You’ve missed out all the best bits!

You need to head over to Mull (Calgary Bay for the night), then ferry across to Ardnamurchan. Just follow the coast until you get to Armadale. Pop over to Skye on the ferry, have a wee drive around and then back over on the wee ferry to Glenelg (great beach campspot for the van here). Then just follow the coast again. Remember to take in Applecross. Keep heading North until you get to Durness, then West to Tongue then head back down.

Forget John o’Groats. Unless you are collecting cardinal points it’s an unnecessary detour.

FTFM!

Loch Ness is pretty dull but you can ‘tick’ it while heading for much better stuff on the West. Sandwood bay is a lovely bike/walk. Kintail, Skye is fantastic…if you can see it, it’s not called Eilean a Cheo for nowt, the far North West around Assynt is generally stunning whatever you’re doing.

Best place to eat out is the chippy in Ullapool, the best part of a c to c ride, or the fishermans mission in Kinlochbervie. Some may say the Three chimneys is better but I don’t believe it.

I’d head round the west coast including a full loop of Skye which is a must see 🙂

I agree with above, west coast beaches stunning, loch Ness is over priced and too touristy, john o groats is ok but we went in glorious sunshine and enjoyed a great boat ride around stromer seal watching. Steam train from fort William to mallaig has some stunning scenery to see, not much in mallaig though. Another good place was shinn falls watching salmon jumping in the water trying to climb up the river. Glenmorangie distillery was catered for tourists but up the road at the clynelish distillery they were very friendly and poured me three sample whiskies to try, they got a sale too ;-). Dunrobin castle just in/near golspie was great and had the best birds of prey display I’ve ever seen. Dornoch village is lovely and has a nice cathedral with stunning stained glass. As you can tell we loved the highlands, every corner we turned the kids shouted wow at the scenery, stunning.

Assynt, Assynt and then Assynt! The view from the top of Suilven on a clear spring day can’t be beaten.
Stunning part of the world. Gotta agree that Achmelvich is a nice place to park the camper van, Clachtoll is OK too.

Sandwood Bay – take a tent and stay overnight. Stunning!

It is a worry that some of them ARE parents, and some WILL be parents….

Sandwood Bay is far too busy these days, last time I was there at the tail end of last summer there were 4 others.

I wouldn’t bother with Ben Nevis either, it’s a pretty uninspiring big lump.

All of the above.

For Ben Nevis, climb CMD and go over the CMD Arête and up to the top, or if you have some basic climbing experience consider tower ridge with a guide.

I did the aonach eagach in glencoe with a guide last summer and loved it. Not cheap but worth it.

Ardnamurchan is one of my special places too

Islay, for the Whisky

Torridon is a hillwalking paradise

Assynt if you are prepared to go that far. Just stunning

Glen Sheil for Munro bagging, or the mamores near fort William

Seek out fish restaurants wherever you go. Yum

Glen Finnan for the famous viaduct, the memorial to Charlie, and take lunch at the hotel.

Kinlochleven for the mountain biking, and also the red trail on aonach mor

Skye. You might get lucky with the weather. It has been known.

I think they’ve all covered it above. With a camper, you’ve the ability to shift from West to East (or at least central) easily; if it’s tipping it down then head for round Aviemore / Rothiemurcus.

Actually I’d say best place to eat out properly is the fish and chip van on Tobermory pier. Don’t know what they do but the fish and chips there are stunning…

Glenelg. Then little car ferry over to Skye.
Barrisdale Bay, Knoydart.

Aye, if bealach na ba doesn’t leave you with an enormous smile on your face then you’re dead inside 🙂

Stop off for lunch/dinner at the Applecross Inn to calm your nerves afterwards.

Don’t forget Perthshire. Lots of fantastic stuff around Dunkeld / Pitlochry. It’s easy to visit on the way up or down the A9. Walks / bike rides starting from Dunkeld or Pitlochry are a good shout.

+1 for Torridon, Mull & Skye. Also consider Arran, it’s one of my favourite araes in Scotland. Have a look on the Calmac website, they do tour tickets for the ferries. You could start on Arran and work your way up the Islands!

Applecross, Sandwood Bay, any of the islands

It’s fine! 🙂 Even the works at Pulpit Rock are barely causing much in the way of delay. 2 lanes for the entire stretch apart from Pulpit Rock which is traffic lighted. There’s FAR “worse” in the very north of Scotland. In fact, if the A82 along Loch Lomond is troubling then I’d avoid half of the places mentioned above (assynt, torridon etc). The road out to Sanna is also much worse, especially in summer when it’s overgrown, visibility is shockingly bad at some sections and you rarely have 2 car widths.

Even driving around the Lakes (with the high stone walls preventing more than 20m visibility), is more difficult.

peterfile – it’s maybe me and timing but i’ve always found the loch lomond stretch to be busy and slow with buses, trucks and caravans and no overtaking places at all. Once clear of the loch, the roads quieten a bit there’s also scenery which you don’t see that much of from the side of loch lomond, so slowing down is easier. that said, i usually hit the west coast via perth, so take the A85 perth crieff comrie road which never seems to be that busy – plenty passing spots though apart from loch earn side.

BBSB, very very few trucks up that section of the A82 and few buses too.

Although, in peak season (i.e. not when the OP is going) it can get busy (lots more coaches too), yes. But to be honest, that section is slow anyway so it’s not really that noticeable.

I do know what you mean though. If you don’t know the road it does require lots of attention, meaning you miss anything else worth seeing, which there isn’t a lot of anyway thanks to the trees 🙂