Scotland
In the Wake of the Arctic Convoys: a Three-Day Trip from Manchester to Loch Ewe, 23–25 May 2026
По следам арктических конвоев: трёхдневная поездка из Манчестера к Лох-Ю, 23–25 мая 2026
15 May 2026AdminScotland5 min read
Contents · 7
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По следам арктических конвоев: трёхдневная поездка из Манчестера к Лох-Ю, 23–25 мая 2026
A three-day journey from Manchester to the Scottish Highlands, retracing the assembly route of the Arctic Convoys that sailed from Loch Ewe to Murmansk between 1941 and 1945. Organised by Алиса Турцова for 23–25 May 2026.
A three-day journey from Manchester to the Scottish Highlands, retracing the assembly route of the Arctic Convoys that sailed from Loch Ewe to Murmansk between 1941 and 1945. Organised for 23–25 May 2026 by Алиса Турцова, the trip combines museum visits, memorial sites, and a stretch of Highland landscape that once formed the staging ground for one of the most dangerous supply routes of the Second World War.
Start: Manchester. Anchor point: the Arctic Convoy Museum at Aultbea, on the shores of Loch Ewe — from where, on 6 February 1942, the first convoy to assemble at this loch (PQ-11) set out for Murmansk. Length: 3 days, ~1,300 km depending on home base.
| Day | Route | Driving | Indicative cost / person |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 — Sat 23 May | Manchester → Glasgow (Riverside Museum, Tall Ship Glenlee) → Glencoe → Fort William | ~7 h | ~£265 |
| 2 — Sun 24 May | Fort William → Corpach → Commando Memorial → Loch Ewe (Arctic Convoy Memorial) → Aultbea | ~4 h | ~£225 |
| 3 — Mon 25 May | Aultbea (Arctic Convoy Museum) → return to Manchester or London | 9–12 h return | ~£109 |
Between August 1941 and May 1945, 78 Allied convoys sailed from British and Icelandic ports to the Soviet Arctic ports of Murmansk and Archangel — approximately 1,400 merchant vessels delivering around 4 million tons of war materiel to support the Soviet war effort. From PQ-11 onwards in February 1942, Loch Ewe in north-west Scotland became the primary British assembly point. Eighty-five Allied ships were lost on the route, together with 16 Royal Navy warships. Convoy PQ-17, scattered by Admiralty order on 4 July 1942, lost 24 of its 35 merchant ships to German U-boats and aircraft over the following days.
This trip stops at the places where that infrastructure was built, defended, and remembered — from the Clyde shipyards that built the merchant fleet, through the Highland training grounds of the Commandos, to the coastal anti-aircraft batteries that guarded the convoys' final assembly.
06:00 — Departure from Manchester. 347 km, ~4 h 15 min to Glasgow.
11:00 — Riverside Museum, Glasgow. Free admission. Glasgow's Museum of Transport and Maritime History. The shipyards on the River Clyde built and serviced many of the vessels that sustained the Allied supply lines.
14:00 — The Tall Ship Glenlee. Adult ticket £5.50. The Glenlee is older than the Second World War, but walking her decks gives a vivid sense of the working conditions endured by merchant crews on the Arctic route.
14:30 — Lunch break. Packed lunch and a flask of tea — the day's driving is not yet finished.
15:30 — Three Sisters Viewpoint, Glencoe (56.6729° N, 5.0827° W). A short stop in one of the most photographed valleys in Scotland.
17:05 — Glencoe Visitor Centre. Brief facilities stop.
17:30–18:10 — Fort William / Loch Linnhe. Overnight base. Hotel range £160–220 (Travelodge, Premier Inn, Airbnb), or Ben Nevis Base Camp for camping.
Day 1 indicative cost per person: fuel ~£70 + Tall Ship £5.50 + lodging ~£190 ≈ £265.
08:00 — Corpach Pier, Corpach Shipwreck (56.8422° N, 5.1225° W). The shipwreck on Loch Linnhe sits in waters that supported the inland maritime routes used for wartime vessel preparation and movement.
08:50 — Commando Memorial, Spean Bridge. Free admission. The memorial honours the Commando units trained nearby — units whose operations in Norway indirectly weakened German forces along the routes to the USSR.
10:00 — Lunch stop at Loch a' Chrois. Packed lunch.
~14:00 — Cove (Loch Ewe) Anti-Aircraft Battery and Arctic Convoy Memorial (Cove IV22 2LT). The headland at Cove was an active part of the Loch Ewe assembly base during the war. Coastal fortifications, blockhouses, and observation points remain. A walking path along the shoreline links the wartime structures, with Loch Ewe and the open sea as backdrop.
15:30 — Aultbea, overnight (25 km from Cove, ~30 min). Hotel range £130–250 (Airbnb, Booking.com listings), or Firemore Camping Site nearby.
Day 2 indicative cost per person: fuel ~£35 + lodging ~£190 ≈ £225.
09:45 — Arctic Convoy Museum, Aultbea. Adult ticket £9. The museum tells the story of the Arctic Convoys that set out from Loch Ewe with vital supplies for the Soviet Union, the risks of those missions, and the role of the merchant and naval crews in the Allied victory. This is the journey's destination point.
After the museum, participants choose their own onward direction:
Day 3 indicative cost per person: fuel ~£100 + museum entry £9 ≈ £109.
Accommodation. Highland hotels in late May can be fully booked. Reserve in advance. If hotels are unavailable on the planned dates, the route is workable from camping sites (recommendations in the day-by-day above).
What to bring. Comfortable outdoor clothing and footwear; phone chargers and spare batteries; packed meals, water, and snacks for road sections; reusable utensils; tent and camping gear if accommodation cannot be secured along the route.
Joining mid-route. Participants outside Manchester have two options:
Indicative total. ~£600 per person across the three days for fuel, two nights of lodging, and venue entry — excluding food and the cost of returning home from Aultbea. Costs scale with group size and vehicle sharing.
This trip was prepared and is organised by Алиса Турцова. Detailed coordination — confirming participation, group chat, transport pooling — is handled outside the platform. If you would like to take part and do not yet know how to reach the organiser, contact MoyPolk UK at info@moypolk.uk and we will put you in touch.
If you cannot join this trip but would like to hear about future Arctic Convoy excursions, flower-laying ceremonies, or other commemorative activities, write to us. The platform's community grows by the same route every memorial does: through people who care, named and recognised, doing the work of remembrance.
Acknowledgement: this itinerary and all venue choices were prepared by Алиса Турцова. The platform's role is to publish, attribute, and connect — not to author the route.
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