So here we go... How to go and do a load of miles on bikes that are best suited to hooning round a track...
Weapon No1 - KTM RC8
Touring features
- Famsa Tankbag
- Garmin Zumo 550
- Oxford 60 litre roll bag
Pilot... fat bloke goin a bit bald
Weapon No2 - Yamaha R1 Haga Replica
Touring features
- Kreiga luggage
- Heated grips
Pilot.. My lovely girlfriend, so no nasty comments eh...
Departure point - Cheshire (UK) (unofficially the highest population of GS Adventures per head in the world)
Destination - Scotlandshire ( a small principality at the top of England, mainly known for alcoholism, drug use in movies, big hills, deep lakes, and where that Famous Ewan bloke comes from)
The trip
Rather than blasting 200 miles up the M6, we aimed to keep to the A roads.. However we had to avoid the grimness of suburban manchestershire, so had to do a bit to get to Devils Bridge.. Within 20 minutes of setting off we hit a downpour... Not a great start. The RC8 proved to make a good clothes horse while we had a brew
Next stop was High Force up towards County Durhamshire. It's ten minutes walk from the road, but worth the walk...
We then headed up past Hexham, took the track day route past Keilder, then headed north, round the village of Edinberg, and off to a motel opposite a police station and a Dominoes Pizza ( what more could you ask for!)
It rained for the last 30 miles and I proved that Oxford waterproof 60 litre roll bag, is not waterproof. DO NOT BUY OXFORD WATERPROOF ROLLBAG. (I hope google picks this up)
The next day we headed out through the village of Gasglow, up past Loch Lomond and to Tyndrm for brekkie
The rest of the day we snaked our way up to Inveness the long way via Killin, Pitlochry, Braemar. Was pretty damp all day and the road surfaces were more suited to adventure bikes, but we survived....
We spent 4 nights at the Newton Croft B&B, on the black isle... Nice quiet place with a workshop to put the bikes in overnight and a really good breakfast..
We spent some days riding out around the various track days that exist up there... The road around the Isle of Ewe were fun, the A835 Ullapool to Inverness road, very naughty... We did a lap around the Invergarry, Kyle of Lochalsh, Inverness, a trip up to Applecross, salmon spotting at the Falls of Shin, hanging over the Corrieshalloch gorge... *Here's some shots of some of the places and a lot of the bikes !
Favourite brew stop was in Gairloch, where we found great cakes and even better coffee... Definitely worth a visit if you are over that way.
We took one day off riding to go and do some wildlife spotting.. Scotlandshire is famous for for the big White pished whale, commonly found outside most town pubs, however we went to see some of the sea mammals... We took a boat trip out of Cromarty, and around the bay, looking at the old oil rigs waiting to be broken up or refurbished.. *Saw a couple porpoise playing round the rigs.
We then headed out to sea, and found the dolphins having a feed... *As you can see my better half was very happy to see them
So that's about all for now.. We did about 300 miles a day which was enough to spend a bit of time looking around and taking photos... The roads were pretty wet all week, but this probably kept things sensible rather than turning the whole ride into one big thrash!
Here's a parting shot of Glencoe as we headed home... *Looking forward to going back again next year..
Weapon No1 - KTM RC8
Touring features
- Famsa Tankbag
- Garmin Zumo 550
- Oxford 60 litre roll bag
Pilot... fat bloke goin a bit bald
Weapon No2 - Yamaha R1 Haga Replica
Touring features
- Kreiga luggage
- Heated grips
Pilot.. My lovely girlfriend, so no nasty comments eh...
Departure point - Cheshire (UK) (unofficially the highest population of GS Adventures per head in the world)
Destination - Scotlandshire ( a small principality at the top of England, mainly known for alcoholism, drug use in movies, big hills, deep lakes, and where that Famous Ewan bloke comes from)
The trip
Rather than blasting 200 miles up the M6, we aimed to keep to the A roads.. However we had to avoid the grimness of suburban manchestershire, so had to do a bit to get to Devils Bridge.. Within 20 minutes of setting off we hit a downpour... Not a great start. The RC8 proved to make a good clothes horse while we had a brew
Next stop was High Force up towards County Durhamshire. It's ten minutes walk from the road, but worth the walk...
We then headed up past Hexham, took the track day route past Keilder, then headed north, round the village of Edinberg, and off to a motel opposite a police station and a Dominoes Pizza ( what more could you ask for!)
It rained for the last 30 miles and I proved that Oxford waterproof 60 litre roll bag, is not waterproof. DO NOT BUY OXFORD WATERPROOF ROLLBAG. (I hope google picks this up)
The next day we headed out through the village of Gasglow, up past Loch Lomond and to Tyndrm for brekkie
The rest of the day we snaked our way up to Inveness the long way via Killin, Pitlochry, Braemar. Was pretty damp all day and the road surfaces were more suited to adventure bikes, but we survived....
We spent 4 nights at the Newton Croft B&B, on the black isle... Nice quiet place with a workshop to put the bikes in overnight and a really good breakfast..
We spent some days riding out around the various track days that exist up there... The road around the Isle of Ewe were fun, the A835 Ullapool to Inverness road, very naughty... We did a lap around the Invergarry, Kyle of Lochalsh, Inverness, a trip up to Applecross, salmon spotting at the Falls of Shin, hanging over the Corrieshalloch gorge... *Here's some shots of some of the places and a lot of the bikes !
Favourite brew stop was in Gairloch, where we found great cakes and even better coffee... Definitely worth a visit if you are over that way.
We took one day off riding to go and do some wildlife spotting.. Scotlandshire is famous for for the big White pished whale, commonly found outside most town pubs, however we went to see some of the sea mammals... We took a boat trip out of Cromarty, and around the bay, looking at the old oil rigs waiting to be broken up or refurbished.. *Saw a couple porpoise playing round the rigs.
We then headed out to sea, and found the dolphins having a feed... *As you can see my better half was very happy to see them
So that's about all for now.. We did about 300 miles a day which was enough to spend a bit of time looking around and taking photos... The roads were pretty wet all week, but this probably kept things sensible rather than turning the whole ride into one big thrash!
Here's a parting shot of Glencoe as we headed home... *Looking forward to going back again next year..
looks like fun and good to see lots of smiles despite the weather
