Highlands and Islands: Scotland
Cross to Skye on the UK’s last rotating turntable ferry, after riding a pass literally named the Pass of the Cattle for the drovers who once used it – seven nights across Scotland’s wildest coastal roads.
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Highlands and Islands: Scotland
Tell us your trip details and we'll put together a complimentary Stradora Expedition Pack for the journey.
7 nights through United Kingdom
Seven nights through the Scottish Highlands on a route that deliberately avoids the main roads, out of Edinburgh and back. Own bike or a hired BMW.
Edinburgh opens it with a welcome dinner, then Loch Tay by way of Gleneagles, the Glendevon valley and Balmoral. The north coast follows through Fort Augustus and along Loch Ness on General Wade’s road, built in the 1720s to move troops through the glens after the Jacobite risings and still carrying traffic today, with the ruins of Urquhart Castle on the way and dinner at Tongue.
Gairloch comes next on the empty roads of the northwest coast, with a night at a small Highland inn above a sea loch. The Bealach na Ba follows, the Pass of the Cattle, an old drove road to Applecross that climbs to 626 metres in about six miles with gradients and hairpins unlike anything else in Britain, and then the crossing to Skye on the last rotating turntable ferry in the country, which is a small marvel of mid-century engineering in its own right.
Ballachulish and the coast road lead south to Inveraray, a white-fronted planned town on Loch Fyne, and the final day runs back to Edinburgh through Glen Coe, which needs no introduction to anyone who has ever seen a photograph of Scotland. Hotels, breakfasts, three dinners, maps and GPS routes are included, with fuel and other meals separate. The price is quoted per person. Seven nights is enough to reach the far northwest properly rather than loop the central Highlands and call it the same thing.
Highlands and Islands: Scotland (2 of 5)
Highlands and Islands: Scotland (3 of 5)
Highlands and Islands: Scotland (4 of 5)
Highlands and Islands: Scotland (5 of 5)
Images selected by Stradora to represent the journey.
What's included
- Pre-tour pack (tour information
- Michelin maps
- route notes
- GPS routes in Garmin/BMW format)
- electronic copy of the World of BMW Touring Essentials Book
- ferry crossings to/from Skye and across Loch Linnhe
- all accommodation in comfortable local hotels and inns
- all breakfasts
- welcome and farewell dinners plus dinners in Tongue and Gairloch (excluding beverages)
- tour leader throughout
- commemorative shirt
- expert advice and support
- fully bonded tour operator protection.
Not included
- Fuel
- lunches
- dinners other than those listed
- travel insurance
- anything not listed as included.
Ready to drive it?
7 days, from £2,195pp