Our very own Scottish MINI Adventure!

[chilired]

Thought i'd share the trip we did last year, I want to come back and do it all over again. Absolutely love the highlands :)

Why have a boring rental car when you can have a MINI?

Thanks to Douglas Park BMW in Glasgow that’s exactly what we did!!

We flew into Glasgow Airport on Saturday 11th May, got ourselves over to the BMW dealership, and collected our rental for the week – A brand new MINI Cooper D Countryman.


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She had done only 72 miles and was immaculate. I almost felt like I was collecting my own new car when I went outside and saw her as I noticed she had my most favourite option – Xenons!! (I’m a headlight snob apparently!). She took our suitcases in the boot with no problems at all – that wouldn’t have happened with my Hatch and certainly not my Convertible!! And although we weren’t carrying passengers the leg room in the rear with the front seats in normal position was still good enough I reckon for an average adult to fit, so children no problem – a practical and still a fun MINI? Lets see!

I had first dibs at the drive – obviously! – as Dad isn’t over keen on MINIs after my previous bad eggs. I’m not one for driving a Diesel I have to say, despite owning one myself briefly, but once I’d got used to it properly – what a lovely drive! :) The diesel engine really suits the Countryman I think.
We went up from Glasgow, on the A82 past Loch Lomond and through Glencoe to Fort William. Unfortunately it was quite a damp day, but the Countryman held the road perfectly well and pulled nicely up the hills. Loved the Auto wipers too, which are now part of the Chili pack I believe. Before our overnight stop back in Fort William we carried on a little further up to Fort Augustus which is at the bottom end of Loch Ness. Some nice twists and turns on the roads and the Countryman did far better than I’d thought it would. Although I’d driven one before, I’d not driven one for any length of time. Yes it is a little more wallowey than the Hatch but that’s to be expected!

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Next day we drove up to Inverness using the B862, which included a lot of single track road with passing places as well as a lot of ups, downs, twists and turns. Great fun to drive, but you do have to be a little careful on occasion. Some of the locals know the roads far better than most and do tend to go for it. As I was still getting used to the Countryman and knowing it wasn’t mine, I was a little more cautious!!

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We then went across the water and down the A832 out to Cromarty and Chanonry Point – one of the best places in the UK to see Dolphins! We drove through the middle of the golf course (minding out for stray balls!) and walked out to the point and there they were, I was so excited to see them, I forgot my camera and by the time I’d got the thing switched on they had finished their showing off jumping out of the water :(

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Back down to Inverness for some lunch and then back down the A82 a little way to Drumnadrochit, then out in a loop down the A831 + A833. We came across some great little pod things in the garden of a B&B, turns out they are for ‘glamping’ and are called Armadillas – very cool! :)

Overnight stop in Inverness, then up the A9 and A99 to Wick, quick stop for lunch, then up the A882 to rejoin the A9 to Thurso. Some of the views coming up the A9 along the coast are pretty good. We were staying in a little cottage on a farm just outside Thurso. I had no real idea what I’d booked, so when we ended up virtually in the middle of a field full of sheep (never seen so many sheep as in Scotland!) I decided them saying it was on a farm, was indeed very true!! From there we went out to Dunnet Head – the most northerly point on the mainland. To get out there it is a single track road with passing places, it is quite eerie as it twists and turns around some quite barren land and water.

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I'd post the rest of it but it won't let me!! :(

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Next day we decided to head out to the West coast – truly spectacular and an absolute must for anyone visiting the area. The views are stunning. We took the A836 and A838 from Thurso out to Durness. The first part of the road was absolutely made for a MINI of any description. Lovely twists, turns, ups, downs giving the car a great work out. By now I’d got used to the Countryman a little more and it was a great fun drive!! (I didn’t hog all the driving – honest!). The views of the mountains, some with snow on top, and the beaches on the coast line were simply amazing. Lunch stop in Durness and then we continued with the A838 down to the B801 out to Kinlochbervie and back.

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[Tam1314]

Fab report. I'm hoping to go up to Glencoe in August and then over to Skye


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[chilired]

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We continued further downwards and took a quick detour out to Scourie on the A894, then back to our planned route of the A838. We then headed back up the A836 towards Tongue, when the satnav decided to give us a different route at Altnaharra. We went down the B873, along Loch Naver, and then back on to Thurso.

All of these roads are single track with passing places, but there is so little traffic, we went for miles without seeing another car. Random houses are dotted about and we questioned how these people get on in the depths of winter?!

Next day we went over to John o’Groats. It wasn’t at all what I expected, although I’m not really sure what I did expect?! Quite a clear day so the views over to the Orkney Islands were great, would have been great to go over there but lack of time prevented that.

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After our 3rd night on the farm, it was time to leave and start to head back south again, all the way down to Fort William. Little did I know at the time, this particular drive would well and truly put the Countryman through its paces!!!

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We came right down the middle on the A897, again single track with passing places, and apart from the odd sheep in the way, a nice smooth run. Then the Nav decided to take us off down a road that appeared to not have a number at all (back down to the A9 at Lothbeg). After about a mile or so I started to question if we should actually be going down this so called ‘road’ at all. It got quite narrow in places and was quite twisty, really bumpy with an almost completely unmade surface. Next thing there was grass growing up the middle of the ‘road’ for what felt like miles on end. Needless to say, we didn’t meet another car, not sure anyone else was that adventurous, but it meant being able to stop for photos along the way!! The MINI bounced over the surface with ease and soaked up the bumps pretty well (17” wheels and runflats). I commented on how we would never have been able to do this in my Cooper S. Not only would the car have been broken, but I think its passengers would have also been!! Didn’t really manage to get out of 3rd and 4th gear too much, it certainly wasn’t a road built for speed. By the time we got to the end I decided it was quite fun after all :) but it was sooo nice to get back on the proper surface of the A9!

[chilired]

We stopped off in Drumnadrochit for lunch with Nessie, and as we carried on down we decided to go out to Skye Bridge, as the drive through the snow covered mountains, past all the goats in the road, was a pretty sight, eventually landing in Fort William around 5:30pm.

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Overnight stop in Fort William and the next day the Countryman had a well-earned rest, as we took the Jacobite steam train out to Mallaig. That was quite a trip; great views and the driver of the train managed to under estimate an incline and ran out of steam, causing us to have to ‘reverse’ back down to the bottom and get another run up. Everyone cheered once we finally got up it and people were saying how they had never known it happen before – trust us to be on it when it did!!

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Another overnight stop in Fort William and then we journeyed back down to Glasgow. We took the A830 out of Fort William, and then on to the A861 – well, eventually, I got a wave from another MINI, cheered in surprise and missed the junction lol! The road took us around the loch, and this time it wasn’t sheep in the road, it was cows. We took the Corran ferry back across to the A82 (that thing goes quite fast!) and detoured out to Oban, now back on proper roads and not single track. Continuing then down the A85 to its junction with the A819, we ended up down at Inveraray. Back across then to Loch Lomond and back down to Glasgow. The A83 is quite a nice road with some lovely sweeping bends, and it gave a little more option to open the Countryman up, brilliant fun within the legal limits.

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We then stopped overnight in Glasgow before taking the MINI back to DP the next morning and flying home. I was really sad to be giving back my new toy, I’d had great fun driving her (and dad didn’t even moan about driving her either!), and as we’d had her since new I did say we should really be bringing her home, but apparently this wasn’t an option haha!
An amazing trip and a great, fun car.

We handed her over in quite a muddy state, but she’d been well driven and looked after during the 1339 miles we’d covered!

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The End :D

[rpn]

Excellent report and good choice of routes. Done a similar routes some years ago except I come down Ullapool way.

As a matter of interest if you don't mind asking where about are you?

[Neil - TXJ]

Great write up and photos.

[Jonathan14]

What a amazing MINI adventure and soon really cool pictures

[chilired]

We'll be coming up to Scotland again on 1st November, but this time driving up - and again in a MINI Countryman! :D

Staying near Newtonmore this time so a little further south!

[moktabe]

Up there 19th Oct for 4 or 5 nights.

[Crombers]

If the weather is ok, definitely look at the Wester Ross Coastal Trail, A832, A896 and the Applecross Peninsula.

In my opinion the best stretch of road I have ever driven in Britain :thumbs up: