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3K views 11 replies 9 participants last post by  Boris 
#1 ·
Rant time.

The lad and I have just been away for four days in the Highlands and I've never seen such blatant profiteering in my life.

Take Fort Augustus for example. For those that don't know it's bang on the main road between Fort William and Inverness so hardly the arse and of nowhere but the some of the prices would make your eyes water.

Firstly was the supermarket. Enough food for a BBQ for two, Breakfast pack for the morning and a couple of cans of beer each? £24 to you sir. Beer in the pub by the canal? £3.80 a pint. The words tourist and rip off spring to mind. To put things in perspective the following day In Inverness be bought almost the same amount of food (without the beer) and it came to £7 something.

Places like Applecross, that is in the back end of nowhere, I can accept there are additional costs in getting deliveries but not in Fort Augustus when suppliers lorries are thundering past the door every hour.

There was some good points though. The campsite was excellent value at £6 each for one person with their own tent and the pub on the main road sold better beer at £3 a pint and it was while I was there I was told that the locals get a discount in the supermarket which just reinforces the fact that the owners are just profiteering at the expense of the tourists. Fish and chips at the local chippy were excellent and reasonable which just shows it doesn't have to be so expensive and you can run a business without shafting people.

The prize for biggest rip off was the Ice Cream at the Old Fudge Shop in Callander (which is not even in the Highlands) who stiffed us £6.50 for two single scoop ice cream cones. It's clear they have an abundant supply of tourists and don't need return business.

I feel sorry for those who don't know any better and think prices are really that high everywhere and not just at the rip-off merchants places.

Rant over (for now).
 
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#3 ·
The prize for biggest rip off was the Ice Cream at the Old Fudge Shop in Callander (which is not even in the Highlands) who stiffed us £6.50 for two single scoop ice cream cones. It's clear they have an abundant supply of tourists and don't need return business.
That's outrageous! :cussing:

Did stop, briefly, in Fort Augustus on my way past a couple of years ago. It wasn't the prices that encouraged me to move on but the antics of the drivers in the car parks. Mind you, the coach drivers were enjoying the stupidity - maybe they were taking bets as to which tourist was the most idiotic? Anyway, I get fed rather nicely a few miles further on at The Thistle Stop - much quieter and with a dedicated motorcycle parking area right in front of it.



 
#5 ·
I can vouch for The Thistle Stop. Good grub, spotless clean, nice Staff and reasonable prices. Just avoid it if there's a coachload of incontinent wrinklies ! Ahhh ! the aroma of pish and pandrops. I firmly exclude myself from that category ! -I do find that a good Pee is a much under-rated treat though.......'specially on a chilly trip. :thumbup: Les
 
#10 ·
Like I said I don;t mind paying the inflated prices necessary when in the arse end of beyond as it clearly costs more to get the stuff there.

What annoys me is where places charge so much because they have a steady stream of people who don't know any better and are unlikely to ever come back again.

It's just blatant taking advantage.
 
#12 ·
I love that place.. I first went when I was 10 or 12 and every time I go I fall in love with it again. I have huge panorama of the village above my mantelpiece. As for the petrol I do remember a few (maybe 4) years ago paying £1.24 a litre but in a way I don't begrudge it as Lochinver falls into my arse end of nowhere category.
 
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