Scottish Highlands & Islands Tour 2021

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Scottish Highlands, Isles of Arran, Skye & the Outer Hebrides Tour

Isle of Arran – Kilmartin Glenn – Isle of Skye – Isle of Lewis – Oban (Isles of Mull & Iona) – Loch Long

 Proposed Itinerary for this 7 Day Ancient, Mystical & Historical Sites Tour of Scotland

Day 1. Isle of Arran and Machrie Moore

Leaving Preston, we will head north to catch the ferry over to the Isle of Arran. Here we will visit the amazing Machrie Moore where we will find what has been called a ‘Megalithic Carnival of Ancient Sites’. Our hotel on Arran

will overlook the beautiful Brodick Bay.

 Day 2. Kilmartin Glenn, the Valley of the Kings

The ferry from the opposite side of the island takes across to the Kintyre Peninsular, the location of Kilmartin Glenn the so called ‘Valley of the Kings’, another fascinating area of megalithic, ancient sites. After lunch at the Visitor’s Centre we will continue our Scottish Highlands tour north to our hotel for the next two nights in Kyle of Lochalsh, the gateway to the Isle of Skye..

Day 3. Ancient and Historical sites of the Isle of Skye

Today we will cross the magnificent bridge onto the Isle of Skye for a day exploring a variety of ancient and historical sites and other interesting places.

Day 4. Isle of Lewis and the Outer Hebrides

Continuing our Scottish Highlands tour north our ferry today will take us from Ullapool to the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides and Stornoway the islands capital and the location of our hotel for the next two nights. Here we will have an extensive continental breakfast in our rooms.

Day 5. A day exploring the Ancient Sites of the Isle of Lewis including the Callanish Stone Circles

The Isle of Lewis is the home of the mighty ‘Callanish Stone Circles’ series of ancient sites and we will spend the day visiting these important monuments that are for some a source of pilgrimage in their own right. Other places of interest include the nearly complete Carloway Broch, the huge Clach an Trushal monolithic standing stone, the enigmatic ancient stone site of Steinacleit and more.

Day 6. Ferry to Ullapool, Ancient and Historical Sites of the Scottish Highlands and Stirling

Taking the early ferry we will head for Ullapool back on the mainland. From here our journey turns south through the beautiful Scottish Highland countryside and along the banks of Loch Ness, calling off at the Strathpether and the Pictish Eagle Stone.  Ending the day in the historical city of Stirling where we book into the King Robert hotel that overlooks the battlefield of Bannockburn.  (Please note that breakfast is not included this morning as we have to leave early for the 6am ferry.  The cafe on the ferry will be open).

Day 7. Completing out Scottish Highlands and Islands Tour we will head home

After a hearty breakfast we will visit the mighty Stirling Castle before heading south and home.

The 2018 tour 

7 day Tour – £1,250

(Single Supplement £100 – Deposit £250)

The price includes all transport from the beginning of the tour in Preston to drop off, the ferry crossings and B&B in the hotels (apart from the morning of day 6).


Deposits can also be made by paypal here (includes £10 Paypal fee per person)


 

Deposit Payment inc £10 Paypal fees



Pictures of the Isle of Arran

A couple of weeks on from Neil’s tour of the megalithic sites in Western Scotland and I’m still buzzing with all the amazing things we saw and places we visited.  We covered large distances, but the tour is very well thought through and paced so that you feel each day is full with visiting both ancient sites and sites of historical or cultural interest, but with enough time to relax built in so as not to be overwhelmed by the traveling.

We began with the Twelve Apostles in Holywood before journeying to the beautiful carnival of megaliths on Machrie Moor and the astounding Valley of the Kings in Kilmartin Glenn. Callinish on the Isle of Skye was the icing on the cake – beautiful site with an amazing energy to it.  Amongst many, many other places we visited during the week were Burns house in Mauchline, (the home of the curling stone), ancient Brochs on both the Isle of Skye and on Lewis, the graves of the Templar Knights in Kilmartin, the home of the famous giant Angus MacAskill, the Eagle Stone in lovely Strathpeffer and of course Beauly Abbey.

I loved all the ferry journeys we did hopping and skipping between the mainland, Arran, Skye, Lewis and on our last day but one, Mull, Iona and Staffa.  The trip was certainly epic and there was a terrific camaraderie with Neil and the 7 of us who went on the tour – a motley bunch, but then the shared interest in a connection with our ancestors and the sheer mystery of the stones, was enough for any group to have enough in common for it to be a great and stimulating experience. And we had lots of fun, too, along the way.

Colin Hambrook (Brighton, England)