Toad Rode the Road (Calum's)

Well, after some serious persuasion I was granted the rare chance to get off on my own for a little ride.....

The destination was the Calum's Road Ceilidh on Raasay, and then off for a little potter around the NW.

Day 1 saw me set out from home with Loch Lomond as the destination.

<h2><a href="http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=636918">calums road day 1</a></h2> <object width="400" height="300" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/current/swflash.cab"><param name="movie" value="http://www.everytrail.com/swf/widget.swf"/><param name="FlashVars" value="units=english&mode=0&key=ABQIAAAAggE6oX7o-2CFkLBRN20X9BTCaWgBOrVzmDbJc0e41WeTNzCWNBSYkdZ8D6iOk2yqQd-kgDCXfoqiUQ&tripId=636918&startLat=52.0577082&startLon=-1.63017483&mapType=Map&"><embed src="http://www.everytrail.com/swf/widget.swf" quality="high" width="400" height="300" FlashVars="units=english&mode=0&key=ABQIAAAAggE6oX7o-2CFkLBRN20X9BTCaWgBOrVzmDbJc0e41WeTNzCWNBSYkdZ8D6iOk2yqQd-kgDCXfoqiUQ&tripId=636918&startLat=52.0577082&startLon=-1.63017483&mapType=Map&" play="true" quality="high" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed></object><br/>Plan your trips with <a href="http://www.everytrail.com/guides" >.</a>

It was a really mixed day for me.

I'd got north without problem until I was on the M74 south of Glasgow. There was a large queue on the motorway - not too much of an issue when on the bike, but when you saw that the motorway was closed it didn't look good. Just as you were diverted off at the next junction the accident scene was laid out across the motorway.

Smashed all over the carriageway where bits of chrome. Then there was the almost undamaged front end of a Harley missing its back half.

Then there was a green tarp covering a lump on the road........

Someones Brother/Father/Son................................

It seemed to really get to me, knowing that I'd still got alot of miles ahead of me in the next few days.

I got to the Loch, and pitched at the site in Luss on the banks.







I'd not been there long before a group of 4 bikers pitched up. Amongst then was Gavbo from this parish. So, doing the only appropriate thing, I retired to the pub, joined shortly after by the others for a small shandy and an early night



This looked magic in my mind when I took it....

More please Mr S

Day 2 started bright and well......



The plan was to pop up to Fort William, then on to the Glenelg ferry to Skye, and then over Skye to Sconser and the ferry to Raasay.

Not a taxing day, but lots of fun.......















The road down to the Glenelg ferry was brilliant - I've got a video of the lot of it, but it's 20 minutes of HD video and I can't find anywhere to host it....







The road from the ferry stop on Skye to the main road was wonderful. Narrow, twisty, lumpy, and spectacular.

Next stop was the ferry to Rassay.....









Got to the hotel and setup my tent.....

It's fair to say the view from my sleeping bag was pretty special...





The crowd in the hotel was convivial and entertaining

Great to put some more names to faces.....

I even ended up with some pussy.....



<h2><a href="http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=638365">Calums road day 2 </a></h2> <object width="400" height="300" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/current/swflash.cab"><param name="movie" value="http://www.everytrail.com/swf/widget.swf"/><param name="FlashVars" value="units=english&mode=0&key=ABQIAAAAggE6oX7o-2CFkLBRN20X9BTCaWgBOrVzmDbJc0e41WeTNzCWNBSYkdZ8D6iOk2yqQd-kgDCXfoqiUQ&tripId=638365&startLat=56.10550512&startLon=-4.63736533&mapType=Map&"><embed src="http://www.everytrail.com/swf/widget.swf" quality="high" width="400" height="300" FlashVars="units=english&mode=0&key=ABQIAAAAggE6oX7o-2CFkLBRN20X9BTCaWgBOrVzmDbJc0e41WeTNzCWNBSYkdZ8D6iOk2yqQd-kgDCXfoqiUQ&tripId=638365&startLat=56.10550512&startLon=-4.63736533&mapType=Map&" play="true" quality="high" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed></object><br/>Plan your trips with <a href="http://www.everytrail.com/guides" >EveryTrail Mobile Travel Guides</a>

Have ...

... you been sitting on the fence

Been waiting for this, keep it coming.


PS That pussy got around

Day 3 was the main reason for the visit.

The chance to ride the road. The inspiration for some fund-raising that was in itself inspirational.

First was a little tour around the village by the hotel....

The Free Church of Scotland extended it's influence in to the children's domain....



.....and I did wonder if I'd stepped into a different dimension......



I've a puzzle if you have a spare monkey.....



Calum's Road itself was a great ride...





This is the road from Calum's house end, back to the start.....

<object width="425" height="240" ><param name="movie" value="http://cdn.smugmug.com/ria/ShizVidz-2010012201.swf" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="flashVars" value="s=ZT0xJmk9ODkxNzgwOTQ4Jms9N0hvSmImYT0xMjQ1MDA3NF9Kajk2YyZ1PXRvYWRuZXQ=" /><embed src="http://cdn.smugmug.com/ria/ShizVidz-2010012201.swf" flashVars="s=ZT0xJmk9ODkxNzgwOTQ4Jms9N0hvSmImYT0xMjQ1MDA3NF9Kajk2YyZ1PXRvYWRuZXQ=" width="425" height="240" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true"></embed></object>

Or try this....

<a href="http://toadnet.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/UKGSer/calumsroad2010/12450074_Jj96c#891780948_7HoJb-A-LB"><img src="http://toadnet.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/UKGSer/calumsroad2010/Calums-Road-and-Wales-080/891780948_7HoJb-S.jpg"></a>



<h2><a href="http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=639282">Riding Calums Road 29 May 2010</a></h2> <object width="400" height="300" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/current/swflash.cab"><param name="movie" value="http://www.everytrail.com/swf/widget.swf"/><param name="FlashVars" value="units=english&mode=0&key=ABQIAAAAggE6oX7o-2CFkLBRN20X9BTCaWgBOrVzmDbJc0e41WeTNzCWNBSYkdZ8D6iOk2yqQd-kgDCXfoqiUQ&tripId=639282&startLat=57.35181052&startLon=-6.0740304&mapType=Map&"><embed src="http://www.everytrail.com/swf/widget.swf" quality="high" width="400" height="300" FlashVars="units=english&mode=0&key=ABQIAAAAggE6oX7o-2CFkLBRN20X9BTCaWgBOrVzmDbJc0e41WeTNzCWNBSYkdZ8D6iOk2yqQd-kgDCXfoqiUQ&tripId=639282&startLat=57.35181052&startLon=-6.0740304&mapType=Map&" play="true" quality="high" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed></object><br/>Plan your trips with <a href="http://www.everytrail.com/guides" >EveryTrail iPhone Travel Guides</a>

The afternoon was pretty special....

The island were holding their own Ceilidh to celebrate the opening of their new village hall.

A licensed Ceilidh from 4pm to 8pm seemed a little odd until you realise that the band had to leave the island that night, and the last ferry leaves at 8:30pm.

The evening emerged in to another entertaining night....

The next morning brought an unseemly rush for the only ferry before 4pm.



A queue had formed despite assurances that should there be too many for the ferry they would simple come back.....



The ferry ramp is beneath the remains of an Iron Ore mine. This was a part of the mechanism for taking the Ore off the island. It is estimated that 10 million tons of ore remain in the mines, but the economics don't make it viable to extract.





The water is beautifully clear....



The ferry was indeed packed, and Paintman was not able to board, but good to their word, they popped back, and he had a ferry almost to himself....







The first half of the day saw me taking a little tour of northern Skye...

<h2><a href="http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=640867">Calums Road Trip day 4 part 1</a></h2> <object width="400" height="300" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/current/swflash.cab"><param name="movie" value="http://www.everytrail.com/swf/widget.swf"/><param name="FlashVars" value="units=english&mode=0&key=ABQIAAAAggE6oX7o-2CFkLBRN20X9BTCaWgBOrVzmDbJc0e41WeTNzCWNBSYkdZ8D6iOk2yqQd-kgDCXfoqiUQ&tripId=640867&startLat=57.33237502&startLon=-6.06358978&mapType=Map&"><embed src="http://www.everytrail.com/swf/widget.swf" quality="high" width="400" height="300" FlashVars="units=english&mode=0&key=ABQIAAAAggE6oX7o-2CFkLBRN20X9BTCaWgBOrVzmDbJc0e41WeTNzCWNBSYkdZ8D6iOk2yqQd-kgDCXfoqiUQ&tripId=640867&startLat=57.33237502&startLon=-6.06358978&mapType=Map&" play="true" quality="high" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed></object><br/>Plan your trips with <a href="http://www.everytrail.com/guides" >EveryTrail iPhone Travel Guides</a>









Finishing in Uig for the ferry to Lochmaddy on North Uist....







I took a trip down from North Uist through Benbecular and South Uist.

<h2><a href="http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=641558">Calums road trip day 4 part 2</a></h2> <object width="400" height="300" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/current/swflash.cab"><param name="movie" value="http://www.everytrail.com/swf/widget.swf"/><param name="FlashVars" value="units=english&mode=0&key=ABQIAAAAggE6oX7o-2CFkLBRN20X9BTCaWgBOrVzmDbJc0e41WeTNzCWNBSYkdZ8D6iOk2yqQd-kgDCXfoqiUQ&tripId=641558&startLat=57.60527733&startLon=-7.17206955&mapType=Map&"><embed src="http://www.everytrail.com/swf/widget.swf" quality="high" width="400" height="300" FlashVars="units=english&mode=0&key=ABQIAAAAggE6oX7o-2CFkLBRN20X9BTCaWgBOrVzmDbJc0e41WeTNzCWNBSYkdZ8D6iOk2yqQd-kgDCXfoqiUQ&tripId=641558&startLat=57.60527733&startLon=-7.17206955&mapType=Map&" play="true" quality="high" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed></object><br/>Plan your trips with <a href="http://www.everytrail.com/guides" >EveryTrail iPhone Travel Guides</a>

I spent the night in one of two crofts converted in to hostel..



And took a stroll down the beach to see if I could spot any of the otters that inhabit this stretch of beach. Best time to spot them is dusk apparently, but they were too shy to introduce themselves that night....



In the small bay was a derelict salmon farm, just anchored up and left....



The other local crofts have not survived quite as well....

The next morning was a early start as I needed to get to the ferry for 0715 to get over to Harris.









The ferry to Harris from Berneray was an interesting ride! The route threads it's way through a multitude of islets.

Harris was very different to Uist. The landscape took on the spectacular nature that I'd seen in Skye.











And I soon found my way on to Lewis and then up to the Stornaway war memorial.

Ferry took me to Ullapool, and then on down to Applecross over the legendary Pass of the Cattle.....





And settled at the end of the day with a good book, and a pint of a lovely cider....



I decided a good dinner was in order. Started with Applecross Bay Prawns with Lemon Butter....



And then time for a steak....



And time to sit back and enjoy the sunset....

The morning brought a return trip across the pass, and then another 640 miles down to meet the family and get some surfing done





All in all a wonderful, varied, memorable trip.

Thanks to everyone on Raasay

Nice one

Was great to see the vid of 'the' road, humbling to think that one guy built pretty much all of it single handed

I especially like the piccies of your island hopping after Raasay and the blue skies.....BLUE SKIES! ya lucky bugger

Andres

Good one.

Enjoyed that Dan, we were able to take a little more time to explore the Hebridian islands, and have to say we were really enjoying it up to the point that we got a call informing us that our 17 year old daughter was having a rather large house party so we had go home a little earlier than planned.

Nice report Dan that is a handy little site at Luss, I reckon I was about twenty feet from where you were camped on my way back from the GOTC.
Stewart

Videos for Glenelg Ferry, and Bealach Na Ba now in another thread in the RR section.....

Nice one Dan,

good to meet you on Raasay. That was indeed the week to be out on the Hebrides, great weather