Scotlands new stunning answer to route 66
- Thread starter si-forks
- Start date
Saves me the trouble - done that route in my roadster 6 years ago with my son - the roads up around Cape Wrath are very scenic - but be prepared to share around every corner with stags and other wildlife
As for guaranteed sun - well forget that - you only see the scenery if the weather is good - lottery
As for guaranteed sun - well forget that - you only see the scenery if the weather is good - lottery
Wow - that'll do for me 
Sppokly enough I was thinking of driving that route this year with Mrs G. Have done prety much the exact route once before, in 1979, on a push bike, but starting from Liverpool. No Bringe at Kylesku in those days, so we spent the night in a passing Transit and waited for the ferry in the morning. One word MIDGES
Nictrix said:
You've not done Applecross on a bike? Get back up there and do it. Last time for me was last year by car, the intention was to go by bike with my lad but I got ill a few weeks before so we took the MX5 I had then instead. Still a great trip though. I have posted this on here before but hey, here it is again, I'm such a you tube tart!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mechbS5lsA&list=UU8FeTdeBgGusw1sVElDdIsw
Oh the midges on a rise just above Portree on Skye at around 1900 in the evening - had the roof up as went for food in Portree and decided to stop to drop the roof it was so nice..........
By the time the roof was down we were being eaten alive - little b@ggers
By the time the roof was down we were being eaten alive - little b@ggers
From a press release from the University of Aberdeen a few years ago
- 14 million tourists trips are made to Scotland each year, worth £2.5 billion. Visitors to the Highlands spend £400 million per year in the region.
- The peak Midge season of around May to September directly matches the Scottish tourist season.
- Midges cost the tourist industry an estimated £286m per year.
- Midge attacks can result in the loss of up to one fifth of all forestry working days in Scotland.
- Children’s summer camps in the Highlands have on occasions had to be abandoned because of midges and outdoor activity centres frequently have to re-plan their programmes around midge activity.
- When Princess Anne opened the Loch Ness Visitor Centre in 2002 she said: “Visitors to Scotland see the country as near-perfect, apart from the X-factor – the midge.”
The Gory Facts
- A swarm of midges can deliver approximately 3,000 bites an hour
- Researchers have estimated that in an hour, up to 40,000 midges can land on an unprotected person.
- A female midge can detect people from a range of up to 100 metres. Midges are attracted to the carbon dioxide vapours and other chemicals released from human breath and the skin
- It is estimated that in some parts of Scotland, one single hectare of land may host up to five biting midges for every man, woman and child in Scotland – that’s 25 million biting midges per hectare.
The Rest...
- Midges have been around in Scotland for some 8000 years!
- There are around 35 species of midges in Scotland
- Only the females bite. It gives them protein and energy to produce their eggs.
- A female will feed on the skin for up to 4 minutes taking 0.1 microlitres of blood.
- Male’s mouthparts are not strong enough to pierce skin and they feed on liquids such as nectar from flowers.
- Midges are very small – they only have a wingspan of 1.4mm
- Midges do not like the wind, low temperature or very dry conditions.
- A certain species of midge cause sweet-itch, a debilitating incurable problem which affects up to one in twenty of the UK’s horses and ponies.
..... This is by no means supposed to put people off coming ..... So us based up here get the roads the way we like them
- 14 million tourists trips are made to Scotland each year, worth £2.5 billion. Visitors to the Highlands spend £400 million per year in the region.
- The peak Midge season of around May to September directly matches the Scottish tourist season.
- Midges cost the tourist industry an estimated £286m per year.
- Midge attacks can result in the loss of up to one fifth of all forestry working days in Scotland.
- Children’s summer camps in the Highlands have on occasions had to be abandoned because of midges and outdoor activity centres frequently have to re-plan their programmes around midge activity.
- When Princess Anne opened the Loch Ness Visitor Centre in 2002 she said: “Visitors to Scotland see the country as near-perfect, apart from the X-factor – the midge.”
The Gory Facts
- A swarm of midges can deliver approximately 3,000 bites an hour
- Researchers have estimated that in an hour, up to 40,000 midges can land on an unprotected person.
- A female midge can detect people from a range of up to 100 metres. Midges are attracted to the carbon dioxide vapours and other chemicals released from human breath and the skin
- It is estimated that in some parts of Scotland, one single hectare of land may host up to five biting midges for every man, woman and child in Scotland – that’s 25 million biting midges per hectare.
The Rest...
- Midges have been around in Scotland for some 8000 years!
- There are around 35 species of midges in Scotland
- Only the females bite. It gives them protein and energy to produce their eggs.
- A female will feed on the skin for up to 4 minutes taking 0.1 microlitres of blood.
- Male’s mouthparts are not strong enough to pierce skin and they feed on liquids such as nectar from flowers.
- Midges are very small – they only have a wingspan of 1.4mm
- Midges do not like the wind, low temperature or very dry conditions.
- A certain species of midge cause sweet-itch, a debilitating incurable problem which affects up to one in twenty of the UK’s horses and ponies.
..... This is by no means supposed to put people off coming ..... So us based up here get the roads the way we like them
Camping? Tent?? ....... Wossat then? 
There are some great B&Bs & in Ullapool and a couple of hotels, just never stay in the Caledonian it's a fleapit! The Seaforth cafe near the harbour does great fish 'n chips and sometimes has live music on in the evenings.
There are some great B&Bs & in Ullapool and a couple of hotels, just never stay in the Caledonian it's a fleapit! The Seaforth cafe near the harbour does great fish 'n chips and sometimes has live music on in the evenings.