Planning the journey

The development of holiday plans is something that always takes time and is, for me at least - Yes I know some people would call me sad - part of the fun of the holiday itself.

For 10 years now we have alternated between holidays in Europe and those further afield, often on the other side of the Atlantic. 

So it was clear we would be Europe based for this year's holiday. Two years ago, when we were in Croatia, Drew suggested we ought to visit Scotland as we had not visited before. So we agreed to this in principle, time then to think about the details. So over the last year we have begun more detailed planning about the holiday.

One of the first thing we agreed was that we would go to one of the quieter and more remote parts of the country. As a Celt, all be it a Brythonic rather than a Goidelic Celt, I had always appreciated, whenever I watched BBC Parliament, hearing the name of the constituency off the West of Scotland called Na h-Eileanan an Iar otherwise known as the Western Isles or the Outer Hebrides. 

So we began to look for places that would give us a sense of remoteness and came across a house in Crosbost, a small village on the Isle of Lewis which to confuse people like me is part of the same landmass (island) as the Isle of Harris. The house is called Seaview@Repose, which seemed perfect for its remoteness, its closeness to the sea and its promise of restfulness. I particularly liked the warning in the important information: "Property is situated on a crofting township with sheep." I've stayed in places which warned against, dogs, wolves and biting instincts, but this is the first time I've been warned about the presence of sheep. It made the place even more endearing to a Welsh man!

Having sorted the central part of the holiday, we booked it last September, we then began plans for the journey there, and the journey back; journey is probably the wrong word, as the travelling to new places, is another essential part of the holiday. 

Given we had gone with Drew's desire for a week of quiet and peace (though he's taking me with him, so there is little real chance of that!). I did the rest of the planning and included in my planning an intention to visit some of the restaurants in Scotland (and in Northern England) which I'd heard of from TV programmes like Great British Menu. This led to some challanges, as our route would have been more logical, if we hadn't made some 'most go' restaurant decisions. For example we had always loved the look of Tom Kitchen's food but when looking to book found it was closed on Sunday and Monday, so instead of a route which went up the west coast and came down the east coast, in a logical manner, we had to reroute to go to Edinburgh on the day we would have originally been in Glasgow, which had a knock on effect.

Still after the complex planning we found a route which meant we never spent more than 230 miles of driving in a day or 4.5 to 5 hours even on the busiest day. This is nothing compared to the 350 to 360 miles we have travelled in a day when in the USA or Canada. We also will only double back on our route for about 15 miles in the whole journey, so almost every road will be a fresh one for us.

So our overnight stops are:

Tuesday	Langho
Wednesday	Edinburgh
Thursday	Auchterarder
Friday	Uig
Saturday to Friday	Crossbost, Isle of Lewis
Saturday	Inverurie
Sunday	Glenesk
Monday	Glasgow
Tueday	Nidderdale
Wednesday	Birmingham
Thursday	Cardiff

I will fill in a little more detail on each night's accommodation in tomorrow's post.