‘We took a road trip to see UK’s most dramatic landscapes and now we’re converted’

Richard Brown and his partner Sophie set off for the Scottish Highlands, and the Isle of Skye, in a Skoda Fabia 130 and blew every assumption out of the water

I’m one of those weird people who really loves driving. A four-hour drive through the night might terrify most people, but as long as I’ve got snack and some podcasts, it’s like therapy for me.

Even so, there are some journeys that are intimidating even for the keenest of drivers. For a while now, my partner Sophie and I had loved the idea of driving across the Scottish Highlands, all the way up to Skye, one of the most remote parts of the UK.

But for one reason or another, we kept putting it off. After all, a nine-hour drive from our North Yorkshire home isn’t for the faint of heart. But then Skoda came to the rescue with the ideal loan car for our journey into the wilderness.

The Fabia 130 was nippy enough to make the long drive a hell of a lot of fun and agile enough to navigate Skye’s occasionally treacherous single-track roads (plenty more on those later).

We’re a Skoda family already after Sophie bought a Scala a few years ago, which meant we already knew where everything was and how everything worked, without spoiling the surprises the Fabia still had in store for us.

We had decided, rather than committing immediately to the 420-mile trek up to the Hebrides, to break our journey up with a night on the shore of Loch Lomond.

That meant an initial four-hour drive, snaking across the north of England and around Glasgow.

Hopping into the Fabia on a sunny Friday morning, I was initially apprehensive about its sporty seats. Like plenty of men in their mid 30s (probably), I am prone to getting a bad back and feared that a long time in bucket seats might not be ideal.

But any concerns I had were immediately quelled. For a hot hatch that absolutely flies when you put your foot down and can hit 0-60mph in just over seven seconds, it’s incredibly comfortable.

It made for a fun and relaxing drive and before we knew it, the crystal clear waters of Loch Lomond were swimming into view, along with our accommodation for the night, Sheildaig Farm.

Along with stunning views over the Loch, modern rooms in an old farmhouse and a delicious Scottish breakfast the following morning, Sheildaig Farm also gave us the first true test of the Skoda in some trickier conditions. The road up to the farm was a bumpy, narrow, single-track road, full of potholes (and a bit of horse poo), but nothing the Fabia couldn’t handle.

And thanks to our lovely host Leslie (and her two dogs), we also got to experience one of the more unusual meals of the trip. She gave us two restaurant recommendations for the evening; one a lovely waterfront spot nearby and the other was what she called ‘an adventure’. Needless to say, we went with the latter.

You know it’s going to be a fun night when you ring up for a reservation and are asked “are you bringing your own boat?”

That’s because we were eating on Inchmurrin Island, the largest inland island in the UK, which is home not only to holiday cottages but also to a delicious restaurant.

The only downside is that after a wonderful three courses, we had to wait for the boat back across to our car while nursing an epic food coma.

On a side note, the food we ate across the extended weekend was amazing. A particular highlight was Cuchullin restaurant in Skye, where we vowed to take photos of every course but only managed to snap our empty plates because of how good the food was.

As brilliant and picturesque as Loch Lomond was, Saturday morning brought about the main event – the journey up to Skye. For another 200 miles, we drove through mountain ranges, past Lochs and by some of the most iconic spots the Scottish Highlands has to offer.

But the landscape is so stunning that what should’ve been a four-and-a-half-hour drive ended up taking us about six, with plenty of photo opportunities and even a pit stop at the incredible Chocolates of Glenshiel (make sure you grab a hot chocolate).

Throughout it all, the Skoda was the ideal companion, comfy, roomy, nippy, and so good-looking it didn’t feel out of place in the grandeur of the Highlands.

Finally, we headed over the Skye Bridge and cut through the Cuillin Mountains, up past Skye’s main town, Portree.

It was as we headed ever further north that our biggest test yet arrived. Aside from a handful of main roads, the majority of Skye’s driving network is made up of windy (in both meanings of the word) single-track carriageways, with passing points just about big enough to avoid crashes.

This is especially true when visiting some of Skye’s most iconic tourist destinations, like the Fairy Pools and Neist Point lighthouse, which are routinely located in the arse end of nowhere.

Often, we’d be presented with a 40-minute drive on Google Maps, which in reality was 15 minutes on a main road then another 25 minutes slowly inching a few miles up a mountain track.

Luckily, however, the Fabia was more than up to the challenge. Sophie and I took turns driving and both of us found it far less stressful than it probably should have been.

And the views at the end of those tricky drives made up for any difficulty tenfold. Put simply, Skye is the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen in the UK, rivalled only by Iceland. Every bend in the road presents with something jaw-dropping which will live long in the memory.

There’s so much to see and do, from the splendour of Dunvegan Castle (and seeing their native seal population) to checking out real dinosaur footprints on An Corran beach, that we didn’t spend too long in our accommodation in Skye but the Hebridean Rooms in Broadford were beautiful, with an indulgent walk-in shower perfect for relaxing after a long day travelling and hiking.

And thanks to the relatively easy and surprisingly comfy journeys throughout the weekend, when we woke up on Monday, the nine-hour route home didn’t quite deliver the hit of dread we were expecting. So with a healthy stock of snacks and a banging Spotify playlist, we set off.

We made another two stops on the way home to Eilean Donan Castle, which we spotted on the way down and vowed to visit, and the Scottish Deer Centre, where we got to meet some extremely fluffy but quite intimidating Highland cows.

Despite spending an unholy amount of time in the car, the seats were still comfy and with the weather constantly changing the further we drove, the powerful aircon was a welcome reprieve.

We took a more easterly route to see more of the unique and varied Scottish landscapes and were surprised by the amount of motorways, which seemed a million miles away from the single-track roads we had frequented just the day before. But it was a good chance for us to test some of the Fabia’s other features, such as its excellent adaptive cruise control.

Overall, the Fabia was the perfect all-rounder. Whether you’re swerving in and out of single-track roads in the middle of nowhere or driving down mundane motorways that seem to go on forever, you’re in good hands.

It’s a great blend of comfort and fun – it really does move when you put your foot down, but still has plenty of room inside to ensure you never feel cramped or squished.

The Skoda Fabia 130 starts at £30,010 or £323 per month