Stirling Travel Forum

We'll be bringing our high school handbell choir - a group of 30 - to the Edinburgh area in 2004. Right now we're trying to plan a few days of touring. So far we have a half day in the borders (Jedburgh and Floors Castle), a day and a half in Edinburgh (Castle, Royal Mile, Princes Street, Holyrood), and a day in Stirling. We are wondering if there are any suggestions as to what is nice for a day of touring on a boat. How about it?!

Not sure how you are travelling but if Loch Katrine is not too distant the boat tour of the loch on the Sir Walter Scott is very good. For information try lochkatrine@westscotlandwater.org.uk. For a tour on the Forth of Forth there are trips from North Berwick and South Queensferry.

I'm unsire where you might want to tour by boat in southeast Scotland. However, if you care to visit the west coast, the better side of the country, you might be able to pick up a trip on the Waverley, the last sea-going paddle steamer in operation.

Although not exactly a full on boat trip, you may want to think about going to Inchcolm Island. Take the boat from South Queensferry (few miles out of Edinburgh), which will take you to the ruins of Inchcolm Abbey, on the island in the middle of the Firth of Forth. Takes about an hour, if I remember correctly. Small island, ruins, seals - very easy day trip out of Edinburgh and not too much travelling involved out of Edinburgh.

The above are all good suggestions. There are also trips available on Loch Lomond (see www.scottishheartlands.org , the tourist info site, as a start) or from North Berwick, east of Edinburgh, to the Bass Rock, a seabird sanctuary (.http://www.seabird.org/about/boatrips.html)

Thanks for your suggestions! We received the same response from someone who lives in Scotland. Either you're Scottish yourself, or you just have Scottish-born taste! Thanks again...

We tried the link to the scottishheartlands website and couldn't "land" the page. Any other suggestions? We're looking into Loch Lomond to follow up on your suggestion. Any more help there would be much appreciated as we explore the options.

Sorry, that should be www.scottish.heartlands.org : I never noticed the little dot in the middle before. From Scotland? who, me? If so, I think my pages may give that away. For the Forth cruises see www.maidoftheforth.co.uk. South Queensferry is worth a stop anyway to see the Bridges (Forth Road and Rail). Where in the 'Edinburgh area' are you staying anyway?

PS if you were really ambitious you could take the www.superfast.com ferry from Rosyth to Zeebrugge (!). I was in Queensferry yesterday and saw it setting off down the Forth in the late afternoon and just thought how cool it would be to actually be on it.

Hi don't want to detract from the main purpose of your posting, but I have to enthuse about the Rosyth - Zeebrugge ferry (probably too expensive and too long for your trip). I used it for the first time in December (it's a fairly new service) and I can't tell you how wonderful it was to spend the morning working my way up the coastline, Edinburgh rising out of the mist and then to sail under the bridges... a wonderful crossing altogether. You can even have a massage on the ferry!

Otherwise I'm a huge fan of Stirling and the surrounding area: I'd agree on Loch Kathrine if you want to take a boat. You could also hire a coach though and do a great trip around the Trossachs taking in the boat experience. Of course the battle of Bannockburn was fought in the Stirling locality, and if any of your group is a fan of the film Braveheart, you'll also be able to visit the Wallace Monument and the original Stirling Bridge. The other local battlefield is Sherriffmuir (the battle whose outcome is still disputed).

I noticed elsewhere on this forum you'd mentioned my home town of Dumfries. It's a much overlooked region of Scotland, with very lovely coastal towns.

Dumfries itself offers a bit of culture, mainly through its links with Robert Burns. The route towards the ferry to Northern Ireland also takes you past some of the favoured locations for Rober the Bruce's cave (where he met up with the spider).

I do hope you have fun