The West Coast (Scotland)

Advantages: Stunning scenery, peace and tranquility
Disadvantages: Midges at some times of years!

...because our few days in the west of Scotland have had all this and much more too. Failte. That is welcome in Gaelic, the greeting you see as you enter many of the places in the West Highlands of Scotland, and a very warm welcome we had everywhere we went on our few days break. We travelled on a Sunday, passing through Glasgow and heading over the Erskine bridge, through Helensburgh along the Firth of Clyde, then on the shores of Gare Loch and Loch ...
...bonny banks” and “Ye tak the high road and I’ll tak the low road” were being sung! We travelled through Glen Croe, in the Argyll Forest Park, passed and admired the Cobbler, not being a climber I wasn’t tempted to try the well known climb! We paused at Rest and Be Thankful for a walk and to take some photos and then continued down to Loch Fyne and to the little town of Inverary, which is on a Loch Shira, an arm of Loch Fyne. This was the first time ... Read review

Advantages: Beautiful, amazing countryside
Disadvantages: Midges, hundreds of Midges

...As penance for spending the majority of last week feeding on the oh so tasty MHam, it falls upon me to give you a tour of the West Coast of Scotland, an incredibly beautiful part of the British Isles. Now I first met MHam outside her tent in Inver Coe, at the foot of Glencoe, right on the banks of Loch Leven. The Highlands of Scotland are famous for two things, having really big hills, might even call them mountains and loads of Lochs (that’s Lakes ...
...happiest having fed on all the naïve tourists who don’t wear any of that horrid smelly stuff that makes me go away, flying along the loch at dusk, watching the reflection of the mountains and the sky changing the colour of the lake and then back to the campsite for pudding. Loch Leven is in the shadow of Glencoe, so as with the rest of the area it has history, as you look out onto the loch, you can see the island where it is said that some of the ... Read review

Advantages: Plenty to do
Disadvantages: midges

...picturesque little town nestling on the shores of Loch Fyne. It is ideally located at the head of the Mull of Kintyre 60 miles west of Glasgow an ideal base for a weekend break or a touring holiday. Dunoon lies 40 miles south, Oban 40 miles north, Tarbert Lochgilphead and Campbeltown lie to the west and not forgetting Loch Lomond only 25 miles east. This also makes it an ideal spot for a day trip by car or bus that runs daily from Glasgow. What ...
...which you may recognise from the many films and tv programmes that have been filmed locally. They are for e.g. Bullseye with Michael Caine and Rodger Moore The Seven Lives of Thomasina, Para Handy , the High Road , Wish you where Here, Top Gear, numerous adverts, even a pop video and the latest was the Gregor Fisher comedy Brotherly Love. It also has a spectacular Castle built in 1741 of blue stone it has four turrets and looks like it wouldn't ... Read review

Advantages: Great nightlife,shops and sights
Disadvantages: re-generation still in progress

...an old town situated on the river Clyde, about 20 miles south-west of Glasgow city. At first glance many see Greenock as just another dead industrial waste ground, full of now disused shipbuilding yards, a kind of industrial ghost town. Nothing could be further from the truth! During the war, Greenock had a thriving shipbuilding and engineering industry, The QE2” was “Clyde built” in Greenock, as were many fine ships, ferries, ...
...were many associated industries in the town that ensured a Greenock built ship was just that, built, fitted, commissioned and launched using nothing but the skills and know-how of locally situated companies, this is something that Greenockians can and are very proud of. Sadly, today nearly every one of these fine companies are no longer in existence, although there are still ships being built (mainly at the Port Glasgow yard just up the road), there ... Read review

Advantages: Beautiful scenery, peace and quiet, lovely people.
Disadvantages: What disadvantages?

...time we chose to visit the Kintyre peninsula, and took along our touring caravan, and booked ourselves into a caravan park for 2 weeks. We went to Muasdale caravan site in the village of Muasdale, about halfway down the west coast of the peninsula. Our pitch was right at the front, just a few feet away from a lovely sandy beach strewn with twigs, seaweed and rocks, what I like to call a nice, natural beach. We had the most glorious sunsets I`d ever ...
...Jura and Islay. The ferry to Gigha leaves from Tayinloan, about 3 or 4 miles down the road, and only takes 20 minutes, and is well worth the £5 or so foot passenger fare to visit this lovely little island. There is a small village shop, which stocks a good selection of beers, wines and spirits as well as the usual groceries. He doesn`t take credit cards, but he DOES do electronic mobile phone top up, and also supplies calor gas for the caravanners ... Read review