Scotland Land of my lost soul

Modern Times - modern travel: In the days of internet access from almost every corner of the world a collection of useful links related to one's trip can be a helpfull source for time tables, hostels, weather and all sorts of other information. The page came into existence after a trip to Scotland in 2002. The links are ones that I would have liked to have, that I did actually use and that I just happened to come accross. Since then the collection has continously grown. It is influenced by one year spent in St. Andrews and quite a number of holidays in Scotland since. It is of course by no means objective or complete but rather reflects what I happened to find interesting. This naturally is a matter of taste and there are more collections whith Scotish links on the web. Some of which are listed further down in the section "Collections of Scottish links and internet portals".

Guide Books: My experience with the Lonely Planet Guide Books series is generally good. The Scottish ones are no exemption. This of course largely depends on what kind of information you are looking for. If you are on a prebooked itinerary and are solely looking for in depth cultural and historical information the LP guides are not likely to be of much help for you. If you speak German the "Gebrauchsanweisung fuer Schottland" from Heinz Ohff is a funny introduction to Scotland and it's people. Its not a guide book in the original sense. Wikitravel, Lonely Planet Travel Guides

Getting there and around: Airlines, Buses, Ferries, Timetables ... another collection of links is: Traveline Scotland Buses: Eurolines, Citylink, Stage Coach, First, Shiel Buses, West Coast Motors Backpacker Buses: Haggis Adventures, Mac Backpackers Trains: ScotRail, West Coast Railways, London North Eastern Railway, Park And Ride Eurostar, BritRail, Eurotunnel Train Time Tables: National Rail Enquiries, trainline German Rail - Timetable Query Page (including plenty of European train connections) (German or English) Ferries: "The world belongs to God, the earth, the sun, the rain, but not the Outer Hebredies, they belong MacBrayne". Caledonian MacBrayne (Western Isles) Skye Ferry (Glenelg-Kylerhea), Corran Ferry (Ardgour-Nether Lochaber), Highland Ferries (Camusnagaul-Fort William, Cormarty - Nigg) Northlink Ferries (Orkney, Shetland), John O'Groats Ferry (Orkney), Orkney Ferries (between the Orkney Isles), Shetland Ferries (between the Shetland Isles) Western Ferries (Clyde) Scottish Canals DFDS Seaways (e.g. Amsterdam-Newcastle), P&O Ferries (e.g. Rotterdam/Zeebrugge-Hull), Stena Line (e.g. Northern Ireland) There is no passenger service on the route Zeebrugge-Rosyth anymore. Airlines & Airports: British Airways, Lufthansa, KLM, Eastern Airways, Loganair hia (highlands & islands airports), Glasgow, Edinburgh, Prestwick (Glasgow) Public Transport Information: bustimes.org (Bus, Coach, Tram and Ferry Transport Information), Traveline Scotland, Lochaber Transport Links, Lochaber Public Transport (Bus, Train, Ferry) Car Hire: Arnold Clark, Avis, Budget, easyCar, Europcar, Hertz, National, Sixt AA (Automobile Association), Parkopedia, Secret Scotland (Guides For Self Drive Scotland Tours)

Places to Stay: See also the Tourist Board web sites of the different regions. Accommodation in Scotland (Visit Scotland), Undiscovered Scotland, Isle of Lewis Accommodation airbnb, Independant Holidy Cottages, The Holiday Cottages, Self Catering Holiday Cottages, Cottages & Castles, Farmstay UK, UK Travel and Tourism Larne Coachhouse (Kippen), Mags' Cottage (Ballachulish), Cloag Farm Cottages (Methven/Perth), Glenfinnan Station Museum Sleeping Car (Glenfinnan), Heather Isle Chalets (Lewis) Scotland's Best B&Bs Independant Hostel Guide, SYHA, Scottisch Hostels, Scotland's Top Hostels, 8 unusual hostels and bunkhouses in Scotland YHA (England, Wales), Independent Hostels UK (England, Wales, Scoltand), HI Northern Ireland, An ige (IYHA) (Ireland), Independent Holiday Hostels (Ireland)

Tourist Boards, Cities & Towns, Regions and Routes: Scotland is not only about Whisky and the great outdoors. Tourist Borads: VisitScotland, Edinburgh, Orkney, Shetland, Brittish Tourist Board Cities & Towns, Regions: The Highland Council, The Highland Council - Tourism and visitor attractions (Document downloads), Undiscovered Scotland: Community & Local Links The Scottish Parliament (Edinburgh), Glasgow City Council, St. Andrews University Jura, Road to the Isles, St Kilda Routes: Die spektakul rsten Roadtrips in Schottland, The SnowRoads Scenic Route, North Coast 500, Road to the Isles

Historic Sights, National Parks and Wildlife: Historic Sights and Conservation: Historic Environment Scotland, National Trust for Scotland, NatureScot, Scottish Wildlife Trust, John Muir Trust, Forestry and Land Scotland, RSPB, Scottish Seabird Centre, VisitScotland Wildlife New Lanark World Heritage Site, Rosslyn Chapel, Scone Palace, Balmoral Castle, Eilean Donan Castle, Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society Museums: National Museums Scotland, National Galleries Scotland, Glasgow Museums, Kilmartin House Museum National Parks and Geologically Interresting Regions: Scottish Campain for National Parks, Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park, Cairngorms National Park, Lochaber Geopark

Weather: Always on the agenda in Scotland! The ultimate source for up to the minute information about the weather are of course the web cams (see the Web Cam section further down). Outdoor Conditions Forecast (BBC Radio Scotland, 92-95 FM or 810 MW, Mon-Fri 18:25, Sat/Sun 7:00/19:00. The most reliable and detailed weather forecast of all for walkers - unfortunately not available online anymore) Met Office, WeatherOnline, BBC Weather, Current Weather Observations (satellite images, wind, rainfall radar ...), Weather Warnings Mountain weather forecast (Met Office), Mountain Weather Information Service, Cairngorm Weather Station Scottish Midge Forecast, Ski Conditions in Scotland, Scottish Avalanche Information Service

Walking and Outdoors in Scotland: A classic amongst the plethora of books with descriptions of walks is "100 Best Routes on Scottish Mountains" from Ralph Storer. "Scotland's 100 Best Walks" from Camreon McNeish is another great option. Most of the described walks in the two books are rather serious stuff and require various levels of experience. Both authors also publish guidebooks on all the Munros. The Lonely Planet "Walking in Scotland" had a more balanced variety of walks as far as the difficulty is concerned (not published anymore). Walks: walkhighlands (Plethora of routes of all difficulties (incl. detailed descriptions and maps)) Mountain routes in Scotland (incl. Hill and Mountain lists in Scotland: all Munros, Corbetts & Co, lists by name/region/height, routes (incl. detailed descriptions and maps)) munromagic (All Munros, Corbetts & Co, route description and maps not as detailed as others) Munros List & GPS Waypoints (no routes, OS maps with "mouse over" function to give coordinates and grid ref) List of Munros (Wikipedia) Allowing for measurement error a principled approach to peak bagging Walking (Visit Scotland), Forrestry and Land Scotland - Walking, Walk Scotland, ScottishHills, Walking Britain Scottish Outdoor Access Code Scotland s Great Trails, West Highland Way, Fife Coastal Path Associations and Others: Mountaineering Council Of Scotland, Ramblers, Scottish Mountaineering Club, Mountain Bothies Association, Munro Society, ScotWays (Scottish Rights of Way & Access Society) BBC Scotland Outdoors Maps: Ordnance Survey Maps (Their "Landranger" series are THE all purpose walking maps for the whole of Britain) Harvey Maps, Nicolson Maps, Outdor Map Navigator

Music, Festivals and Dances: There is much more folk influenced music coming from Scotland than Pipes and Drums. Here are some of my favourites: Music: Runrig, Capercaillie, Wolfstone, Duncan Chisholm, Altan (Irish) Ceolas Celtic music archive, Trad Music Trust, Music In Scotland, Traditional Music & Song Association Scotland The National Piping Centre, Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association Festivals: Events & Festivals in Scotland, Events & Festivals, TMSA Upcoming Events Edinburgh International Festival, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, Edinburgh's Hogmanay Celtic Connections (Glasgow), T in the Park (Kinross), Braemar Gathering, Royal Scottish Highland Games Association, Perth Festival of the Arts Hebridean Celtic Festival (Stornoway), Orkney Folk Festival, Shetland Folk Festival Venues: ranM r (Glasgow), Eden Court (Inverness), Hootananny (Inverness), The Tolbooth (Stirling), The Ceilidh Place (Ullapool) Dance: A Ceilidh (pronounced like the song "Kayleigh" from Marillion, Galic for "gathering" or "meeting" I believe) can be everything from an evening of storytelling and singing right down to an evening of dancing and getting drunk. In especially the latter version can be enormous fun :-). Don't be shy to join in. Everybody is welcome and most of the locals don't know the exact version of the dances either. Do as the locals do - have a wee dram and enjoy yourself! Visiting a Ceilidh in the local community hall anywhere in the Highlands is definitely an off the beaten track thing. Ceilidh Dance Instructions The more serious version of Ceilidh dancing is called Scottish Country Dance. Here are some associated links: RSCDS, Celtic Circle, Grand Chain - The Edinburgh Scottish Dance Ressource Kilts and Shoes for dancing can be found here: Kilts & More, St. Andrews Shoemakers

Whisky: "Where's the cheapest place to buy Scotsh Whisky? A French supermarket, unfortunately." (LP Scotland). Since the tax free shopping at Glasgow Airport is gone (at least for flights within the EU) there is no way of getting any whisky cheap in Scotland (the British taxes are to be blamed for that - more than two thirds in the case of the whisky). Here are some Whisky Internet Shops and assorted links. Malt Whisky Trail SCOMA (Scottish Malt Whisky GmbH) (German), Whisky.de (German), Cadenhead's Whisky Market (German), mySpirits (German), 1a Whisky (German), Die Whiskybotschaft (German), The Whisky Shop, Scotch Whisky (whiskey) (not just an online shop) ScotchWhisky.net (A to Z of Scotch Whisky Information), Gordon & MacPhail

Web Cams: See where you could be now instead of sitting at home, or (even worse) at work. Google Maps, MyLiveStreams, mwis

Picture Gallery: Some photos that I took in Scotland plus other peoples photo collections. St. Andrews Cathedral in autumn; the beautiful tree is long gone (St. Andrews, Fife) St. Andrews Cathedral just before sunrise (St. Andrews, Fife) St. Andrews Cathedral from St. Rules Tower (St. Andrews, Fife) The Worlds End pub sign The pub still exists, but the pub sign is now gone unfortunately. (Edinburgh) Lower Glen Coe (Highlands) Torridon (Highlands) Bay and Cemetry of Portree (Isle of Skye) Loch Roe (Wester Ross) Highland Park Destillery (Orkney) Scottish Panoramic, Pictures of Scotland

The Rest of The Stuff: All the links that didn't fit in the other sections. Streetfinder: OpenStreetMap, Google Maps, bing maps, Streetmap Media: BBC Radio Scotland (92-95 FM or 810 MW) A quite unique blend of talk radio, comedy, sports, pop, folk and classical music. Often the only station available ... although even more often you wont get any station at all in the wildernes of the highlands. BBC, BBC Scotland, The Scotsman, The Times, CelticRadio Misc: Snowboarding & Skiing in Scotland, Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions

Collections of Scottish links and internet portals: And there are many of them ... Grand Chain Links, Undiscovered Scotland, The Internet Guide To Scotland, Online Scotland, Scotland Travel Guide, travelforkids

Created by Jochen Beier