MITHOS 2009: Minors In The Highlands Of Scotland
Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 11:20 am
I am in the very early stages of planning my next Minor rally. It will incorporate aspects of the AIR and the LEO that worked really well, drop some things that I thought didn't work so well, and add a few new twists. I'm calling it Minors In The Highlands Of Scotland, or MITHOS for short. 
The rally will follow an interesting scenic route through the Scottish Highlands, visiting lochs, mountains, glens, bays, etc. I'm hoping we will be able to visit some remote islands too. My style of route planning is to take the roads that look the most fun, sometimes adding in extra diversions along the way. If it means we arrive a bit later at our destination, at least we'll have enjoyed ourselves getting there! Everyone will of course get the opportunity to lead the convoy at some point.
The whole trip is going to take about two weeks, though you don't necessarily need to join us for the whole thing. I well know that getting time off work is a problem for those of us with day jobs. I've decided to make it longer than the AIR so that we can go at a more relaxed pace with rest days as well as driving days.
The idea of a rest day is that instead of driving for hours every single day and staying somewhere different every night (which is great fun, but it can get a bit tiring), we will occasionally stay for two nights somewhere really nice. People can choose to spend the rest day either pottering about the local area relaxing and recovering, or go on a fairly easy hike into the countryside. I'll probably be doing the latter.
The date isn't fixed yet but it needs to be after Easter for personal reasons, and I'd like to do it before the main holiday season so it isn't too crowded with other tourists. I was thinking the beginning of May could be a good time to do it. Incidentally, May the Fourth (Star Wars Day!) is a bank holiday Monday in both England and Scotland.
As with the AIR, I'll be choosing the locations of the overnight stops based on where there are suitable Youth Hostels, and recommending B&B/camp site alternatives nearby. This method seems to work much better than the alternative of picking a B&B/Travelodge near to the route and then trying to find the nearest hostel. Two members of the AIR used my B&B recommendations and they were really happy with most of the locations I chose.
The rally will follow an interesting scenic route through the Scottish Highlands, visiting lochs, mountains, glens, bays, etc. I'm hoping we will be able to visit some remote islands too. My style of route planning is to take the roads that look the most fun, sometimes adding in extra diversions along the way. If it means we arrive a bit later at our destination, at least we'll have enjoyed ourselves getting there! Everyone will of course get the opportunity to lead the convoy at some point.
The whole trip is going to take about two weeks, though you don't necessarily need to join us for the whole thing. I well know that getting time off work is a problem for those of us with day jobs. I've decided to make it longer than the AIR so that we can go at a more relaxed pace with rest days as well as driving days.
The idea of a rest day is that instead of driving for hours every single day and staying somewhere different every night (which is great fun, but it can get a bit tiring), we will occasionally stay for two nights somewhere really nice. People can choose to spend the rest day either pottering about the local area relaxing and recovering, or go on a fairly easy hike into the countryside. I'll probably be doing the latter.
The date isn't fixed yet but it needs to be after Easter for personal reasons, and I'd like to do it before the main holiday season so it isn't too crowded with other tourists. I was thinking the beginning of May could be a good time to do it. Incidentally, May the Fourth (Star Wars Day!) is a bank holiday Monday in both England and Scotland.
As with the AIR, I'll be choosing the locations of the overnight stops based on where there are suitable Youth Hostels, and recommending B&B/camp site alternatives nearby. This method seems to work much better than the alternative of picking a B&B/Travelodge near to the route and then trying to find the nearest hostel. Two members of the AIR used my B&B recommendations and they were really happy with most of the locations I chose.
