Please go easy its my first one .....

[RedRick Esq.]

As mentioned in a previous post i am retracing the Hoon ariound Scotland that i did in May but accompanied by the memsahib so will be making "less progress"

The plan is to leave home early tomorrow morning Sat 10th and head to Birnum/Dunkeld for our first overnight stop predominantly using the "bike 8 northern route" to get there.

Day 2 will head to strathcarron on some great little roads that i recced in may.

Day 3 we will be tossing around the Applecross area

Day 4 Out and around Skye

Day 5 down the coast and then accross to Moffat

Day 5 down the spine of the Penines to home


A picture of the intended route:

So i intend to updates with piccys and roads etc as i go but that will of course depend on internet access so as said in the title please be gentle ive never done a ride report before !!!

 

[chad]

Waiting

 

[RedRick Esq.]

Waiting

Wait untill i start Then !!

 

[chad]

 

[RedRick Esq.]

Ok here we go ...
We departed from the soviet socialist republic of Doncaster at 0830hrs and headed up the A1 for the first 8 miles before turning off at Richmond. What can I say it's the A1 ! Although it was quiet and decent progress made. We stopped at a lovely little tea room in a small village on the B6724 before heading on to the good roads !

So onto the B6278 what a nice road this is with some spectacular scenery and nice corners, very little traffic but a few sheep to dodge. This runs parallel to the A68 and is part of the Bike 8 route north. Joins the A68 about 30 miles from Jedburgh.
We arrived in Jedburgh with about 8 miles left on the tank.

Refuelled both bike and the memsahib

And headed for the Edinburgh bypass taking the scenic route A7. Lovely bit of road with decent surface and very nice sweeping bends.

So over the forth bridge which excited the memsahib beyond reason ( she loves a good bridge) and turn off the M90 to the A823 past knockhill to Crieff then on to Dunkeld/Birnum to our hotel, The merry burn ! Great place it is maybe a little run down but it has that certain something and Hilary the owner is very friendly and very accommodating to food requests and bike parking in the court yard.

Distance travelled 312 miles, moving average 56 mph.

Good things - Susan has not whined or moaned once and appears to have thoroughly enjoyed the trip

Bad things - headlight bulb blown and no spare so will have to hunt one tomorrow ! Other than that the 1200 has been wonderful as usual !

A good day albeit a utilitarian one to get to the great roads !!

 

[chad]

great just what need whilst cooking poolside in Cyprus keep it coming

 

[Dave56]

Waiting with baited breath........

 

[RedRick Esq.]

Be patient and don't take the piss !
Limited now by wifi availability !


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RedRick Esq.]

Day 2
Departed from our hotel at about 0900hrs and headed back along the way we came for the first 10 miles or so before turning on to the loch quaitch road, described by sat nav as " road " It is my favourite sort of road narrow and twisty with steep climbs hairpins and scenery. Nearly bagged a brace of grouse. Equally testing descent into kenmore for a crap cup of tea at the boathouse cafe.

Next up is the road over Ben Lawyers via a decent cup of coffee at the tea rooms opposite the falls of Dochart this is a lovely bit of road and many tossers have posted about this before and I believe there is a memorial bench to a departed tosser but I couldn't see it. Highland cattle dwell along here and have deposited a great deal of cow shit making the downhill stretch quite interesting ! along the Glen Lyon road which I used to enjoy muchly but for some reason I hated it this trip.

Over the B846 where we say a golden eagle ! Another lovely little road and the same for the B847 without the eagle.
A quick blast up the A9 to Dalwhinnie where we had lunch at the Toll house cafe ( not recommended )onto the A889 what a great road this is as far as the A86 when it started to rain as it does in Scotland over to the A82 and a blast up to the loch carrion turn off
At this point it was pissing it down but the Klim suit did its job admirably !

Arrival at the Strathcarron hotel
I love this place for its warm welcome and homeliness it won't be to everyone's tastes as the rooms are small ish but I do recommend it. The fire in the bar is lit as its cold, 10C it's August FFS !

Total miles today 246
Average speed now down to 51mph

The good - great roads and scenery
The bad - some poor surfaces in places on some of these great roads, the rain and the cowshit which nearly had us off !

Susan had a bit of a whine about the distance and was starting to get cold and didn't appreciate being told to man up !

 

[SkyGod]

Nice work, keep it coming

 

[Fanum]

Take photos of big greasy brekkies and lumps of steak that you eat....tossers like food

Keep it up chap

 

[Roberto]

Looks like a good trip, that

 

[Glyno]

Keep it coming Rick

 

[RedRick Esq.]

Righto
A fairly easy day today with not many miles covered so as to give SWMBO a rest as last nights whinging was delightful.
After an excellent breakfast in the hotel we set off to ride to Applecross over the Pass of the cattle or to give its local name Bealach na ba
Everyone who owns a GS must at least know of this road if not having ridden it so I won't bore you to death with it but to say it is spectacular in its scenery. It isn't as challenging as some may have you believe but the 2 hairpins are a bit tricky two up, it may not be the greatest road in the world but it should be on everyone's bucket list of roads. The view from the top was somewhat impaired by the August weather !

Stopped at the Applecross inn for coffee which we had outside as the sun was shinning

From there we just bimbled round the peninsula to Sheilag for tea and scones. Unusually and certainly surprisingly for me the sun continued to shine which kept Susan happy as the views are breathtaking and change with every corner or rise.


More rain !
So we followed this road to the A890 which is a long fast road with possibly the best surface on any road I have been on in a long time and it was on this very road I was accused of being childish for singing the dam busters theme as we overtook loads of German tossers (reichentosser) There are a great many Germans on GS's ( just saying) they brought the rain with them !

Incidentally Susan is a bit of a gardener and is very pleased to see so many flowers which she likes to point out to me as we ride along, we have seen loads of interesting ones apparently !

So to lunch as apparently tosses like to read about and see food !
We went to the seafood bar at kishorn and it was fabulous. I had Scallops in garlic Susan had squat lobster tails bothe were delicious and I am sorry to say I forgot to take a photo until after we had eaten !


So that's the day over
Miles covered 146
Average speed now dropped to 48 mph ( this is the moving average for the whole trip so far )

The good - great roads, great scenery and no whinging, the Klim suit !!!!!
The bad- the summer or lack of it !

 

[RedRick Esq.]

This is Susan's pillions view of our trip so far


Hurrah ! Managed to leave home without the silly top boxes to panniers so no nagging this trip about the way I get in the bike (uncool apparently). Can't avoid the nagging about the way I put my helmet on (push down with both hands on top) but at least it is a Shoei so not totally uncool as long as no-one sees me put it on apparently.
Incidentally, silly top boxes knocked off the Nippy Norman wish list of one million things to add to your bike that you really don't need.
First day of biking good and no complaints. On second day was misled. Told it was a shorter ride. Got very cross on back of bike. He still has no idea how cross. Got sick of the sight of the back of his helmet (Matt black Shoei and cooler than mine apparently). Intercom lead not long enough (to strangle). Smug in his Klim gear while I had water pouring down the back of my neck while having to listen how fantastic the roads are. The word road should be struck from the English language henceforth.
Good scenery today and much better all round. Except the German biker. Always know when there is a bike behind us. Don't need a mirror. Riding immediately goes into twat mode. Actually went past the German so then had to keep up speed so German didn't then go past us. Why? No idea. Worse was listening to dam busters being told that he mustn't go past us because we would have to listen to ride of Valkyries. Retard.
Some great flowers spotted. Flower report on it's way.
Susan x

 

[RedRick Esq.]

A bit harsh ! But I do love her

 

[RedRick Esq.]

A quick update
Susan is looking at something called Argon oil !
I said I would look it up in the tech section but its for her hair apparently and doesn't have a W rating !!

What's the point of it then

 

[Sgt Bilco]

r


Don't need a mirror. Riding immediately goes into twat mode.

Great quote

 

[digga]

This is Susan's pillions view of our trip so far


Hurrah ! Managed to leave home without the silly top boxes to panniers so no nagging this trip about the way I get in the bike (uncool apparently). Can't avoid the nagging about the way I put my helmet on (push down with both hands on top) but at least it is a Shoei so not totally uncool as long as no-one sees me put it on apparently.
Incidentally, silly top boxes knocked off the Nippy Norman wish list of one million things to add to your bike that you really don't need.
First day of biking good and no complaints. On second day was misled. Told it was a shorter ride. Got very cross on back of bike. He still has no idea how cross. Got sick of the sight of the back of his helmet (Matt black Shoei and cooler than mine apparently). Intercom lead not long enough (to strangle). Smug in his Klim gear while I had water pouring down the back of my neck while having to listen how fantastic the roads are. The word road should be struck from the English language henceforth.
Good scenery today and much better all round. Except the German biker. Always know when there is a bike behind us. Don't need a mirror. Riding immediately goes into twat mode. Actually went past the German so then had to keep up speed so German didn't then go past us. Why? No idea. Worse was listening to dam busters being told that he mustn't go past us because we would have to listen to ride of Valkyries. Retard.
Some great flowers spotted. Flower report on it's way.
Susan x

I like that ... gives a different perspective i suppose

 

[RedRick Esq.]

This is Susan's pillions view of our trip so far


Hurrah ! Managed to leave home without the silly top boxes to panniers so no nagging this trip about the way I get in the bike (uncool apparently). Can't avoid the nagging about the way I put my helmet on (push down with both hands on top) but at least it is a Shoei so not totally uncool as long as no-one sees me put it on apparently.
Incidentally, silly top boxes knocked off the Nippy Norman wish list of one million things to add to your bike that you really don't need.
First day of biking good and no complaints. On second day was misled. Told it was a shorter ride. Got very cross on back of bike. He still has no idea how cross. Got sick of the sight of the back of his helmet (Matt black Shoei and cooler than mine apparently). Intercom lead not long enough (to strangle). Smug in his Klim gear while I had water pouring down the back of my neck while having to listen how fantastic the roads are. The word road should be struck from the English language henceforth.
Good scenery today and much better all round. Except the German biker. Always know when there is a bike behind us. Don't need a mirror. Riding immediately goes into twat mode. Actually went past the German so then had to keep up speed so German didn't then go past us. Why? No idea. Worse was listening to dam busters being told that he mustn't go past us because we would have to listen to ride of Valkyries. Retard.
Some great flowers spotted. Flower report on it's way.
Susan x

Doesn't everyone have a nippy Normans wish list ?
It isn't hard getting on and off the bike if you do it the way I say !
Had you fastened your waterproofs up in the way I suggested you would have stayed dry !
Roads are good full stop !
Other bikes particularly Germans have to be overtaken its the law !