PUFFIN EXPRESS
&
GO-ORKNEY
Tours in the Northern Highlands and Islands featuring Wildlife, Castles, Prehistoric Sites, and much, much more
Overview

We offer small-group tours north and east of Inverness and comfortable budget accommodation in Inverness, capital of the Highlands.

Contents
What are we? What are we not? Quick summary of our tours
Prehistory/Archaeology in the North of Scotland Wildlife in the North of Scotland
Some FAQs [Frequently Asked Questions] Contact us/Joining Tours
General Information 11 September 2001

What are we?
Puffin Express and GO-ORKNEY offer small-group tours with a high standard of guidance starting and finishing in Inverness. Most of these are half-day or one-day tours. Our GO-ORKNEY Packages involve two nights or more stay in Orkney.

What are we not?
We regret that we are not a free information service about the whole of Scotland - we would love to help everybody plan their time in our country, but there is just not enough time. Nevertheless we give many people much assistance with planning their time in Scotland, especially in the Highlands & Islands - but this is contingent on their giving us at least a little business!

Provisional summary of Puffin Express Tours - Main Season, late March to mid-October 2002

Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays 29 March to 16 October 2002, also 30 & 31 March All day: Over the Sea to Skye
Fridays 29 March to 31 May, Mondays & Fridays 3 June-30 September; also 30 & 31 March & 1 April All day: Monarch Tour
Tuesdays 23 April to 15 October All day: John o'Groats
Wednesdays 17 April-26 June All day: Inverewe Gardens
Sundays & Thursdays 4 April to 29 September All day: Go-Orkney day-tour
Sundays, Tuesdays & Thursdays 2 May to 13 October
Mornings: Cawdor Castle; Clava Cairns; [Culloden Battlefield]
Afternoons: Cawdor Castle; Culloden Battlefield; [Clava Cairns]

Early Man in the Highlands & Islands

The last ice sheets came off Scotland about 10,000 years ago - a suspiciously handy figure for tour guides to remember! The first evidence of Mesolithic man comes not long after that time; excavations in the island of Rum, in the Inner Hebrides, indicate man's presence there about 9,000 years BP [before present] - we usually see Rum across the water during our Skye trips.
The Rum finds are interesting, but not very dramatic for the lay visitor. As a hunter-gatherer; Mesolithic man moved on regularly and was never in one spot long enough, apparently, to build substantial structures. Neolithic man emerged 5-6,000 years BP; he had mastered the growing of crops and the tending of livestock. Consequently, he was more sedentary and had time to construct the numerous and sometimes huge monuments, such as Maeshowe, the Grey Cairns of Camster or Clava Cairns, which are such a marked feature of the landscape of northern Scotland. The term "Stone-age Tours" in our literature is not meant to be precise - we visit Bronze Age, Iron Age and Pictish sites as well as the most ancient ones.
In all our tours we point out archaeological sites. However, those with the greatest number of prehistoric features are Orkney, John o'Groats and Picts & Prehistory. If you do these trips, you will see:
  • Major Neolithic sites, including Maeshowe and Camster Cairns, most important passage graves in Britain; Skara Brae, best-preserved stone-age village in Europe; and the Rings of Brodgar and Stenness
  • Late Neolithic or early Bronze Age sites, notably Clava Cairns;
  • Numerous Pictish features - whether the Picts are counted as a late Iron Age, prehistoric, or early historic people, we'll leave to the scholars to decide!;
  • Early historic sites, such as the locale of the most northerly Roman Camp known. (NB - this is just a site, there is nothing significant to see.)
    Altogether, a remarkable journey through time.

    Wildlife in the North of Scotland

    In international terms, the most important wildlife of the British Isles is our huge populations of seabirds. Most popular among these is the PUFFIN and we promise to show these to you every     John o'Groats trip from early May to late July - we usually see them in late April and the first few days of August, too. On this trip we always see either grey or common seal, sometimes both species, and we nearly always see at least one species, sometimes two, of deer.

    Some Frequently Asked Questions

    Is it necessary to book Puffin Express and Go-Orkney tours in advance?
    Our Cawdor Castle/Clava Cairns/[Culloden] tour rarely sells out so you are normally safe to book just the day before or even turn up that morning.
    Of our full-day tours, Over the Sea to Skye is proving extremely popular and is still selling out regularly (early September), therefore you should contemplate booking it at least two days in advance.
    Remember, we guide small parties - usually not more than 16, maximum of 24 - so if you can plan your itinerary well ahead, it's worth booking ahead. And if you book our Skye/John o' Groats trips together you get a 10% discount - only for bookings direct to us in advance, not available after you arrive in Inverness.
    But if you can't book in advance just turn up on the day and we'll be delighted to take you if we have space!

    Some of your full-day tours are quite long - almost 11 hours. Am I cooped up in your coach all day?
    No! One reason our Skye and JoG trips are quite long is that you have several hours away from the coach. At least two of these periods are about an hour. The guide may accompany you briefly on these longer outings - for example, when looking for puffin on our JoG tour - but otherwise you're free to explore on your own.

    Why are entrance fees not included in your tour prices?
    (1) Many of our tours, notably John o'Groats, have no entrance fees. On our Over the Sea to Skye tour, an entrance fee applies to Eilean Donan castle - but people may decide, especially on sunny days, that they prefer to spend their time outside.
    (2) Inverewe Gardens, Culloden Battlefield, and Brodie Castle are all owned by the National Trust for Scotland. Some of our visitors are already members of the NTS and so get free entry; indeed, if you are a member of any participating National Trust - for example, the National Trust of New South Wales - you get free entry. So, it would just complicate things to include an entrance fee!
    If you are visiting a number of NTS properties during your time in Scotland it may be worth your while to take a year's membership. Visit     NTS Membership to check on this. (This link takes you to their membership page - if you wish their other pages, go to NTS.)
    (3) Cawdor Castle is privately owned so this is one site where it might seem more obvious to include the entry fee in our price. However, even here people often choose to do different activities, especially if they come in family parties. Most may go into the castle, but some may decide they prefer to spend their time in the Wild Wood or on the small golf course.

    *Please note however that with all the places we visit, we have negotiated a reduced entrance fee, where such a fee applies.*

    Guides
    Puffin Express is owned by Sinclair Dunnett and most of the trips are guided by     Sinclair or his wife Kathleen Dunnett. They have been running special-interest tours in the Highlands and Islands for over 20 years. Alison Cameron, Christine Lee and Nick Ryalls also guide some of our trips. We are all professionally-trained guides who have lived for many years in the north of Scotland. Sinclair and Kathleen are the only guides to have completed training with both HOSTGA (Highlands of Scotland Tour Guides Association) and OTGA (Orkney Tour Guides Association).

    Transport
    We are licensed transport opera