STW - Recommend me where to stay in West Scotland, possibly ending up near Laide

There is a campsite at Laide. Another at Poolewe which is about 20 minutes away ( although currently only accepting people with their own toilets as shower/toilet block not working). Another really beautiful one at Mellon Udrigle which has a fantastic beach. But you may be staying with them in Laide?
On the way up, it depends on which route. You could get to the Stirling area in about four hours, then Inverness is another three with laide being a further two from there. This is the quickest route even if counter intuitive to go to the north east before heading west

or go via Glasgow, Loch Lomond, Fort William,  Kyle of Lochalsh, Laide. More scenic but more driving

Midges still around in Late August….

Anywhere on the way to Laide is going to be nice. 

I'm going to assume that you want a few days with cousin, and you want a few days around Laide/Achnasheen.

You won't 'see it all', so suggest: 

- go up via A9 and stop at either Pitlochry and/or Aviemore for a few days. 

- come back via a couple of nights in Shieldaig and a couple of nights in Fort William. 

Once you have booked a couple of campsites or accomodation places, come back and we can point you at swims, rides and walks.

Anywhere on the way to Laide is going to be nice. 

^^^^ this.

a couple of nights in Fort William

^^^ but not this.

Not got a camper and your family will doubtless know best for the immediate area but I always thought the community site at Firemore (no facilities, just north of Inverasdale) looked great. Good community cafe in the old school there (check timings).

I believe @felltop is postie and source of local knowledge on here.

Posted by: bajsyckel

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^^^ but not this.

I agree Fort William is 'not best', but the area offers some great places, hills, walks, rides, swims, adventures... 

I tend to agree with Matt_oab on this one. Fort William gets a bad rep but Lochaber is a cool part of the world and FW has decent amenities. You might not want to stay in the town itself but there's a huge number of places to camp in that area.

As for midges, smidge is the best repellent IMO although it doesn't stop them swarming. A midge net is a good investment if camping. You can see a forecast here:

SMIDGEUP.COM "https://www.smidgeup.com/midge-forecast/"

The Scottish Midge Forecast by Smidge

The Scottish Midge Forecast uses data from biting midge traps and mini-weather stations across Scotland to give you a view of midge levels in Scotland.

(it's not perfect but it's pretty good)

Got Smidge in the camping gear. Definitely looking at sites near Loch Lomond (Luss) and a couple over near Aviemore, but possibly Glenmore as there is a Loch and a forest with bike trails   

Distances.... Wirral to Ayrshire in a quickish car is 5 hours - so Glasgow is going to be 3.5 or so

If you want to stick to 3hrs or so for journeys - Silvercraigs at Kirkcudbright is a lovely wee stop over - nice facilities and an interesting town. Rattle up the coast and 3hrs 45mins later you can get to Glencoe ski centre for an overnight. Optional downhill course available - nearest A&E is Fort William. 

Glen Nevis in FW if you wanted to head in that direction - we've used it before, and are going there again this summer (2nd time this year). 

Big Sands near Gairloch is a recommendation we've had - not far from Laide - it's 3.5 hrs from Glencoe apparently... we're heading there in a week or so...

Smidge is a must have - just in case. The locals are mostly friendly - don't refer to the UK as England and you should be ok. 

Glenmore is definitely the most scenic of the Aviemore area sites. Having Loch Morlich on the doorstep is handy for swimming and there are other lochs in the area that are also commonly used, including Loch Vaa, Loch Garten and Loch Pityoulish. Rothiemurchus is a bit too wooded and Oakwood too close to the A9.

Dalraddy is a good site with access to countless miles of gravel trails. Best swimming spots from here would be Loch Insh and Loch Alvie(there's a sauna here too). If river "dips" are your thing then Feshiebridge and the "Pony Bridge" in Glen Feshie are both good. 

Your CX bike would be great in this area though (IMHO) less so on the West Coast. You should still find some riding though and the roads in the area are awesome enough that you'd enjoy them even on knobbly tyres.