I started in Birmingham after work on Friday night and did a stop-over near Penrith. The Lakes were wet when I left on Saturday, but by the time I got to the boarder, the weather was gorgeous! I got some fantastic photos around Loch Lomond and the entry to the Highlands. I stayed over near Oban on Saturday night to set off for the Applecross meet on Sunday.
The weather on Sunday started off OK, but quickly deteriorated. By the time I got to Fort William it was torrential rain and only 4C. My route kept me at low level most of the morning, then I got to Dornie and made my way over the A890 to Lochcarron. That pass rises up quickly, but to only 200m. I started to see snow on the verges and about 100m later I was ploughing though deep slush on the road. I gingerly made my way down the other side, following the tracks in the standing slush that were being cut by the cars. By this point it was about 1pm and sleeting at loch level. The sleet wasn't sticking, but it was 2C and so it wasn't nice. I was staying in Lochcarron overnight anyway, so I checked into the hotel and took a look at the maps. Looking at the hills opposite side of the loch, they were totally white on top and they were only 300m high. The pass to Applecross is over 600m! I sent a text to mainescots to suggest I was going to leave it a couple of hours to see if, by some miracle, it cleared up... it got worse. Not long after, the hotel owner passed on a message to say it was 'diabolical' over the top. I got a call later in the evening from mainescots with the full story...
Monday I went a bit further north to Rogie Falls and then dropped down to see Nessie. It was beautiful all morning, but I could see from a rain radar app on my phone that more rain was coming in and it was pretty cold so I was worried about more snow. I needed to make it to Stirling for my overnight stop. My SatNav gave me two options. I could either go back the route I came, which was towards the rain, or I could skirt further east around the edge of the Cairngorms on the A9.... With no background knowledge, I chose the A9.... Firstly, it's average speed cameras all the way and it's a fairly boring road. The views probably would have been nice, but for much of it I couldn't see the scenery for the snow and I was too busy concentrating on the fact my dash was saying it was 1C and again following the wheeltracks of trucks through the standing water that I hoped wasn't freezing. It's not nice when it stays as slush on your visor and doesn't run off.
Tuesday (today) was 5 hours of motorways from Stirling back to Birmingham... boring but necessary. It started off cold and wet with the dash blinking 1C for a while. I had to slow down during the worse bits, but it wasn't awful. Now I'm home, it's 14C in Brum... I was overheating by the time I got back. 1100 miles in 4.5 days... although disappointed that I didn't make Applecross.
have just booked another trip up there this July so it had better warm up a fair bit.... Hats off to you pair of brave souls 
