Scotland roads May 16th

[Grapefruits]

Hi All a few of us from work heading into Scotland in a couple of weeks and the outlined route barring all types of cock ups may well be as below, have a gander and if we're missing something thats a must do road or if you know of any roads being ripped up around the 16th drop us a line even if we unable to work around them but at least we'll know how much time we can waste by rerunning the roads back and forth in places

Day 1 Widnes to Oban M6/74 Glasgow, B831/832 Helensburgh, A814 Arochar, A83 Gilped, A816 Oban

Day 2 Oban to Inverness via Loch Leven & Malliag, A85, Glencoe round Loch Leven, Corran Ferry, A861/830 Mallaig, on and off Isle of Skye, A87 Castle Eilean Doran castle then depending on time weather etc either back track over Applecross or head straight for Inverness with a little detour via Glassburn

Day 3 Inverness to Balloch (Lomond) via A9/89/82 Avimore & Commando Memorial, Green Welly, Dukes Pass

Day 4 Balloch to Widnes and home unsure whether to hit the M74/M6 and take in the lakes and Yorks moors or is it worth heading out to Ayr, Dumfries, Gretna on the way down

 

[fivetide]

Only thing to say is a lot of the roads are still covered in rubbish from winter, gravel, salt etc. There have been 3 serious accidents for members of the Scottish bike forum in the past few weeks so go easy as the conditions might change quickly.

Day 2 seems a push but you also have your route well mapped so i am guessing it is one that you know already!

5t.

 

[Wolfie]

Hi All a few of us from work heading into Scotland in a couple of weeks and the outlined route barring all types of cock ups may well be as below, have a gander and if we're missing something thats a must do road or if you know of any roads being ripped up around the 16th drop us a line even if we unable to work around them but at least we'll know how much time we can waste by rerunning the roads back and forth in places

Day 1 Widnes to Oban M6/74 Glasgow, B831/832 Helensburgh, A814 Arochar, A83 Gilped, A816 Oban

Day 2 Oban to Inverness via Loch Leven & Malliag, A85, Glencoe round Loch Leven, Corran Ferry, A861/830 Mallaig, on and off Isle of Skye, A87 Castle Eilean Doran castle then depending on time weather etc either back track over Applecross or head straight for Inverness with a little detour via Glassburn

Day 3 Inverness to Balloch (Lomond) via A9/89/82 Avimore & Commando Memorial, Green Welly, Dukes Pass

Day 4 Balloch to Widnes and home unsure whether to hit the M74/M6 and take in the lakes and Yorks moors or is it worth heading out to Ayr, Dumfries, Gretna on the way down

ayr to dumbfries is good but the peeps are all from switchback mountain so dont stop.
avimore is good through the clouds,
oban is a hole
rannock moor glencoe is a good laugh

A9, A827, A85, A821,A811 to balloch

also from arrochar take the A83 to cambeltown, B842 back up to A816 to oban.

 

[Saffie]

Oban aint that bad wolfie all you need to do is get to the campsite asap and get pissed....lovely place then. As fivetide said we've had a few guys come down so just watch for grit potholes etc..

 

[McMuckles]

Good call regards watching the condition of roads, came off the bird on Tuesday,just past Brig O' Turk on the road to the Dukes Pass -only doing about 35 mph (60mph limit) at the time as although it was dry some of the surfaces were bad, potholes filled with this grit blast they fire at it and don't sweep up so the residue lies all over the road like grey shot blast.
Went round a slight right hander well over to left to avoid a groove strip down the centre moving over to the right to get view of the road ahead front wheel went away on some gravel, off the bike to the right low slide (bike stopped in centre of my side of the road about 8 feet away from me)

Due to low speed involved damage to me - scratched visor, no damage to HG textile jacket or leather trousers (slight rub off the knee shine) boots okay and gloves Alpinestar SP1 unmarked, but I have dislocated/fractured left thumb.
-(

Damage to bird:cry::cry::cry:
RH Fairing lower badly damaged,Upper Fairing damaged, nose cone snapped at the mirror mount,RH mirror housing broken, Bar End and brake lever scraped,rear brake pedal bent, exhaust scraped. crash bung sheared off

Had to get bike recovered as could not ride it with damage to thumb, so await the insurance, up to that point it had been a nice easy day off- a nice easy 75 mile round trip Glasgow to Aberfoyle/Callander/Aberfoyle/Glasgow.

The roads up here this year are not being repaired to a great standard, the grit blast pothole repairs are a nightmare, run down to Moffat last week, and they are using this stuff down that way as well.
Duty of care to vulnerable road users - councils couldnt give an arse:wank::wank:

Just to add it was thanks to two anglers who helped me get the bike up and off the road, interestingly enough sitting at the side of the road looking sorry for myself, only one out of eight bikers stopped to see if I was okay even a fekking coach driver pulled up and asked me if I was alright _ cue Lumpy "The popularity of biking is killing it"

 

[fivetide]

That's a great route you did, one I like so appreciate the inside knowledge. Sorry it is for such poor circumstances though. Hope the thumb is healing!

I came off a 9r Ninja a few years ago back of Stirling as a car cut into my lane and forced me over. Bike went into a weave and ended up on a grass banking. Kept it up as long as possible and dodged a telegraph pole but dropped it in the end.

Snapped gear lever and broken finger.

another biker dragged it out of the hedge and the cage driver behind stopped because they thought the car had actually hit me (no one got a number).

Anyway, managed to kick the bike into second gear and rode home one handed (25miles) without stopping or changing gear. Slipped the clutch at r/bouts by putting my wrist over the clutch lever just to keep moving. Probably some of the best traffic flow riding i've ever done!

Healing took about 6 weeks and painful opertaion plus physio so stick with it!

5t.

 

[McMuckles]

That's a great route you did, one I like so appreciate the inside knowledge. Sorry it is for such poor circumstances though. Hope the thumb is healing!

I came off a 9r Ninja a few years ago back of Stirling as a car cut into my lane and forced me over. Bike went into a weave and ended up on a grass banking. Kept it up as long as possible and dodged a telegraph pole but dropped it in the end.

Snapped gear lever and broken finger.

another biker dragged it out of the hedge and the cage driver behind stopped because they thought the car had actually hit me (no one got a number).

Anyway, managed to kick the bike into second gear and rode home one handed (25miles) without stopping or changing gear. Slipped the clutch at r/bouts by putting my wrist over the clutch lever just to keep moving. Probably some of the best traffic flow riding i've ever done!

Healing took about 6 weeks and painful opertaion plus physio so stick with it!

5t.

Cheers mate, had the thumb pulled back into place at the hospital, its in a brace splint thingy at the moment, back to hospital next week to see a hand specialist, at the time was more worried about the bike to be honest.

Amazing the amount of plastic that gets damaged in what was a low speed spill:cry:

 

[John Mack.]

Done the Dukes Pass today....as said allready road isn't in the best condition with a lot of grit from the "repairs"?
Take it easy and enjoy the scenery.
John.

 

[trippo00]

Was up and around Oban last weekend :bow:
the road from lochgilphead to oban is Awesome BUT the surface just where you want it to be billiard table smooth is crap with a capital C :bang::bang::bang:
Then watch out as you go up the A814 from Garelochead to Arrocher along side Loch long, there is some crap surface and some fresh laid stuff :bow: there's a bikers cafe cum chippy on the right hand side just as you come into Arrocher in case you dont know.
But the thing to watch out for along here is the fact its narrow and like bein on a rollercoaster in place's easy to get airborn, which aint sensible if ya have the missis on the back with an intercom switched on, and loaded with luggage :-0)

 

[MARTYN-CBR600]

Cheers to all for this info always worth knowing some inside info for the week away.
left the route up to my dad to sort it out so not sure which of these crap surfaced roads we are heading for but any time away on the bike with friends and my Dad is going be good. We did Dukes pass a couple of years ago and even then it was loose gravel in may places.
There is a group of 7 of us going this time bikes range from me and my dads Birds a cruiser couple of bandits 600 yam 600 and honda deauville.

 

[Grapefruits]

Thanks guys, great responses very helpful information, day 2 will be a long one on the bikes but as we'reup there rather be riding the roads than sat in the pub at tea time.

Cant wait to get up there now

 

[McMuckles]

As you know you will have a great time as you have been before, you have planned some good roads there, be mindful of those with the smaller tanks for fuel stops as can be a bit of a gap between them.@tu*

 

[Grapefruits]

Yes one of the guys tank range is 120 miles tops, think we've made a note of where he needs to fill up and the only part thats risky at the moment is the first haul from Widnes to Carlisle Tesco for our breakfast and refuel stop which is on his limits but at least it will be a steady plod up uthe motorway and not trashing up and down gears round twisties and its week days so more chance of catching the petrol stations open that are there, but we'll see and just in case taking a length of plastic pipe so we can syphon some out of mine and martyns if need be but doubt we'll need it.

Cheers Wolfie for the Campbeltown detour just checked it out on google street view, will make a note of it as we are putting some loops down just in case we've got time and weather on our side during the 1st, 3rd and 4th days.

 

[willibet]

A75 Dumfries then A76 to Ayr is a nice road, beats Mway riding and isn't much longer. You can pick up the A77 to Glasgow just north of Ayr (wave as you go past my work) or carry straight on to Killie.

A713 is another option, but I'm not a big fan, very windy which is fine, but too easy to get stuck behind someone, even on a bike, and a bit hairy in places if you don't know it, uit's a bit of a crappy road surface too.

 

[Grapefruits]

Cheers Willibet went up the windy road last year in the car great road and ended up having fish and chips with battered salmon somewhere south of Ayr