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That Is A Great Point!
I think that is a great point With a car you have more options.
Walt
Originally posted by Laurie
Walt
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In our case, the Glen Coe/ Loch Ness tour was cancelled on Wednesday because 1 tour guide was sick and the other had to do an airport pickup. We managed to reschedule it for Thursday, but we barely had the 6 people minimum, of which we were 4. We didn't know until late Wednesday evening whether it was gonna happen. If the other 2 people hadn't signed up, or couldn't have switched to Thursday, no tour.
I'm not sure about a rental car office closer than the airport. Perhaps there's one in Kirkcaldy, but by far the easiest thing to do is rent a car for a week and pick it up at the airport, since this timeshare is in a very rural location. We had a bit of a rough time just finding the train station in Kirkcaldy, it's a small city.
If you just don't want a car or don't want one for the whole week, it wouldn't be too difficult to get to St. Andrews, plus all the East Neuk coastal villages on foot and bus. Then you could hopefully take a couple of tours offered, knowing that some may not go. You can probably always get to Edinburgh by hiring these tour guys to drive you to and from the train station. Or, you could hire them to drive you to the airport halfway thru your trip, and pick up your car then.
Personally, I could go to Kilconquhar again sans car, and walk a different section of that coastal path every day, and be happy as a clam! But without a car, it's not the best base from which to discover Scotland.Comment
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What about the uncertainty and unpredictability of the weather? We had horrible rains on one or two of our days in Scotland. That would make touring on foot miserableOriginally posted by Laurie
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still deciding on the car
I am really waivering on the car thing... part of me knows that hubby and I are famous for finding the unbeaten path and being surprised... I also know we are always the ones lagging behind on a tour because we find interest in what others do not! lol---
But then I think that driving 3-4 hours to see the loch ness monster and then driving home doesn't sound like a vacation!
But if theres a chance that they will cancel the tour... then we would definately be stuck with out a car... (and it will be October!)
For those of you who have been-- did you try public transportation when you were there? Is it doable?
Is there anything within walking distance to the castle?
Also did you eat out every meal or did you find a grocery store and do some cooking on your own? we like to dine out but after a few days we like alittle home cooking (and our waistline will appreciate it I am sure!)
I would love to hear a few more iteneraries of those of you who did a week in the castle. We totally have no clue what we want to see other than:
Loch nest monster (yes I am sure we will be the ones to actually see it)
Edinburgh castle
bagpipes
Whiskey being made
Sheep
ohh and a cute guy in a kilt wouldn't be all that bad either lol!Comment
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We didn't stay at the same resort that you're going to in October, but I've pulled up the RCI directory on it and took a look on Mapquest to see exactly where it is located. From where you'll be, I would suggest day trips to Stirling Castle (west of where you'll be) . . . St. Andrews (north of where you'll be) . . . Arbroath Abbey (a bit further north than St. Andrews) . . . Glamis Castle & Scone Palace (Northwest from your resort).
Your day trip up to Inverness/Noch Ness will be quite a haul. I didn't realize just how much so until looking at the map. You may be better off doing a tour group there. The day that we drove up there, we were a good hour closer and took the scenic route (not the A9) and it was about 4 hours up and 2 1/2 back.
If you want to read a detailed travel journal about our week in Scotland, including photos, take a look at my IgoUgo stuff (link in my sig). I think it may be of help to you as you try to sort out all that you may want to do, keeping in mind we were about an hour "more central" that you will be. (From the "journals" link below, you'll need to scroll down about 1/2 to 2/3's of the way. You'll see several journals written from our trip last November.)
Feel free to write me offlist with any questions you may have. Happy planning!!!Comment
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Yvonne I am thinking just as you said.. to take the long trip with the timeshare and do the rest ourselves... I will take a look at your travel log- I am sure it will help... honestly we are trying not to overplan this vacation and just let it happen! BUT (there is always a but isn't there?) I would hate to get home and realize I missed something wonderful!Comment
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Yvonne, we actually had one or 2 days of no rain! We wore our gortex for our coastal walk and started out in cold drizzle. You're right, I would have been unhappy if it had rained so hard and consistently that I couldn't ever take out my camera - but luckily the weather changed frequently, which sounds typical.Originally posted by TimeshareVon View PostWhat about the uncertainty and unpredictability of the weather? We had horrible rains on one or two of our days in Scotland. That would make touring on foot miserableComment
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Dancingfish,Originally posted by Dancingfish
You can walk into the town of Kilconquhar which does have a restaurant.
Other than the whiskey, we covered everything on your list - here was our itinerary at Kilconquhar:
Sat - arrive late afternoon, drove into Elie, ate at Ship Inn - excellent meal!
Sun - open studio art tours in East Neuk villages, ate at Anstruther famous fish & chips place (for the record, we all ordered different meals, and all 4 of us thought it was mediocre in spite of all the accolades, had much better dinners elsewhere. Maybe the cook was off that night.)
Mon - drove into St Andrews, sight-saw, grocery-shopped, cooked in
Tues - drove to Kirkaldy, train to Edinburgh - passed a guy in a kilt playing bagpipes on the street...
Wed - Pictish stones driving tour up east coast (Meigle, Brechin, Pictavia museum, Aberlemno), back thru St Andrews & East Neuk villages we'd missed, dinner at Haven Restaurant in Cellardyke - outstanding!!
Thur - the all-day Glen Coe/ Loch Ness tour with Craig - I confess, the hook for us was also that we also wanted to see Nessie! But, we were disappointed (no Nessie). On this tour, you go to just the southern tip of Loch Ness, not the prettier part with the castle - again it was an OK tour, Craig keeps up a banter which is a mix of history and off-color jokes, many about guys in kilts - but many many hours of driving time, most of us slept thru part of it. Did see sheep...
then Thurs nite at Kilconquhar Bistro was their music night - the performer wore a kilt, and told more off-color jokes. We had dessert there.
Fri - St Andrews again for internet, then coastal path walk from Elie to St Monans, bus back to Elie (our second use of public transportation), drive to dinner at Haven Restaurant in Cellardyke again.
Sat - Drummond Gardens and Sterling Castle en route to second Scotland wk at Cameron House, from which we toured central and western/southwestern areas. We did see way more sheep in the west than the east.
Hope that helps.
Edited to add: my favorite coastal village was Crail. The artist in our group loved Elie best.
And after our trip I googled Cellardyke and learned they'd found a swan there that had died of bird flu - fwiw.Comment
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Laurie thanks so much for posting your itenerary! It sounds like you did hit all my highlights.
How was using the public transportation? While a car now seems like a must, it would be nice to give hubby a day off from driving. From what I understand They have public transportation down to a science overseas--
What is Pictish stones driving tour ?
Did you feel you needed more than one day in Edinburgh?
ohh and did you buy a travel guide before going? if so did you find it helpful?
Thanks for all your help!Comment
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You can reach the coastal villages and St Andrews on public transportation there, but this area definitely isn't one where they have public transportation down to a science, like they do in Switzerland for instance. Yes you can certainly take days off from driving, depends on how ambitious you are, and whether you can slow down to enjoy walking (and bus-waiting). We were a party of 4 who didn't always travel together, so sometimes one person used foot + bus. Because we knew we had a second week in Scotland, we didn't set our sights too far during our time at Kilconquhar, we hung fairly close by. Had this been our only week, I'm sure we'd have tried to cover more ground (and been more exhausted).
We did have a few guidebooks, because I enjoy looking at them for a year or 2 in advance of a trip, but we didn't plan our time til we got there. You can easily spend 2 days in Edinburgh - we thought we would, but decided not to... we certainly didn't see all or even most of it. By the way, you can also get day tours out of Edinburgh for most of Scotland. We had a very good meal at a pub called The Last Drop, on Grassmarket - near an old hanging spot - recommended by a local guy we asked.
Pictish stones are ancient carved standing stones (the Pictish people were one of Scotland's early civilizations), this was a self-tour - just one of our interests. We used a couple of guide books to decide where to go, and the nice, funny woman at the office desk helped us with a map. We saw lots more carved and standing stones in western Scotland, though didn't make it to the most famous ones - then saw some in Wales, and a couple of major sites in Ireland.
Meigle Pictish Stones Feature Page on Undiscovered Scotland
Pictavia - Welcome to Pictavia
Illustrated Guide to Places to Visit - Aberlemno Pictish Stones, AngusComment
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can you comment on
great Glen Water Park in Inverness-shire? We've been offered this as an available exchange for June-July 2009, but it seems a bit rustic. Thanks...Raggedy1Comment
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