Thetownend.com

I've decided I'm going to go on a road trip, likey next week. I basically plan to drive to Scotland, go out on the lash in Glasgow for a night, or maybe 2 (I've heard it's the bollocks) then drive up to Inverness and do the 500 mile Tourist loop thing around the north coast of Scotland and then head back. Piston Heads Inspiration (http://www.pistonheads.com/features/ph-features/north-coast-500-in-24-hours/32673)

I've not decided how long I'm going for, or what stops I might incorporate, but I'm planning on 5 days and will definitely go to Glasgow and get on it.

So, I want tips and info on where I should go near, where's worth stopping at (maybe photographing if I buy my long awaited camera by then) and if there's anything else I should do in Glasgow apart from getting on it. Wouldn't mind some tips on good pubs, preferably with more than a smattering of the fairer sex. Meat markets welcomed.  :pint:

Love Bazza. x

Did you have the *star trekking across the universe* song in mind when you wrote this?

Either way you're an arse, because I now have that stuck in my head.

Me too. You Arse.
-----
Scrape 'em off Jim

I did have it in my head and I'm glad to have shared that delight.

Arse.

Oh, and just to be sure that everybody else has to share the pain:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZS2-4-iUJ4

Always found Glasgow a bit gritty for me, much preferred Edinburgh's nightlife and style. Also a female 'embra' accent is much more easy on the ear than a female weegie one.

If you get time, on the way back, make sure you check out the Scottish Borders countryside, lovely part of the world, where driving's a pleasure, we left Selkirk one time at around 7 in the evening and only saw a handful of cars til we got down near Carlisle, about an hour's drive.

I thought the bit between Carlisle and Glasgow a bit uninspiring. Probably because I thought the distance was less, the old "Ooh, Carlisle... not too far now" Next sign... GLASGOW 98  :(

The M74 is dull as ditchwater, it always amuses me as if you drive up there with the sat nav on going to Glasgow or Edinburgh once past Carlisle it flags up that the next direction instruction is something like 70 miles away!

However if you venture off the motorway its lovely.

Going to have to respectfully disagree.  Carlisle to Glasgow on the M74 is as close to pure driving pleasure as you're ever likely to find on a British motorway.  In fact, once you're north of the Blackpool/M55 turn on the M6, traffic levels drop away dramatically and you'll have nearly 200 miles of wonderful, open road with - in places - breath-taking scenery.

I make this trip several times a year (wife's family are in Argyll) - and will be doing so again on Saturday.  Plan to leave at around 5am with a view to making it up north and past the worst of the traffic pinch points before most of the traffic hits the road.  And it's the M74 stretch that I most look forward to.  Has to be the most over-engineered stretch of road in the UK by some distance.  Six lanes all the way up to within about 30 miles of Glasgow (when, mysteriously, it drops to 4 lanes, just as the traffic starts to pick up again).  And as janaage says, there is next to no traffic on it.  In terms of the scenery, the stretch from Beattock to Lesmahagow is terrific as the road winds through heavily pine-forested hills.  And further south, the hills around Tebay, Cumbria are, if anything, even more special.

North of Glasgow, I would highly recommend heading up around Loch Lomond (on the A82).  And if your itinerary permits it, pick up the A83 at Tarbet and head over the 'Rest & be Thankful' towards Cairndow.  I can guarantee that you will not be disappointed.  The scenery is simply spectacular...every bit as impressive (in my book) as Glencoe.  It's almost en route to Oban as well, which is worth a visit/overnight stay if you have time.

I'll stop waffling now.  But more than happy to fill a few more pages if encouraged.  ;)

Look out for the heart shaped wood...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/cumbria/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8294000/8294475.stm

Have a look at the electric brae near Ayr

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_Brae

...and also the mysterious 'cock & balls' wood formation an hour or so to the north.

I've just located my post from 3 years ago on this very subject:

It's a wood in southern Scotland that looks like a cock & balls (http://thetownend.com/index.php?topic=39164.msg1094842#msg1094842)

Look out for the Ashton Memorial as you go past Lancaster

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashton_Memorial

Argyllshire  Dunoon (just outside) Osbourne hotel nice food real beer pleasant place to stop. If you're lucky you can see a nuclear sub or Ocean Liner going up the Loch over breakfast.
I've always enjoyed Fort William as well. Nice steam railway and view of Ben Nevis.

Small world.  The Osborne is a 5 minute drive from my in laws.

Living in Preston, I drive that stretch of road up to Glasgow (or at least part of the way) on a semi-regular basis. Drove to Northern Ireland and back last week via Stranraer. A great drive in the sunshine.

So you got a ferry, and didnt drive the whole way then Alex ;)

I'm talking more Edinburgh to Carlisle (a7) or Edinburgh heading down A68, than Glasgow to Carlisle.

Pedant.

Drove to Skye once, absolutley soul destroying when you realise Glasgow is the half way point.

Ditto, did a camping trip up to Skye when I was at college. That journey was a fucking nightmare, and I wasn't even driving. Skye is so far north I swear the sun didn't set until 11pm (OK, I just looked it up, 22:23, meaning it must have got dark about 11).

That's something I'll always remember, staggering out of the Clagaigh Inn in Glencoe just past 10.30pm (closing time back in the day) to be met by bright sunshine. It was like having jetlag.

If you're in the northern area, try and get to a shinty match, usually played on Saturdays - Newtonmore are the Manure of that world. Totally mad game played by true amateurs, they'll be so glad you've shown an interest as a 'foreigner' you might well get through the evening not buying a drink. Same goes if you spot a Highland League footy match - these are drinking events that happen to have a sports event at the same time.

It's a wonderful part of the world, go round the coast to Scourie/Durness/Tongue/Thurso/Wick/Brora you're guaranteed a friendly (albeit drunk) welcome.

Ah, ok. No, my joy was Carlisle border to Glasgow to cumbernauld  :suicide:

All that way to go to the Bracknell of Scotland?!   :D

I sort of did the tour that Bazza is planning about 40 years ago, in an old Bedford HA van....took me about a week mind, rather than 24 hours.

Back then the roads were a bit primitive, plenty of single track with passing places for miles, but not too many people passing   :)   be interesting to see how it's changed.

If around Thurso, probably best to avoid Dunreay.... nuclear plant, decommisioned because of dubious safety, think Homer Simpson was the CEO.  Tended to try and bury spent waste in the very rough sea, only for it to wash back up on land.

Interestingly, the Tories have agreed for the Chinese to build us a nice shiny new nuclear power station at Hinkley, about 30 miles downwind of Bristol on a prevailing wind.

 :)
After Cumbernauld it improved, Stirling then up the A9, lovely drive. Stayed just outside Aviemore.

I pop up their a couple of times a year. Love the place, going to miss it if my partners cousin decides to move back south if the SNP don't stop making waves(their thoughts not mine)
Next time you're up that way, drop in for a drink and say Richard and Pam from Swindon sent you. Defo get you a free drink. (almost defo)

Thanks.  :)

Thanks everyone, some great info here. I'm now starting to lay the plans. It looks like I'm now going to have to do it Bank Holiday weekend. Not sure whether that's a good or bad thing.

BH weekend in Scotland will be fine, but getting through England first will be a nightmare. Leave at 5am and you should be okay. Need to get North of Lancaster asap!

I reckon I'd leave about 11pm the night before, and get there for the crack of dawn for a kip in the car, let the other suckers sit in the traffic.

It's not a Bank Holiday up there this time, btw.

I was toying with the idea of going up much earlier in the week and coming back down through Glasgow and getting on it Sunday night, but if it's not a Bank Holiday, I'd just be out with the smack heeds. Drinking on the homeward leg does feel like the right choice. I'm thinking that starting a 4/5 day road trip might not be the best choice on the back of a session.

Are you 90 man? Of course it's a good idea. Regret shit you haven't done when it's too late to do it. Or something.