Notes on Scotland

[esullivan]

I'm just back from a tour around Scotland (1,773.4 miles, to be exact) and I thought my notes on the trip might be useful for someone. We were celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary, so we stayed in hotels, some of them relatively expensive, so this will be less useful to budget travellers/campers.

Hotels:

* Mecure hotel in Wetherby, outside York. £55 a night. This wasn't near anything (a long way outside York), just convenient to the A1 on the route up. Nothing special. The staff were friendly (and bikers!), the room was comfortable, but dinner was expensive (about £50 for two fish & chips and a bottle of wine).

* Murrayfield Hotel in Edinburgh. Nice room, great food, but expensive. About £100 a night. The hotel wasn't particularly bike friendly (or unfriendly), but it had a tarmac parking lot off-street, which is somewhat unusual in a city hotel. We stayed there two nights, which gave us a whole day to wander Edinburgh. The hotel is a bit out from the centre, but the local buses have a smartphone app that makes it quite easy to figure out. We'd come back here, but it would have to be a special occasion because of the price.

* Strathassynt Guest House in Ballachulish. This place was recommended on here. We also stayed here two nights. Inexpensive (£50 a night), friendly and across the street from a nice pub/restaurant. It had a drying room, which was useful on both nights. We arrived in driving rain and the next day we went up to Loch Ness in sun, but rode through pissing rain on the way back. The one real downside was a newly laid gravel driveway that mostly swallowed up my side and centre stand, making parking tricky. If I wasn't such a Londoner it would have occurred to me to park on the pavement outside of the drive... Would go here again.

* Aultguish Inn in Garve. Fab room, nice pub with good food and nice location within easy ride of the west coast and Ullapool. Run by a friendly young couple. New tarmac parking lot, drying room and bike friendly. It was a bit expensive (£85) and we just stayed one night, but we'd come back here or maybe spend more time in the area exploring the coast south of Ullapool. We heard about this one on the "World's Greatest Motorcycle Rides" TV show.
https://s22.postimg.org/u4vi4g8yp/Altguish.jpg

* Mackays Rooms in Durness. This one was very expensive (about £130 a night), but we thought it was because there aren't many places to stay in Durness. We were wrong. There are plenty of B&B's around. It was expensive because it was a luxury place, right in the middle of town, with very large and nice rooms. However, no bar or restaurant -- we went to the Oasis Bar across the street, which overlooked Durness's beautiful beach. It would have to be a very special occasion before we'd go here again. The room was great, and they served a very nice breakfast, but there's a cheap campground across the road where all the bikers were...

One thing worth mentioning about this area is that the RAF/Navy use this for practice. While walking the pretty beach, a fighter jet passed repeatedly over the beach. You can just make the jet out in this photo, but you couldn't help but hear it!
https://s4.postimg.org/6wjzs33gd/straffing.jpg

* Cairngorm Guest House in Aviemore. This was a bog-standard B&B. Nice room, nice staff, good breakfast and plenty of parking away from the street. Price-wise it was about average for our trip (£70 a night). This is one of the few places were stayed in that had other bikers staying. Aviemore, on the other hand, was a huge disappointment. Just a big high street with tourist-trap restaurants (avoid "Papa Rock") and outdoor clothing stores. It didn't help that the weather was murky and we could barely see the mountain range above the shops and streetlights. Wouldn't go here again, but that wasn't the B&B's fault.

* The George Hotel in Chollerford. This one was also expensive -- £238 for two nights, including breakfast -- and we wouldn't go again. It was recommended to us (on here) because it is a stone's throw from Hadrian's Wall, which is true, but we also picked it for our last two nights because it had a spa (pool, sauna, whirlpool) and upscale restaurant. Last year, we spend an equally expensive last couple of nights in a spa hotel in the Peak District, but that was in a different league -- a proper gourmet meal and immaculate spa facilities. The George's facilities, on the other hand, were dilapidated. The whirlpool was as cool as the pool, the sauna wasn't nearly hot enough and the changing facilities were dreadful. The food was just OK too. It was a shame because it really is in a fabulous location. The one thing this hotel did do was make us feel young again. The median age of the guests was about 85. All Daily Mail readers. Were were shockingly out of place.

Weather:

We were very lucky. We had only a few half days of rain. Mostly it was dry and grey and sometimes the sun came out for extended periods. No midges, though we went for a walk after dinner in Ballachulish and I ended up with some bites on the crown of my head where I'm thinning. I think those were midges, or maybe just plain mosquitos.

Roads:

In general, the roads were excellent, but not as empty as I thought they were going to be. It could be because Monday was a bank holiday, so there were more than the usual number of caravans on the roads. Once we got north of Inverness, the roads did become as empty as I expected, though. The drivers (many of which were probably foreigners) were courteous. Most drivers seemed to stick to just below the speed limit (i.e., 57-ish on NSL single carriageways) and I'm most comfortable slightly above (62-65-ish), but the visibility is excellent and overtaking is lot easier than most places in England. I was rarely tailgated at my speeds, while that's a normal occurrence in England, where everyone does either 20 miles under or 20 miles over the speed limit. Those are your two choices...

* The A85 into Ballachulish, through Glencoe. I think Top Gear uses this road? Very pretty. However, it was pelting down through most of it for us and were getting cold and wet by the time we got to Ballachulish. We didn't go this one on the way back, but it would nice to see this on a prettier day.
https://s15.postimg.org/6ifazhr57/A85.jpg

* We followed the A82 all the way up to Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness. Pretty, nicely maintained road, but it had a lot of cars, lorries and caravans. Fortunately, every few miles there was a stop-light controlled single lane because of road works and we were able to filter to the front, giving us the road to ourselves for a few miles at a time. Here's us trying to get a photo of the Ben Nevis range along the route. We ended up stopping there on the way back, so had a close up view, but it was raining, so no photos.
https://s7.postimg.org/5q7hya14b/ben_nevis.jpg

* A surprising one was the A832, down the coast south of Ullapool and north of Skye. We went on this one just on a whim. We had already found our hotel (the Altguish) and it was a sunny day, so we killed a few hours without the sat nav, just following our noses. Absolutely fabulous road with spectacular views. We saw seals sunbathing, but a long way off. There was almost no one on this road:
https://s28.postimg.org/3wp3fuzhp/A832.jpg

* Between Ullapool and Durness. Just follow the sat nav, as there are several different road names/numbers, but it was fabulous. For about the last 10-15 miles, the road is single-track and very remote. Make sure you have petrol!
https://s14.postimg.org/tq9d4hyc1/from_ullapool_to_durness1.jpg
https://s27.postimg.org/xupr3zb3n/from_ullapool_to_durness3.jpg

* Between Durness and Aviemore, we followed the A836 -- about 35-40 miles of some of the most remote places we went through on this trip. Single track all the way, so more for bimbling than scratching. Again, fill up before you start.

* The A68 over Carter Bar. Again, more traffic than I would like, but stunning views and a well maintained, curvy road. This one would be more for people who like going fast.

Things to do next time:

* Pack lighter. We didn't use all of the clothes we packed and many of the places we stayed had inexpensive laundry facilities.

* Stay some places longer. We really enjoyed the Ullapool/Durness/Garve area. Next time, we'll hang around more and explore the top coast. We never got out to Tongue or John O'Groats.

* We completely missed Skye this time. We'll hit this next time.
____________________
Current: '14 VFR800X Test passed 31/10/12.
Previous: '12 NC700S, '11 CBF 125, '04 SH 125.

[Scotsman37]

Nice trip with nice pics too!!!

[stinkwheel]

https://s4.postimg.org/6wjzs33gd/straffing.jpg

Tricky 10k shot. Apparent delta wing and high alpha. I initially thought Typhoon but I can't make out any canards and the nose seems too long. Tail's wrong for a Fulcrum or F14. I'm going to go with Tornado, wings swept, popping up for a high speed near-vertical bomb run. Anyone else?

They bomb the shit out of Cape Wrath sometimes too (live fire). You can feel the ground shaking on the beach at Durness.

[/ANORACK]
____________________
“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.

[esullivan]

[esullivan]

My wife says that I should also mention that you should avoid doing too many miles in a day. We stopped frequently for photos and to just take in the scenery. (Most of the additional photos contain us, and we don't want to become memes, thank you very much...) About 150 miles was the most you would want to do in the highlands in a day, and that would take all day. About 100 miles was about right, allowing for meals and stops along the way to random castles/ruins, etc.

It depends on what you are doing, of course. For me, bimbling around in the countryside, 100-120 miles was good. The 250-ish miles (such as our run from Aviemore to Northumberland) or the 350-ish run from Northumberland to home was too much.
____________________
Current: '14 VFR800X Test passed 31/10/12.
Previous: '12 NC700S, '11 CBF 125, '04 SH 125.

[stinkwheel]

[esullivan]

[Scotsman37]

[chickenstrip]

[delsol]

Glad you enjoyed the trip, nice pics, anymore?

[delsol]

Assuming you used it, any verdict on the griplock?

[Enduro Numpty]

Glad you enjoyed your trip to Scotland. I suppose if it's your first time then big daily mileages aren't your priority. Having lived here all my life and ridden highland roads all my adult life I personally like to do higher mileages. A couple of times a year I'll easily do 400+ miles in a day without touching a dual carriageway or motorway. I never tire of the roads, particularly early on in the year before the tourist invasion really kicks off. I've done all the sight seeing stuff and while I still love the landscapes I don't really do touring as such in Scotland much these days - I can cover most of my favourite roads on day trips.

Nice report

[esullivan]

[esullivan]

[esullivan]

[ukdiceman]

Nice report and an interesting read, as I'm off to the west coast for 5 days over the coming bank holiday. We're staying in Fort William and will make daily ride outs from there, one of which will be to the Isle of Skye.
____________________
FZ6 Fazer

[Themightyimp]

It looks like a Typhoon to me.
____________________
1998 Yamaha FZS 600 Fazer
Now turned gay and got a cruiser.

[delsol]

Tornado's, Typhoons ?

Those clouds are more Zephyr like. get coat and hard hat.

[Northern Monkey]

[Skudd]

Glad you enjoyed * Strathassynt Guest House in Ballachulish. I thought it was a great place to use as a base. The gravel is different if you aren't used to it, but for some of us it is like a normal road surface.

As for mileage and speed, Scotland is ideal for both, I enjoy the long miles at high speed, but ride with people who like the opposite. It is give and take and I enjoy the relaxed ride from time to time.
____________________
Famous last words of Humpty Dumpty. " Stop pushing me "
Petty Anarchists look at "1984".............. The Visionary looks at "Animal Farm".

[MacZurbi]

Hi,

thanks for this interesting report about touring in Scotland.

I now what you mean, if you say, the 350m home where to much.

End of March, we where to visit family of my girlfriend in Munich by Motorbikes and made a daytrip from Munich to Nuremberg and return - 450km - the outbound run to Nuremberg on German Motorways - you have to be so clear in the head - 3 lanes and no speed limit on most of the 200 km - heavy heavy.....
Return/Inbound on normal highways - the pure opposite - so recreative!
____________________
Greetings from Zurich/Switzerland
Enjoy your life - it is always to short
Actual bike: BMW R1200 GS Liquid cooled

[Crazy Manx Man]

Cool pics, thanks for sharing. They bring back some good memories!

Scotland is pretty cool to ride around and worth doing once...

Three things.

Waterproofs, Waterproofs and Waterproofs...
____________________
Too Fast For Even The Plod To Keep Up With

[MacZurbi]

[Hamish Healys]

Thanks for sharing your notes on Scotland. The wife and I are sort of toying with the idea of visiting latter part of the year.