Macbackpackers

Author's product rating:   

Value for Money

Good

Advantages:	good routes, friendly  knowledgeable guides, well organised
Disadvantages:	some days were rushed

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Making a Reservation
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OK, Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start, when you read you begin with abc, when you... sorry, forgot what I was doing for a second. Back to the review.

Making a reservation for my 5 day tour of the Scottish Highlands was easy peasy- called the company directly, only a few days before the tour was due to leave, gave my credit card details and I was set.

Setting Off
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This was by far the hardest part of the tour. The tours leave early in the morning from outside a hostel in Edinburgh. I was staying with a friend in Edinburgh at the time so it was easy enough to get there. It just hurt getting up so early and, not knowing the bus routes well yet, I got off at the wrong stop and had to walk for miles with a huge backpack on my back. But I can't blame MacBackpackers for my lack of geographical sense, hey?

Once I arrived it was easy enough, checked my name off a list, handed my backpack to a scruffy looking guy in a kilt and sat back and relaxed in the bus. Before long we were off, stopping to pick up a few more people and then heading north out of the gorgeous medieval village that is the Edinburgh old town and into the rugged Scottish highlands.

Oh, with one quick addition, since our tour group was so small (well it was November!), we would be joining up with another group along the way, meaning we wouldn't be spending the proposed two nights in Inverness, but would be heading to Oban instead (with a quick stop to look for Nessie of course). I can honestly say that the short notice of this change in plans is the only bad thing I can say about this tour.

The Guides
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Turns out the scruffy looking guy in the kilt was our guide (and driver), Colin. Now, I don't know about the rest of you girls, but for me, there's something about a kilt that automatically makes a man seem well, sexier. So, being escorted through some of the most beautiful scenery in the world by a not bad looking man in a lovely red kilt- an experience I'd highly recommend.

But it wasn't all about the clothes. Oh no. Colin was a great guide, always ready to tell us his own unique version of Scottish history at every turn. Somehow as the days went by, I found myself learning more and more about Scotland without ever trying. His stories were mostly funny and always interesting so that you just wanted to hear more. We met another guide, Ruth, when we met up with the other group and, by all accounts, she was full of interesting, funny tales as well. MacBackpackers makes a point of hiring local guides and I think this makes a huge difference- these are people who know and love their country and enjoying showing people the amazing things it has to offer.

Accommodation
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Accommodation was pre-arranged in hostels affiliated with MacBackpackers around the highlands. They were all of a decent enough standard, nothing spectacular, but clean and comfortable. We stayed in some mixed bed and some single sex dorms and, as it was the off-season, were often the only people there, which gave it a nice friendly, homely feel. The price of the accommodation was not included in the tour but from memory was roughly £10 a night.

The Bus
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The bus was comfortable enough, again nothing spectacular. It seated about 22 people and was pretty much full on our tour. The buses are equipped with stereos, cassette players and a sound system so that the driver can speak as he drives. This is a good thing because our driver had something to tell us about almost everywhere we went.

The Actual Tour
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MacBackpackers offer tours of different durations- from one day to seven days. I did the five day Sky and Loch Ness tour, which costs £109. This was a good length, for me 5 days in an enclosed space with a group of strangers is long enough! The normal itinerary for this is (this is copied from the website):

Day One: A full day's tour from Edinburgh to Pitlochry
Day Two: A whole day exploring the mysterious shores of Loch Ness before arriving on Skye
Day Three: A day touring the Isle of Skye
Day Four: Leaving Skye, we follow the west coast to the Victorian harbour town of Oban
Day Five: Oban to Edinburgh via more castles and bonnie scenes

It looks to me as if they've changed it slightly since I did the tour, but those are definitely all the places we went to. They really try to show you as much of Scotland as possible so it can be a bit rushed. There were times I felt I could have easily spent a day in one spot but before I knew it, we were back on the bus and off to see the next thing. It's quite a busy tour, so there isn't much free time, an hour or two during the day at various towns. However, during the evenings we were left to our own devices to explore the local fooderies and pubs, with Colin kindly pointing out some of the best, and occasionally accompanying us on what usually turned out to be drunken evenings of fun and frolics. These were the main opportunities to meet with the locals. I think one of the downsides of organised tours is that you often don't get to meet the local people, who of course add richness and colour to the place you are visiting. So it was nice to have these small opportunities.

Food also isn't included in the tour price but we usually stopped somewhere to pick up lunch which was then eaten on the bus or at a little picnic spot.

The highlights of the tour included:-
- a visit to the world's smallest whisky distillery
- seeing Eileen Donan castle (that's the one used in films like Highlander)
- getting off the beaten track to some beautiful little places all around
- trips to authentic Scottish pubs serving great food
- a visit to Loch Ness.
- meeting some hairy coos (highland cattle- they're gorgeous)
- Colin's kilt ;-)
- and so much more

I won't go through the whole tour in complete detail because nothing compares to actually seeing Scotland. It is a spectacularly beautiful country, with the most a long and interesting history and the force of that history, the strength of the highland people permeates the whole land and lends something magical to it. The air is fresh and clean, everything is quiet and the whole effect had the most amazing calming experience on my soul (especially after having been in London a week beforehand). I still seem to get that same feeling the instant I cross the border into Scotland. I can't help but believe that having such a wonderful experience during my first visit is part of the reason for my ongoing love affair with this beautiful country.