Scotland Peter Irvine’s the best
Fresh air, a sea breeze, great pubs and rejuvenating walks. We’ve got your next day trip recovered
Port Charlotte
A township on the Rhinns of Islay, the western peninsula. By A846 from the ports, Askaig and Ellen, via Bridgend, then A847. Rows of whitewashed, well-kept cottages along and back from shoreline. Great wee museum (www.islaymuseum.org), and the estimable Port Charlotte Hotel, with bar and dining room. Town beach and the one between Port Charlotte and Bruichladdich (the war memorial nearby). Quiet and charming, not merely quaint. The road onwards (six miles) to Portnahaven, (even cuter) far west.
Plockton
A Highland gem seven miles over the hill from Kyle of Lochalsh, clustered around inlets of a wooded bay on Loch Carron. Cottage gardens
down to the bay and their much-admired palm trees! Great walks over headlands. Plockton Inn and, on the front, the Plockton Hotel have rooms and pub grub; there’s also the estimable Plockton Shores. It’s not hard to feel at one with this village
(as generations do).
Aberdour
Between Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy, six miles east from junction 1 of M90 or go by train from Edinburgh (frequent service: Dundee or Kirkcaldy); delightful station. Walks round harbour and to headland, Silver Sands beach nearby.
Corrie
Last but not least, the bonniest bit of Arran (apart from Kildonan and the glens and the rest), happily reached by bike from Brodick (six miles). Many walks from here, including Goat Fell, but nice just to sit or potter on the foreshore. Hotel has never quite been up to expectations. Animal sculptures and even the boats in the slips of harbours are aesthetic. Seafood café Mara.
Peter Irvine is the author of the essential travel guide Scotland the Best published by Collins, priced £15.99