BigyellowGS
Registered user
This is probably not the greatest adventure ever undertaken, But I thought I'd share it with you all anyway... Especially as we only got the R65 running properly the night before we left due to some good advice from people here 
(See my post regarding the bikes running issues).
I should also probably mention the Phil (the owner of the R65) had only passed his test the week before! And so the trip was going to be the first miles he had undertaken on the R65!
Anyway.. onto the trip!
As we had decided a bike trip was the order of the day once Phil had passed his test (a great excuse when asking the missus for a boys week away), the scene was set for an truly EPIC trip.. ahem... So after spending several nights getting the R65 working we hurriedly got clothes, camping kit etc together and were ready for the off at 5am of saturday 21st.
Anyway... first stop was Cambridge services near Swavesy... for a light english breakfast and coffee:
This also gave us the chance to check we hadn't forgotten anything really important.. like my airbed, the stove and something to cook in...
Oh well never mind... onwards!
Once we got north of York it started to rain... So coffee stops became not only a chance to stretch legs but also a chance to dry out gloves, neck tubes etc.
This picture is from a services near Carlisle, As you can see Phil still has a "smile" on his face even though the rain had got though our kit about 100 miles back!
At this point we decided that getting up to Glen Coe was probably pushing it... And that the thought of getting into damp tents/sleeping bags in the rain was nasty to say the least, So we decided to use the tourist office to book rooms for the night somewhere near loch lomand.
We hit Glasgow about 4 ish.. And almost immediatly got lost! But after about an hour of going in circles playing "follow that roadsign" I spotted the Heine Gerrik shp and recognised where I was from a previous trip years ago.
We got to the Arrochar hotel about 7pm and it was really nice, they didn't even bat an eyelid when two drenched/dripping bikers walked into their posh bar/lobby and sat down. Once we were setted in they suggested that the bikes would be safer round the back of the hotel in a private parking area... which just happened to be right outside the window of our rooms!
Thats how we ended up with this view of the bikes:
Sunday 9am - Most of our kit was now dried out(ish), so we wolfed down a full "scotish" breakfast.. Paid the bill (60 quid for both of us, which was well worth it) and got back on the bikes for the last 60 miles or so to Glen Coe.
Of course we had to stop at the "Welcome to the highlands sign" just to prove to the missus that we had infact gone somewhere and wern't just sitting in our local getting pissed
We arrived at the Red squirrel campsite around mid-day and set up camp.
I've stayed at this site on several occasions and can really recommend it... The location is spot on, The facilities are good and it allows camp fires (which is always a plus point).
http://www.redsquirrelcampsite.com/index.html
There is also a cracking pub/hotel "The Clachaig Inn" about 10 minutes walk down the road... They usually have a good selection of local beers on draught and a huge number of whiskys available to "sample". The food isn;t bad either
http://www.clachaig.com/
Once we had set up camp we decided to go for a little ride round Loch Leven and explore a little... The scenery in the area is simply stunning:
As we decided to have a non bike day the next day... We had "diner" at the above mentioned pub.
Monday... A chance to relax and do a little fishing (in the rain).. although I believe it was Billy Connelly who said "its F&*ing Scotland... what the F&^* did you expect"...
So we headed up to the Glen Coe lochan, which is owned and stocked with rainbow trout by the forestry commision.. Tickets were seven quid each for the day with a four fish limit per person! And they allow fishing with fly, spinner or bait... which is quite unusual!
The Lochan is surrounded by old parkland planted by Lord Strathcona in the nineteenth century in an attempt to recreate the Pacific NorthWest for his homesick native-American wife.. So its a stunning place to do a bit of fishing!
And as luck would have it... we even caught a few fish for diner!
As we had four fish for diner, we decided to try out a few different methods to cook them over the camp fire... Hence my attempt to recreate something I watched Ray Mears do on tv:
Believe it or not... It tasted great!
Tuesday - As the rain had set in nicely, We decided to take the bikes up to Fort William and have a poke about... I think we saw more GS's on this ride than I've seen all year!
We found a shop selling decent whisky at reasonable prices which we stocked up on.
"Diner" was again taken at the pub as cooking in the p***ing rain isn't that much fun!
Wednesday - Time to move on... Southwards to the lakes!
This picture was taken just down the road from the pub.. As we were about the leave Glen Coe...
Thats not a smile... I'm trying not to think about the water running down the back on my neck!
We managed to get though Glasgow without getting lost and made good time down to Penrith where we left the motorway as sauntered down past Ullswater and up over the Kirkstone pass:
As I'd been having worries about my GS's clutch prior to the trip... getting stuck in slow (5mph) traffic on the 30 degree hill upto the pass gave me the panic's... But I think its just my paranoia setting in as all was/is fine.
We arrived in Hawkshead about 4pm, and went in search of a good pub diner (again)... We stumbled into a pub called the Kings Arms.. And of course had to sample the local Hawkshead Bitter!
Thursday - In search of Campbell.
As we were staying within a stones throw of where Donald Campbell has lost his life trying to break the 300mph water speed record we thought we should spend the day visiting the local museums and learning a little more about the man himself.
Firstly we went to the Lakeland motor museum housed at Holker Hall... As well as having some replicas of the "bluebird's" the museum holds an array of interesting bikes and cars...
It costs just over a tenner to look round the museum, hall and grounds.. And an extra quid to purchase a licence to take photo's:
Some racing Nortons:
A really nice Tiger Cub trials:
Barry Sheenes 1979 Ex works Suzuki Dunstall GS1000:
A Chinese army bike:
A couple of classic Suzuki trails bikes tucked away in a corner:
The french connection:
Back to the future?
Then there were of course Donald Campbells cars and boats:
His personal 1936 Bentley 4 1/2 Stanard steel park wide body:
The bluebird area, where you can see replicas of:
Back left: Sir Malcolm Campbells 1935 bluebird car - The original car had 12 cylinder supercharged Royals royal areo-type engine which produced approx 2500bhp! It reached 301.29mph!
Back Right: Donald Campbells 1967 Jet hydroplane Bluebird K7 - This has a Bristol Orpheus engine (from a gnat fighter plane)... and was the final incarnation of the bluebird in which Donald Campbell was killed on the 4th Jan 1967 whilst trying to break his own speed record at over 300mph.
Front centre: Sir Malcolm Campbells 1939 boat - Bluebird K4. This boat piloted by Sir Malcolm reached 141.74mph on Conniston water on the 19th Aug 1939. A record that stood until 1948... Donald Campbell also took this boat to 152mph in 1950.
After seeing the replica of the K7, and reading about the recovery of Donald Cambells remains and the original K7 from Conniston in 2001 we decided to take a trip in to Conniston and look round the Ruskin Museum (who will be receiving the completly restored K7 at some point) and visit Donald Campbells grave and mamorial to pay our respects to a great man.
In the Ruskin museum you can find some of the original parts from the K7:
The original Orpheus engine from the K7:
And the tail fin:
The following links are for the museum and the bluebird project wesbite: They still need to raise a further 200,000+ to enable the restoration project to be completed.. So if you feel like dontating something to help I'm sure it would be greatfully received:
http://www.ruskinmuseum.com/bluebird.htm
http://www.bluebirdproject.com/
We found the simple memorial to Donald Campbell just near the church of St. Andrew in the centre of Conniston... A small reminder of such a brave man.
We also visited his grave (where his remains were finally laid to rest in 2001) to pay our respects. (No photo as it didn't seem right).
He has been a hero of mine since I was a little when I watched a BBC docu drama about his life.. So it was fantastic to see that the acheivements of such a great pioneer of speed are being remembered and conserved.
So anyway.... friday... and time to head home...
1280 miles covered and good time had!
The R65 survived... although it did develop a tendancy to die when ticking over... So I guess she will need some more TLC before we set off somewhere else!
And the GS... well she did her part... And only used a tiny amount of oil.
Hope you liked reading about the trip... James
(See my post regarding the bikes running issues).I should also probably mention the Phil (the owner of the R65) had only passed his test the week before! And so the trip was going to be the first miles he had undertaken on the R65!
Anyway.. onto the trip!
As we had decided a bike trip was the order of the day once Phil had passed his test (a great excuse when asking the missus for a boys week away), the scene was set for an truly EPIC trip.. ahem... So after spending several nights getting the R65 working we hurriedly got clothes, camping kit etc together and were ready for the off at 5am of saturday 21st.
Anyway... first stop was Cambridge services near Swavesy... for a light english breakfast and coffee:
This also gave us the chance to check we hadn't forgotten anything really important.. like my airbed, the stove and something to cook in...
Oh well never mind... onwards!
Once we got north of York it started to rain... So coffee stops became not only a chance to stretch legs but also a chance to dry out gloves, neck tubes etc.
This picture is from a services near Carlisle, As you can see Phil still has a "smile" on his face even though the rain had got though our kit about 100 miles back!
At this point we decided that getting up to Glen Coe was probably pushing it... And that the thought of getting into damp tents/sleeping bags in the rain was nasty to say the least, So we decided to use the tourist office to book rooms for the night somewhere near loch lomand.
We hit Glasgow about 4 ish.. And almost immediatly got lost! But after about an hour of going in circles playing "follow that roadsign" I spotted the Heine Gerrik shp and recognised where I was from a previous trip years ago.
We got to the Arrochar hotel about 7pm and it was really nice, they didn't even bat an eyelid when two drenched/dripping bikers walked into their posh bar/lobby and sat down. Once we were setted in they suggested that the bikes would be safer round the back of the hotel in a private parking area... which just happened to be right outside the window of our rooms!
Thats how we ended up with this view of the bikes:
Sunday 9am - Most of our kit was now dried out(ish), so we wolfed down a full "scotish" breakfast.. Paid the bill (60 quid for both of us, which was well worth it) and got back on the bikes for the last 60 miles or so to Glen Coe.
Of course we had to stop at the "Welcome to the highlands sign" just to prove to the missus that we had infact gone somewhere and wern't just sitting in our local getting pissed
We arrived at the Red squirrel campsite around mid-day and set up camp.
I've stayed at this site on several occasions and can really recommend it... The location is spot on, The facilities are good and it allows camp fires (which is always a plus point).
http://www.redsquirrelcampsite.com/index.html
There is also a cracking pub/hotel "The Clachaig Inn" about 10 minutes walk down the road... They usually have a good selection of local beers on draught and a huge number of whiskys available to "sample". The food isn;t bad either
http://www.clachaig.com/
Once we had set up camp we decided to go for a little ride round Loch Leven and explore a little... The scenery in the area is simply stunning:
As we decided to have a non bike day the next day... We had "diner" at the above mentioned pub.
Monday... A chance to relax and do a little fishing (in the rain).. although I believe it was Billy Connelly who said "its F&*ing Scotland... what the F&^* did you expect"...
So we headed up to the Glen Coe lochan, which is owned and stocked with rainbow trout by the forestry commision.. Tickets were seven quid each for the day with a four fish limit per person! And they allow fishing with fly, spinner or bait... which is quite unusual!
The Lochan is surrounded by old parkland planted by Lord Strathcona in the nineteenth century in an attempt to recreate the Pacific NorthWest for his homesick native-American wife.. So its a stunning place to do a bit of fishing!
And as luck would have it... we even caught a few fish for diner!
As we had four fish for diner, we decided to try out a few different methods to cook them over the camp fire... Hence my attempt to recreate something I watched Ray Mears do on tv:
Believe it or not... It tasted great!
Tuesday - As the rain had set in nicely, We decided to take the bikes up to Fort William and have a poke about... I think we saw more GS's on this ride than I've seen all year!
We found a shop selling decent whisky at reasonable prices which we stocked up on.
"Diner" was again taken at the pub as cooking in the p***ing rain isn't that much fun!
Wednesday - Time to move on... Southwards to the lakes!
This picture was taken just down the road from the pub.. As we were about the leave Glen Coe...
Thats not a smile... I'm trying not to think about the water running down the back on my neck!
We managed to get though Glasgow without getting lost and made good time down to Penrith where we left the motorway as sauntered down past Ullswater and up over the Kirkstone pass:
As I'd been having worries about my GS's clutch prior to the trip... getting stuck in slow (5mph) traffic on the 30 degree hill upto the pass gave me the panic's... But I think its just my paranoia setting in as all was/is fine.
We arrived in Hawkshead about 4pm, and went in search of a good pub diner (again)... We stumbled into a pub called the Kings Arms.. And of course had to sample the local Hawkshead Bitter!
Thursday - In search of Campbell.
As we were staying within a stones throw of where Donald Campbell has lost his life trying to break the 300mph water speed record we thought we should spend the day visiting the local museums and learning a little more about the man himself.
Firstly we went to the Lakeland motor museum housed at Holker Hall... As well as having some replicas of the "bluebird's" the museum holds an array of interesting bikes and cars...
It costs just over a tenner to look round the museum, hall and grounds.. And an extra quid to purchase a licence to take photo's:
Some racing Nortons:
A really nice Tiger Cub trials:
Barry Sheenes 1979 Ex works Suzuki Dunstall GS1000:
A Chinese army bike:
A couple of classic Suzuki trails bikes tucked away in a corner:
The french connection:
Back to the future?
Then there were of course Donald Campbells cars and boats:
His personal 1936 Bentley 4 1/2 Stanard steel park wide body:
The bluebird area, where you can see replicas of:
Back left: Sir Malcolm Campbells 1935 bluebird car - The original car had 12 cylinder supercharged Royals royal areo-type engine which produced approx 2500bhp! It reached 301.29mph!
Back Right: Donald Campbells 1967 Jet hydroplane Bluebird K7 - This has a Bristol Orpheus engine (from a gnat fighter plane)... and was the final incarnation of the bluebird in which Donald Campbell was killed on the 4th Jan 1967 whilst trying to break his own speed record at over 300mph.
Front centre: Sir Malcolm Campbells 1939 boat - Bluebird K4. This boat piloted by Sir Malcolm reached 141.74mph on Conniston water on the 19th Aug 1939. A record that stood until 1948... Donald Campbell also took this boat to 152mph in 1950.
After seeing the replica of the K7, and reading about the recovery of Donald Cambells remains and the original K7 from Conniston in 2001 we decided to take a trip in to Conniston and look round the Ruskin Museum (who will be receiving the completly restored K7 at some point) and visit Donald Campbells grave and mamorial to pay our respects to a great man.
In the Ruskin museum you can find some of the original parts from the K7:
The original Orpheus engine from the K7:
And the tail fin:
The following links are for the museum and the bluebird project wesbite: They still need to raise a further 200,000+ to enable the restoration project to be completed.. So if you feel like dontating something to help I'm sure it would be greatfully received:
http://www.ruskinmuseum.com/bluebird.htm
http://www.bluebirdproject.com/
We found the simple memorial to Donald Campbell just near the church of St. Andrew in the centre of Conniston... A small reminder of such a brave man.
We also visited his grave (where his remains were finally laid to rest in 2001) to pay our respects. (No photo as it didn't seem right).
He has been a hero of mine since I was a little when I watched a BBC docu drama about his life.. So it was fantastic to see that the acheivements of such a great pioneer of speed are being remembered and conserved.
So anyway.... friday... and time to head home...
1280 miles covered and good time had!
The R65 survived... although it did develop a tendancy to die when ticking over... So I guess she will need some more TLC before we set off somewhere else!
And the GS... well she did her part... And only used a tiny amount of oil.
Hope you liked reading about the trip...
James
for Phil. That is a great way to start your biking. I doubt there are many people who's first miles were on a trip like this. Well done.
