Here’s my attempt at the trip ride report for the Scottish Compass Rose Challenge.
This trip started out as a brain child last August, in fairness it was something I wanted to do earlier last year but just had the wrong bike and nae time to do it.
I was re-inspired to take the bull by the horns after reading a fellow tosser’s ride report for his trip.
As with most of these things it started to evolve after another tosser (Wully) showed his interest too.
The job seemed relatively simple, choose a route, throw in some waypoints for focus (the compass points), add a pinch of interesting stop gaps and a healthy double helping of good biking roads and break it down to a manageable time limit. (easy)
It was then that SWMBO suggested I do it for charity….why not!
That done it was time to book the time off work and throw it onto the forum as an open invite trip to see what the response might be…taking into account Wully and I were going regardless of who else was!
In the end it turned out that there was anywhere between 14 – 18 bikes riding with us at any one time, and that took a bit more organising.
So, without further ado…..
Day 1
The day was upon us, after all the preparation the bike was packed and ready to rock!
The result of the months of endless packages coming in the post for the equipment I was sure to use on my much anticipated camping trip sat in front of me
I got up at 7am on the Saturday morning of the 25th April, filled my flask, put on my bike gear and set off for my first rendezvous at the local swimming pool to meet a couple of riders (Akram and Go Anywhere K). From there we set off to meet the other riders at Tyndrum.
Here we met up with Wully, Big Dave, Dazchallenge, JKM, Christine, Bobby (hope that’s everyone!! Then set off on our trip towards Cairngaan in the Mull of Galloway to reach our first goal and the most Southerly point of Scotland.
There weren’t that many stops on the way to Cairngaan, I think everyone realised that we had a number of miles to put in that morning to reach the boys from Ireland at a decent time. We did do a tea break at a wee tea room at the side of the road near Maybole on the A77, but it was brief and so we headed off again with me secure in the knowledge that the next stop would be Cairngaan for our rendezvous.
Wee pic of the roads Girvan, cracking for bikes
Some more pics at Girvan
A wee punt with inspiration flying off of it near Girvan
What say ye Wully
When we finally reached Cairngaan (which in all fairness I had never been to before and had expected it to be a one horse town) it consisted of nothing but a farm!! The farmer greeted us and told us that another bunch of bikes had arrived earlier but gone on to the lighthouse at the most southern tip which was only 5 mins ride away
Here we met up with Dakar, Wookie, Martas, Allthegearnoidea, Tractorpilot made a late appearance. The roads were ok, the views were ace
Couple of obligatory pics
And here is some of a pile of tossers, we were now a force to be reckoned with….a posse (I said posse)
After another wee cup of tea we headed for the nearest fuel station on-route to Castle Douglas which would be our first stop over and a chance to meet all the riders over beer
Unfortunately the thunder and lightning started and the sky started to pish down on us so the race was on to Castle Douglas. When we finally got to the campsite to set up the tents it was bleak to say the least…We met up with Raboomdea here who was kind enough to help me put up my tarp, which I would say is a good idea if you are staying more than one night….but an unnecessary hassel if you aren’t!
Anyway, that was the first day. A successful one I think in that everyone was together drinking beer around a table by 7.30pm. We had a laugh, talked over the route for the next day, and decided to start using a drop off system to make things easier over the next few days….which I have to admit to being a little apprehensive about as I had never used one before and there was a huge potential for it to go tits up since there was now a few tossers involved
Day 2 Cnut of a nights sleep….Unfortunately I set my tent up next to Neil’s aka Tractorpilot and he can snore for Scotland!
You see I thought Tractorpilot had taken this name because he rode a GSA….. no, he sounded like a Massey Ferguson until about 3:30am. Of course I can’t be too hard on him because I snore too apparently.
Wully pointed out in the morning that Neil and I had been acting like a tag team all night, but being a veteran camper he just stuck his earplugs in and went back to sleep!! Personally I think his ability to sleep was more to do with the bottle of whiskey I spotted in his pannier than the earplugs in his ears, but that’s just my opinion.
Anyway, the days route had been set for Castle Douglas to St Andrews via Roslin and a few nice roads along the way using the Drop Off system as discussed the night before. Bobby was going to take the lead in his RT and I was going to take up the rear on my bike.
Earplugs in, ipod on, radio check with Bobby and off we go.
We set off at about 9:30am and head on up towards Dumfries on the A75 then on to the A701 up to Moffat for brekky in a wee caff.
Still raining lightly we head on up through what I think they call the Devil’s Beef Tub towards Penicuik. Excellent bike roads, the drop off system to my surprise was working flawlessly and because I was at the back of the group I could see just what a force we had become on the roads, car drivers were shying away from us and gripping their steering wheels with bewilderment and fear as 16 or so bikes stormed by them.
We stopped off at Penicuik to allow Bobby, Christine and Neil to shoot on ahead to an outdoor shop to replace the bits and pieces they needed to from the previous nights camping.
Raboomdea took the lead and I remained at the rear as we headed off to Roslin for a wee explore around the chapel (once we finally found out how to get in).
They are doing a renovation project on the chapel just now but its still worth visiting.
The remains of Roslin Castle can be seen from the walkway erected around the chapel
Although we weren’t allowed to take pics in the chapel I snapped a few around the grounds which might give you a wee taste for more
Don't know what i'm laughing at...these young ones have got no respect these days you know
Good stop over, all cultured out we slowly started to gather in the carpark, a dozen tossers waiting for one woman before we set off
Then we headed on up around the Edinburgh city bypass to meet up with Christine, Bobby and Neil again at the Fourth road bridge at South Queensferry for piccies and food.
Obligitory tosser straddling his horse under the Fourth Bridge
Bridge to North Queensferry which we will be riding across
The Paddock
Loads of tossers under the Forth Bridge
Campsite at St Andrews - my tent is the one furthest away (not sure if its far enough away from Tractorpilot although)
Not the worst nights sleep, had a few beers the night before to help I was aware it was raining all night right enough and woke at about 5:30ish to the sound of rain on my tent. It was no surprise, the past couple of days weather were quite good but I knew it couldn’t last, the forecast said it would be pouring down until nearer midday and it was!
Still I knew we had about 220 -250 miles to cover and was keen to get underway. We all packed up our stuff in the rain, all except one who decided to simply head directly to Inverness
We left the site by about 9:30am, disappointed a little that a certain Fife moderator wouldn’t take his bike oot in the rain to see us aff Still I was sure I would get the chance to examine the Ronnosaurus (or the Ronnoneversaurus as it is now known) at a later date
Aff we went. Unfortunately we hit the Tay Bridge at Dundee during rush and so lost a good hour between that and refuelling. That wasn’t all we lost right enough, Go Anywhere K’s engine had started to overheat and so he had to shoot off in the right hand lane and make his own way to Aberdeen….bye bye Stewart….again!
We broke the morning journey up by going across the Cairn O Mount through Fettercairn to Banchory (cracking road, bit misty) rather than the fechin A90 route.
We made it to the beech front of Aberdeen for lunch
Go Anywhere K finally caught up with us…..again
I had only suggested a 45 minute lunch break as we still had some miles to put in. Peterhead was our next stop where we would reach our second compass point, the most Easterly point on Scotlands mainland. Not much to see……
Reservoir Puppies
Group Photo
We didn’t stay long at Peterhead…..why would you!
Still sticking to the drop off system and with Wully in the lead and me at the tail end we headed off to Inverness, we had gained a couple of new riders the night before who were riding custom styled bikes and they needed to refuel every 80 mile or so….which irritated some of the 33litred tank bikes But this would be the last day we were going to use the drop off system so we stuck with it.
The next stretch to Inverness has no photo’s unfortunately, it was a long day, the rain had worn us down a little in the morning, Aberdeen front although pleasing on the eye was fechin freezing, and Peterhead was….well Peterhead was disappointing really.
It wasn’t completely uneventful right enough, some twat with no patience in a lorry tried to take Wully out at a fuel station some choice words came over my intercom, and poor Bobby was having mechanical problems
Bobby wiped the sweat from his brow an hour later when he discovered he had a loose switch under his fairing which was easily fixed, he had been so supportive to everyone else in the bunch that the thought of him having to miss out on the North roads and the Cape Wrath crossing didn’t bare thinking about.
Off to Inverness for a nice cosy bed in a Premier Inn and an early night.
We were off to the North tomorrow…..this was when the trip was to really get interesting for me : )
Everyone met up for a 9am departure in Inverness this morning....almost everyone I explained to everyone that the plan was to lead them to the A9 and they were to all basically make their way up to Dunnet Head (the most Northerly Point) for approx 1pm…In other words we were abandoning the drop off system for the whole group from now on as the roads were easy to navigate and it gave everyone the freedom to partner up or head off and explore the road North on their own. Most seemed happy with this
We headed off to the A9 and across the Kessock Bridge and I spead ahead to catch some photos of the riders coming across the bridge going over the Cromarty Firth on the A9 near Findon Mains
Then I headed off pretty much on my own up the A9 enjoying the freedom of not having to watch all the riders from the back I stopped off when I seen a sign pointing out a castle further up the coast that made me smile
Nice of the burglars to let people know
Not much further up the road Go Anywhere K was stopped in at a layby with great views so I joined him for a bit
The roads were different now, instead of the city roads and dual carriageways we had to travel on in parts of the journey up until now we were now on the windy, hilly roads I had been wanting to reach, all with great views.
Go Anywhere K carried on up the A9 towards Thurso and I travelled on up the A99 to John O Groats
My stay at John O Groats was brief, just enough time to give Klanky a call, who had already met another couple of tossers from our bunch at Wick. Klanky needed no persuasion to join us, in fact he threw aside his work commitments like a true tosser and threw the kit onto the back of his 800f that would get him through a couple of days.
I headed off to Duncansby Head for photos of the lighthouse and the Stacks
Then off along the A836 to Dunnet Head, the most Northrly point of Scotland’s mainland
As you can see from the pics we stayed there for a while, long enough for everyone else to catch up. I had a phone call to place to Motorad anyhow as oil had started to appear around the seal at the back of the final drive but I was assured I shouldn’t worry and so headed off past Dounreay to some cracking roads with some top scenery.
Klanky on his 800
Can you see it???
Inspiration
More pikkies across the Kyle of Tongue
And around Loch Eriboll
To Durness campsite which rates top notch for campsites. You can hit the pub at a stones throw, they have a camping kitchen, a laundrette, and views to die for.
Yes I know I have to cut that camper out, but give me a break I was have pissed when I took it
I'll try and do day 5 tomorrow. Bloody hard work this you know
I thought this part of our trip required its own section.
As I mentioned before Durness campsite is a topper and although I was reaching sensory overload on the ride here with the spectacular scenery, I knew I had to keep it all in perspective because I had a meeting with a bloke in the pub for 7:30pm which would make or break the run over to Cape Wrath the following morning.
Going to Cape Wrath was the Piste de Resistance of the entire trip and the
cherry on the trifle for me
Unfortunately it could never be a sure thing until the last moment. There were so many factors to satisfy to be absolutely certain that this adventure would take place….
• The M.O.D. had to have ceased military activity at the time we were going across.
• The tides had to be right.
• We had to find a barge which would carry us and the bikes across for the right money and last but not least
• The weather had to be right.
I had already checked that the first 3 parts of the criteria were in place before we set off on the trip but could never be sure of the last item…the weather!! The man I was meeting tonight would make the decision.
After meeting our skipper for the Cape Wrath crossing and getting the ok for the weather I had a few beers to celebrate, not too many, but enough to get me out of my tent in the morning at 5am to relieve the bladder.
I was definitely the only one up but take a look at what I seen
Absolutely stunning!
By 9am the sky had overcast a little, but everyone (nearly everyone) had done as I had asked by packing all of their camping kit and piling it neatly next to the camping kitchen. I hadn’t seen the barge that would take us across the Kyle of Durness but had an intuition that we would need the extra room taken up by the bulky panniers and losing a bit of overall weight wouldn’t hurt either!!
Fortunately I had met a bloke called Doug Ure who camped at this site every year and he had promised to keep an eye on the kit until we returned….although it probably wasn’t necessary!
We set off led by Klanky who was going to join us on the crossing to where the barge would depart and gathered around the pier. Already there were mutterings of what the ferry would be like and comments on the size and surface of the slipway…not by all though….there was an excited buzz in the atmosphere this morning!
The pier
Meet our skipper
This is the slipway which we would have to travel down with our expensive bikes before embarking onto the barge
This would be our destination
The bikes were ready
The lambs to the slaughter
Where’s the barge….oh…there it is
There were a few choice words from some and others were adamant that they wouldn’t be doing the crossing with their bikes Which was fair enough, I warned everyone that it was always my intention to go (and truthfully had imagined the barge to be not unlike what it turned out to be) and that anyone who wanted to….could join me, however, ‘at your own risk’ was emphasised strongly
I was glad to see that the enthusiasm of others was only fuelled when they seen the barge in fact I had every intention of leading from the front and boarding the barge first but Klanky was on his bike and almost wheelying on to the damn thing : ) This gave others confidence (cheers Klanky) and so on we went!
Sheepishly though
That’s right…it’s a Honda VFR
Almost done….
….we’re off!
The bikes were bigger than our skipper had anticipated and so we would have to do this on 2 runs, those left behind on the first trip watched with trepid anticipation
Our method of propulsion
Our destination
Holy 8%$£ we actually made it
When on firm ground again I knew we had 11 miles to travel to reach the Cape Wrath point which is the furthest North West point on Scotland’s mainland.
I knew it was 11 miles but I had little idea what to expect from the roads.
I knew that a passenger ferry would normally take the tourists over to this point and they would then be carried by mini-bus to the point, and the way I seen it was if a mini-bus can make it then it should be a breeze
It wasn’t too bad, the mini-bus was a twin axled merc which was quite high off the ground, the road was pot-holed to hell with the usual stream of grass up the middle and the banks either side of the road for the most part were high enough to catch your pegs if you misjudged a corner.
On we went, I took no pics on the way there as I just wanted to get there, get to the point where no GS had travelled before….and certainly not a hoard of them!
Although I couldn’t help but to wonder how Christine was getting on with her VFR (feck that) as this was off –roading no matter how you dice and slice it!
Made it
Dave's excited!
Don’t know…to stop the rain getting in Its worth mentioning at this point that the lighthouse itself has been rented out for £1 a year by a family from the Glasgow area. They are turning one of the rooms into a little café (I shit you not) which will be open in May
Some of the landscape have over a 600ft drop off the end of here
Christine made it…but the thought of the ride back down had driven her to the edge
Not sure what these buildings are, M.O.D. I suspect
Just before I left the lighthouse the second lot of riders appeared up the track.
On the road back I made a few stops. This is the check point which would be occupied and stop further progress up the track if there was military activity in the area (they bomb the crap out of this area)
To prove that I have stolen another one of Wully’s pics. Read the sign…
…another one of Wully’s pics. This one is of the bay where the Norse men used to land and you can see the Cathedral Stack due to the appearance of the two spires.
This wooden bridge was constructed by the Royal Marines in 1980, it’s one of those rickety bridges that rumbles when you cross it
Not many people would cross this one but I wisnae bothered
Anyway, needless to say we met the barge at the slipway and travelled back across the Kyle of Durness. I was smiling from ear to ear, what an adventure….and we were the first!
Day 5
Of course half the day was over by the time I got back from Cape Wrath, I had estimated we should be back on the mainland by around Midday and by the time I had re-loaded the kit onto my bike I was on-route for 12:30
Riding alone I headed down the A838 towards Ullapool which was our next rendezvous point. I cast my head back towards the crossing area from Cape Wrath and could see that the second bunch of tossers were still in the middle of the Loch
Still off I went confident they wouldn’t be that far behind me on the road.
Here’s a wee taste of the scenery I had to put up with on-route
See my I love Tongue sticker
This wee well was at the side of the road where I stopped
It was a nice run, had to take over the same campervan twice due to me taking photo’s but they were quite obliging I followed the road onto the A894 and drove through Scourie until I came to a layby North of Kylestrome.
The view was fantastic and my pics do it no justice at all. Overlooking Loch Assynt.
Onward I went, it got a bit breezy through the hills. By the time I got to Ullapool I was hungry….everyone was
Once everyone had eaten we said goodbye to Klanky, who had pushed his luck enough with the time he had already taken off work and the bikes were refuelled we headed off again, I was riding with three others now, Wully, Neil and Stewart and we were heading for the Corrieshalloch Gorge and the Falls of Measach….well it was on-route so you’ve got to really
The Gorge is about 12 miles Southeast of Ullapool on the A832, it’s a mile long and 61 meters deep with a suspension bridge crossing the ravine. The river Droma plunges 46 meters over the falls of Measach. So trust me, my camera couldn’t really do the place justice.
Looking Down
The sun was shining now, we had lost Neil who had shot on ahead and figured that we were about an hours ride from Gairloch which was where we were camping that night.
The A832 is a crackin wee biking road and the scenery is not too sore on the eyes either.
Again, we arrived in nice time for dinner after the tents were up….I mean honestly you would think someone planned all this!!!
A cracking day but I was knackered, some $*%* had left my carryout at Durness and I wasn’t going back for it! I cooked dinner outside my tent and went for a few pints in the local pub which was at the gates of our campsite…like I said…..as if planned
That night I had my camping mastered, in tent, thermals on, earplugs in, hat pulled over my eyes so that the early mornings light wouldn’t waken me and out like a light. I slept better happy in the knowledge that I had booked us a full cooked breakfast at the hotel by the campsite and knowing that there was even more good roads to come as tomorrow meant Applecross
Chaz, great phots I haven't even down loaded mine yet - no need to they'll be crap anyway. Need to clear the camera anyway - NW200 this weekend. I'll attempt to put them on the baird if any of them are worthy.
These tracks were Neil's who didn't go to Applecross so a little different to my route but essentially the same
A good nights sleep, I felt I had indeed now got to grips with the whole camping thing…..on my last nights camping!!
I managed to put the tent away and get it packed onto the bike before the first of our small showers of the day and headed off for what turned out to be a cracking cooked breakfast with a wedge of black pudding, then I split Go Anywhere K’s black pudding with Wully as he didn’t like it Braw…I was set for the ride to Applecross.
I had decided that I would quite like to travel up the Applecross road as any advice given was that this was the way to experience the famous ‘pass of the cattle’ and so to add a little more scenery to the run I decided to head down the A832 past Loch A Chroisg towards Achnasheen and then turn up the A890 towards Applecross.
Here is a pic of the road ahead on the A890
Wully, Neil and Stewart had set off a good 45 minutes before the main group and we met them at Loch Carron coming back towards us.
They had thought the Pass looked too misty this morning near the top and having travelled that road many times before they decided to give it a miss this time and head on straight to Portree on Skye where they would rendezvous with us for our final night of the trip.
We were a little more optimistic and so decided to tackle the Pass to Applecross, the Pass was an attractive prospect in itself to ride but some of us had ulterior motives, some of us wanted to explore Monty Halls croft and Beachcomber Cottage which was a very good and quite popular TV series on BBC2 recently telling of a Marine Biologist who…..I tell you what…Google it!
The sign before you travel up the pass of the cattle
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I had been listening to music from my ipod most of the way round Scotland and Dido was playing on my journey to Applecross. It was misty at the top as Wully had predicted and so there was no particular view, so here’s one of Andy on his bike
The ride to the top was fun but not as tough, gruelling, or challenging as I had expected, going down the other side I was happily enjoying the ride with music blaring in my ears when Christine’s bike left the road and toppled over in front of me. Fortunately, she wasn’t hurt and there was no damage to the bike, so although she was a little shaken she clambered back aboard her VFR and we continued on to the Applecross Inn
The menu was excellent for lunches here so everyone ate and then the few of us that were interested headed off on the short 6 mile journey to find Monty’s croft while the rest of the group made their way towards Portree.
Andy and Dave signing Monty's book
Andy taking a dump in Monty's homemade loo
The view from Monty's over to Skye where we will be headed soon
Big wave goodbye to Monty and back on the road
After Monty’s it was back to Applecross and down the Pass of the Cattle
Then off to Portree via Plocton which was a recommended visit by a friend who tells me that it is one of the most desirable places to stay in Britain. The road to Plockton was ace.
Here is one of our views on -route
No pikkies of Plockton, it was raining, the tide was out, and we weren’t that impressed to be honest….although I could see the potential for a very picturesque wee town in different conditions!
So we continued across the Kyles of Lochalsh via the Skye bridge and headed for Portree.
Pics on the way to Portree
Skye was very beautiful and I hope to return soon when I have more time to explore it further.
We only stopped once more before Portree
Word had reached us that there was an oonyack aboot, we had seen the droppings and were hot on the trail!
We pulled in to Portree at about dinner time again, the oonyacks droppings had lead us to this and so we knew we were close
Having made the decision at Plockton that it would be quite nice to sleep in a nice warm bed tonight, Andy, Dave and myself (who were the last ones to arrive at Portree) sought refuge in the Royal Hotel at the front of the town (not too shabby), where Dave excelled in his haggling skills and secured 3 twin rooms for £40 each. The other tossers were left to fend for themselves in the local Hostel dormitory. Wully and Neil had had similar ideas and secured a cosy B&B (separate rooms I think).
We met Johnny (HRH Oonyack), Rob (Robmack), and Tash in the pub at the Royal Hotel who were not only good enough to steer us away from a dodgy curry, but secure a wee restaurant for everyone where the grub was top notch!
View over Portree bay from my hotel room
Many beers later I went upstairs happy but in the knowledge that the next day would be our final days ride of the trip, and going by the forecast….a wet one!
Day 7
It was pishing down not only that, looking out of my cosy hotel room window I could see that there was also lot of wind gusting around outside I wasn’t too hungover which surprised me considering what I had knocked back the night before, and the touch of hangover I had would soon disappear after my full cooked breakfast
It was an 8:30am departure from the car park across from the hotel as we had a ferry to catch from Armadale at the South of the Island to Malaig where we would set off to our final waypoint (the most westerly point) at Ardnamurchan, everyone was there ready to go.
We set off, Wully in the lead and me at the tail of the pack again.
It wasn’t long before we had to stop! One of Dakar’s pannier cases had fallen off of his bike only a few miles from Portree unbeknown to him who had just carried on his way Fortunately Wookie had managed to stop safely (without going over the thing that now lay in the middle of the road) and secure it to the back of his bike before setting off again
No piccies on the way to Armadale, I passed some of our bikes which had pulled into fuel up at garages along the way.
The wind was howling, which kept everyone’s speed down, and made me glad I didn’t have to leave the Island via the Skye bridge!!
It wasn’t the smoothest crossing…. but at least we had a slightly bigger ferry than our last crossing at Cape Wrath
The sun was starting to come out when we got to Mallaig about 20 – 30mins after our departure from Skye.
Those of us who hadn’t fuelled up now did as the run to Ardnamurchan point had very few garages on-route. It had been a while since I had travelled this road but I remembered it as a very twisty, mostly single tracked road
We set off along the A830 to Lochallort where we then turned off along the A861 towards Strontian. Just before our turn off at Salen we found a cracking wee chippy with a bakery attached…..and it was lunch time almost
Both Andy and Dave were desperate to carry on without us when we stopped for lunch as they were both determined to get home to Derby that night despite me telling them that we wouldn’t reach Tyndrum till 3 or 4 in the afternoon but they conceded to wait with us, a little reluctantly. So after lunch I took the lead along the B8007 to try and put some pace on our journey for their sakes.
I had never travelled along this particular road but knew that we were approximately 30 miles from the Point.
What a road it was, it twisted and turned along a pavement wide knarly route with blind summits, small bridges over burns, cattle grids every couple of hundred meteres and spectacular scenery along the side of Loch Sunart and the Sound of Mull. To add to the journey the roads were drying out nicely and the sun had remained out, I was desparate to stop and take some photos but told myself that I could do that on the way back as both Andy and Dave would have completed the challenge by then and so could ride on ahead.
Anyway, I had a nice pace on now and my bike was really starting to hustle along the roads and despite being fully laden with all my kit it handled great at the way I was throwing it about
We made it, what a cracking run to our final waypoint
The Lighthouse reaches 36 meters above the rocks and was designed by Alan Stevenson, uncle of Robert Louis Stevenson, whose family designed most of Scotland’s lighthouses over a period of 150 years.
The former lighthouse keeper has converted the house into an exhibition centre with all sorts of interesting stuff to see:
Old Kelvin engines
Words of inspiration
The view from the lighthouse
Me riding the horn because you gotta
Group Photo
We set off back the way we came. We were now heading for our final rendezvous at Tyndrum which was where the trip was to officially finish
I took a couple of piccies at the side of Loch Sunart on-route to the Corran Ferry on the A861.
We crossed Loch Linnhe at the Corran Ferry
Corran Lighthouse
We were now on the A82 which was really familiar ground to me as it is part of the main circuit through Glencoe which we often ride at weekends.
Glencoe is gorgeous and there was a load of bikes on the road that day, because it is kind of my own stomping as far as weekend rides go so I didn’t do it justice with photos.
Fortunately though Wully did
Everyone made it to Tyndrum safely, the trip was a complete success, we said our farewells and went our separate ways riding for the first time in 7 days alone
Door to door 1425miles
This trip started out as a simple thought in my head….it grew into an invite which developed into almost 20 like minded people travelling around a beautiful country where we discovered adventure, beauty and friendship.
We raised so far in excess of £1300 for charity.
Would I do it again…..?
In a heart beat!
Will I do it again…..?
Watch the open invites this September for Scotland 2010.
Thanks to everyone who spent the time to read this ride report, I hope you enjoyed it.
)
it was bleak to say the least…We met up with Raboomdea here who was kind enough to help me put up my tarp, which I would say is a good idea if you are staying more than one night….but an unnecessary hassel if you aren’t!
Excellent bike roads, the drop off system to my surprise was working flawlessly and because I was at the back of the group I could see just what a force we had become on the roads
, car drivers were shying away from us and gripping their steering wheels with bewilderment and fear 
as 16 or so bikes stormed by them.
(or the Ronnoneversaurus as it is now known) at a later date
some choice words came over my intercom, and poor Bobby was having mechanical problems
for approx 1pm…In other words we were abandoning the drop off system for the whole group from now on as the roads were easy to navigate and it gave everyone the freedom to partner up or head off and explore the road North on their own. Most seemed happy with this
and others were adamant that they wouldn’t be doing the crossing with their bikes
Which was fair enough, I warned everyone that it was always my intention to go (and truthfully had imagined the barge to be not unlike what it turned out to be) and that anyone who wanted to….could join me, however, ‘at your own risk’ was emphasised strongly
in fact I had every intention of leading from the front and boarding the barge first but Klanky was on his bike and almost wheelying on to the damn thing : ) This gave others confidence (cheers Klanky
used to land and you can see the Cathedral Stack due to the appearance of the two spires.
had left my carryout at Durness and I wasn’t going back for it! I cooked dinner outside my tent and went for a few pints in the local pub which was at the gates of our campsite…like I said…..as if planned
I went upstairs happy but in the knowledge that the next day would be our final days ride of the trip, and going by the forecast….a wet one!
