Just a few notes and pictures to share of a recent trip to Scotland. Four of us, all on different bikes with me travelling light. Day 1: Blackpool to Perth, via Hartside, Kielder Forest and Jedburgh. Already had our first nervous moment running on empty tanks into Jedburgh. @Kevin1 joined us for a day trip up to Jedburgh and then headed home. We continued to Perth and arrived at our B&B for the week. B&B had the added bonus of a secure garage for all four bikes to use. Speed Triple R and Blade: Old school: Day 2: A fine breakfast to set us all up for the day. The plan was to ride to Oban for lunch and then decide later about the afternoon. Excellent weather and roads (A85 all the way), stopping once for a photo opportunity at Loch Earn (St Fillans) and then again at a roadside cafe for a brew. Lunch at Oban then we decided on a route south on the A816 to Lochgilphead then the A83 to Tarbet. Fantastic roads! Following a brew just before Tarbet then back to Perth. One more stop at Crieff for an ice-cream and then a short run back to Perth. Day 3: Originally headed towards Aberdeen. This soon changed as the roads to Aberdeen (A94 and A90) are just featureless. Change of plan, so we headed to Aviemore, stopping at Dunkeld for a brew and then at Kingussie for lunch. From Aviemore we headed clockwise around the Caingorm mountains to Speybridge on the B970, then A939 to Bridge of Cairn passing two ski centres (Lecht and Glenshee), stopping a Glenshee for a brew. These roads were fantastic (again) and the scenery was stunning. It was starting to get wet, but being optimistic we continued without waterproofs. 15 minutes later we pulled over and donned our waterproofs. It's fair to say we got soaked for the rest of the ride (A93) to Perth. Day 4: Headed to Tyndrum and had a brew at the Green Welly cafe. From there we headed up the side of Loch Tay (A827) and again the scenery was stunning. We continued to Pitlochry for lunch and then it was a relatively short run back to Perth. Day 5: Time to head home. We picked up the A701 and stopped for a brew at Broughton. We hit some light rain before reaching Moffat, but even so, what another great road. Next stop, Gretna Green for a brew and bite to eat. After Gretna we headed down the A6 via Carlisle, Penrith, Shap and Kendal. We made Garstang our final stop before going our separate ways. That's it and I must say how impressed we all were with the roads around Scotland - definitely worth the trip and already planning the next trip.
There certainly is some good biking roads up this neck of the woods. I'm based around the Edinburgh area so the Moffat is quite often on our list for ride outs. I really enjoy all roads up North around the Tyndrum area as the scenery is amazing. Although i would say that sometimes the roads are just too busy and it completely ruins it. Glad you enjoyed your trip up this way and thanks for putting in the effort on the write up, good read .
We stayed at http://www.dunallan.co.uk/ A bit traditional (as you can see in their pictures), but a lovely warm welcome from Francis and Janet. Great breakfasts and a secure garage available. Just a 5 minute walk into Perth town centre - plenty of bars and restaurants. If you choose to stay there, let them know about the recommendation as they are trying to be "bike friendly".
Just back from a similar trip myself. Thurs to Sun with just shy of 1400 miles covered on a round trip from Lancashire and on quite a few of the roads you did. We used Inverness as a base for 3 nights and found the roads round there to be generally good so not sure why you didn't like it heading that way. After a 450 mile ride on the way up I felt suprisingly fresh without any aches or pains noit quite the same story on the way home after 4 days of riding. Looking forard to next year already but first I have a 5 day trip to wales with the girlfriend to sort out.
I,m in Scotland at this moment , we come every year in our quest for good fast twisty. .......and we always go home with a broad grin every year. This year is the first time we have ever had any rain which has put a dampener on the hols but we can't really complain. Most years we manage to cover at least 1100 miles and that's just going around Scotland ( bikes get loaded into a sprinter for the trip up here ). If you have never done the west coast.............your truly missing a shit load of fun........its like cornering on sandpaper...there's soooooo much grip and the coast road up to Oban is a delight with its rollercoaster twists and turns.The cottage we use is just down the road from Oban , Balvicar, Isle of Seil, Alas the bikes get loaded up ready for the haul back down south tomorrow night.
Hi, sorry I meant Aberdeen not Inverness (fixed my original post). Yes, heading up around Inverness was great.
+1 for the Dunallan guest house, we stopped there last weekend during a four day trip great for a central base for riding around the Highlands. The roads are awesome especially around the Cairngorms nearly wish I'd gone up on the blade instead of the beemer although after the mileage covered doubt I would have been fit to ride the blade home.
enjoyed your post,where are you in the country?i am near heathrow.i plan to load my bike and drive to moffat then do the 500 mile round the highlands trip next year.when do you go for best weather and no midges!!!!!!chris (corkscrew)
Hi fella, sorry for the late reply ,only just managed to get logged in after a slight IT issue. We find that the first week in Sept best for us.......no midges or cages with kids to block the roads. We normally head to the west coast area for fast twisty roads although most of the roads are great , depends weather your sight seeing or trying to get your knee down if you get my drift. We leave Thetford and travel up overnight . We use to rent a great place in Balloch and then spread out from there but the last couple of years we hold up on The Isle of Seil just down the coast road from Oban however for 2017 we,re heading inland nearer the Green whelly.
We do the west coast every year, Next year it's Dumfries to Portree via Mailaig, Then Uig to outer Hebrides & ferry to Ullapool, Last night in the youth hostel ( Don't laugh ) in Fort Augustus, The road fron Invermoriston to the Kyle has to be one if the best ever, We travel end of May/ Begining of June, Not to busy, I'd book digs before traveling.
