We are plannining to travel from Mull to Arisaig via the Fishnish - Lochaline ferry and the A884 and A861. Looking on Google Earth the roads are single track but seem to have plenty of passing places. Has anyone done this route with a caravan and how did it work out?
I haven't towed a caravan along there so this may not be of much help BUT I can tell you that you'll need to expect your journey along that route to take you quite a while. The roads do have many passing places but they also have lots of blind bends and inclines so you never know what you might meet coming the other way. Although I haven't been along the A884 I did go along the A861 last year from Arisaig and my speed was down to 30mph or less for much of the route.
In spite of some lovely scenery the journey got very tedious after a while and it took me a staggering two-and-a-quarter hours to drive just sixty miles - not a journey I would be keen to repeat! Maybe someone who HAS towed a caravan along there can give you a more positive perspective though.
------------- Tigermouse
I have a very temperamental personality - 50% temper and 50% mental
We have done the A884 a few years ago but turned towards the Corran ferry at the top end and never encountered any problems at all'
I was driving a Skoda felicia towing a 13ft caravan at the time and like all the roads I've traveled on in Scotland it's fine as long as treat them for what they are ie roads not race track after all your are on holiday!
When you think about it all the roads in Scotland have lorries travel on them and they manage fine.
Thanks for the replies. Our planned journey is about 65 miles and time isn't an issue as I was expecting it to take approx 2.5 hrs. Our outfit is a Vauxhall Vectra estate with a 21' van, so I hope the passing places are big enough!
We're planning to do the same journey along the A884 from Corran to the Lochaline ferry with a 21ft caravan. I'm mostly fine towing he caravan, but I dread reversing it. How is the journey along the A884?
Practice reversing. There’s no excuse. If you can’t reverse with confidence, don’t get to Mull this route. Go from Oban.
Sorry to sound harsh, but people (towing anything or nothing) who can’t reverse several hundred yards rely on others to reverse instead. And what happens if two caravan towers meet each other coming from opposite directions?
You put the steadies down and stick the kettle on, or crack open the beers.
------------- XVI yes?
As well is two words!
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Remember, if you buy something you bought it, not brought it.
Last time I drove the A861 part of this route was summer 2017. I was in a car and fairly familiar with the road from Strontian. The A844 I know like the back of my hand. I had two hours from Lochaline to Mallaig (ferry timetable) and had 15 minutes to spare on arrival!
Forget miles, you work out most trips in the highlands on times and your average speed will not be high. True, many locals can do the 32 miles between Corran and Lochaline in good conditions in 35 minutes.
From Lochaline ferry (the hill up is quite steep!) passing places are fairly long but not necessarily smooth. There’s three places where there’s brief double track – don’t trust them – they are short! Some parts of the road have long visibility so you shouldn’t have a problem planning ahead. There are a couple of blind summits to watch out for.
Once you reach the top of the hill after the Kingairloch junction, you have a long run down to Loch Sunart – treat with caution. I think they’ve finished logging and building the hydro scheme. This hill is definitely one where you give way to uphill traffic!
At the bottom you follow the Lochside mainly through trees – not all passing places will take you and the van but most will. There’s still some good visibility on parts of this stretch and at the head of the Loch it opens out so you can see the junction – use this to note vehicles coming your way as you may meet them at the blind summit just after the Estate Office building (on your right) where there’s not much space.
Do not go off the edges, particularly in the wooded sections, unless you want to get bogged.
Part 2 to follow!!
------------- " When I die I don`t want my life to flash before me in an instant, I want it to be a 3 hour epic !"
Salen (not the Mull Salen) through to Kinlochmoidart has the odd patch of short double track but it’s very much as tigermouse describes; there’s also a lovely humpback bridge to be wary of – there were some interesting gouges in the road there! From Kinlochmoidart you have a long climb on twin track and stunning views round to Lochailort and the junction where you turn left for Mallaig. This last bit is much improved twin track bar I think one narrow railway bridge – this used to be a nightmare before the new road was built.
TBH, can’t remember passing places too well on the Salen-Kinlochmoidart section in terms of space as I was in a hurry so hope someone else can help you.
------------- " When I die I don`t want my life to flash before me in an instant, I want it to be a 3 hour epic !"
If you’re not used to single track, then get the rules embedded in your head before you go on them. Heed the points made about being able to reverse, leave passing place space between you and vehicle in front (no convoys).
Do not allow a queue behind you. Pull over as soon as you can and preferably where there’s good visibility for following vehicles to see coast is clear ahead. And double check your mirrors before moving off – there’s a tendency to think that these roads aren’t busy so people pull out regardless when one vehicle has gone through.
The OP should not assume that people will give way to a car/caravan. Aside from coaches, bin wagons and forestry lorries with trailers, local people still have to go about their work and so do carers and doctors and nurses, plus other emergency workers. Unlike the mainland in more populated areas, not every emergency worker/carer has a marked vehicle.
People whine about local people driving too quickly and being aggressive (and some of us can be) but the moaners on holiday seem to forget that the locals may have a compelling reason for that hurry. I’ll never forget not being with my Mum when she passed away because of one visitor holding me (and a load of others too) up by not pulling into a passing place for seven miles and refusing to travel at more than 30mph.
As to Mull’s roads, we are currently running on much lower volumes on the ferries so roads busy but not overloaded as trog implies.
The Council has been busy resurfacing many of the roads but this has, in places, left large drop-offs so stay on the tarmac.
You will be fine if you just respect the rules. If you want to travel slowly, that’s fine, just let other traffic pass you.
------------- " When I die I don`t want my life to flash before me in an instant, I want it to be a 3 hour epic !"
my problem with mull wasnt the roads as such it was the congestion at any place where it was possible to stop or visit..
i drove completely round the island and could not find any place to stop and have a cup of tea..
having paid the local land owner a tenner to park overnight on what seemed to be the only unoccupied piece of land to park on i left the next morning..
entering a dead end road to a possible visiting spot and finding it jam packed full is where problems are likely to occur for caravaners..
Thanks for the feedback guys, that was really useful. I've decided to re-route via Oban as the journey times (according to Google at least) were not that different. I was mindful that journey times on single track roads might not be as fast as I first thought. :-)
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Topic: Highland Touring
via mobile 03/7/2021 at 8:03pm
