short trip to Loch Lomond

[Henkjan]

next WE we'll (the S2, me, the wife, our 2 daughters) will leave for a short trip to the Loch Lomond area. we'll take the boat from IJmuiden to Newcastle, and head north from there.

any good driving tips from locals? (apart from driving on the wrong side ) are there much speedtraps? is RON100 petrol available? any especially good fun roads to recommend?

[Bowlerwell]

I think the A1 is riddled with speed cameras.
The M8 has none, but speed cops may be waiting.

The road from Glasgow up to Loch Lomond is quite nice, but some of it is not in great condition.

[K Simmonds]

There are many great roads in Scotland, most however are farther north than loch Lomand. The A9 north of Pitlochry to Inverness is outstanding, but in my opinion the finest drive in Scotland (in fact the whole of the UK) is to follow the A82 from cairnlarich to Invergarry then follow the A87 to the Kyle of lochalsh and from there head north via Gairloch and Ullapoole all the way to Durness. It's a good two days trip but worth every mile. I try and do it every year it's that good!! As for petrol Shell are the only suppler in the UK who sell 100 ron by the name off Vpower and that is only available from a few outlets. Most of the other big petrol company's sell a 97/8 ron supper unleaded, again not every where!! My advice would be to fill up whenever you come across decent fuel. It,s not to bad for speed cameras in the north but watch out on the A9 BEWARE OF CLEAN WHITE VANS PARKED IN LAYBYS AS THEY CAN BE MOBILE CAMERA'S!!!!!!

[S2central.net]

On Swedish plates I wouldn't be worried about speed cameras so much - not that you'd be doing anything stupid with 'da family' in the car.

RON100 - you'll be lucky - Tesco only and massive money. Shell Optimax next on 98 and BP Ultimate on 97. Everywhere is pretty much 95RON.

[madS2]

On Swedish plates I wouldn't be worried about speed cameras so much

lol just like when we got flashed in paris on way to calais for the ferry @ 168mph in New RS4!!No comeback as yet?!

[s2_bo]

You can get Vpower (99 ron in the UK) at all the shell stations no?

[K Simmonds]

I requested detail's of Vpower from my local shell and they said it was rated at 100 ron, they could however have been wrong. It's not at all Shell outlet's yet.

[Nj]

Henkjan, will you be using Satnav? You can download a database of stationary speed cameras as POIs (points of interest) and set alarms to warn you. It's easy enough with Tomtom. I don't know about other systems though. It would at least give you a bit of help while in the UK.
See http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/item-menu.php?idSubCat=42

[hibby]

Henkjan I would not be too worried about speed cameras, as you are foreign to this country they will not chase the offence up as it is too costly and not worthwhile. I have used this to my advantage when I worked for a car hire company .

The A1 from Newcastle to Edinburgh does indeed have a lot of speed cameras on it. My advice is unless your last name is Schumacher then take it easy mate, it is a really bad road for accidents. Especially as your driver seat will be on the wrong side for overtaking easily.

Have fun.

[Sonic]

There are many great roads in Scotland, most however are farther north than loch Lomand. The A9 north of Pitlochry to Inverness is outstanding, but in my opinion the finest drive in Scotland (in fact the whole of the UK) is to follow the A82 from cairnlarich to Invergarry then follow the A87 to the Kyle of lochalsh and from there head north via Gairloch and Ullapoole all the way to Durness. It's a good two days trip but worth every mile.

Second that!

[Henkjan]

thanks for all the advise guys!

I will buy a good road map [no satnav *) for this macho] and plan some nice trip. the "2 day version" as suggested by K Simmonds is probably not an option with the kids in the back... (brings back memories of a regularity with our then 6 year old barfing in the back)

so I better check the RON very well before I fill up, nothing less than 98 in my chipped ABY... btw: prices in the UK are probably as insane as it is here?

blond question: what are the speed limits? here in Holland there is a sign stating the speed limit about every other km, but when I was the previous time in the UK (just north of Newcastle) I was puzzled about what the speed limit was...

just got message from dfds, the ship we were supposed to be on crashed into something and needs repair so we cannot leave today as planned. but they managed to book us on tomorrow's ship, only a smaller cabin.


*) unless they bring a satnav with rally codriver style instructions

[Cullam3n]

Dual carraigeways/motorways are 70mph for your car, single carriageway is 60mph unless otherwise posted

About £1.08p+ a litre depending where you are and more for preminum, not familar with scotland pricing lol

[Jas11n]

If you take the A68 from Newcastle instead of the A1, there are no speed cameras until you get to the Scottish border at Carter Bar.
A lot nicer road, less heavy traffic with even less lorries, and has some great scenery.
It takes you to straight to the Edinburgh ring road same as the A1 does

Jas..

[Davidsinclair05]

Speed cameras on the A1 up to Edinburgh.
99Ron fuel in the shell station on the edinburgh side of the forth road bridge.
A82 tyndrum has 98Ron fuel but watch out this is the last petrol station till top end of Glen Coe and there is a Shell station again 98Ron.
Plenty of speed traps at Luss on Loch Lomond and also in the 5 mile run up to Fort William. Look out for a BMW X5 on loch Lomond Dark Blue and a silver M3.
If you get past Tyndrum there is plenty of fast road but be careful of the Deer.
Up on Skye i tend to get a stern telling off but it helps to abide by the law. I was lucky 3 years ago got off with 50 in a 30 but only because the officer knew me from the hotel. You have to watch out because there are places that all of a sudden it becomes a 30mph without warning. Have a good drive but it looks like rain for the weekend.

[Davidsinclair05]

P.S. If you get stopped by a PC McGillvery tell him that David Sinclair said Hello and i hope that he enjoyed the Christmas Party!!