First Christmas in Scotland

[Mama0ftw0]

Hello

First Christmas in Scotland. I live in Morayshire Lossiemouth to be exact.

What are the chances of me being able to go and see family down South via car for a week in December?

Is it likely to snow that month etc roads getting shut off up here etc

Thanks

It will probably be fine. I've had family come up to a similar area between Xmas and New Year with no issues for years.

But of course you never know.

Your higher bits of the A96 around Huntly might be more at risk. Similarly the Aberdeen by pass has a few interesting hills but the a92 is usually okay.

Depends where you are going after that. The Shap is usually worse than any of the bits through Scotland.

We've had plenty of bright sunny Decembers and the odd bad one.

Can you build flexibility into the timetable? So you could leave a day before or day after depending on forecast?

Or if you have young children would you be better to do immediately after Christmas instead so it's not quite so pressured?

The second half of December is often mild. Snow tends to come early December getting everyone's hopes up then melts, and then again in February -March. (I don't stay on the coast though).
The main roads get ploughed. The school bus routes get done too usually. The problem is often getting off your own drive way and down the side roads.
My top tip is to remember to put your snow shovel on your porch where you can reach it from the door.

Thank you both for writing.

second half of December we will be travelling. I think we will do the week before Christmas.

Children little so we are okay to go week before Christmas. I was just thinking if I book somewhere to half the journey and we get snow.

I do think I will take the risk. Thank you both.

I went down last Christmas. Coming back (27th?) there was snow on the Southern Uplands section of the M74. It had not been ploughed and two lanes were impassable but the nearside lane was OK as the lorries had cleared a path.

We are practically neighbours.

There shouldn't be a problem in December. It tends to be a bit later that things get bad up here. Even so, that main roads tend to be ok.

At the start of the year it was absolutely wild here, iced over, and the council is so shit that nothing was gritted, cue loads of road accidents and broken bones from people falling over. So I would recommend getting grippers for your shoes anyway, but travelling down south in the car will be fine.

Thank you everyone, really appreciate it.

@CrouchingTigerHiddenChocolate i arrived around July therefore I haven’t experienced a winter yet although I haven’t experienced a summer lol as I hardly have seen the sun over the last couple of weeks.

I am looking forward to the winter however as mentioned in December I do hope to go down south for that week before Christmas.

You can book a premier inn or Travelodge on the cancellable rate. It gives you til 1pm on day of travel to cancel.

Probably wise to book it now and if all is good (assuming you've set off quite early) you can just carry on.

I live in Scotland and we often drive down to my brother's in Devon over xmas. Driving is better than public transport including flying which is unreliable in winter. All arrangements are weather dependent though. If it's awful stay at home

I've lived in that area all my life and, as PP have said, the A96 between Huntly and Inverurie can be dodgy. In all that time we have only once been "snowed in" in 2021 I think it was.

Depends also which route south you're taking. The A90 Aberdeen - Dundee-Perth road is much less likely to have snow than the A9. We avoid the A9 like the plague due to the amount of accidents anyway.