Portsmouth to Fort William trip

Yes, don’t rush it is best. Once into Scotland, and above Glasgow, the scenery and things to see are just fabulous (not bad on stretch past Lakes and D&G and up towards Glasgow either😁). It’s a while since we have done it, but there were lots of good stop off points with van on back up to Fort William. We used to stop and take a look at Kilchurn Castle, and we have used a site at Crianlarich at least a couple of times.

I think the size of your van will govern the best route once north of Glasgow.

If you share that with us then we can make a few suggestions.

As you are retired, you presumably have plenty of time for this trip, the best plan IMHO is to " make the journey part of the holiday ".

We rarely do one night stops these days, more likely at least 2 or 3 nights.  We discover new areas and return to them for longer stops another time.

FWIW, I would suggest first stop somewhere north of Birmingham, Stoke maybe. Second stop somewhere just south of Glasgow.

“We rarely do one night stops these days, more likely at least 2 or 3 nights. We discover new areas and return to them for longer stops another time.”

Yes, that’s what we do.

I have to  Disagree with you on the relief past Preston bit. I live in Preston and lost count of the number of times it has taken me a couple of Hours to reach the Lancaster turn off. A few years go they closed the section both ways between Preston and Lancaster. On one occasion it took me 7 hours to do the 65 mile trip back home from Ambleside. 

On the M74 I have never been held up on that, and been to Scotland many times. 

Yep, we always stopped in Staffordshire the first night and then the next stop was Moffat C&CC. Mind you, we found it easier to do those distances with a MH than a caravan.

Hello Tinwheeler,

The route I was thinking of doing is :

M27, M3, M40, M6, M74 then A82 into Fort William.

Regards,

Phil.

Not really a fan of the western route, although more direct. If it was us that were doing the trip and using club sites, first night would be Clumber Park about 216 miles. Then on to River Breamish for a couple of nights 172 miles. From there it’s 206 miles to FW via Coldstream, Edinburgh ring road, M9, A84, 85 and 82. Or you could have another night or two at one of the clubs Killin sites and break the journey at about 140 miles from River Breamish, leaving an easy 65miles to FW. Overall it works out about 40 miles more than the most direct but in my opinion a much better route.

In which case I would suggest doing as I described above. A CL in Staffs perhaps followed by a site just ‘north of the Border’. If you’re not a member of C&CC for their Moffat site, the CAMC site at Strathclyde Park is not much further on.

PS. I’d recommend the M9 Stirling route rather than the southern part of the A82 alongside Loch Lomond.

Phil

Just out of interest is there any reason you are not using the A34 or have you just missed it out of your listing between the M3 and M40?

David