Scotland Bike tour #9

RobbieT

RobbieT

Elite Member
yes it's that time of year again, me and Rab are setting off tomorrow for our 9th annual tour of Scotland, back home on Friday.
We are camping every night.
Thanks to all those who have already offered a warm (dry) bed for the night and :beer::drunk::cheers::booze: at various locations but it wouldnt be the same if we werent camping under the stars, and its only got that bad once that we required alternative accomodation so please keep your fingers crossed for some good weather for us!
look out for us on route...here it is!!!
A-B = Mon
B-C = Tue
C-D = Wed
D-E = Thur
E-F = Fri

http://goo.gl/maps/D6UmF
 
I see you are going past Perth tomorrow. I stay just behind McDiarmid Park and am off tomorrow. If you want to stop for a coffee give me a call and I will get the good china out. If not, enjoy your trip, hope the weathers kind.
 
heading north on friday moring inverness and beyond for orkney ferry (feck nows why but mate wants to go) might pass you on lochness. fingers crossd fo the wether. take it easy.
 
ross7801 said:
I see you are going past Perth tomorrow. I stay just behind McDiarmid Park and am off tomorrow. If you want to stop for a coffee give me a call and I will get the good china out. If not, enjoy your trip, hope the weathers kind.
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Thanks Ian, but that leg of the journey is Friday, off up via tyndrum today!

oops...no I'm not, I aint going anywhere, staying here all week!!! :whistle:
 
Good routes there Robbie - except for the last bit! I couldn't be doing with all that A9 from Dalwhinnie. Why don't you turn off to Calvine and follow the B846 to Tummel Bridge and on to Aberfeldy. Then the A822 through the Sma Glen to Crieff finally rejoining the A9 north of Dunblane. That'd be a much nicer ride.
 
Day 1= Falkirk-Skye

Day 1= Falkirk-Skye
http://goo.gl/maps/fKZLT
218 miles (8 hours including stops)

We set off from Falkirk at 10.30am and stopped for petrol 2 mins up the road from my house, but had to double back to my house to pick up some pieces of wood for the side stands after it became obvious that both bikes were slightly tail heavy with the weight of the luggage. My bike was fine on flat ground, but we knew there would be many stops on the journey that would have uneven/sloping ground, particularly with Rab’s bike which already had a damaged stand from last years incident which meant his was dodgy even on flat ground! Stopping the bikes, and getting the bits of wood out soon became an art!
Anyway, the journey up was uneventful (we would have normally broke this up over 2 days stopping overnight in Glencoe) apart from getting absolutely drenched on 3 different occasions. It was sunny & dry when we set off, but it rained pretty heavily at Glencoe, Glen Garry and Glen Sheil down to Eileann Donan castle. Each time after the sun came out and we dried up again…on the outside. The problem was that the heat was causing a wee bit of perspiration on the inside of the textiles which didn’t evaporate as quickly, so when we arrived in Portree we were dry on the outside (except our gloves) yet soaked to the skin…and this was only day 1!
Because of all the rain there were no opportunities for photos on the way up, so after we had made camp and set a fire going this is the only 1 I was able to take:-

Rab got a good one of our system for drying the gloves though!


We had a reasonably early night as we had an early start in the morning to ride the short distance from Portree up to Uig to catch the Ferry over to Harris
 
Day2= Skye-Lewis&Harris

Day 2= Skye-Outer Hebrides (Lewis & Harris)
http://goo.gl/maps/hGtSH
151 miles (11 hours including ferry (1hr40min) and stops)
We got up at 7am and were on the road for 8am which included packing up, dismantling the tent, and packing the bikes (we used this as a baseline for calculating our times for the next day when we had to get a ferry at stupid-o’clock in the morning). The ride up to Uig was great, we had some good banter with some other bikers waiting for the ferry (the usual Rossi vs Stoner fan stuff) and got on the ferry no problem. Bikes were tied down using the pieces of wood to stand them up more upright, and the ratchet straps across the seat.
I just left mine at that, but because of Rab’s centre stand issue he refused to leave it the way the ferry staff tied it down and he tied the remaining length of strap to the frame for extra security. I wish I had watched him doing this instead of trying to find my toothbrush and phone charger amongst all my other luggage!
We had some much needed breakfast and then headed up on deck to watch the F.R.V. being launched and recovered as part of a drill, and enjoy one of the smoothest crossings I’ve ever experienced on Ferries.


Rab got this shot just before we docked in Tarbert.


Little did I know this would be the last smile from me until about lunchtime!
Coming into Tarbert the ferry did a very sharp left turn (listing to the right) which could have been done much slower but obviously the ferry was trying to make up time lost when it had to slow down to deploy/pickup the FRV earlier.
We had been joking about the bikes staying upright but didn’t actually think much of it.
Getting down to the car deck I will never forget the sight or feeling of getting up to the bike area to see my 749 lying on its (right) side with car drivers standing around looking on in disbelief! I should have took a few photos there and then but adrenalin/panic kicked in and all I could thin about was getting the bike back upright. We picked it up and inspected the damage:-
Broken screen
Broken clutch cover
Broken rear brake pedal
Scratched Fairing.
It could have been worse…the soft panniers seem to cushioned the fall, but the ferry crew simply didn’t seem to have time for me and said “this happens all the time” and that I had to report it to the office. This simply resulted in a few photos being taken and the woman in the office stating “we don’t accept any liability/responsibility for damage” but gave me an address to write to anyway.




She was helpful enough to point me in the direction of a local garage, where the mechanic did a fantastic job of fixing the rear brake pedal, as did Rab of fixing the screen with some black duck tape he had brought with him (I had previously slagged him off about bringing this, I thought it wouldn’t be needed…how wrong was I ).

Anyway, so the morning was both ruined and wasted, so we set off on a revised route taking in the Islands scenery:-




Such as the Callanish standing stones

Including lunch


Dun Carloway Broch


Port Niss


And I think Rab’s favourite moment after I decided the thermal top I was wearing under my T-shirt was too hot and took it off.
Later he took this picture and I couldn’t figure out why he was laughing whilst taking it

Until he explained I had it on backwards….so he continued to take photos of me trying (and failing) to turn it round in a public place whilst remaining decent!


Arriving in Stornoway by tea-time we stopped at the Tesco to pick up supplies, and also time our journey back to our campsite (as the Tesco is right next to the ferry terminal). We bumped into SDC/DuN member Murray (efenevy) and chatted for a while, and mentioned our early start in the morning (6am ferry= 5.15am check in at the latest). I asked how strict they were with this…his reply was very…the barriers go down at 5.15am and that’s it.
Well…we better be on time then ……..

We timed the journey to the campsite at being 18 mins doing the speed limit all the way, so calculated with our previous prediction of about 1 hour to pack up and sort bikes that we would have to be awake and moving by 4am at the latest!

So we made camp



My funniest moment of the trip was realising Rab was now panicking about the bikes falling over…so he bungee’d his bike to the fencepost!


And we then enjoyed the beach



and sunset



Before getting into bed and setting my alarm for 3.45am.
 
Day 3= Stornoway-Armadale

Day 3= Outer Hebrides (Lewis & Harris)- Armadale (North Highlands)
http://goo.gl/maps/hGtSH
168 miles (13 hours including ferry (2hr45min) and stops)
It was an extremely restless night for me as I didn’t put any earplugs in in case I didn’t hear the alarm in the morning. But I was kept pretty much awake most of the night by either a corn crake (very rare but now way was I getting up to report it to the RSPB) or some weird frog/toad which DID NOT STOP making noise. Rab did not set his alarm as he was trusting mine to work.
So there was a lot of confusion when I heard Rab asking me
“what time did you set your alarm”
I replied
“3.45am”
He replies
“so why does my phone say it is 4.47am”
Confusion….simply confusion…I sit for a minute looking at my phone wondering why the alarm didn’t go off…it can’t be the right time..surely….then realisation hits….we are gonna miss the ferry…..
The whole reason we had booked the early morning ferry was because the afternoon one was full, so if we miss this one our only chance (at best) would be to get the evening ferry! What are we gonna do all day?
Rab snaps me back out of it and says “come on…lets go” I say “we’re fucked, we can’t make it, no way!” he says “come on…lets try anyway”.
Its 4.50am and we need to be at the terminal by 5.15am.
That’s 25 mins.
We’ve already calculated it takes between 45mins-1hour to pack and then 18 mins to get to the terminal.
Murray’s (efenevy) words from yesterday about how strict the ferry staff are still rattling around in my head as I think again…we’re fucked…why didn’t my alarm go off????....and I go into autopilot.
Its wet (morning dew) and the midges are out…in force…but we don’t have time to thin about how wet stuff gets or being bitten alive.
Gear on
Sleeping stuff rolled up.
Tent dismantled
Bikes packed.
We are on the road for 5.10am, our visors are fogged up and the light is causing a problem with visibility so we take it easy…plus just as we set-off a police car that has been parked about 50meters on the road from us suddenly puts its lights on on sets off in the opposite direction…was it waiting for us?
We make it to the ferry terminal for 5.24am….only 9 minutes late…will they let us on?
I get off the bike and run up to the 2 staff and plead with them…explain what has just happened, they are going through the final checklists (presumably allocating anyone on standby the places eg ours that haven’t been taken up).
They tell me to follow the bus lane (wrong way) and park at the end (blocking it) and they will try and get us on after they have boarded everyone else.
There is no way I am parking at the end of a bus lane blocking it facing the wrong way, so I pull up in front of the other bus lane going the right way, but this appears to be the standby lane and the staff member seems unhappy with me..I plead ignorance and give him the tickets and boarding cards…next thing we are being asked to board (first)…SORTED!!!
We make sure the bikes are PROPERLY secured this time..doesn’t really matter though as this bunch seem much more adept at tying down the bikes than the last lot.
Upstairs for breakfast, then we sleep for the rest of the journey.
Docking at Ullapool and the bikes have remained upright…PHEW…
And the weather is fantastic…wall to wall sunshine so we decide to unpack the bikes, dry off the wet gear and chill for a while


By lunchtime we then head up north






At this stop when I started the bike the engine management warning light came on, I was thinking…”oh no…has the fall on its side done something?”

But later realised that starting sometimes caused a backfire, which put the light on. Switching off and waiting a while seemed to fix it and it started no problems after that.


Durness for lunch


then on to a place after Bettyhill called Armadale….Rab’s favourite of the whole trip






The midges were out in force whilst I inspect my damaged screen


I even thought I had found my princess…..


Up the hill to watch the sunset (Rab Posing)


You can see why Rab loves this place
 
Day 4= Armadale (North Highlands)- Foyers (Loch Ness)
http://goo.gl/maps/hGtSH
132 miles (7.5 hours including stops)
The initial weather forecast for the day was to start off dry but get wet later.
We woke up (early) to heavy rain on the tent, so dozed until it seemed to get lighter. This wasn’t until 10.30am, and even then it was “damp” conditions, but after cooking some breakfast we were on the road for 11.30am.
Unfortunately single track roads, sheep, blind corners and damp weather don’t bode well for an enjoyable morning.

We knew the weather would improve later on and to lift our spirits we decided to stop off at the retail park outside Inverness and treat ourselves to Pizza Hut…and give us a chance to dry off a bit as the rain really got heavy the further south we ventured.
After stuffing our faces and using the toilet hand dryers to try (futile as it was) and dry our gloves we then headed over to tesco for more supplies, then headed off down to loch ness near foyers to make our final campsite.


As we arrived the weather started to improve, and we were able to get the tent pitched in dry conditions (although one of the poles snapped and Rab’s black duck tape came in handy …again)


We were later joined by a lovely German couple in a campervan who not only dried my gloves out for me but also provided some excellent company and banter for the evening (they love motorbikes and Ducatis and touring and Scotland etc).
 
Day 5= Foyers (Loch Ness)- Falkirk
http://goo.gl/maps/hGtSH
152 miles (6 hours including stops)
Despite the tent providing us with shelter, it was very small compared to the old one we used to use, plus it was now broken with a dodgy pole, which would cost more to replace than buying a new tent, so we decided to cremate it and say our thanks and farewell


We also said thanks (for now dry gloves) and farewell to Elizabeth and Michael and we headed down to Fort Agustus for breakfast


And back home via fort bill & glencoe

With a lunch stop at tyndrum where we met Geoff and Veronica!

Thanks for reading (hope you enjoyed it as much as I did…and big thanks to Rab for being a good mate and great riding buddy)!
 
Hey guys I did flash lights and wave as I past you both at the town limits (north) end off Ft Bill on Friday morning Robbie leadin and Rab brining up the rear dirty Gray Landy. Great write up and pic though guys shame about the rain considering how good the weather was one week earlier:)
 
the hunter said:
Hey guys I did flash lights and wave as I past you both at the town limits (north) end off Ft Bill on Friday morning Robbie leadin and Rab brining up the rear dirty Gray Landy. Great write up and pic though guys shame about the rain considering how good the weather was one week earlier:)
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thanks mate...I thought i saw someone flashing their lights but couldnt be sure....was too busy watching in the rear view mirrors for some foreign prick we had tried to overtake on the way into fort william who kept slowing down then speeding up everytime we tried an overtake.
 
Some great pictures there Robbie, really looking forward to getting here next Tuesday and Wednesday. 1st stop at Ullapool on Tuesday to Stornaway for a run round for the afternoon before getting the ferry to Harris for the night. Very similar to your route. Staying in Fort Augustus. Some awesome roads around up here. Realised how good it is over the last few years. ;0)
 
Glad you enjoyed it guys(except the ferry) wish I could say the same. It pished doon in ft bill all week, the wife was ill and my bloody bike packed in on friday only to be told by mce breakdown that I waited 5hrs for that my cover was only valid for a 10 mile radius off my fukin house and I was being charged £300 to be towed home!!!!!
 
colz said:
Glad you enjoyed it guys(except the ferry) wish I could say the same. It pished doon in ft bill all week, the wife was ill and my bloody bike packed in on friday only to be told by mce breakdown that I waited 5hrs for that my cover was only valid for a 10 mile radius off my fukin house and I was being charged £300 to be towed home!!!!!
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wow man that totally sucks....did you break a mirror walking under a ladder in front of a black cat crossing the pavement or something?

hope things improve and your bike and the missus get better!
 
Great pics Robbie and Rab.

Scotland really is a fantastic place. It's been ages since I did some proper touring round Scotland, but luckily that will be remedied this weekend. Off to Applecross then around the top and back down this Friday to Sunday. Going with a mate in his Subaru P1 so it should be fun, I have a feeling he'll be making better progress than me once the roads narrow down. Been far too long since I went back up to the Highlands, your pics have made me even more excited about it!

Hope you get the bike sorted out, that's crap that happening. I'm always paranoid on ferries about this sort of thing. :(

Andy
 
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