The Daily Express, Tuesday 6th May 2014
Monday 5th May, Leave the The Hydro Hotel for the 'Rest & Be Thankful' hill climb, Inveraray Castle for lunch, and Ballachulish for the night.
Tuesday 6th May to Mallaig & the ferry over to the Isle of Skye & eventually back over the bridge to the Kyle of Lochalsh Hotel.
Wednesday 7th May, Photographs at Eilean Donan Castle, Pass of the Cattle, excellent lunch at the Applecross Inn. Then, long drive around the coast (1000 bends, but good road surface) & eventually, the Gairloch Highland Lodge for the night.
On Thursday we were so close (well, not really!) to the North coast of Scotland, that 2 of us decided to drive up to Durness, have lunch in Tongue, and then drive down to our night stop in the Nethybridge Hotel. We covered 344 miles!
Finally on Friday, it was over The Lecht to Balmoral Castle and down through more fantastic wild country to our starting place, the Creiff Hydro Hotel – a total of 1022 miles.
18 of the 20 Daimlers on Monday morning 5th May, prior to departure. There was a DJ256, a B SS, two Majestic Majors, one V8 saloon, one DE27 Special, one Daimler double six, one 420 Sovereign, one Consort and and eleven SP 250s.
The hotel and cars as seen by the DJI Vision Quadcopter
Just about to be 'released' for the "Rest & Be Thankful" hill climb"
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Looking down the hill climb which was opened specially for us. A few years ago, a landslide blocked the main parallel A83 and this road was opened – for 2-way traffic! – while the main road was repaired!
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Inverary Castle, the home of the Mackenzie Clan, & 18 Daimlers
Tuesday morning and an early morning drive around Loch Leven – still, quiet, beautiful
Tuesday – The dramatic Commando Memorial at Spean Bridge
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At the memorial, and there's still snow on 'them there hills'
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Crossing the Caledonian Canal on the beautiful B8004 – a real 'potter' road.
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Boarding the Isle of Skye ferry, which was full (40 cars).
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20 Daimlers and a few 'modern' cars all mixed up together. The Daimlers certainly caused some interest.
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Skye is a motoring paradise. I did 140 miles up to Dunegan (there's nothing there!), and back via Portree to the Skye Bridge.
The roads were fast and empty
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... and single track, slow – and great fun!
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Crossing the Skye Bridge behind the DE 27 Special for our hotel, the Kyle of Lochalsh Hotel
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Day 3 – Kyle of Lochalsh to Applecross via the Pass of the Cattle, long coast road to Glen Docharty view and then Gairloch
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Pass of the Cattle behind me (& now very squeaky brakes!). Lunch next which meant we avoided most of the heavy rain.
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And here's a short video...
The view down the North side of the Pass of the Cattle – still raining!
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Applecross Inn – a place I'd been wanting to visit for almost 40 years!
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The coast road from Applecross in the North West Highlands, so Highland Cattle too of course!
The coast road to Kinlochewe went on for ever, but there were some superb views to the North.
The view North West down Glen Docherty towards Loch Maree
6 of the eleven SP250s parked at Gairloch Highland Lodge for the night.
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Fuelling in Ullapool for the long journey North. Full tanks should give us 300 miles and unleaded can cost £1.45/litre!
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The route from Gairloch up to Durness (North of John 'O Groats), Tongue for lunch and down to Inverness and Nethybridge for the night.
344 exciting miles with hardly any traffic until the A9 near Inverness.
TomTom provides a superb route overview as well as detailed information on the road ahead – like, 'How steep is the bend?' 'How long is it?'
The beaches in North West Sutherland are perfect – soft white sand – and no people!
85 mph – & still not gaining!
Lunch in the Ben Loyal hotel, Tongue.
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Still smiling despite the miles. Both cars and drivers still going strong. This was probably my best day's driving ever.
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And finally, after about 8 hours' driving and 344 miles, the Nethybridge hotel. MPG for the day was 30.3 which was no mean achievement considering the bends and our speeds. Overdrive helps enormously.
On Friday we slowly made our way South over The Lecht & Tomintoul, towards Crieff.
Our visit to the Queen's scottish residence, Balmoral Castle, was quite a highlight. We could have done with some sunshine though!
Me at Balmoral – just to prove I was there!
Watch the video ...
And lastly, to really experience a 300-mile journey through Ross & Cromarty, Sutherland & Caithness, check out this video (9 minutes, but please download it; Dropbox will not allow it to be streamed - Grrr!). Note it is repetitive (as was the 10 hours of driving!), but the roads are empty, the countryside totally wild and the views majestic. Be sure to turn up the bass on your speakers to hear the constant thrum of the Daimler's V8. So come with me (& Bob Woodward in his Daimler Dart) on our journey up to the very top of Scotland and down to Inverness on a day in early May 2014.