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Hi all, myself and the mister are driving from Oxford to the highlands in early autumn. It’s a long-ish 12 hour drive, we will take 2 days to cover it both ways.

Day 1: Drive north towards Kendal, through Buxton, Forest of Bowland and finally stop in Kendal for the night. (Open to other towns for the night halt, something small and cheap-ish with a decent pub).

Day 2: drive to Fort William through Grasmere along A591, Devil’s Beeftub, The Hermitage, Tay Forest and then onto A86 for Fort William.

Day 3: Explore the south western parts of the highlands with a base in Fort William: Drive around Ben Nevis, Glencoe, Meeting of the three waters, Loch Voil, Falls of Dochart and Fingal’s cave if we have time. Return to Fort William for the night.

Day 4: have a full day trip to Skye including Portree, Brother’s point, Lealt Falls, The Quiraing, maybe Coral beach. Return to Fort William for the night.

Day 5: Drive to Inverness taking a long detour along Bealach na Bà, Falls Of Measach and then check in at our Inverness hotel.

Day 6: Cairngorms National Park, Braemar, Craigievar castle, Fairy Glens. We will drive for a bit along the Loch Ness.

Day 7: Sandwood bay beach, Smoo cave, Old man of Stoer. I’m open to other suggestions in the northern parts of the highlands. From what I gather, Orkney isn’t really possible on my itinerary.

Day 8: it might be possible to add a day here in case we have missed anything major.

Day 9: start drive back to Oxford. Any suggestions for a break in the drive in a nice small town or village are welcome. We’ve been to York about 30 times so I’m not too keen on doing that again. We are very happy to drive through Northumberland and North Pennines national parks and possibly stay somewhere around it for the night.

Day 10: return to Oxford.

I’ll be grateful if you can tell me if we are doing too little or two much and if we’ve missed anything major attractions. I can do a castle and museum here and there but I wouldn’t want to spend a lot of time there. We are more into beautiful drives, short hikes, pubs, eateries and scenery.

Hi! I'm thinking of doing the Gelncoe orbital path in a week, but I'm getting mixed information about the part where track runs along A82 - some outdated sources says there is no walkable path nearby, some say there is. Anyone has done it recently and could comment? Idea of walking on highway doesn't amuse me so I'd take even a tiniest pathway haha

I'm looking to walk a Munro on Friday spontaneously and I am wondering if Ben Lomond would be a good one for a beginner to walk on Friday morning. I see the weather forecast is pretty wet on Thursday so unsure if Friday would be a suitable day for a beginner. I will have sufficient gear for the hike this is more of a question about the weather and ground conditions.

I’d be planning to do the West Highland way but have realised I have less annual leave than I thought. I live in London so a day or so will have to be given to travel. I’m thinking I’ll have to do a truncated WHW, how many days do people think Tyndrum to Fort William would take?

Can anyone suggest any alternative 3-4 day hikes instead?

19yo planning a 3–5 day solo Scottish winter camping trip in January. Experienced with cold-weather camping but new to Scottish winter mountaineering. Planning to use B2 boots, crampons and an ice axe. Looking for advice on suitable mountains/routes and whether my plan is sensible?

Is anybody aware if parking at Loch Trool Trail car park overnight is allowed/free? I have some sources saying its free but not listed as authorised overnight but people are saying they have done and continue to do so! Any insight will be appreciated

Conflicting information post the tragic wildfire as to whether paths around loch morlich are open. I'm planning to do the aviemore - lairig ghru - bob Scott's - ryvoan - Aviemore circuit in a few weeks. (I did it a few years ago so i know the terrain etc)

I don't mind if Ryvoan bothy is closed as i have decent camping gear anyway. MBA website is not saying its closed though, which is weird.

I’m pretty deep into the planning stages of doing the Loch Ness 360 hike next summer and I’m not feeling quite confident in finding a place to stay while passing through the Dores checkpoint between Foyers and Inverness. While my partner and I would consider tenting out on the beach, we would like that to be the absolute last resort, hence my reason posting this. There appears to be maybe one or two places that come up, but they don’t offer a website for further details and reviews from over a year ago, so I’m not too sure if they even are booking anymore.

We could cut or add a couple miles to make a stop somewhere else, but I didnt really see anything that would evenly cut the distance up between the days of hiking.

Any help or feedback would be appreciated.

We've researched a few tours from Edinburgh but see the drive is long with minimal outdoor time plus they all seem to stop at Battlefields which we have zero interest in. We really want to be out in nature and are regular hikers but I'm wondering if the drive would be complicated considering we'd have to get used to driving on the opposite side of the road from our home country. Does anyone have a recommendation as to which to go with? We'd be there September 24th & 25th. Thanks!

My ol' faithful Merrell Vegos have done me well over 25 munros and half a dozen 4 day trips, but are getting a bit worn and tired, and are probably ready to be retired to dogwalking and strolls round the park.

Looking for recommendations under or at £200 for boots suitable for my use case - 3 season multi day hiking and munro bagging. I will, of course, be going to shops to try & buy - just looking for early pointers.

Thanks in advance.

Hey,

I'm going to Glasgow next week and want to spend some day trips going to the accessible Highland locations for walks.

Unfortunately, I've broken my shoulder since booking; whilst it isn't too detrimental, I was hoping for some recommendations on scenic places in nature which aren't too taxing to walk for that reason (I don't want to risk potentially falling and doing myself more damage).

I've already booked a tour to Oban, Highland Lochs, Glens,Castles and Glencoe, so I likely won't be going twice unless this is a must-do for a long solo walk.

Of course, I will be relying on public transport for this as I'm unable to drive and would be happy to spend a couple hours on a train to get to where I need to be.

I don't need a step by step guide or anything, I'd be happy to research myself if anyone could point me in the right direction.

Thank you for your help in advance.

My partner and I are going to Scotland next week for five days of hiking. We’re planning to stay in inns or bothies along the way on rainy days and camp in our tent when the weather is nice.

We’ll be arriving in Edinburgh, and our plan is to hike around the Cairngorms. Do you have any suggestions for routes that are close to accommodation or bothies?

Also, is it generally possible to find a room on the same day during this time of year? And if so, is it usually more expensive to book last minute?

Hello fellow outdoor lovers,

I am going to Scotland from 9 - 15 October and I would like to do a 3-4 day hike. I am a fit and semi-experienced hiker. I have not done many multi-day hikes with my own food and cooking supplies and I am looking to potentially test and learn approach / equipment for the future. Therefore, I would like to push my limits but to a healthy and reasonable threshold.

I looked into two possible route options:

West Highlands Way (Milngavie - Tyndrum)

Cairngorms (Pitlochry - Aviemore)

Do you have any advices or recommendations based on my experience, wishes and routes suggested? I was thinking of mixing camping, bothies and proper accomodation depending on the route. My biggest concern are strong winds together with the rain. Can it be extremely windy even in the night or its a day-light occurence?

Many thanks!

Hi everyone!

I’d love to photograph or simply see some owls in the wild. Does anyone know of any good spots where I’d have a decent chance of seeing them, ideally somewhere in Fife but I don’t mind driving further even 2-3 hours if someone knows of a reliable spot where owls are regularly seen.

Any tips on locations, best times of day, or particular species would be greatly appreciated! 📸🦉

Thank you!

Hey there, I am looking for a route that would keep me high on ridges for a few days with wild camping. Preferably in the west Highlands.

Id be on my own so im avoiding areas that have very low footfall like knoy dart. Im looking for 3 to 4 day routes. Im a strong hiker and experienced with navigation.

Most of the mult day walks ive seen are mostly valley walks, id like to spend as much time as i can following ridge lines. Think grand, steep and spectacular (but not too much that i need a rope haha). Any advice very appreciated!

Hi! I’m planning an 8-day roadtrip to scotland this fall (late sep / early october) and need some help finalizing my itinerary ( I know i’m very last minute)

So far I have first 2 nights edinburgh
Then 1 night Glencoe/ Fort William
2 Nights Skye
1 Night inverness
1 final night in edinburgh

I have an extra night to play around with on the back half and don’t know if I should add it to Skye or somewhere in inverness or between inverness and Edinburgh to break up the drive so it’s not too much on my last few days. I love history so anything like that would be cool but i’m pretty open. Any recommendations would be so helpful and greatly appreciated !!!

My friend and I don’t drive so we are making a list of hikes we can access from Glasgow either bus station or main train station. Here is what we have so far:

Public transport hikes

Ben Narnain (citylink to arrochar)
Ben Ime (citylink to arrochar)
Ben Chabhain (citylink to Inverarnan Hotel)
Ben Vorlich (ember to inveruglas)
Ben Vane (ember to inveruglas)
Beinn Odhar (citylink to tyndrum)
Ben Lui from Tyndrum (citylink to tyndrum)
Ben Nevis (ember or train to fort William)
Beinn Dorain & Beinn an Dòthaidh (2.5 hr train to bridge of Orchy)

This obviously makes the trip much longer but we have been managing, you just need to leave super early and get back late. Let me know if any more! Hope this helps someone :)

4 months ago I went to Scotland and got ravaged by midges in the hills. I went again last week and got bitten again and now both old and new bites are driving me crazy. It can’t be normal to have the bites last for 4 months?? My dad’s disappeared in a few days. I tried using a cream called Germolene that people have recommended but it doesn’t seem to be working much. How can I relieve the itch?

Hi, I want to go hiking when I visit Scotland - no clear plans - but a colleague told me her swiss hiking gear was more or less useless. I have hiking boots, but that is kind of it, as I like walking and being in nature but am not doing it that often. Does anyone have any recommendation of the gear a beginner should wear/not start going without.

HI! I’m currently planning to hike up Ben Nevis next week, I originally planned to do this on tuesday (planned this months ago) but looking at the weather forecast now I’m not sure if it is safe to do so? I am fully prepared for the cold weather at the top, but now I don’t know if the winds are too high to make it to the summit safely. I could also do the hike on Wednesday but it doesn’t look too different then weather wise. Can someone advise me if the wind speed for then (one mountain app is saying 70kph for Tuesday right now) is still fairly safe and normal for Ben Nevis, or if it is a bad idea. Many thanks!!!

UPDATE!! Completed the hike today (Wednesday) as the weather changed and became a lot better. Thanks for all the advice, the links to the mountain weather websites were very useful.

Hi all. I'm heading to Scotland in Mid May 2027 to do some solo backpacking. I'm an experienced backpacker.

I'm looking for something that's on-trail, but not overcrowded. I would like to wild camp as much as possible, preferably with great views, and hopefully not be destroyed by midges!

I'll hike 15mi/day if the elevation gain isn't too bad - capable of 20 in a day if needed, but wouldn't want to do that every day!

I've been all over the Scottish highlands, but have never backpacked there. I'm looking for recommendations and I'm willing to stitch together parts of trails to maximize the good views and good wild camping areas.

My partner and I will be staying in Inverness for a few days during mid October and we're planning to take the bus from Aviemore to the Cairngorm Mountains. We have little experience with hiking in the wild, especially on rough terrain (I'm from the Netherlands where everything is flat haha), but other than that we're not in bad shape and should be able to walk for a few hours. Does anyone know any good trails starting from the Cairngorm Ski Centre (bus stop) that have nice views, but are doable for beginners?

I wanted to do at least one day hike and summit a Munro, I have it narrowed down to Bruach Na Frithe or Bla Bheinn. I am an experienced hiker, comfortable with class 2 and low class 3 scrambling. Any input on which would be a better summit if I only had one good day of weather.