Scotland with Midway Motor Travel

If the thought of rain and fog has kept you from visiting Scotland in October, you may be missing a unique opportunity. During our 14-day Scottish odyssey, Oct. 9-23, 2006, only two days were dampened by wet weather.

Anton Prole of Midway Motor Travel (Southerwicks, Corsham, Wiltshire, SN13 9NH, England; phone +44 [0] 1249 71657 or, toll-free from the U.S. and Canada, 800/214-8738, www.midwaymotortravel.com) organized our trip to avoid the more tourist-traveled places and give us a look at what Scotland is all about. Always the perfect host, Anton fulfilled his promise to the letter. All told, it was a memorable tour, giving us a look at Scotland as the Scots see it.

My wife, Mary Lee, and I rode with Anton more than 2,200 miles in his Volkwagen Caravelle van. We began our tour driving northeast toward Stirling and ultimately took a counterclockwise route circling the entire region.

Highlights included Stirling Castle and Scone Palace; many castles, including Glamis, Blair (home of Europe’s only private army), Dunvegan, Eilean Donan, Inveraray and Floors castles, and Ardverikie House in the central Highlands, where the seven seasons of “Monarch of the Glen” were filmed.

One day while driving along a twisted road in the rugged northern Highlands, we spotted a magnificent stag with menacing antlers standing stoically on the crest of a hill guarding his herd grazing below. When he was certain the does were out of sight and we were at a safe distance of some 100 yards, he allowed us to take all the photos we wanted, changing his stance occasionally, sometimes seeming to pose for us.

We enjoyed the many brilliant landscapes, stunning scenery and wildlife on the Island of Skye, the pastoral tranquility of the Borders region and the Victorian demeanor on the Isle of Bute, the innermost of the Inner Hebrides. Anton insisted we see the opulent Victorian toilets at the harbor in Rothesay to witness firsthand the restored elegance that once existed on this fabled island, at one time Scotland’s premier holiday resort.

Our accommodations throughout the trip were first rate, including the elegance of Dinnet House in Aboyne, near Queen Elizabeth II’s country estate of Balmoral, the warm hospitality of Jean and Robert Wilson at their Glenvar B&B in Blairgowrie, the gourmet dining of MacKinnon County House on the Isle of Skye and the quaint waterfront hotel in the fishing village of Ullapool. Our room at Cannon House on the Isle of Bute was exquisitely decorated in Victorian splendor and included an inlaid upright piano.

On the last day, we visited Scotland’s most prestigious visitor attraction, Edinburgh. Highlights included the Queen’s yacht, Britannia; Edinburgh Castle high above the city, and the statue of Bobby, the little Skye terrier who was cared for by the town folks in the late 1800s for 14 years after his master’s death. He became a celebrity, even visited by Queen Victoria, and is now immortalized in bronze by his nearby gravestone in Greyfriars Kirkyard where his master is buried.

For the two of us, the total land cost of our tour package was £5,650 (near $11,075); this included all lodging and land travel costs and Anton’s expenses. Every B&B included a full Scottish breakfast. The cost of each dinner was usually about £25 ($49) per person. Lunches, often at classic pubs, each cost less than half that.

The single item that made these costs so reasonable, in our opinion, is that we had a driver/guide dedicated exclusively to our needs to ensure we saw Scotland in depth, unlike on any other tour we have taken. He provided a detailed itinerary prior to our departure and gave us an atlas marked with the entire route at the conclusion of the trip.

In addition to being a superb driver and guide, Anton is a very enjoyable travel companion, always agreeable to deviating from a planned itinerary to take in interesting sites or skip others so as to make each of our 8- and 9-hour touring days more memorable and personal. We look forward to resuming new travels with Anton in the future.

CHUCK PETTY

Plano, TX