Scotland trip 12.08.2011
Don
Lee
Brian
Gareth
Rose
Day one:
Got up around 6am bike and luggage ready to go.. Meeting is supposed to be at 9am at Terry’s Brecon. I’m there at 8:15 for some breakfast, bacon butty and a black coffee.
Brian turns up at 8:45 1
. It’s the first time we’ve met so we have a chat, I liked him from the start, a good guy..
Lee phones to say his sat-nav is not charged properly and did I have mine. Lee and Gareth turn up together about 9:15. 2
As Lee’s satnav wasn’t charged, after putting on my new waterproofs, which is a bit too large cos I looked a bit like the Michelin man. We set off.
I lead the way to our first stop, Oswestry services to meet Rose. We had a coffee and then got on our way to our 1st overnight stay at Buchan guest house Moffat. 3
1A little quaint place with the smallest double beds I've ever seen.
The weather forecast was not good but we were quite lucky. We had some rain but not as much as we expected. We followed the a470 up as far as Builth and while stopping for Gareth to fill his gsx1400 up 4
a guy on a Honda stopped to let us know that the a470 further on past Builth has a lot of road works. So we took the A483 to Newtown.
The roads were damp but great fun… Plenty of bends and not a lot of traffic.
We met Rose in the Oswestry services about 11:45 after I took the wrong turning on the roundabout and had to ride about 2 miles to get back on track. 5
(She hates her photo taken so she won’t thank me for adding this.
Rose rode up to Oswestry from her home the night before and spent the night in the Travelodge. Nice lady seemed a bit shy at first but it didn’t last long.)
I then had my second coffee of the day. I’ve normally had about 4 at this time of day so it went down a treat.
We set off up the A5 this time with Rose in tow.
We had a stop about every 100 miles or so to top up the bikes as one or two bikes would only do about 140miles on a tank. It was nice though to have a stop about every hour and a half.
The ride up from Oswestry wasn’t so nice, too many strait roads and when we got onto the M6 the traffic in all three lanes was choka until we got into the borders. It was quite uneventful until we had to turn off the main drag to go into Moffat and my Sat-nav was taking its time resetting. We went around a roundabout twice before getting the right road.
The guy in the B.B must have been waiting for us when we arrived at 5:30 as he showed us the way to the garage for us to park the bikes overnight. We got all 5 bikes in there after taking the panniers off. 6
Quite a nice old house for a B an B, small rooms for Gareth and myself to share, with a bed that was not much bigger than a single. The same for Brian and Lee, at least they had on-suite shower that you could, just about, turn around in. Rose had a room the same size as ours, for herself. There is sometimes an advantage being the only women on tour.
Coffee shower change and out for a meal and a few beers… Moffat is quite a large town and absolutely full to bursting with B.B’s, hotels, pubs and restaurants. Spent about 3 hours in the Stag Hotel 7
having a nice steak and two pints, my first booze for about 8 months, it went straight to head.
Back to the B.B by 9:30 a coffee and a chat before going to bed. Gareth and I were sharing and I just couldn’t settle, not because of Gareth in the same bed but I think the late meal and the booze. I got up to save waking Gareth with my constant wriggling and slept, eventually, on the couch in the sitting room.
All in all it’s been a good day. Looking forward to tomorrow…We only have about 170 miles or so to get to the next B.B. So we intend to get there quick book in then have a ride around and see some sites.
Day two:
Moffat to Fort William:
I slept quite well.
Breakfast was very nice the B.B owners were really friendly people. It was £32 odd each for the night, very reasonable.
Dragged the bikes out of the garage at 9:30 and we were on our way. 8
img width=500 height=375]http://i1113.photobucket.com/albums/k502/DonMinett/Scotland%20with%20the% 9
I had a good laugh watching Gareth putting his wet suit on. What a struggle that was. 10
11
12
13
With Lee leading me bringing up the rear, some motorway to start with until we got up past Glasgow, then the real roads started. Weather wasn’t ideal, bit of rain but manageable. I didn’t have to put my mitchelin man suit on anyway, which is a bonus. Scenery up this part of the country is just awesome 14
and the roads are built for bikes if you like twisty bendy roads with the occasional straight for overtaking.
We had the regular stops as we did yesterday and it was nice not to have to worry about getting somewhere by a certain time so much so that we had the odd detour. One in particular was a road someone spotted that went between two huge mountains. Single track road hardly any cars but a bit of loose stuff down the centre of the road, It went on for about ten miles with the nicest views of a river in flood secluded houses woods bends that tested your riding skills and a goose that seems to like to attack bikes. Like I said this went on for about 10 miles, only to find out that it was a dead end. It’s the nicest dead end road I’ve seen mind you. We stood at the edge of a lake with the river running into it and old derelict pier. 15
Some nice people under an awning having a BBQ, It was well worth the 10 miles down to turn around and enjoy it again in the opposite direction.
We got to our next B.B early,( No Pic for some reason) so we decided to book ourselves in get the room keys and shoot off up to Loch Ness, 21
WHAT A TREAT. The road running along the side of Loch Ness is now my all-time favorite, open bends twisty bits sharp testing corners running between dug out mountains, Just Bloody amazing road. Loch Ness is roughly 30 miles long and the road follows it all the way practically on the water’s edge. Stopped in a place for coffee where the Loch Ness visitor centre is, 22
23
I can’t even pronounce it let alone try to spell it, came back the same way to the BB stopping to take some photographs on the way.
We stopped at an awesome place were the Loch Ness tour boats leave from. It had some huge canal locks running down the side of the town; it was a site to behold.
Coming back Gareth was riding in front of me; we were popping along at a good rate of knots when we passed the commando memorial. 24
Some tourist was taking a photograph of the memorial with a flash. Gareth only noticed the flash and it startled him. He thought it was a speed camera. When he told me this I could not help laughing while remembering his reaction at the time it happened.
After a shower and a coffee we headed out for a meal .the only place we could find was a fish and chip shop with a difference. They had all the fresh fish on display and would cook it to order, chips as well. It was quite expensive but I enjoyed it so much I went back for the second time.
From there to the station pub restaurant for a few bevies met a real nice couple in a little side room. This place had waitress service but the beer was a bit on the warm side for my liking so I decided to go back to the room and spend an hour reading before sleep and the anticipation of another good day tomorrow.
Day 3 Forte William to Clifton, Penrith Cumbria:
Good kip. Nice breakfast even though I failed to finish it. On the bikes ready to go by 9:30, great roads from the start, lee leading we decided to miss out as much of the motorways as possible on the way down.. 279 miles to the next B.B. stopped at the Green Welly service area again on the way back.
Quite a few bikers there even though it is raining, It was a roads down as far as the outskirt of Glasgow. Zipped around Glasgow on the motorways then back onto A roads.
I was tagging as rear guard again and lost the group as they were looking for a fuel station. I thought they were going to stop at the first station on the route but Lee had set the satnav for the nearest one. It wasn’t problem though as I just stopped at the first station and waited for Lee to ring… didn’t take long until they found me and we were on our way again…
The roads down to Cumbria are Great, wide open and most of the car drivers are quite bikers friendly… by this time the rain as gone and the sun is shining… what a treat. Same strategy as before, regular stops and great fun…
Got down into Penrith and both Lee’s satnav and mine was having trouble getting us out of the town and on the road to Clifton. We eventually got it sorted having going around in circles for a while.
Clifton is a little rural village and very nice. The place we are staying is called the rebels Hide.
The owners are very nice and really friendly. Brian Gareth and myself are sleeping in a large room that is a bit like a self contained granny flat attached to the main house.
We went for a ride down past the lake. The road was just awesome, narrow two lane road snaking alongside the lake, a bit like the loch Ness road but on a smaller narrower scale. Got some great photos from the top of a mountain of the road we intend to take today. It looks amazing. It’s taken from a secluded pub called the Kirkstone pass, I think named after quite a famous road that is awesome for bikes. It was alongside a hill named “the Struggle” A 20% hill (1in5) that snakes on down for quite a distance. I’m looking forward to doing this road in the morning.
Stopped for dinner at a nice pub, the Travelers’ Rest, never seen a gammon so big or chips piled so high on a plate. I fought my way through it though.
Back to the digs, shower changed and out for a pint at the George and dragon. Nice place good company and plenty of laughs about the day’s journey.
Rose, Brian and I left Lee and Gareth there to have another pint and headed for bed. All in all, it was yet another triumphant days riding.
Day 4 Penrith to Llangollen:
Up at 6:30 shower fag short walk down the country lane behind the digs
10am on the road. Started off the day on a great road running alongside a lake that then went up a mountain road that was ALL twists and turns for a good few miles, yep, the Kirkstone Pass is awesome down a single track road called the struggle which was great fun…
There was quite a bit of motorway then until we got to Llangollen. Brian and Lee shot off homeward bound after lunch. Rose, Gareth and I went and booked into the B.B. which is the best one of the weekend by the way, called the Ty’n Wen.
We then headed up to the A5 to Betws y Coed had a stop there and then onto Llanberis stopped at the Electric Mountain centre.
The scenery is stunning the roads are fantastic it’s been another really great days biking.
Walked into Llangollen, about a 15 minute walk had a nice meal and a pint and got a taxi back to the digs.
Day 5, Llangollen to Home:
I had the best night sleep of the tour. Single room lovely views and quiet with it.
The bikes were locked in a double garage so we had to get the guy to let us out.
Off we went at 8:30, straight up to the Ponderosa on the snake pass. What better start to the day can you hope for? Got there as they opened at 9am and was the first customer of the day for a large cooked breakfast, I tried to get it free, being the first of the day, but she was having none of it. It was worth a try though.
We had a run around North Wales with Rose leading the way. See you can do it Rose.. I felt quite sad that the tour was coming to an end.
We said goodbye to Rose after she put us on the right track. Gareth wanted to get home around 4pm and I didn’t have to get home early as the Mrs. was working. So we parted company with a promise to speak again soon.
It wasn’t the same running around the countryside on my own after having such great company for 5 days. I still enjoyed roads that I’d never been on before. I road home alone with some great memories, some new friends and the hope of doing it all again sometime, thanks for a great time guys…
It was a total pleasure.
Don..
15
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
I couldn’t possibly put everything in that we did, it would take forever. This is just a taste of the great time I had.
More photos at:
You are not allowed to view links.
Register or
LoginYou are not allowed to view links.
Register or
Login Videos at:
You are not allowed to view links.
Register or
Login
