Weekend in Inverness

Hiya Folks

I have the wonderful task of driving up to Inverness at the end of next week and returning on the following Sunday night. My brother has decided to get married and his fiance’s family is local to there.

Now, I’m not HGV spec driver to spend 9 hours driving in one direction. And overnight too.

Nor have I actually gone further north than Middlesborough.

The route suggested is M6 to Carlisle, then A74(m) to M74 to Glasgow, then M73, M80, M9 to the A9, to Inverness.

470 miles, 8.5 hours driving and £70 one way in fuel. Still cheaper than the £300 I was asked to fork out for the airfair :open_mouth: :open_mouth: :unamused:

Anyway, so we’re planning on leaving late on Thursday night to arrive morning of Friday. Best time out of traffic and all.

Can people who know that area give me some info on places to stop on the way up, and also a decent place for breakfast near Inverness :wink:

TIA :laughing: :laughing:

PS. I’ll be in a car, NO trailer/caravan etc.

With any luck my sister might be able to do some driving too… :unamused: :blush:

How about letting the train take the strain. You might be able to get sleeper berths for about £100 return each. If there are just 2 of you thats not much more than the petrol.

seat61.com/CaledonianSleepers.htm

got to agree with blanik you have a hard weekend ahead of you and even if the train wasnt a option think of the wear and tear on your car i would do anything rather than drive !!! get the plane and pay for it next month

Friend of mine lives in Inverness, he used to travel up and down to Rugby, in practice it took him 10hours (in his car)with just a minimal fuel and toilet stop, and he was used to doing long distance and didn’t hang about.

my boy did peterborough to elgin in his car last week, it took him 9hrs 30

I’m not actually going to be in Inverness itself for the weekend. Once there I will be shuttling family between the hotel/church/airport for my brothers wedding :wink:

But thanks for the suggestions anyway :wink:

stracartho is around an hour south of inverness. its a truckstop. i havent eaten there but it sounds like the ideal location for what you want. its signposted from the A90 and accessible from north and south carriageways

scanny77:
stracartho is around an hour south of inverness. its a truckstop. i havent eaten there but it sounds like the ideal location for what you want. its signposted from the A90 and accessible from north and south carriageways

I think you might find its a hour or so south of Aberdeen on the A90:lol: :laughing: :laughing:

after a journey that long, an hour would be ideal for the last leg and they arent actually going to inverness itself :wink:

i used to live in southampton so i know all about 500 mile car journeys. i dont miss them. for me the last leg was crossing the border. 2 hours to stirling from there

Colingl:

scanny77:
stracartho is around an hour south of inverness. its a truckstop. i havent eaten there but it sounds like the ideal location for what you want. its signposted from the A90 and accessible from north and south carriageways

I think you might find its a hour or so south of Aberdeen on the A90:lol: :laughing: :laughing:

Thats what I was going to say!!! :laughing: :laughing:

If i was doing it from Coventry i would drive up to Crawford and stay there for the night then set off from there stopping at Perth on the way, then you have a nice drive up to Inverness

Route to Inverness

M6 to Carlisle.
A74(M), M74 to Glasgow.
M73
A80 past ■■■■■■■■■■■■
M9 to Stirling
A9 to Perth then Inverness.

Truckstops on the way up, from Perth.

Not far north of Perth is a good truckstop in a village called Ballinluig
Roughly an hour, hour and a half south of Inverness is Newtonmore. The Chefs Grill there does a good breakfast. Take the Newtonmore exit and follow the road for about 2 miles. The Chefs Grill is on the left as you come into Newtonmore.
Thats about it on the A9.

None of the truckstops are open all night, as far as I know, so your stuck with MWSAs. Cairn Lodge services isn’t open after about 9 pm either, unless things have changed recently. The petrol station is open though, with the usual facilities.

gretna isnt. the petrol station shuts at 11pm. they only have the night window thing so no coffee there. abington is better coffee anyway so pull in at j13 instead

Um, whats the deal about some gate that closes on the A9 if it snows heavily? Is this the time of year for that, and, um, what else can you tell me about this??

:open_mouth: :open_mouth: I think my brother is just trying to wind me up though :unamused: So asking the experts :smiley:

Saratoga:
Um, whats the deal about some gate that closes on the A9 if it snows heavily? Is this the time of year for that, and, um, what else can you tell me about this??

:open_mouth: :open_mouth: I think my brother is just trying to wind me up though :unamused: So asking the experts :smiley:

Theres one at Blair Atholl and at Dalwhinnie. They’ve been shut once this year so far I think. They stop people trying to get over the Drumochter Summit.
There may be another set but I can’t think where.

You should be OK this weekend. They only shut it when the weather at the Drumochter Summit (20 miles further and 1000ft higher) is crap.

:slight_smile: Here’s a link to that place that Simon mentioned :
transportcafe.co.uk/ballinluig.html
(sorry about the naff music, by the way…)
Looks good, but I see it doesn’t open till 8am, - still, you’ll be ready for a full breakfast by that time after your journey.

On the way up, I’d recommend Tebay Services (just north of jct. 38/M6) for a ‘comfort stop’, as I believe the motorists and coach passengers call them nowadays. :stuck_out_tongue:
You won’t see the scenery with it being the middle of the night, but the restaurant is OK for a drink and a snack, be prepared to be surprised, though - this one is a ‘cut-above’ the service areas in the rest of the country. :wink:

*I’d ignore Scanny’s suggestion at Stracartho, if I were you, unless you want to add about 120 miles and over 2 hours to your route. :laughing: :laughing:

Deesider:
:slight_smile: Here’s a link to that place that Simon mentioned :
transportcafe.co.uk/ballinluig.html
(sorry about the naff music, by the way…)
Looks good, but I see it doesn’t open till 8am, - still, you’ll be ready for a full breakfast by that time after your journey.

Yeah I’d recommend the Motor Grill at Ballinluig as well. Always been busy when I’ve been in (good sign in my book).
Food and drink reasonably priced and good.

snab:

Saratoga:
Um, whats the deal about some gate that closes on the A9 if it snows heavily? Is this the time of year for that, and, um, what else can you tell me about this??

:open_mouth: :open_mouth: I think my brother is just trying to wind me up though :unamused: So asking the experts :smiley:

Theres one at Blair Atholl and at Dalwhinnie. They’ve been shut once this year so far I think. They stop people trying to get over the Drumochter Summit.
There may be another set but I can’t think where.

You should be OK this weekend. They only shut it when the weather at the Drumochter Summit (20 miles further and 1000ft higher) is crap.

There’s also a set at Newtonmore,but these are used mainly to stop s/bound traffic.The road can also be closed by snow at Slochd summit,about 15 miles south of Inverness.You normally don’t get to find out about this one till you get there :laughing: :laughing: .
If the weather is bad,tune into Moray Firth Radio(97.4fm) for regular road reports.

I also recommend Ballinluig,good food cooked to order,no reheated food or food kept warm under lamps.Can get very busy at week-ends this time of year because of the number of hill-walkers.Sometimes have to wait a few minutes for a table.

If you are travelling up the A9 through the night,there is nothing open at all after Perth.

Highlander:
If you are travelling up the A9 through the night,there is nothing open at all after Perth.

and the services at perth doesnt have a cashpoint :imp:

scanny77:

Highlander:
If you are travelling up the A9 through the night,there is nothing open at all after Perth.

and the services at perth doesnt have a cashpoint :imp:

Thanks :wink:

We’ll take cash :smiley: I’ll be printing this out and taking it with me too :wink:

Thank you all for all your help :unamused: :unamused: :unamused: :sunglasses: :sunglasses: