Tour of Scotland

Now then



Me and three Mates did an anti clockwise, 5 day trip through the highlands and hopped onto a couple of Islands off the west coast a couple of weeks ago



























Write up to follow soon

I love the west coast of Scotland, used to go there each year & stay in Fort William for 4 days. Look forward to reading about time.

I get to go play on it anytime im out on the bike..

Looks great

Lucky sod Billy. Some class roads up there.

we have the victorian land owners and lairds of yesteryear to thank for the twisty roads we have here, when the roads were being laid none of them would allow the roads to go across their lands so they had to be laid following the contours of the then vast estates...we dont have a vast road infrastructure like the rest of the UK but what we do have its mainly a twisty turny delight..

Great so far JT...............pity about the box coming loose..........a bit more modding and it,ll be rock solid I,m sure.

As Haggler says... great read so far, Al, STE and DALTON are good lads to have on road trip. Looking forward to reading more ...

What a buzz, three figures on a single track road, it certainly got the adrenaline flowing.

You speeding on Scottish roads

I'm sitting in a crap hotel in Atyrau Kazakhstan so your write up eased the boredom, now where's the rest

Cont.....

Fri 20th
I was up in good time and walked round to the garden at the back of the B&B. I followed a path leading down some steps and came out at the Loch side. I strolled away from the town a little way on the pebble beach and saw a lovely new house right down by the waterside, very picturesque. It was very still and quiet at 06:40 and the Loch was calm.



































I walked back up the path and steps to the dig’s and we all met for breakfast. I decided to have cereal and kippers this morning and it was a fresh one, not one from a packet, it still had its head and tail and was gorgeous. We’d put our bags on the bikes before breakfast and so paid for our nights stay and rode down the road to the port. It was quite busy when we pulled up and the three guy’s we’d seen the night before on the BMW GS’s were already there.











A knob in a car full of people tried to push in front of us but we soon had our place back and he asked us if we were in a rush ! prick. We were shown to the front of the queue with the three BM’s and we got talking to them. Turns out they were from Greece and had been on the road 22 day’s up till then having covered 11,000 km, 6,875 miles. They’d been all over Europe including Serbia, Croatia, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, France, Spain, Germany, Holland, and they had loads more planned on this trip. Last night they hadn’t booked up front and so had no dig’s and couldn’t find one either. They’d stopped in a bar until they were thrown out at 2 am then sat on their bikes until the port opened, now that’s hardcore.












We were soon all loaded and leaving Ullapool on the 09:30 ferry and sailing over The Minch, heading for Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis.
































































































It was like a millpond as the ferry took us on our way out to sea and exciting to be heading to an Island I’d never seen before. The sailing was a good one and the highlight was definitely seeing a Mink Whale which came close enough for us to see it but we also saw several schools of Dolphins. It was fantastic to see these mammals wild in the ocean.
We arrived in Stornoway just after midday and the weather was warm and dry as we found our dig’s a 5 min ride from the centre of town. Our hosts were like George and Mildred, laughing with each other on minute then falling out over nowt, it made us chuckle. We dropped our bag’s in our rooms and headed straight for a mobile phone accessory shop so that Andy could replace his lost battery charger

















then we went to a local butchers shop where they sell Als favourite black pudding. They had some unusual meats for sale in that shop











Once the lads had shopped we set off to see the Island. And what an Island. The roads are in very good condition, hardly any overbanding or signs of road patching like we have on the mainland and again the scenery was stunning. It is a very rugged landscape that has rolling hillsides and vertical mountains right at the side of the road. One minute you’ve got rough grass as far as you can see and the next Rocky mountains close enough to touch. The roads or to be more accurate, road, that takes you from Lewis in the North to Harris in the South (all one Island), folds around the landscape and keeps you engaged and alert. Wether you’re blasting through the mountains over blind crests and hugging the rocky crags or just rolling the throttle back and forward to maintain a smooth line and steady pace around the beautiful hillsides or tip toeing quietly through gorgeous villages, in the middle of nowhere, the place is brilliant. It was very quiet on the roads, which always makes the ride so much better, nothing to halt our progress or spoil our fun.






















































We made our way down through Tarbert on Harris, which would be our destination tomorrow, for the ferry to The Isle of Skye, and on until we came across a bay at Seilebost, with a beach, sand and sea view that was more akin to a tropical Island than the North West of Scotland. We stopped, sat and gawped at the view, it was breathtakingly beautiful. The sea was a torquoise see through blue and the sand a purest white, a sight to be seen and to remember.




































We decided to set off back north from this point and because there is basically only one main road from Harris to Lewis we rode the same road, only in reverse. It was just as good but with less traffic because it was after 5pm and we were soon back at our digs. Showered and changed we walked into town and ate in a steak restaurant on the port side.






























Once again the food was top notch if the service a little slow. We didn’t mind, we were in no rush. The starter which I’ve got to mention was a Haggis and black pudding tower with apple on the side, it was mega and we all had it. During the break before the main, Ste and I stepped outside for a smoke, just as the rain started. It was soon very heavy and the three Greek lads went past, I think they were still riding round trying to find dig’s and it was now after 09:30, poor buggers. We never saw them again, hope they got some where to stop that night. We had a walk to another couple of bars then I was falling asleep so walked back to the digs and left Al, Ste and Andy to carry on.

tbc

Cont.....

Sat 21st
Al and Me were downstairs first for the morning floor show from our own George and Mildred at breakfast and they didn’t let us down, all over tea and coffee, god it was funny. We were packed and away by 09:50 and on our third run along the A859 to Tarbert for the ferry to Uig on The Isle of Skye.











It was dry all the way down and it was a cracking way to start our day riding that great road. It took us 40 mins to cover the 36 miles of fun that morning and we’re shown to the front of the queue to wait for the ferry.











































The ferry arrived just after 11:00.
























As it came in and opened up it’s front it reminded me of the ship that captured the submarines in the James Bond Movie ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’. There was a lot of cars and vans with push bikes on board, obviously coming on the island to do some excercising, sight seeing and mountain biking. There was also a cool looking VW camper van, with bikes.





































We were loaded on and the ferry backed out of it's dock at 11:50, bound for Uig, an hour and forty mins away.





























The ferry spun on it's heels and made it's way out into the sea









































It was another calm crossing and uneventful. We docked at 13:30 and rode the 16 miles to our digs in Portree. We weren’t first off the ferry and most of the cars etc were on the road by the time we got onto ‘Terra Firma’, consequently the A87, the one road heading south, was quite busy. Al had stopped at this B&B before so rode straight to it and we were greeted with a smile by our host at the door.











We settled in our rooms and Al and Andy decided to have the afternoon off the bikes and would walk into town and book a restaurant for our evening meal while Me and Ste rode some of the Island. As we were getting ready there were a few spots of rain, nothing too much and the roads stayed dry so we headed back up the A87 to Borve then took the A850 to Dunvegan. This turned out to be the worst surface we rode, on our trip. There was a lot of broken and missing tarmac and some loose chippings too but it didn’t spoil the views. We stopped at the Castle in Dunvegan for a coffee and the rain tried a little harder but again, didn’t wet the roads. We rode south on the A863 from Dunvegan, a road that runs down the west side of Skye with great views along it’s length and a much better surface. We turned left at Sligachan onto the A87 and again had great views and tarmac back to Portree. We showered and walked into town to find Al and Andy. They were in a pub funnily enough and we had a couple of drinks before wandering up the road for food. We walked past a church with a very good Saltire made of mainly coloured chippings in a flower bed
























The meal was another cracker with service to match. We saw a bit of a pathetic fight further down the road, handbags at dawn really but it made us laugh and we left the restaurant and into a pub over the road. I’ve never been able to stomach whisky but I decided to try a Talisker, a single malt whisky from the only distillery on Skye. None of the other lads would give it a go and I was guided by Al on how to approach it before even taking a taste, so added a dash of water and had a few gentle wiff’s before taking a sip. I enjoyed it, much to my surprise and toasted Al with it, thanking him for organising the trip, it being our last night before we get back to his tomorrow.











Back to the dig’s and head down for the night.


tbc.

Good trip...