Hi all,

I'm based in Strathaven and absolutely love heading up to the Cairngorms or Knoydart for a weekend of wild camping and hiking, but the 3–4.5 hour drive each way is starting to make spontaneous trips a bit of a mission.

I'm not looking for anyone's secret camping spot or expecting GPS coordinates to hidden gems. I'm more after general areas that are within roughly 1–2 hours' drive where I can put together a decent overnight or two-night route.

Ideally I'm after somewhere with:

A 10–20 km day walk.

Somewhere suitable for responsible wild camping.

A bit of scenery and a feeling of being away from everything.

Less bog = bonus!

I've already done places like Loch Enoch, the Cairngorms and Knoydart, so I'm hoping there are some overlooked areas a bit closer to home that I've completely missed.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Cheers!

Hello,

We are flying to Scotland tomorrow and will collect our car on Friday. From there we have 8 days to explore the country, and plan to hike and wildcamp.

What do you think of itinerary:

Thursday 23.07: Arrival day in Edinburgh
Friday 24.07: Collect car, drive to Stirling for lunch. Drive to Conic Hill parking lot, and do the Conic Hill trail with wildcamp.
Saturday 25.07: Drive to Glencoe, and do a hike in the National Nature Reserve. Wildcamp on the hike.
Sunday 26.07: Drive to Isle of Skye, do Fairy Pools hike and do a swim. Drive to talisker whiskey, afterwards go to do Talisker Bay Hike.
Monday 28.07: Drive to Neist Point hike and after that do Waterstein head.
Tuesday 29.07: Drive to Old Man Storr, after that the Quiaraing hike.
Wednesday: Ben Nevis, sleep in a hotel.
Thursday….
Friday…..
Saturday; bring back car and stay in edinburgh

Hey everyone,

My partner and I are planning to hike the Skye Trail (North to South: Rubha Hunish → Broadford) from Sept 1 to Sept 7/8. We’re coming from Canada with solid backpacking experience (Arctic, Patagonia, US & Canada) and plan to wild camp most of the way with a rental car in tow.

We want to get a sanity check on a few logistics before finalizing our plans:

1. Permits & Access Rights

• From our research, Scotland’s Right to Roam means no permits are needed for hiking or wild camping along the route. Coming from overseas where backcountry permits are the norm: are there any localized exceptions or land-manager notifications required on Skye?

2. Rental Car Strategy: Start vs. Finish?

• Parking location: Is it better to park in Broadford on Day 0 and take a bus/taxi to Rubha Hunish, or park at the start and figure out transit back at the end?
• Long-term parking: Where in Broadford (or Portree) is safe and acceptable to leave a rental car for 7+ days?

3. Weather, Midges & Trail Conditions (Early Sept)

• Midges: What are midge levels typically like in early September?
• Trotternish Ridge Water: How reliable are water sources on top of the Trotternish Ridge in late summer? Should we carry full capacity from the start of that leg?

4. Route Details & Timing

• "The Bad Step" / Coastal Section to Elgol: How manageable is this section with full multi-day packs? What weather conditions would trigger taking the inland bypass instead?
• Pacing & Buffers: We have 7 full walking days allocated. Is this enough time to build in a weather delay buffer for the Trotternish Ridge?

5. Extra Questions for Locals:

• Are there any lesser-known resupply/water traps or recent trail changes to be aware of?
• What primary digital mapping app + OS paper map combo do you recommend as a backup to GPX files?

Hi everyone! I’m moving to Dunfermline in a few days for a new work contract and I’m really looking forward to starting this new chapter in Scotland.
I’m a keen hillwalker and already have some experience, but I’m hoping to explore more of what Fife and the surrounding areas have to offer. One of my long-term goals is to take on Ben Nevis, so I’d love recommendations for good walks, routes, or local walking groups to join.
I’m also hoping to meet people and get involved in the community. Any suggestions for clubs, activities, volunteering, or good ways to make friends would be really appreciated.
As someone new to Scotland, I’d also be grateful for any advice on settling in, understanding local culture, and building good connections with people from all backgrounds.
Looking forward to calling Dunfermline home and hopefully meeting some of you on the trails!

I went camping last night and in breaking camp the next morning, I couldn't account for two cereal bar wrappers which I had eaten the evening before.

I searched all my gear bags and pockets, rucksack and scouted out the area. Nowt!

That annoyed me. Preyed on my mind as I don't like rubbish even if accidental.

Anyway, got home. Went through all my stuff again. Last item was the tent. Opened it and shook it out...two wrappers fell out! I had (maybe too quickly) checked the tent when taking it down.

I'm looking for some more context about Snowboarding in Scotland. I get that conditions are really changeable, and planning more than a few days in advance is near impossible, but I'm struggling to get a good sense of how often it is actually possible to get on the slopes?

If I go for a longish stay of 3 weeks in late Jan/Feb next year, how many days are slopes likely to be open? Will I be lucky if I get a couple of days, or are they actually open more often than not, it's just you can't rely on it as they close at short notice?

I'm new to Snowboarding and have only ridden indoor slopes so far. I'm really keen on Scotland because I love it there anyway, and it means I can take my partner/dog and work around properly learning to shred 🔥

Because I'm new I'm mostly interested in the Cairngorm Mountain Resort, and maybe the Lecht for a bit of variety.

Hi,
I've visited scotland serveral times in winter (very nice), spring (best for bike touring and trekking) and summer (fuck midges). But I never tried autum.

What about autum and hunting-season? Is it possible to walk the skye trail or Cape Wrath Trail without getting to close to hunting acitivities? Are the bothies full of hunters? Is there much shooting going on?

Best regards from germany!

Earlier this year, my 9 year old son and I biked the Great Glen Way from Fort William to Inverness. It was an absolutely fabulous experience, though a bit hard to plan for given that there wasn't a ton of information online when it came to how appropriate it was for kids.

I wrote up our experience in case it's helpful for others:

https://chrisneumann.com/archives/cycling-the-great-glen-way-with-kids

Happy to answer any questions!

Im an ecology student wondering if anybody with knowledge of the local area can tell me what animals im likely to see whilst walking, rock pooling and snorkelling around the loch next week.

Below is a list of animals i hope to see- likelihood would be greatly appreciated (sorry there is alot)

Mammals
Harbour seal
Harbour porpoise
Eurasian otter
Common dolphin

Birds
Black throated loon (diver)
European shag
Northern fulmar
Northern gannet
Razorbill
Common murre
Red throated loon (diver)
Common shelduck
Common merganser

Arthropods
Norway lobster
European lobster
European spider crab
European spiny lobster
Spiny squat lobster

Fish and molluscs
Flame shell
Brittle star
Spiny starfish
Common starfish
Northern feather star
Small spotted catshark
European edible sea urchin
Common grey sea slug

Annelids and other animals
Green leaf worm
King ragworm
Sea mouse
Star ascidian
Lightbulb sea squirt

Please note i will not be diving and so ignored any fish if there are any i may see please let me know!
Thank you all

In September we will visit Isle of Skyle for 3 nights. To save costs we will bring our tent and stay at Portee campsite (https://www.portreecampsite.co.uk/). My question is, is it worth going to a campside? Or is wild camping an option. We have never done that before. Also, I know there will be lot of wind. Will a standard tent be enough to stay on the ground if the winds picks up?

I will be walking WHW next May. Prior to that we have five days we are trying to divide up among Pitlochry, Aviemore and Inverness —- likely only staying in two of the three places. With respect to seeing a bit of Cairngorm NP, if we stay in Aviemore will we be able to get reasonable access to, and experience some highlights of, the park via bus access (we are traveling without a car)? Alternatively, we could stay in Inverness and take a day trip with Rabbies to the park which might give us a broader perspective of the park, but clearly less hiking. Any thoughts or perspectives from those familiar with the area to help inform our decision? Thank you!

I need to film walking through an open forest (so, not dense commercial forestry) and I need to be able to walk for 3 or 4 minutes in a straight line.

None of it is to be on a path, even a mud path. Needs to look completely off piste.

I'm struggling to think of places.

Oddly, Pollok Park in Glasgow might be a good shout as there's a lot of open forest there.

I was thinking of Loch Lomond between Rowchoise bothy and the water - there's a beautiful open woodland there.

In both cases I am not sure I could get 3 or 4 minutes without hitting the edge of the woodland.

Any suggestions?

Ideally in and around Argyll/Loch Lomond

Hi, please remove if this isn’t allowed!
I met a wonderful guy in Inverie called Raphael from Italy, he was travelling along the Cape Wrath trail bringing his friends who are hiking it fresh supplies. We had great conversation on the ferry and over coffee and after we said goodbye I really regretted not exchanging contact information, I feel we still have so much to talk about and felt a great connection (:
If anyone runs into him on Skye today or in Morvich tomorrow, let him know I’m looking for him? 🤞

Anyone know if you can park overnight at the Ben Lawers Hotel car park? I know they charge £5 to park there for the day but not sure if they allow overnight. For our route it makes more sense to park there than the bigger NTS car park up the road (which I think does allow overnight parking) ⛰️ Thanks!

Edit: we will be camping not staying in the car overnight

Off here on Sunday and wondered if anyone had been? Is it a decent area with plenty space so all 4 tents allowed there aren't cramped together? Any pics? ❤️ cant wait! Just hoping if its full to capacity (4 tents) theres still enough space for some privacy, as we like to stay up til sunrise 👌 TIA! X

Hi everyone, I’m currently planning to do the Skye trail during the August bank holiday for 7 days. I did the coast to coast last year and the cape wrath trail in May this year (completed in 14 days) so I consider myself experienced on thru hiking, however I like to go into trails with as much knowledge of the trail. Is the trail itself difficult in comparison to the ones I’ve done and how is the weather/midges during this period? Many thanks :)

I'm currently in a 2 month break between graduating university and starting a new job, and I really want to do the Cape Wrath trail. I feel like this might be my only chance to do it given how long it takes.

However after I did the West Highland Way last August, I was riddled with bite marks from midges from head to toe, and they all turned into raised spots / pimples that took over a month to heal. My skin ended up looking like bubble wrap and it was an awful appearance, I really don't want to start a new job looking like that.

Is this a normal reaction to midge bites? I was wearing smidge, long sleeve trousers and t-shirt and a head net whenever I was stopped. It didn't seem to matter - I had like 5 bites per square inch over my whole body.

Doing a round-trip road trip of Scotland before some friends get married in Edinburgh. I know a fair bit of Scotland, but never been up in the north western part. Big fan of nature/hikes.

Any idea where the best hikes are in that area? We are staying near the coast where we can.

Level-wise: We are both from Bavaria, Germany and hike often, we are up for longer hikes as well. But most interested in awesome scenery, whether the hike is long or short :)

Hi everyone, I am planning for my trek on my Skyle trail (next week, I know, I am a bit late) and I decided to start in Bradford, follow the normal route to the top of the island (Rubha Hunish) and then go down to Uig to get the bus back to Glasgow.

I have 10 days to do the whole thing so I would like to do some more scenic route to get back to Uig instead of taking a bus or walking on the street but on all the sources I looked at there isn't any trail that cuts thought the inland to get there.

Do you know any source that I could look at with some trails? I was looking for stuff in that area and I saw there is the loch sneosdal which seems pretty cool but I can't find a single trail that goes there other than one that starts from the main road on the west side (so of I wanted to do that one I would still have to go most of the way on the road).

What do you think?

Btw of you have any recommendations on stuff to see or do I welcome anything.

I already gotten a filter bottle, and now I am planning the food schedule: I think I am going to get most of the stuff in Italy before flying to Scotland, then go to a decathlon in Glasgow to get the Gas tank for the stove, the go to Bradford and start walking until Portree, stock up on food there and continue walking.

Skill wise I would say I am decently trained and experienced since I hike and climb regularly (usually weekly) in the Italian wear Alps.

Thanks for the help!

Dear Outdoor Scotland Community!

I am not sure wether to go the Skye Trail or the second half of the Cape Wrath with a friend. We booked a B&B at the End of our Trip in Kinlochbervie. How about walking 5 stages of the cape wrath trail from south to nord to end in Knlochbervie? Is it beautiful?
Another Idea would be to do the Skye trail and then go to Kinlochbervie by Bus and have a few days to discover the two stages to the north and south of CWT from there.

Hi everyone,

I’m Aarika, a Master’s student at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. I’m currently working on my dissertation research in collaboration with the Kyle & Lochalsh Community Trust, focusing on tourism and camping experiences in the Scottish Highlands.

I’m looking for people who have visited, explored, or are interested in the Highlands to share their experiences through a short survey. Your responses will help me understand visitor perspectives, tourism trends, and how future tourism development can better support local communities.

The survey should only take a few minutes to complete, and all responses will be used purely for academic research.

LINK FOR SURVEY

Hello Everyone, I'm looking for a 30-40km backpacking route in Scotland. Ideally with changing scenery, and being able to hide from the rain if needed :). Planning to camp. Will be travelling from London via train. Thanks in advance!