Shep
Shep of the Dessert
Just a quick (pictureless) report, sorry, camera appears to have suffered from the 'vibes', something has broken, pictures are still there but trapped on the card for the moment.
The idea was to ride the four points S.E.N.& W. of Britain's Mainland, ending up at the Skye Party.
Tuesday 5th August
The original plan was to meet everybody that was coming on the trip at Lizard Point at 0600 on the Wednesday, but, as everybody had backed out and I was on my own at least for the first leg, i decided to take the chance and get some extra miles in early.
So, I left work at 1700, rode to Lizard point then back to the workshop again and slept there. 498 miles and I got back about 0100 wednesday morning, very cold, as it was foggy and rainy for a fair chunk of that first session, I took the chance whilst back at the workshop to pick up my heated jacket.
The only real problem on Tuesday was whilst overtaking a coach on the A303 the wind pressure off the front of the coach switched my ignition off
Many thanks to the driver who saw I was in trouble and made me some room to get out of the way
Wednesday 6th
0700 I set off for Ness Point, a fair bit of Motorway work, followed by some A roads across flatland found me at Ness Point, not the most attractive place, by an industrial area next to a Gasometer in the shadow of a large wind powered generator, I didn't stop long as I was going to meet Watton in Newark mid afternoon, so off I went. After we met up we ventured north to meet Sir James, he had gone ahead to book accomodation somewhere, this ended up being in Peebles, we had a lovely run from the north of Newcastle along fast AA roads to the borders then on to the Hotel. An dodgy sit down indian meal and a few pints of Guinness left a legacy that lasted the rest of the trip
Thursday 6th
This was always going to be a long day, Kevin decided he wanted to stay with James, they were on a direct route to Fort William.
So on my own again I headed off towards Edinburgh, it was raining hard and I was getting very cold and a diversion due to flooding took me through the city centre onto the Forth road bridge seemed to take ages, by the time I got across, I was seriously cold so I pulled over stripped off by the side of the road and regrouped. Dry clothes, heated jacket on and all seams layered properly and I was away again, what a difference, from being miserable and cold and thinking of giving up, to feeling positive about the trip again and looking forward to the day again, only took a few minutes extra prep
Anyway by the time i got to Inverness the rain had stopped and 20 miles further on the sun came out all the way to Dunnet Head and back again to Inverness, Dunnet Head? Fantastic! Great scenery, nice roads
I then set off for Fort William, I wanted to travel a more westerly route back down but felt that might have added a few too many hours so I backtracked to Inverness then took the backroad along the Great Glen towards Fort Augustus and onto Fort William, another great road, and with good weather still I was really enjoying the day. GC had booked us into a youth hostel for Thursday night, I got there at 1700, then changed and met the lads at a local Bar, Jamie had turned up so the inevitable trip to town was arranged, GC took us on a tour of bars in Fort William that ended up in the Staion Bar for the Kareoke(?) We were all a little 'worse for wear' by the end of the evening.
Friday 8th
GC was my guide for the day and we were joined by Voyager, across the Coran Ferry we regrouped and headed for Adnurmurchan Point, the roads were fantastic the weather fine and sunny, it dosn't get better than that IMO, picture postcard views around every bend.
At the point it was a nice surprise to find my dog there (well not actually MY dog but one very similar
) Back from the point to the Mailag ferry where we left GC at keyside, i'm sure he had a tear in his eye
as we set sail for Skye and the party weekend.
End of the trip.
Thanks to
Watton - Most musical farts and GPS Guru
Sir James - Cotton Bud breeding champion of the world
Jamie - Top snorer and Kareoke king
G.C. - Top Guide for roads and bars
Voyager - for joining in at the end 'ta
Gerbing - for a heated jacket that truely is a fantastic piece of kit.
Johnny and Tash - for there hard work in organising the event that drove me on to finish the ride.
2375miles
Ave. speed 59.5 MPH
Ave. Fuel 45.5 MPG
Shep
The idea was to ride the four points S.E.N.& W. of Britain's Mainland, ending up at the Skye Party.
Tuesday 5th August
The original plan was to meet everybody that was coming on the trip at Lizard Point at 0600 on the Wednesday, but, as everybody had backed out and I was on my own at least for the first leg, i decided to take the chance and get some extra miles in early.
So, I left work at 1700, rode to Lizard point then back to the workshop again and slept there. 498 miles and I got back about 0100 wednesday morning, very cold, as it was foggy and rainy for a fair chunk of that first session, I took the chance whilst back at the workshop to pick up my heated jacket.
The only real problem on Tuesday was whilst overtaking a coach on the A303 the wind pressure off the front of the coach switched my ignition off
Many thanks to the driver who saw I was in trouble and made me some room to get out of the way
Wednesday 6th
0700 I set off for Ness Point, a fair bit of Motorway work, followed by some A roads across flatland found me at Ness Point, not the most attractive place, by an industrial area next to a Gasometer in the shadow of a large wind powered generator, I didn't stop long as I was going to meet Watton in Newark mid afternoon, so off I went. After we met up we ventured north to meet Sir James, he had gone ahead to book accomodation somewhere, this ended up being in Peebles, we had a lovely run from the north of Newcastle along fast AA roads to the borders then on to the Hotel. An dodgy sit down indian meal and a few pints of Guinness left a legacy that lasted the rest of the trip
Thursday 6th
This was always going to be a long day, Kevin decided he wanted to stay with James, they were on a direct route to Fort William.
So on my own again I headed off towards Edinburgh, it was raining hard and I was getting very cold and a diversion due to flooding took me through the city centre onto the Forth road bridge seemed to take ages, by the time I got across, I was seriously cold so I pulled over stripped off by the side of the road and regrouped. Dry clothes, heated jacket on and all seams layered properly and I was away again, what a difference, from being miserable and cold and thinking of giving up, to feeling positive about the trip again and looking forward to the day again, only took a few minutes extra prep
Anyway by the time i got to Inverness the rain had stopped and 20 miles further on the sun came out all the way to Dunnet Head and back again to Inverness, Dunnet Head? Fantastic! Great scenery, nice roads
I then set off for Fort William, I wanted to travel a more westerly route back down but felt that might have added a few too many hours so I backtracked to Inverness then took the backroad along the Great Glen towards Fort Augustus and onto Fort William, another great road, and with good weather still I was really enjoying the day. GC had booked us into a youth hostel for Thursday night, I got there at 1700, then changed and met the lads at a local Bar, Jamie had turned up so the inevitable trip to town was arranged, GC took us on a tour of bars in Fort William that ended up in the Staion Bar for the Kareoke(?) We were all a little 'worse for wear' by the end of the evening.
Friday 8th
GC was my guide for the day and we were joined by Voyager, across the Coran Ferry we regrouped and headed for Adnurmurchan Point, the roads were fantastic the weather fine and sunny, it dosn't get better than that IMO, picture postcard views around every bend.
At the point it was a nice surprise to find my dog there (well not actually MY dog but one very similar
) Back from the point to the Mailag ferry where we left GC at keyside, i'm sure he had a tear in his eye as we set sail for Skye and the party weekend.End of the trip.
Thanks to
Watton - Most musical farts and GPS Guru
Sir James - Cotton Bud breeding champion of the world
Jamie - Top snorer and Kareoke king
G.C. - Top Guide for roads and bars
Voyager - for joining in at the end 'ta
Gerbing - for a heated jacket that truely is a fantastic piece of kit.
Johnny and Tash - for there hard work in organising the event that drove me on to finish the ride.
2375miles
Ave. speed 59.5 MPH
Ave. Fuel 45.5 MPG
Shep
