Relax and enjoy Scotland’s splendour with Rabbie’s Tours. The Scottish Highlands and Islands are Europe’s last great wilderness so why not escape with Rabbie’s personalised small group tours. Small groups with a maximum of 16 passengers mean you can discover the real Scotland, get off the beaten track and onto the back roads that other tours cannot manage.Your educated driver/guide is there for you, dedicated to making your visit to Scotland memorable and enjoyable whatever your requests.
Full Day Tour – Tour Ref: SCO-GLBS-WHLC-1S
Delve into picture-perfect Scotland on this tour to the Highlands.
It’s the epic castles that look like they’ve been taken straight from a blockbuster Hollywood movie. It’s the lochs that need to be seen to be believed. And it’s the landscapes and historic towns that boast treacherous and battle-ravaged tales.
Take this tour and venture into the Scotland of your imagination.
ITINERARY:
Departing from Glasgow you travel northwest along the shores of Loch Lomond. Here you will cross the Highland Boundary Fault Line where the scenery changes quickly and dramatically – the flat fertile plains of the Lowlands giving way to shimmering lochs, rugged mountain tops, and forest-filled glens. It’s easy to forget that this was once thought of as a dangerous frontier fought over by the fiercely territorial Highland clans such as the MacGregors, made famous by highland folk hero, Rob Roy MacGregor.
You will then take a leisurely drive over the at ‘Rest and Be Thankful’ mountain pass. It was given its name in 1753 by the weary soldiers who had just finished building the old military road up through Glen Croe (not to be confused with Glencoe which you will visit later in the day).
From here you will travel through the steep-sided mountains, known as the Arrochar Alps, to the picturesque harbour town of Inveraray on the shores of Loch Fyne, home of the Duke of Argyll, chief of the Campbell clan. The town is a classic 18th-century planned village with its straight wide streets and dignified Georgian houses, designed by Robert Adam, famous for his architecture in Edinburgh’s New Town.
From here you will drive along the shore of Scotland’s longest loch, Loch Awe, where you stop to take your photos of Kilchurn Castle, a magnificent ruin situated in the middle of Loch Awe and former home of the Campbells of Breadalbane.
You will then continue to the harbour town of Oban, gateway to the Isles, for lunch of your choice. After lunch you will then travel north along the west coast around Appin, passing the impregnable Castle Stalker, and into Scotland’s most famous valley, Glencoe. Stunningly beautiful, with its dramatic cliff faces and steep slopes, Glencoe is infamous as the site of the Glencoe massacre in 1692. Following orders from King William, Scottish soldiers under the leadership of Captain Robert Campbell slaughtered 38 men, women and children of the Macdonald clan. This was especially shocking as the soldiers had been living with the people of Glencoe for two weeks and killed them in their own homes. Nobody was ever punished for this crime, as the King himself had signed the order, but the Highlands would never be the same again.
Travelling south, as you pass the majestic peak of Buachaille Etive Mor (meaning ‘the great shepherd of Etive’), you descend towards the wild desolation of Rannoch Moor. At an altitude of over 1000ft, covered by heather and peat-bogs and dotted with dozens of lochs, it’s a unique landscape.
From here you will then travel through Glen Falloch, and then drive south towards Loch Lomond. This is Scotland’s largest loch and it takes its name from the mountain Ben Lomond on the eastern shore. From here you return to Glasgow.
DEPARTURE POINT
Buchanan Bus Station, Killermont Street, G2 3NW (Tours will depart from a stance between stances 23-32)
Inclusions – Transportation by top of the range minicoaches for a more personal service. Forced air ventilation as standard.
Services of a professional Rabbie’s driver/guide.
Exclusions – Lunch / refreshments and any entrances / cruises.
DEPARTURES:
Tour departs DAILY at 08.30 hours and returns back to GLASGOW at 19.00 hours approx**.
There are no tour departures on the: 24/12-26/12 & 01/01
