

With regard to the ferry I am really happy with either option, I have no preference, Scrabster or Gills Bay but taking Castle of Mey would be good.

I will speak to the boss and she what she wants to do regarding stopping on the route south. Apart from Geoffrey who is heading straight for Killin for 3 nights is anyone else heading south and planning to stop over anywhere.

Alistair

 

 

[Gary Taylor]

Hi Alistair

sorry to hear about your troubles with the house and hope you get it all sorted

re the seaplane flight as soon as I hear back from them I will sort out and let all who have an interest know what is happening 

As soon as I hear from Geoffrey about his ferry preference then we can get that finalised as well

watch this space

[Gary Taylor]

Sorry missed the last bit regarding killin I actually stay about 2/3rds of the way down from Thurso to killin on speyside

not sure who else will be joining us on this leg yet

but throw out any ideas suggestions requests and we can come up with a plan of sorts 

gary

[Ali and Gail]

We want to take in Culloden battlefield and the Fenicular railway heading south. I guess that's proboly old hat to you guys but we can catch up. That's going to mean a stop over and I guess Aveimore is as good a place as anywhere unless you know better. There's got to be some lovely roads in the Cairngorms to take a blat on to.

Killin looks lovely to so fancy a night there.