Rainford Trip Overview
Crafted Routes, Expert Guides, Immaculate Vehicles, Eclectic Accommodations.
From our base conveniently located 45 mins from Manchester or Liverpool International Airports, whichever point on the compass your choose, an adventure is not too far away, with our own safe and reliable optional airport/rail transfers or vehicle delivery service.
The North Coast 500 in Scotland, The Wild Atlantic Way in Ireland, and The Snowdonia 360 in Wales. All offer stunning Landrover tours, activities and delightful accommodations and cuisine along the way.
There are 3 easy ways to enjoy an adventure with us.
Guided / Self Guided / Self Guided (own vehicle)
Leave the crowds, overbooked flights, and mediocre hotels behind. Discover your own Celtic Routes with crafted Landrover tours on a guided self drive adventure. You can add our “gear packs” to suit your interests with Paddle Board / Mountain Bike / Wild Camp Packs available to add to your immaculately prepared Land Rover expedition vehicle.
Additional Info
Duration: 8 days
Starts: Rainford, United Kingdom
Trip Category: Multi-day & Extended Tours >> Multi-day Tours
Explore Rainford Promoted Experiences
What to Expect When Visiting Rainford, England, United Kingdom
Crafted Routes, Expert Guides, Immaculate Vehicles, Eclectic Accommodations.
From our base conveniently located 45 mins from Manchester or Liverpool International Airports, whichever point on the compass your choose, an adventure is not too far away, with our own safe and reliable optional airport/rail transfers or vehicle delivery service.
The North Coast 500 in Scotland, The Wild Atlantic Way in Ireland, and The Snowdonia 360 in Wales. All offer stunning Landrover tours, activities and delightful accommodations and cuisine along the way.
There are 3 easy ways to enjoy an adventure with us.
Guided / Self Guided / Self Guided (own vehicle)
Leave the crowds, overbooked flights, and mediocre hotels behind. Discover your own Celtic Routes with crafted Landrover tours on a guided self drive adventure. You can add our “gear packs” to suit your interests with Paddle Board / Mountain Bike / Wild Camp Packs available to add to your immaculately prepared Land Rover expedition vehicle.
Itinerary
Day 1: Liverpool to Dunkeld
Stop At: Dunkeld, Dunkeld, Perth and Kinross, Scotland
Your adventure starts today, close to Liverpool (or optionally, Glasgow)
Our Land Rover Tours to Scotland start here, with 35 minute rail or airport transfers available from Liverpool or Manchester to our base, your vehicle pickup could not be easier (we also offer free secure parking).
Alternatively, you can fly or take the train to Glasgow, and have your vehicle delivered to you there as an option.
After a short safety briefing, you will head out on the road, guided either with our in-car tablet based APP (standard), or by our expert local guide and safety vehicle (optional).
You will head North on an easy fast drive to the historic Dunkeld, on the north bank of the scenic River Tay. Frequently described as the “Gateway to the Highlands” this is a lovely little village, with craft shops, eateries and friendly pubs by the river. You will also have the option to take on the exciting Land Rover Experience course with a new Land Rover Defender and expert instructor for half a day.
Duration: 12 hours
Meals included:
• Breakfast
Accommodation included: Dunkeld Country House Hotel
Day 2: Dunkeld to Cromarty
Stop At: Cromarty, Cromarty, Ross and Cromarty, Scottish Highlands, Scotland
Today, our Land Rover Tours take in the main highland route North via the Cairngorms National Park or Loch Ness, to Inverness, and across the Moray Firth. Your final destination today is the Black Isle, and remote coastal village of Cromarty.
Your route transits the Ciarngorms, with stunning scenery, lochs, and a stop in the lovely riverside city of Inverness, before crossing the Moray.
Despite its name, the Black Isle is not an island, but a peninsula, surrounded on three sides by water – Once you have crossed the Cromarty Firth bridge, this a location to enjoy wildlife – from dolphins to deer, from osprey to otters, from seals to Scots pine.
It’s also steeped in history, with castles and cairns.
You can see Ben Nevis on a clear day, as well as the immense Fort George, the mightiest artillery fortification in Scotland if not Europe (Built following the 1746 defeat of Bonnie Prince Charlie at nearby Culloden).
Duration: 12 hours
Meals included:
• Breakfast
Accommodation included: Factors House
Day 3: Cromarty to Dornoch
Stop At: Dornoch, Dornoch, Caithness and Sutherland, Scottish Highlands, Scotland
Day 3 takes us on an easy drive from the Cromarty Firth, to the charming historic village of Dornoch. In the morning you can explore Cromarty, take a dolphin spotting fast Rib Boat Tour into the firth with an excellent local company, or enjoy a tour of the Balblair distillery.
Balblair is what you imagine a distillery should be, sitting on an ancient Pictish gathering place, tucked away near the banks of the Dornoch Firth.
Aside from having the smallest cathedral (from the 12th century) in Britain, and one of Scotland’s finest golf courses, the Royal Dornoch, the village was also the site where, 300 years ago, the last woman to be accused of witchcraft in Scotland was burnt alive.
Duration: 12 hours
Meals included:
• Breakfast
Accommodation included: The Dornoch Castle Hotel
Day 4: Dornoch to Loch Assynt
Stop At: Loch Assynt, Lairg Scotland
A wilder BIG drive on day 4, leaves the conventional North Coast 500 route and instead heads inland across spectacular “Skyfall” country.
The “Flow Country” a land of wild tundra, peaks, and lochs serves up a classic drive on some of the finest driving roads in Europe. Stop at the lovely Dunrobin Castle, seat of the Duke of Sutherland. From the coast north of Helmsdale, you cut into the mountains, climbing to stunning vistas of this vast empty landscape on a small trail road. Keep an eye out for Stags, as you transit this magical place that exudes the spirit of Scotland. Then, you continue to the 200ft sea stacks and abundant birdlife of Dunscanby Head and its lighthouse (the actual most northerly point in Britain).
This stretch of the NC500 is breath taking, as you cross the Kyle bridge to Loch Eriboll. Pool House offers insights into a Georgian Manor, as well as the history of the World War 2 Atlantic Convoy base here. Amongst its previous guests is Winston Churchill.
Duration: 12 hours
Meals included:
• Breakfast
Accommodation included: Loch Assynt Victorian Hunting Lodge.
Day 5: Loch Assynt to Kylesku
Stop At: Kylesku, Kylesku, Caithness and Sutherland, Scottish Highlands, Scotland
Day 5 in Scotland sees you head further west, following the North Coast 500 route again. Sutherland is a land of stupendous mountains and spectacular beaches of silver sand. It is one of the last truly natural and unspoilt places left in Britain.
Probably the most beautiful picnic location in Northern Europe beckons on a private estate that exudes the spirit of remote Scotland, with exclusive use granted to our clients. The off road trail fords the River Dionard, and follows a truly beautiful glen, high into the Sutherland mountains and to a remote loch, for an unforgettable picnic location, and an opportunity to trek in complete solitude with only stags, deer and eagles for company. A special experience in every respect.
Britain’s highest waterfall at 650ft near the head of Loch Glencoul leads to Kylesku inlet, departure point for a boat to take you through the Loch to the falls, where you will also encounter Puffins and Seals.
Duration: 12 hours
Meals included:
• Breakfast
Accommodation included: Kylesku Lodge
Day 6: Kylesku to Sheildaig Lodge
Stop At: Ullapool, Ullapool, Scottish Highlands, Scotland
Depart the normal NC500 route onto our suggested alternative, a single track drive, taking in the beautiful scenery to Drumberg.
Mountains, moorland, mist, and scree, border peach coloured beaches, before descending into Lochinver, and its scattering of eateries around the small fishing jetty.
Ullapool, at least for Northern Scotland, is a sizeable, but highly likeable fishing port and small town, situated in a sheltered arm of Loch Broom.
Founded in the height of the herring boom in the 1700’s, a handful of tiny pubs and two or three bistros face the pretty loch, and this is an ideal base to explore with Land Rover tours.
Live local music and “The Seafood Shack” (BBC streetfood of the year winner) liven up summer evenings, while your hotel for the night offers a stunning Lochside lodge, and roaring log fires.
Duration: 12 hours
Meals included:
• Breakfast
Accommodation included: Sheildaig Lodge
Day 7: Sheildaig to Skye
Stop At: Isle of Skye, Isle of Skye, The Hebrides, Scotland
Todays route takes you from Ullapool on a trail that again leaves the NC500, and goes off route, to the incredibly remote Rua Reidh Lighthouse.
Stop off at the Falls of Mearch, where the falls plunge 160ft into the imposing Corrieshalloch Gorge.
Another spectacular drive heads along Gruinard Bay, with Golden Eagles and Seals frequently spotted.
Built in 1912 by David Alan Stevenson, cousin of the writer Robert Louis Stephenson, the Rua Reidh Lighthouse is one of the most remote and wildest locations in Britain. This outpost is an ideal place to watch seals at play and spot otters, as well as the 37 varieties of seabird here. Probably the most spectacular drive of all via the Bealach Na Ba pass over the Applecross Peninsula rounds off your day.
This former drovers road offers incredible views over to the Isle of Skye and beyond. Other than a tiny monastery founded here in AD 673, it’s all wilderness and incredible scenery, before crossing to the Isle of Skye.
Duration: 12 hours
Meals included:
• Breakfast
Accommodation included: Eileen Llarmain Inn, Isle of Skye
Day 8: Liverpool
Stop At: Liverpool, UK
Finally, you can route south to one of Scotland’s most classical scenes, the Kyle of Lochalsh, overlooked by the magical Eileen Donan Castle. Alternatively a speedier route takes you east across to Inverness to continue south to cross the border back to England and drop off your vehicle. To round off your Scotland Land Rover tour, there is an optional extra night to Explore the city.
Duration: 12 hours
Meals included:
• Breakfast
No accommodation included on this day.