Scotland Highland tour

[falkland bomber]

Hi all

Me and SWMBO haver just returned from a 5 day trip to the high lands of Scotland here are the highlights.

Left home in Accrington last Tuesday heading for Inverness, route planned was a blast up the M6 to junction 44 at Carlisle then take the A7 to Edinburgh.

well the weather took a massive turn for the worst and yellow warnings were posted everywhere so much for taking a scenic route.

We stopped of at Hawick at the Morrison's for lunch and a dry out must say this government meal deal is a treat 2 x brunch pot of tea and a hot chocolate all for a £5.

We discussed the route and just decided to get to Inverness as quick as we could avoided the Fourth road bridge because of the high winds and went via Sterling then Perth and the A9.

We eventually arrived at the Premier Inn at about 20.00 hrs some 10 hours and 400 miles couldn.t be wetter if we tried to be told there was no vacancies at the Beef eater next door so went to bed hungry.

On Wednesday we awoke to sunshine had a massive breakfast to make up for the night before, before heading off down the A835 to Rogie falls ( see photo's) and was not disappointed watched salmon trying to leap up the falls but being defeated because of the force of the water.

After this we continued on to Garve before taking the A832 to Achnasheen then down Glenn Carron on the A890/896 to Lochcarron the scenery was jaw dropping I love my mountains but this was something special we stopped of at the gold course they have a lovely friendly little cafe, where we had scones and jam with tea.
Got talking with one of the locals he was a biker too , has a Triumph tiger was telling us he has to go to Aberdeen to have it serviced over 400 miles,
 

[falkland bomber]

After this we headed to Shieldag and paid a visit to Strome castle the locals were very friendly and their dogs.
From here back out onto the A896 down Glenn Torridon to Kinlochewe for more stops and photos looking down Loch Maree  there are just too many mountains to tick off but we plodded on to Gairloch for another stop.

We have added Gairloch to our list to come back to next time, the roads in this region are mainly single track and to the most part OK but we did encounter especialy further north we travelled a lot of camper vans to the most part this was OK but a lot of them were staycationers who looked liked they have never driven anything this large before and believed they had the right of way despite just passing a passing bay expected me to go off road rant over.

From Gairloch we headed down the A832 to Dundonnell and stayed at the aptly names Dundonell hotel on Loch Broom behind the hotel was An Teallach mountain great hotel very friendly food was excellent and views again to die for.

[falkland bomber]

In the morning awoken by the sheep on the mountain and the sun pouring through the window so we got up again what a breakfast all local produce and as much as you wanted

From the hotel we carried on the A832 then picked up the A835 to Ullapool, in Ullapool we stopped briefly could not get any fuel because of the queing camper vans.

So from Ullapool  stayed on the A835 and stopped of at Ardvrech and had  a walk to the ruined castle the mountain and valley were some of the best views I have ever encountered and can see why people love wild camping up here people were swimming in the Loch it was that hot .

We could have just stayed here all day by Lochinver was calling as I have read that they have the best pies anywhere in the world , we were not disappointed and TLP the following photos are for you this is a pie run and a half.

[James59]

that's a bit rough, 400 miles and no dinner. Shame! I live in Glasgow and I was out early this morning (7.00am) the motorway had the Yellow Signs saying heavy rain was coming. Guess that's us had our summer...good trip and stay safe.

[falkland bomber]

From Lochinver with full bellies and fuel tank there is a filling station there card only and pay at the pump we headed back down the A 837 to pick up the A 894 to Durness,

We stopped in in kylesku visited the memorial to those that served with the X craft in WW2  but Durness was calling and the Smoo Caves.

We avoided Durness again just full of camper vans and up here it was wall to wall with them we stopped at the Smoo caves was emotional for my partner and me as we have just recently lost our beloved springer Smudge and her nickname was the smoo.

After tis we got back on the road as we still had a long way to go to get to Thurso our next nights stop at the Northern sands hotel great hotel again modern with USB ports to charge our devises.

The route over took us by the coat and the views were stunning as you can se by the photos.

[falkland bomber]

More photos

[Barbel Mick]

Motorcycle, big breakfasts, scenery & pies.......perfect trip! 

[falkland bomber]

For some reason its not allowing me to upload any pictures on the Friday we went from the hotel to John-O-groats first for both of us from there took the road down to Wick to fill up before heading down the east side and again the weather played its part and gave us spectacular views .

The missus wanted to visit Dunrobin castle, anyone heading down that A9 there are a number of road works so be warned.

At the castle we wondered around the rooms that were open to the public and the grounds we were told by the guide that in its day over 50 staff lived there and the first loo and bathroom were not installed until 1921 smelly lot those toffs.

so our trip was nearly done headed off to Loch ness and the visitors centre another thing my other half wanted to do we were staying in Fort William that night and just after we left the centre the heavens opened so we arrived very wet but again the hotel was very pleasant The Alexandra  its in the town centre.

[falkland bomber]

Same issues again with photos don't know why so from Fort William we headed home  some 305 miles so took direct route down the great Glenn to Glenn Coe A82 as we headed south the traffic heading north was the busiest I have ever seen it from the green welly at Tyndrum they were queing nearly back to Glasgow.

So in summery for both of us this was a learning curve neither of us had done a touring holiday before but both said we wanted to do the NC500 I know a dirty word to some but we had to start somewhere.

We have learnt a lot for next time picked where we are going to stay already I would strongly recommend this trip despite the camper vans , as you may or may not know I picked up my Versys on the 16th July and now covered over 1800 miles on her .

verdict on the bike consumed 99 litres of fuel at 55MPG not bad 2 up and fully loaded and covered 1250 in the last 5 days sorry about the photos will see if I can post more if interested .

foot note wirth the trip just for the pies!!!

[Fat Rat]

Try resizing your photos, if they are too large, the software objects.

[falkland bomber]

more photos

[falkland bomber]

more photos

[falkland bomber]

Photos

[falkland bomber]

last for now

[Asmith61]

Looked like a great trip lovely photos glad you both had a good trip and enjoyed yourselfs despite the rain and Hungar 

[MrNorbH]

Love it mate, thanks for sharing your experiences! 👌🏼

[kwackboy]

Great trip, thanks for sharing your experiences

[TStyx]

Great read through, a rough start in the weather but looks like all came good!  Very inspiring (mmm pie) 

Is the NC500 a dirty word? 

[old git]

Sounds like your trip went well. Living in NE Scotland most of the places you visited are within fairly easy reach for me. I've ridden these routes all my life and they still make me smile. The weather is the big variable and the midges can literally be the real fly in the ointment but there's very few places that do it for me the way the Scottish Highlands do. The NC500 has been a great success from a marketing point of view but the roads and the facilities are being overloaded. Much of the traffic, particularly the camper vans, bring nothing to the local economies and littering is an ever increasing problem. If they build bigger, faster roads it just brings more traffic which compounds the problems and for me at least diminishes the appeal. I don't think there's an easy solution.

I still ride these roads but prefer to do it early or late in the year, before the hordes appear. Accommodation is generally easier to find and empty roads are still a possibility. I rode many of these roads during lockdown (I know, I'm a bad person) and enjoyed some of my best days on a bike in 40 odd years.

I really enjoyed reading your report and looking at some familiar landscapes. Thanks for posting

[Andy_J]

Great trip by the looks of it. I loved my trip up there last year. We got wet too.
Thanks for sharing.