Eric, Kathy, Mike, and I are dreaming up a trip to Scotland for May 2025. Here's our draft itinerary! The rest of you sibs and spouses are invited but will need to decide soon. Please note that some might want more or less time away - we don't all need to do everything together.
Weather in Scotland is variable and tough to predict but May generally has a little less rain, average daily highs in the 60s, and a relative lack of midges which can become annoying in June. It's a shoulder season so prices tend to be lower and there are fewer visitors than during the summer months. Scotland's latitude is similar to SW Alaska's so we can expect more than 16 hours of daylight per day in May.
Here's the current dream - live links to more information are pink:
We'll plan to fly into Edinburgh or Glasgow (likely through London) and take the train to Fort William. We might purchase Brit Rail passes to save on rail travel.
From Fort William we'll take a train along the stunning West Highland Line to Mallaig. We might take the Jacobite steam train that they feature in the Harry Potter movies, although it's not currently running so stay tuned on that.
From Mallaig we'll take a ferry to the Isle of Skye and stay 3 nights for hiking and castles and (at Mike's request) whiskey.
Then we'll retrace our steps to Fort William for the start of our trek on The Great Glen Way, a 79 mile path along the massive Great Glen fault to Inverness, hiking to the north east, coast-to-coast across Scotland. We'll hike unguided but hire the Gemini Walks agency to help us with reservations, to provide maps and support, and to arrange for our luggage to be transferred to the next stop. We'll hike with small packs that include the layers, first aid stuff, snacks, and water we'll want for the day.
We've decided on a hiking plan that will include 7 days of hiking with a day of rest after the 3rd day; the legs are 7.5 to 14 miles long. I think we could figure out an option if anyone wants in but doesn't want to hike or only on some days.
