Riding in Scotland (Advice)

[ncrn]

On the 15th of June I'm going away for 4 days with my Dad and we're planning on riding up to Scotland and I was hoping I could get some advice on good places to go, any biker hang outs and any accommodation anyone could recommend? My Dad wasn't too keen on the idea of camping so it looks like we'll be staying in B&B's or similar.

Our plan is a bit vague at the moment but the general idea is that we'd go up the west of Scotland, sort of past Fort William then head a bit further North. Then go round to Elgin as we have family there so we'll stay there for a night. Then head back down towards England via some route that we haven't really thought about yet.

We aren't fast riders really, I'm going to be on my ER-5 and my Dad is taking his SV650. One thing my Dad has spoken about is taking time to appreciate views and so on, as when he went for a ride through the peak district he felt like he wasted it a bit as he rode round it and came home without really stopping.

Oh also we are heading to Scotland from Oxford so if anyone can suggest somewhere along the way to break up the motorways a little that'd be cool.

Thanks
James
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Past: 55 Sym Jet, 91 ZZR250, 03 NSR125R. Present: 97 ER-5.
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[Bendy]

Look at a map, the twistier, north wester and steeper it is on the map the better it will be. Make Inverness the bottom right hand corner of your rectangle and anything inside it is guaranteed to be good.

There are plenty of accommodation recommendations in other Scotland threads on here - have a search.

Personally, I wouldn't much bother breaking up the motorways - been there, tried that, all you do is waste time that could be better spent in the good stuff. Bang straight up to Fort William or further the first day (and it will take you a day), come home from Elgin meandering down anything that looks interesting until you hit the motorway network at Glasgow/Edinburgh then burn down the rest of it.

And wave if you see a big red Sprint cos I'm heading up for the week then too.

[kitty kat]

Bikers hang out at Green Welly, Tyndrum, then if you follow that road (A82) takes you up to Ballaculish, past Glencoe then onto Fort William, that is a great road, some fantastic scenery, along part of Loch Leven. I did this road last year heading to Mallaig and the ferry to Skye.
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[gmanxiii]

Last year we skipped a chunk of motorway by taking a detour through A682 towards Devils Bridge then through the lake district. Takes a little bit longer but I hate motorways anyways so was a decent trade off. I believe someone on here gave this advice previously (could be stinkwheel) "You'll be fine any where north of Glasgow" and it was true. Roads are awesome, scenery knocks your socks off.

This is part of the route we took

Linky

Ferry over to Isle of Skye, stayed a night then we made the rest up after that. Think we ended up going back down pass Loch Ness and a night in Edinburgh. We booked ahead for our first night for a B&B in Loch Lomond then just picked a place we thought was a good place to stay a night and went looking for a B&B once we got there. Offloaded our luggage and go for a little ride to explore the Area. Everywhere we stopped seemed to be very biker friendly so i wouldn't worry about that.

Edinburgh was a bit more of a pain though, was a last minute decision to go and didn't realise we caught the end of the Edinburgh Festival so it was really really busy. Ended up booking a hotel on my iphone whilst sat in a service station outside the city. If you are interested, Jury's Inn is pretty central with parking round the back of the hotel. Book online though its miles cheaper. But still very expensive compared to B&B's. If i can remember it was very roughly about 25-30quid pp for a B&B and about 60-70pp for the Hotel. double that if you just turned up on the day for the hotel. Lovely city if thats your kind of thing.
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[Nyarlathotep]

My wife and I got home last weekend from our second bike trip through Scotland. Much as we thoroughly enjoyed the North West coast, our favourite bit is the A82 through Rannoch Moor and Glen Coe, then a short detour round the B863 (around loch Leven). Very dramatic scenery.
If you plan on staying over in that area, the Clachaig Inn is good:
https://www.clachaig.com/
I'd book in advance though.

[Nyarlathotep]

[Zenarchy]

If you're heading up the north west coast, there's a road to applecross called 'the pass of the cattle' - if you do a google search for it you'll find loads of info about it. That's an amazing twisty road taking you right up into the mountains, where you can stop at the top and the views are stunning (few hairy bends with drops over the edge on the way up and down though so good to take it easy and if you want to appreciate the views do that in the stopping places rather than when you're riding however tempting it is to take in the scenery when you're on the move).

Ullapool is a nice place to end the day after riding along that, and there's a good camp site and also B&Bs and hotels there I think, and places to eat and a pub, and there are plenty of nice roads and countryside leading out of there the next day (I headed up to Durness for the night from there).

If you go onto google maps and click the 'terrain' button you're spoilt for choice for great mountainous areas on the west coast, and just about everywhere you ride in them is absolutely stunning - if you like mountains that is

[spadge]

[kitty kat]

if you go to Inverness, the B852 or B862 on the east side of Loch Ness are also great single track roads to ride.
____________________
Enjoy everyday, tell those you love everyday you love them
Life is too short to fall out with people

[Nyarlathotep]

[ncrn]

Wow thanks everyone theres some great stuff here, I'm gonna see my Dad on Sunday so I'll go through everything with him see what he thinks.

I'll try to make sure I post up the route we finally take and any interesting photos I get.

Again thank you
____________________
Past: 55 Sym Jet, 91 ZZR250, 03 NSR125R. Present: 97 ER-5.
https://www.nsr125.co.uk - NSR Owners forum.

[Stevie GooGs]

Have a look here its still work in progress.

https://www.visit-ullapool.co.uk/ullapool-activities/ullapool-motorcycle-touring.html

I would recommend from Tyndrum all the way up the west coast.

For views you can't beat the west coast of Scotland all the way up to Durness. If you don't want to camp B&B's up here get really busy so you might want to book before you go if you's have a rough idea of your route.

Ullapool recommended biker accommodation

https://www.riverviewullapool.co.uk/
https://www.ullapool-bedandbreakfast.co.uk/
https://www.royalhotel-ullapool.com/

If you do camp be prepared to be eaten alive by the killer midge if its a calm/damp day.
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