In Gods Land..

[Urban Rider]

I thought that with all the recent tosser activity in Scotland I would share our pics with you lot after a few of us decided to visit Gods country last week. This trip was planned a few months ago and the weeks leading up to departure were frought with many visits to the Met office and Metcheck weather sites. The reports were not looking promising with gale force winds and heavy rain predicted

A crisis meeting was called and Blues n Twos, Indecisive and myself all met at the Royal Standard of England on the Thurs before the off to discuss our options. After a few beers and lengthy talks about the possibility of heading south and over to France a decision was made......

Feck the weather we're off to Scotland for a week of riding and camping.....

Pics and more to follow as i'm at work and can't upload anything...

 

[Urban Rider]

So I sorted all my kit out and couldn't believe how much I was planning to take
Anyway , it all fitted on the bike with room to spare so I was ready for the off. Blues n Two's, Easy Sushi, Indecisive, JP and myself all met up at J2 Beaconsfield services and headed north in the early hours of the 2nd...
First stop was the M6 Toll services where we consulted Blues n Twos map to ensure we were headed in the right direction....



As the weather reports were so bad we decided that we would head north via the north Yorkshire moors then into Scotland via the Kilder forest. We would the start the ride on the East coast follow it North the cross country Via the Cairgorms, Aviemore and Inverness then over towards the West Coast.


We were refuseda Campsite in Hawes (due to being on bikes with engines) so an alternative was found and we had a fantastic ride over to the alternative site. We picked up a convoy of followers riding Hardly Davidsons apparently wearing patches stating they were Slaves of Satan, I couldn't confirm this as I only saw them from my rear view mirror........





It was a wet night and a fairly grim start to the following day but after we packed up all our kit the weather cleared up and we headed north for the Kilder forest and the Scottish border..









The second nights camping was in Hawick in the Southern Uplands where we found a great campsite in a lovely setting. Unfortunately Blues n Twos had a coming together with a steel bolard at the entrance to the site. All went running to assist with picking up the bike so I shouted at all to STOP whilst I took the opportunity to get the appropriate pics.....




The following day we headed to Peebles for our first taste of Scottish hospitality with a very hearty breakfast. Then it was off towards the Grampians where we were planning a night of wild camping. After riding all day we ended up in the grounds of Balmoral and found an excellent spot for a night of alcahol, fire and wind.....













The night was without incident and IMHO the best night of the whole trip. The following morning we arranged to meet Indecisive at Cock Bridge as he didn't fancy wild camping (something about needing porcelane in the morning) the obligatory pics were taken then it was another fab breakfast in Tomintoul before the off to the west coast


The further west we headed the worse the weather got and after about 6 hours of riding in heavy rain and strong winds we pulled in to the Dundonnell hotel for a warm coffee and a sandwich. We then came to the unanimous decision that we would ride no further that day and spend the night in the hotel. Warm baths, beer and hot bar food were the order of the night and we were treated to a fabulous sunset as the night drew to a close..








More to follow tomorrow as need to go to bed now as on nights tonight.....

 

[Dave56]

Enjoyed that, looking forward to the next installment............

 

[PJ1200]

Looks like you had better weather than us chris, so far. Woke up to Gale force winds and driving rain on Skye on the friday morning . After 2 days of riding in nothing but rain and panniers full of wet gear, Autogs and i decided enough was enough and rode home.

Nice pics by the way . looking forward to seeing the rest.

 

[neil 23]

Enjoyed that, met Tom at The Stein pub on Skye, has he mentioned his night of wild camping at Johnny and Tash"s place, tw@ stole my bed !!

 

[Stumpy]

I often see people camped here, it's a great spot but only 35 miles from my Mum and Dads house so I've never tried it myself

 

[LOLGEOFF]

Good stuff...Keep it coming.

 

[Dakar-Dave]

Great stuff

 

[Dave The Driver]

You wore beigeyou must be glad the weather was not too bad.......but beige :cool

nice one Chris

 

[Farmer Palmer]

Enjoyed that very nice indeed!

FP.

 

[tinatrim]

Keep it coming.....great report

 

[cunning fox]

nice to see the landowners allowing chopping down tree's for fires

good way of spoiling wild camping for everyone else

 

[Urban Rider]

The following morning we awoke to beautiful blue sky and sunshine so decided to follow the scenic coast road around the peninsular to Torindon and depending on the weather we would then decide whether to head up to Skye or south to Fort William.....












As you can see from the Pics the weather turned really bad so we stopped in Torrendon where suitable attire was put on.


It was at this point that we bid our farewells to Indecisive as he had decided to head over to Skye to catch up with HRH and a few other tossers. The rest of us headed south for Fort William and another night in a Hotel. This time it was the very aptly named McDuff hotel..... Which, unless you have a blue rinse, false teeth and a zimmer frame I would not recommend.....









The following morning we awoke to more bad weather and our final day in Scotland. We headed south for Loch Lomond, Glasgow (for new tyres for me) and then back into England for a final nights camping at Middleton in Teesdale.


It was on the final part of this trip that I finally understood why Scotland is regarded as "Gods Country". The ride through Glen Coe was truly breathtaking and very scary at the same time. My bike was being blown across the road from one side to the other whilst at a 45 degree angle to compensate for the wind.....








Hmmmm, Suits you sir!!!!!!!



So that was the end of our trip, we all had a fantastic time but were gutted we never got to see Skye, Applecross and all the other delights on offer in Scotland. I would highly recommend to anyone to visit as you'll not see scenery anywhere else that compares to the beauty of Scotland....

 

[Deleted Member I]

 

[Gazzabart]

great pics

Hi everyone
great pics
glad you are all home in one peice
hope to see you soon
Gaz

ps more pics by Friday please

 

[Urban Rider]

nice to see the landowners allowing chopping down tree's for fires

good way of spoiling wild camping for everyone else

Would have been nice to be asked about that before accusing anyone of chopping down trees

In fact all the wood that was used in the fire was aquired after asking a farmer in the opposing fields if we could use the timber that had already been lying around and was already dead, we were told to help ourselves and take as much as we liked......

Get yer facts right before making assumptions......

 

[garfield]

sounds like you had fun.....

 

[Deleted Member I]

Would have been nice to be asked about that before accusing anyone of chopping down trees

In fact all the wood that was used in the fire was aquired after asking a farmer in the opposing fields if we could use the timber that had already been lying around and was already dead, we were told to help ourselves and take as much as we liked......

Get yer facts right before making assumptions......

All this talk of wood and wild camp-ing ... scared me off a bit

 

[Dave56]

The wilds of Scotland, wild camping, wild wood fires........the mind boggles................seriously though Sado great report, thanks.....

 

[NA1959]

Super pic's amd ride report.

Scotland is a wonderful place with great folks