Most of our trips involve time at the seaside which tends always to be cooler than adjacent areas inland. Therefore, for all of our trips, at any time of year, you should have a windproof overgarment and a warm sweater or body-warmer type of garment. This particularly applies if you're planning to cross the Pentland Firth to Orkney.
Daylight - latitude
Inverness lies at 57 degrees 29' north of the equator. We don't think this
is far north, because we live here; but the fact remains that, for a majority
of our visitors, this is the highest latitude they've reached - at least till
they go to Orkney with us!
- If you come from the southern hemisphere, you can't live further
from the equator than Inverness (unless you're in Antarctica), since Tierra
del Fuego, highest-latitude habitable spot in the Earth's 'lower half' lies
at only 55 degrees;
- In the northern hemisphere we do find some major population centres
north of us: Anchorage and Fairbanks in Alaska, Oslo, Stockholm and Helsinki
in Scandinavia. But, gentle reader - 'gentle web-surfer' doesn't sound quite
the same, does it? - we can lay a bet that there's a 98% chance that you live
at a lower latitude than we do.
What's the point of all this? Well, our position means that from 21 March
(the vernal equinox) to 21 September (the autumnal equinox) we get more daylight
than where you live (unless you're in one of the places already mentioned)
- and this period is of course when most of our visitors come. On the 21 June
we have only a couple of hours of darkness, if the evening is clear and bright.
So for most of our season, the return journeys on our longer trips (Skye,
John o'Groats, Orkney Megatour) are done in daylight, often with a contrasting
light to what you experienced on the outward journey.
On our Orkney Megatour, the ferry crossing usually takes us past the island
of Swona, which lies at the boundary - as far
as the sea knows a boundary - of the Pentland Firth and Scapa Flow. Like most
of Orkney, this island experiences little frost, and summer temperatures don't
exceed 61F (16C) too often. Compare its climate with that of Churchill,
Manitoba which lies at exactly the same latitude - 58 degrees 44' - and
you get some idea of what a moderating effect the ocean has on our climate;
in Churchill temperatures stay below freezing for months at a time in winter.
Insects
Mosquitoes are almost unknown in the areas we visit on our tours. However
on mild calm days after June the notorious Highland midge can be troublesome
on our Skye, Applecross and Inverewe trips. We adjust our stops to reduce this
potential nuisance. Most summers there are only a few days when they cause
us problems in Skye, and never over the whole route. Midges are tiny insects,
and do not fly if the wind exceeds some quite low speed - 4-5mph is enough
to ground them. For this reason, we are hardly ever troubled by them in Orkney.
Is it necessary to book Puffin Express and Go-Orkney tours in advance?
or How far in advance should I book?
The quick answer to this is: book as soon as your travel plans firm up.
The longer answer is: alas, we don't have the second sight (that is, we are
not clairvoyant) so we can't tell when a tour is going to sell out. Remember,
we work with small numbers (usually not more than 16, maximum of 26) so if
you just turn up on the morning of the tour, there may well not be space for
you, especially if there are several in your party.
We do our utmost to have a vehicle available for every scheduled tour on this
website; however, we do not guarantee any particular number of seats. So,
if our larger vehicles are booked for private tours, we may only have an 8-seater
available for the scheduled tour. In this case, as you may imagine, the trip
may sell out rather quickly.
On very rare occasions there may be nobody booked for a trip the day before
it runs. In this case we may give the driver the day off rather than waste
her/his time coming out for a day which may not be viable.
We are busiest over the Easter and May Day public holidays and in July and
August. You should in all cases try and book in advance if you are coming
in these periods. However, sometimes we have had to turn away quite a lot
of people from our Skye trips even in mid-September.
And if you book our Skye/John o' Groats trips together you get a 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. 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.
Inevitably our Orkney Megatour does involve longer periods in the vehicle
on the journeys between Inverness and the ferry - but even on this trip we
give you a stop to stretch your legs.
Are your tours suitable for children?
Our tours are very much oriented to information. We appreciate your vacation
time is valuable and we want you to leave our tours feeling you understand
our area better. We don't think our trips are 'heavy' in any way but they
are not specifically geared towards children. If you think your child(ren) - over 5 years of age - will
not be bored by our style of trip they are very welcome.
WE REGRET WE NO LONGER ACCEPT CHILDREN under 5 years of age on our scheduled tours. Children of any age are of course very welcome on our private tours.
Child fares - Orkney Adventure & Overnighter Packages - are for children under
6-16 at time of travel.
Why are entrance fees not included in some of
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. On this tour we do however include entrance to the beautiful
gardens at the Clan Donald Centre. With our Castle
of Mey tour entry is included, since that is the main feature of
the journey for most participants.
(2) Inverewe Gardens are 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.)
Guides
Puffin Express is owned by Sinclair Dunnett and many 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. Sandy Mitchell and Duncan Simpson also guide many of our trips in the busy periods. 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 operators and run 16- and 8-seat Mercedes-Benz coaches,
the larger ones with full headroom. The great majority of our tours are run
in these vehicles but we may hire in others from time to time; however, maximum
size of coach we operate is with 26 seats.
Two of our Mercedes-Benz coaches. Both:
