Why it is NOT a good idea to rush off to a Scottish island to "get away from the crowds"

In September we are off to the Scottish island we visit every year. We stay in a cottage on a farm in the middle of nowhere and you are (un)lucky if you meet more than half a dozen people out walking all week. I don’t think we’ll be causing a spike in infections.

I hardly think that Ms Sturgeon has done a good job in managing the pandemic - England may be top of the excess deaths in Eorope chart but Scotland, with a far lower population density is in third. What she has done well is speaking clearly and sounding as if she knows what she is doing, unlike the bumbler in Westminster.

As someone who has just come out of shielding today, in Scotland, I would be keeping away from the busy beaches for a while.
Surely it's all those people denied their usual holidays in the sun who are flocking to the coast.
Luckily it's never so warm that you have to go to the seaside.

Some of my family are planning to go up to Scotland for a camping holiday. There have been more than 18,000 cases of Covid19 in Scotland, whereas the South West of England, where they live, and has a similar population, has only had about 13,000 cases. Should they go?

Depends which part they're going to, varian. As elsewhere, cities in Scotland have been more affected than rural areas. A lot of Scotland is rural and a good deal of it is positively remote.

Russian Roulette.

We live near junction 19 of the M5 and I can tell you it was bumper to bumper on the motorway with holiday makers with caravans, motorhomes and cars going down to Devon and Cornwall. Why just for this year can't people stay at home, and keep everyone safe.

Exactly, Tidyskatesmum. Sturgeon talks a good talk (Including fake news www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-53595877 ) but the end results aren’t much to write home about.

We are from darn sarff in England and holiday in Scotland every year, have been to the inner and outer Hebrides and the northern isles. This year was going to be a week in Kintyre and a week in Shetland. Obviously not going though we’d have loved to. Fingers crossed for 2021.

vegansrock why can't you come to Scotland? The ferries to Orkney and Shetland have reopened now and of-course you can drive to Kintyre.

EllanVannin

Russian Roulette.

Absolutely!

I was slightly puzzled to read about 3 hour queues to get a car on the ferry to Cumbrae which is quite a small island. In the time people queued in their cars they could have covered a substantial part of the island on foot and probably got right round it on a bike! Presumably once they got there they would have spent half an hour looking for a parking space and then made for the beach at Millport.

It’s a Catch22 situation, if tourists over run scenic places, be it in England Scotland or Wales then people are worried about the virus, if they didn’t go there the tourist businesses would collapse.
Generally speaking it’s visitors from their own countries within the UK that are making the beaches so busy.

The ferries to Orkney and Shetland have reopened now and of-course you can drive to Kintyre.

Just so. But don’t expect to be able to rush to any of those places. The distances to them, even from southern Scotland, are huge in driving terms.

Baggs You've reminded me about the tourists from the States who were planning to visit somewhere in the Highlands and while they were there "We'll pop over to Paris for lunch."

We found that Scottish miles do seem longer than English miles! I think travelling through the vast areas of countryside between places, particularly in the north, somehow makes the miles seem to go on for ever.

Also the map is foreshortened above Inverness.
Cartographer's graphics are responsible so Scotland appears as a head on the top of England. Shetland appears in a box somewhere off Aberdeen.
Scotland is a third of the area of the entire UK.

We take 2 days to drive to Kintyre and usually go in May/ early June when the days are long and the weather is (sometimes) better than August. And no midges at that time. The beaches are spectacular with few people and the little islands of the inner Hebrides are gorgeous. We won’t now go this year but fingers crossed for next year. Meanwhile, we have spent our holiday refund money on a new sewing machine and things for the house and garden.

BarmeyoldBat, yesterday my daughter took my friend who had been staying with me in WsM (J. 21 M5), back home to Essex. I went with to keep my daughter company returning home. We went eastwards late morning, and did see a reasonable amount of traffic on M5 going westward, but no real traffic jams. No problems on M4 in either direction (even with two junctions close to London being closed to all traffic).
Returned home during later afternoon. Excellent journey the whole way, no problems anywhere on M4 or M5.

Do wonder where you go your information about 'bumper to bumper at J19 on M5. Like any road, a small incident could have caused a temporary hold-up, but having driven both directions yesterday all I can say is that we never saw any problems whatsoever.

local resorts desperately need some of these people to come and spend some money, to hmelp keep the camp sites and hotels and local shops able to survive.
I go along the Promenade several times a week, have NEVER seen beach crowded with people close together, alway lots of room between each family - it is a very long area of beach there. Photos can, and are easily faked using special lenses to make these look very close together - do not believe what you see in the newspapers, etc.

There do you see little Scotland?.No wonder you can imagine going to Paris for lunch

I see what you mean, Grammaretto. Sutherland has shrunk and Caithness has almost vanished.

We go up to Oban from North West England at least 3 times a year. We’ve been going up regularly since 2009.

Couldn’t go in March, obvs, but we’re scheduled to go up at the end of August.

In all the time we’ve been up I have NEVER felt any dislike for the English as has been mentioned previously. In fact, a lot of the people who work in the local shops are English.

Glad to hear that Shelmiss.

I would consign all Austrians to deepest hell after a coach tour we took one day whilst in that (beautiful and welcoming country.
Elegran You're not the first to be confused!
When Alan Bond won the "America's Cup" for Australia many Americans wondered how a land-locked country could pull off such an unheard-of feat!
OoRoo

I wouldn't say we were confused Rufus. We weren't expecting kangaroos and koalas, or hats with dangling corks. More like sleek cows living in five-star barns underneath the houses, and hats with a dashing feather decorating them.

MawB. You have certainly thrown a red herring into Elegran’s thread.

You were the one responsible for suggesting that it had been implied that the English were responsible for Scotland’s packed beauty spots.
Elegrans* post said nothing of the sort.
paddyanne did mention England having a higher rate of Covid19 but did not suggest that the English were responsible for packing out our beautiful countryside. She was simply suggesting that we all keep to our own areas so as not to spread the virus.
Maw I think you should apologise to Elegran for sidetracking her very reasonable post and Callistemon you should too as you added fuel to the fire by accepting MawB’s erroneous diversion without checking what had actually been written.

I would love to see my English cousins BUT they live in the Greater Manchester area so until Covid is under control I'm happier that they stay in their own area .Thats NOT because I have a hatred for "THE English" despite being tagged with that lable countless tiimes on here ,its simply because my husband is high risk and I want to keep him safe .I dearly love my English family....thats ALL of them from Devon through Wiltshire ,Manchester and the Lake District and I certainly dont hate anyone else who IS English !!