S
Sam
Guest
Day 1 - Wed 27th Oct
Right, following lots of good advice on here, a close watch on the weather forecasts, and a bit of a prod from Wolfie, we set off for four days in Scotland, to try out the new Givi luggage, and our ability to manage to tour on the bike.
Mother-in-law had been drafted in to look after the house, boy and animals, and she was a bit taken aback that we were planning to go by bike, but she waved us off! We headed straight up the M74, trying to keep ahead of the gale force winds which were forecast. The services at Happendon are very clean, seem well run, and are a good stopping off point before tackling Glasgow, or the A80 past Cumbernauld (horrible road) which is the way we went. Once you see Stirling Castle (amazing building) over to the right, the road and scenery just get better and better. The first bit of the A85 north through Callender is not that fast, cos there's always slow traffic about, but once you hit the A85, and then the A82, there's plenty of opportunities to get away from the slow stuff.
After another stop at The Green Welly at Tyndrum (they even have a bucket of visor wash in the bike park!), we headed up across the awesome Rannoch Moor and into Glencoe, which never fails to impress, and particularly so going through for the first time on a bike.
We arrived at the hotel in the late afternoon, and encountered my first bit of (almost) prejudice. The young girl on Reception looked momentarily taken aback that a biker should be trying to book in, but when I told her we had a booking, she recovered quickly, and we were made very welcome.
There was no undercover parking for the bike, and I was worried about the gales, but I found a sheltered corner to back it into, out of sight of the road, and well out of the elements, and it was very safe. The hotel is right on the edge of Loch Linnhe, about 15 miles south of Fort William, and is a converted railway station building. It's warm, comfortable and the food is great, but it's not cheap. We stayed for one night at Easter for a special occasion, but they sent us an Autumn Offer (3 nights for the price of 2), which brought it more into the reasonable category, and which we couldn't resist.
So far, so good ..... going on the Bird was a great success.
Right, following lots of good advice on here, a close watch on the weather forecasts, and a bit of a prod from Wolfie, we set off for four days in Scotland, to try out the new Givi luggage, and our ability to manage to tour on the bike.
Mother-in-law had been drafted in to look after the house, boy and animals, and she was a bit taken aback that we were planning to go by bike, but she waved us off! We headed straight up the M74, trying to keep ahead of the gale force winds which were forecast. The services at Happendon are very clean, seem well run, and are a good stopping off point before tackling Glasgow, or the A80 past Cumbernauld (horrible road) which is the way we went. Once you see Stirling Castle (amazing building) over to the right, the road and scenery just get better and better. The first bit of the A85 north through Callender is not that fast, cos there's always slow traffic about, but once you hit the A85, and then the A82, there's plenty of opportunities to get away from the slow stuff.
After another stop at The Green Welly at Tyndrum (they even have a bucket of visor wash in the bike park!), we headed up across the awesome Rannoch Moor and into Glencoe, which never fails to impress, and particularly so going through for the first time on a bike.
We arrived at the hotel in the late afternoon, and encountered my first bit of (almost) prejudice. The young girl on Reception looked momentarily taken aback that a biker should be trying to book in, but when I told her we had a booking, she recovered quickly, and we were made very welcome.
There was no undercover parking for the bike, and I was worried about the gales, but I found a sheltered corner to back it into, out of sight of the road, and well out of the elements, and it was very safe. The hotel is right on the edge of Loch Linnhe, about 15 miles south of Fort William, and is a converted railway station building. It's warm, comfortable and the food is great, but it's not cheap. We stayed for one night at Easter for a special occasion, but they sent us an Autumn Offer (3 nights for the price of 2), which brought it more into the reasonable category, and which we couldn't resist.
So far, so good ..... going on the Bird was a great success.