Last weekend, 11 of us made the long trek from Yorkshire up to the Scottish Highlands for 5 days
Apart from a few wet roads on the long 436 mile ride up to Rogart, the weather was truly spectacular with a totally dry and sunny long weekend
Our destination was Rogart, near Brora - high up on the Scottish east coast
Stopped off here just off the A1, into Scotland for morning tea
Base for the weekend was Sleeperzz http://www.sleeperzzz.com/ which is a collection of old railway carriages, converted into bunkhouse accomodation - quirky and great fun, with a good pub and Spar shop within 100 yds
Friday dawned dry and overcast, so the group slpit into 2 and I led a group over to the Western Highlands and Durness
Loch Shin, with snow capped mountains in the distance
Beautiful sea loch @ Bridge of Laxford
We ventured onwards towards Durness and the coast was truly spectacular
After a quick coffee, at the craft centre there - we headed further along the coast towards Tongue
Inland views were spectacular towards the mountains
View of Smoo cave.................stunning
Rather poignant
Distant views of the Orkney Islands
After lunch at Tongue, we headed back inland towards Helmsdale via Kinbrace
Cofter's simple cottage
The GPS took us unexpectedly over a little used pass towards Glen Loth, with rocks and grass in places - we were lucky to see a herd of wild red deer, some 120 which crossed in front of us
Back to base and another night in the excellent pub
Saturday dawned dry and very sunny, beautiful
We decided to traverse the same route north via Kinbrace and Melvich to do the north east coast along the top of Scotland in the direction of John 'O Groats, where the actual most northerly point is Dunnet Head
Superb views from Dunnet lighthouse to the Orkneys
Lunch was fast approaching, so we stopped at the Castle of Mey, the Queen Mother's favourite holiday retreat - the tearooms have great food and even better views
View from the castle's tearoom
After a hearty lunch, a trip to John O Groats is kinda compulsory
Nice harbour
Tourist signs
Great view towards Duncansby Head
Then we had a spectacular run down the A9 coast road via Wick and it was 70 miles of fast sweepers with the sea on the left, in a relatively traffic free environment - we enjoyed it !!
Sunday, again the weather gods had blessed us for our trip south west to Dingwall/Achnasheen and Sheldaig
Views of Skye and the Cuillins
Applecross - lunch at the pub there, a veritable fishy feast, it would be rude not too, being so close to the sea
The 2000ft - Pass of the Cattle was what everyone had come to do, so here's the lads going down the other side
Great view, through the gap.......... of Loch Carron
Onwards towards Lochalsh and a stop at Eilean Donan Castle
Then after a great ride on the Kyle of Lochalsh road and Invergarry, we headed towards Fort William for the last night's stay at Corran ferry, in the Corran Bunkhouse - http://www.corranbunkhouse.co.uk/ Another good place to stay
Ferry was free for footpassengers to nearby Ardour across the loch and the pub was another cracker
Monday morning......................homeward bound and the weather just gets better
We went through Glencoe at 7.30am on a stunning day and headed back home via Edinburgh, taking the a& to Hawick and then did a rounte around Kielder, just to make sure our tyres were properly all used up
A really good weekend weatherwise, brilliant accomodation, shared in the company of some superb GS'ers
Apart from a few wet roads on the long 436 mile ride up to Rogart, the weather was truly spectacular with a totally dry and sunny long weekend
Our destination was Rogart, near Brora - high up on the Scottish east coast
Stopped off here just off the A1, into Scotland for morning tea
Base for the weekend was Sleeperzz http://www.sleeperzzz.com/ which is a collection of old railway carriages, converted into bunkhouse accomodation - quirky and great fun, with a good pub and Spar shop within 100 yds
Friday dawned dry and overcast, so the group slpit into 2 and I led a group over to the Western Highlands and Durness
Loch Shin, with snow capped mountains in the distance
Beautiful sea loch @ Bridge of Laxford
We ventured onwards towards Durness and the coast was truly spectacular
After a quick coffee, at the craft centre there - we headed further along the coast towards Tongue
Inland views were spectacular towards the mountains
View of Smoo cave.................stunning
Rather poignant
Distant views of the Orkney Islands
After lunch at Tongue, we headed back inland towards Helmsdale via Kinbrace
Cofter's simple cottage
The GPS took us unexpectedly over a little used pass towards Glen Loth, with rocks and grass in places - we were lucky to see a herd of wild red deer, some 120 which crossed in front of us
Back to base and another night in the excellent pub
Saturday dawned dry and very sunny, beautiful
We decided to traverse the same route north via Kinbrace and Melvich to do the north east coast along the top of Scotland in the direction of John 'O Groats, where the actual most northerly point is Dunnet Head
Superb views from Dunnet lighthouse to the Orkneys
Lunch was fast approaching, so we stopped at the Castle of Mey, the Queen Mother's favourite holiday retreat - the tearooms have great food and even better views
View from the castle's tearoom
After a hearty lunch, a trip to John O Groats is kinda compulsory
Nice harbour
Tourist signs
Great view towards Duncansby Head
Then we had a spectacular run down the A9 coast road via Wick and it was 70 miles of fast sweepers with the sea on the left, in a relatively traffic free environment - we enjoyed it !!
Sunday, again the weather gods had blessed us for our trip south west to Dingwall/Achnasheen and Sheldaig
Views of Skye and the Cuillins
Applecross - lunch at the pub there, a veritable fishy feast, it would be rude not too, being so close to the sea
The 2000ft - Pass of the Cattle was what everyone had come to do, so here's the lads going down the other side
Great view, through the gap.......... of Loch Carron
Onwards towards Lochalsh and a stop at Eilean Donan Castle
Then after a great ride on the Kyle of Lochalsh road and Invergarry, we headed towards Fort William for the last night's stay at Corran ferry, in the Corran Bunkhouse - http://www.corranbunkhouse.co.uk/ Another good place to stay
Ferry was free for footpassengers to nearby Ardour across the loch and the pub was another cracker
Monday morning......................homeward bound and the weather just gets better
We went through Glencoe at 7.30am on a stunning day and headed back home via Edinburgh, taking the a& to Hawick and then did a rounte around Kielder, just to make sure our tyres were properly all used up
A really good weekend weatherwise, brilliant accomodation, shared in the company of some superb GS'ers
).
