It (sometimes) takes two to tango

Think some people will be thinking I've stopped travelling with the lack of updates on here so will confess in the last couple of months i've actually been away twice.
End of August had five nights away in Scotland and i only returned from a week in Madeira this weekend.
Reason I've not wrote them up is because I did them with a friend and this blog is about Solo holidays however after giving it some thought i can relate some experiences for the benefit of everyone including solo people who are considering the destinations.

Scotland :-
Was good visited a number of places in the 4 full days there including Stirling, Edinburgh & Loch Lomond.
Stayed at a hotel (Westerwood Golf & Spa) close to Cumbernauld which was a great location to get around. Was only a 5 minute drive to Croy railway station where there is a massive Park & Ride (free) so on the visits to both Stirling & Edinburgh we used the train which actually worked out cheaper than petrol and parking if we had drove to these cities (could have done same if we had visited Glasgow). Trains were very regular about every half hour to and from each city.
Stirling was first stop, nice place and was very impressed and we got a 3 day pass from "historical scotland" which allows you to visit lots of places in 3 seperate days over a 5 day period. The cost works out just £1 cheaper than the joint cost of visiting Stirling and Edinburgh Castles, so even if doing nothing else it helps you get fast track entry and beat the tourist queues.



On our last day we mapped out a diving route visiting 4 other smaller properties on the list including Blackness Castle and Linlithgow Palace which made for an interesting day out, so got full value for our pass.


Loch Lommond we made a full day driving through the trossachs national park east of the Loch then coming down the west side stopping off at numerous places. Found a nice little tea room in Tarbet (don't go to the tourist place on the lake front) and really liked Luss.
Did a boat trip from Luss which was a rip off, it was advertised as a lake cruise with commentry but turned out to be doubling as the water taxi taking people to the Youth Hostel at the other side. Still waiting for the commentry although they said a couple of words just before we docked

.
In hindsight would have drove to Ballach at the souh of the Loch and got the boat to Luss, had a couple of hours there then another boat back.
Nice trip which proves you don't need to leave this country to have a good holiday.









Madeira:-
My first ever trip to the flowered island and was very impressed with the place, would be a decent spot for Solo travellers as it feels very safe to walk around day and nght.

Flew with Jet2 from Newcstle and must admit I'm very impressed with the airport efficiency in everything, car park is handy, security is quick and facilities are good for a smaller airport. No wonder it often comes top in customer service surveys.

Although flying with Jet2 actually sorted the flight/hotel myself through Expedia and although had to pay extra for my luggage and arrange our own transfer we saved £70 per person on the holiday.
Arranged the transfer online through a company called Madeira Transfers (they had good reviews on tripadvisor), they also offer excurrsions. The good thing about this company is that although you book online you don't pay until you get there (pay driver in euros) so don't have the worry of giving them your credit card details. The driver was there with my name up on arrival and again there on time for our return from the hotel.


Stayed at the Pestana Grand hotel which is a good hour walk into Funchal (harbour area) but they provided a free shuttle up to 7pm and there was plenty of service buses (you can get a pass at reasonable cost).

We did Bed & Breakfast and only had our evening meal at the hotel first night as only arrived at 8pm, it was a buffet and good but Funchal is so full of restaurants its more fun moving around.

Ate at a different place each night and they were all good stndard bt thought the best was the ones in the back streets in the Old Town.

A must is to do the Hop on hop off buses and their are two companies do it (Yellow & Red), reckon Red is the best option as they visit a couple of interesting places that the Yellow doesn't, one a lovely Church on a hill (can see it from all over) with some nice gardens behind it (surprising not many got off here) and also a stunning view point to look over the city.


Did a jeep tour to the west of the island which was great fun and also visited Nuns Valley, got brave and did it on the service bus which was fun (although we didn't do it you can get dropped off at the view point and walk down to the village which takes an hour or so apparently as bus goes there also).
If i go to Madeira again would plan a few trips on local buses, its a good adventure and the services seem reliable.

Did all the usual tourist stuff like cable cars and the wood tobbagons which was fun.