NW Scotland - superb. Next time I'll hopefully go on a bike.

[Smooth]

We've just been on a camping trip around Scotland -over to Stirling, as far as Gairloch area, across to Skye and quite a few places in between.

What superb roads and a feeling of open space.

A Mondeo estate full of camping equipment isn't the zenith of driving tools (although better than it should be) but it was good try to carve a smooth line through the glens for hours and chase the locals (unsurprisingly, there are some good drivers up there!) and motorbike tourers. A lot of people like to boot it down the straights and then dither around the bends. Driving a diesel, I generally just keep a reasonable pace on the straights and try to maintain speed in the twisty bits, catching the lead footed people

Even the single track A-roads are enjoyable as visibility is often so good -although a lot of people seem a bit unsure how to drive on them...


It was a disappointment to arrive back in the relatively urban, northern outskirts of Glasgow on the way back

Even after a short time away the Manchester area now feels very crowded.
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TDM850

[Mr.Everready]

I was up to Ullapool over the weekend on the bike, it was great.
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the undemocratically unelected mod of the Scottish section

[Dr. DaveJPS]

i was up there over the summer and my favourite bit was the a380 to mallaig from fort william. 2nd favourite was the back road on Harris (south), tis teh one that doesn't appear on satellite on google maps but is the thin grey line on map setting.

Edit: it made the slog from leeds to glasgow on the KTM worthwhile
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"intelligent inattention is preferable to unintelligent tinkering"
www.davejps.com

[Dom]

[Dr. DaveJPS]

[Smooth]

I really enjoyed the Torridon road and the drive back towards Ft William from the turntable ferry nr Glenelg was clear and relatively traffic-free.

A bloke following me in a maroon Morris Minor -presumably modified suspension- was doing well in the bends, if not on the straights, on the road from Gairloch to Poolewe.

He looked really annoyed when I didn't over-take some cars on a straight section -I'd been instructed to slow down by the wife


The Kinlochleven loop, although short, is a classic. Just over 30mph through the twisties on a pedal bike wasn't quite the same though....
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TDM850

[WishayKillie]

[LordShaftesbu...]

[Skudd]

i was up there at the beginning of the year for a weeks touring, will probably go there again next year or may go to Norway.
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Famous last words of Humpty Dumpty. " Stop pushing me "
Petty Anarchists look at "1984".............. The Visionary looks at "Animal Farm".

[WishayKillie]

[ncrn]

I was up in Scotland in June and it was fantastic, this is the approximate route I took between Glasgow and Elgin was spaced over 2 days, which really was a bit hard going would have preferred it to be 3 could have explored the area more. I also suffered a chain failure on the M74 on the way home which added another day to our journey but did the whole thing in 5 days.

I was amazed at how friendly the drivers were, and so damn courteous. They would happily pull over to let me through or would indicate that they were going to let me past on straights and so on. I've never experienced anything like it on the roads down south. I also loved how some of the roads weren't much bigger than pavements, yet you could easily be doing a ton in places. The scenery was stunning too, I'm definitely going back.
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Past: 55 Sym Jet, 91 ZZR250, 03 NSR125R. Present: 97 ER-5.
https://www.nsr125.co.uk - NSR Owners forum.

[stinkwheel]

And if you're up there, the Strathcarron to Achnasheen bit is worth a whang just to see how fast your bike can really go flat out.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.