Weekend trip to the Highlands (photo heavy)

[Argyll Andy]

Kathleen has taken me away to Inverness for a belated birthday weekend. Decided to go the scenic route via Glen Coe and instead of the usual blast up we did the touristy bit and took our time and did a wee bit of sightseeing.

Absolutely stunning and even though some of it’s just over an hour from home it’s an amazing place to be.

After a suggestion from Peter did the 007 Skyfall road and met a new pal at a passing place on the way back. Kathleen wasn’t keen to get to know him

 

[Anonymous]

Fab!

Very envious..

 

[AlienZed]

Looks great ,stunning,cant wait to get back up there myself .enjoy .

 

[buzyg]

Great photos. 8)

Mines the Staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag. :lol:

 

[Mr Tidy]

Those are fantastic photos.

I wish I had such stunning scenery and empty roads just an hour away!

 

[Argyll Andy]

PART TWO

Up to John O’Groats, very heavy unmarked police presence for the first 40 miles. 4 cars had been pulled into lay-bys by 2 unmarked silver Skoda Superb estates, a black 5 series, and an un-liveried bike with a uniformed cop riding it. After that the roads got pretty quiet

Saw very few nice cars all day, only thing of note was a light blue 911 followed by a silver Boxter.

Weather wasn’t great for about the first hour but got the top down after that until it stated absolutely pishing it down about an hour or so from Inverness on the way back.

The sky was amazing tonight, the trees look on fire with the sun behind them

 

[Argyll Andy]

Those are fantastic photos.

I wish I had such stunning scenery and empty roads just an hour away!

Yes I find that we become complacent about it as we drive on roads like this every day, that’s why we decided to explore a bit. I’m in the very fortunate position that from my house Loch Lomond is 45 minutes one way and Oban is 45 minute other way

 

[Argyll Andy]

Great photos. 8)

Mines the Staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag. :lol:

Kathleen was less than impressed with it, it just stared us down whereas they’d normally run away.

 

[Argyll Andy]

Fab!

Very envious..

Thanks Peter, and thanks for the recommendation

Today was a different day, about an hour out of Inverness and got to stretch it’s legs most of the way from there on, roof down too

 

[Argyll Andy]

Looks great ,stunning,cant wait to get back up there myself .enjoy .

It was, and of course completely biased I can fully understand why you all want to get up here.

The one thing I’ve said a few times is that by avoiding the main route to Inverness (the A9) you can have a lot more driving fun getting to Inverness than the bit afterwards

 

[Mr Tidy]

Mr Tidy wrote: ↑Sun Nov 15, 2020 8:10 pm
Those are fantastic photos.

I wish I had such stunning scenery and empty roads just an hour away!

Yes I find that we become complacent about it as we drive on roads like this every day, that’s why we decided to explore a bit. I’m in the very fortunate position that from my house Loch Lomond is 45 minutes one way and Oban is 45 minute other way

I did my only Scottish tour back in 2008 in my 123d, and it took most of a day to get as far as Duns!

Went up the East as far as Invernesshire and had to stop off at Muir-of-Ord as my Dad was born there, then came back down the West including a night in Oban. Took the ferry to the Isle of Skye and came back over the bridge.

I think I need to sort out a similar trip in my Z4!

 

[Anonymous]

Interesting about the heavy police presence..something to bear in mind for future trips

 

[Argyll Andy]

Home and sorted, car’s filthy but never missed a beat, 768 miles and 26.7 mpg which is not too bad as there was a fair amount of spirited driving where possible

Kathleen’s G29 fascination isn’t going away any time soon I don’t think

As an aside, Pulled up at Harry Fairburn Inverness today in the 35iS and got out for a wee look at this, while looking around it a salesman came out and asked us if he could help. I said do you have an M40i and by any chance a car in Frozen Grey, his response, “no that’s the only one we’ve got, there is a frozen grey coming in before the end of the year but it’s already sold so you can’t see it” then he walked away. Not saying I was going to buy a new one but he had no idea of that but didn’t seem to care less about a possible £50k + sale. It wasn’t lunchtime or the end of the day. If I do buy a used one in the future it certainly won’t be from there!

 

[Anonymous]

Great trip ...

Ref car dealers..

I went up to Peter Vardy Edinburgh with £35k to test drive a 435D immediately pre Covid..subject to a test drive..

Took the day off, went by train to drive the car back if I bought it there n then..all arranged with several emails n phone calls..

Got there at the prescribed time...eventually a salesperson came across and said ‘’ took a deposit on it yesterday..not for sale”

Nobody even bothered telling me not to turn up...needless I’m not buying any cars from Peter Vardy ever..

 

[Big Bad Boris]

In the last photo... did you have to tow Kathleen’s big green wheelie suitcase with you for the full 768 miles?

 

[Argyll Andy]

In the last photo... did you have to tow Kathleen’s big green wheelie suitcase with you for the full 768 miles?

That’s a feckin oil tank for my central heating

 

[Big Bad Boris]

Looks similar to what my missus takes away for a couple of weeks with her shoes in

 

[Argyll Andy]

Great trip ...

Ref car dealers..

I went up to Peter Vardy Edinburgh with £35k to test drive a 435D immediately pre Covid..subject to a test drive..

Took the day off, went by train to drive the car back if I bought it there n then..all arranged with several emails n phone calls..

Got there at the prescribed time...eventually a salesperson came across and said ‘’ took a deposit on it yesterday..not for sale”

Nobody even bothered telling me not to turn up...needless I’m not buying any cars from Peter Vardy ever..

Yes it was Peter.

Maybe it’s a common thing now but my view was there can’t be too many £50K 2 seater sports cars flying out the door in the current financial climate nd this time of year. Couldn’t be arsed is an understatement. Just like in your case, one courtesy phone call was all it would’ve taken along with if we get anything similar in we’ll call you first to see if you’re interested

 

[Argyll Andy]

Looks similar to what my missus takes away for a couple of weeks with her shoes in

Why do you think I bought fitted luggage for mine, if it’s not fitting in the case when you pack don’t even think about asking if you can take it

 

[Bottom]

Had pretty rubbish dealings with Arnold Clark Inverness, they used to be great when they were independent, Calterdon BMW weren't they?

The girl who ran the service desk (Wendy?) knew her stuff and was very helpful, when the ABS unit went on my Z4 she told me that it was about 1500 to replace it, but she'd heard that there was a way of getting it sorted much cheaper, if I found it, would I let her know because she had another customer with the same issue.
When I figured it out with the help of the forum I let her know and she rang her customer with the information. She no longer works there :roll:

When we bought my wife's i3 from them, they could not have been less helpful. I asked if they could deliver it over to my workplace in my lunch hour, about 10 minutes drive from them. Apparently this was a huge inconvenience for them and the sales person had a face like fizz when he brought me the car over. No hand over, no explanation of the controls, just threw me the keys...
They then tried to rip us off (no other explanation possible) over service prices, I finished up getting BMW UK to phone them because they wouldn't listen to me. They also wanted 370 quid to change brake fluid which was already part of the service plan I'd paid for...

I wouldn't buy a car off them if you paid me. Unfortunately all the independent BMW garages in Scotland are now owned by either Arnold or Parks groups and none of them are any good now.