I
iansyney
Guest
Misses and i are off to Scotland for 9 days end of july touring on the birdie anyone know of any biker friendly campsites or accomm they can recommend .Also any routes roads not too be missed??c7u8
-
Welcome to the new B.I.R.D. Forum. Please be sure to read the "New Member / New Registered ? Please Read" thread in the Coffee Shop. This contains some important information. To become a full member ( £5.90 a year ) simply click on your user name near the top on the right I hope you enjoy the new site ................ Jaws ( John )
D
doghouse103
Guest
North of scotlands best roads
w;;v Hi I live a town called Nairn in the north of Scotlnd near Inverness I can recommend some great roads with breathtaking scenery, ones I travel every couple of weeks especially the Invergaarry to Achnasheen road wher you can max the bird out
.
If your travelling from the south head for Balloch on the south end of Loch Lomond from there travel up the A82 and stop at the famous Green Wellie watering hole before you travel through Gleencoe and up to Fort William. From there keep heading up the A82 as far as Invergarry where you can take the A87 for Kyle of Lochalsh and stop at the beautiful Eilean Donan Castle. Just after the castle take the A890 for Loch Carron then onto Achnasheen where you can either turn left and down Loch Maree or right taking you onto the A835 to Ullapool, then head up round the top of Scotland to John "O" Graoats. After Groats its a nice run down to Inverness where you can then travel down Loch Ness (my run very couple of nights after T round the Loch) travel back through Fort William onto Oban and home or cut off at Spean Bridge head for Newtownmore and down the A9
As for camp sites most are biker friendly in the north. Just one tip if heading round Loch Maree make sure you fill up at Loch Carron. If you need any more info just ask.
Jimmy
:yo:
w;;v Hi I live a town called Nairn in the north of Scotlnd near Inverness I can recommend some great roads with breathtaking scenery, ones I travel every couple of weeks especially the Invergaarry to Achnasheen road wher you can max the bird out
. If your travelling from the south head for Balloch on the south end of Loch Lomond from there travel up the A82 and stop at the famous Green Wellie watering hole before you travel through Gleencoe and up to Fort William. From there keep heading up the A82 as far as Invergarry where you can take the A87 for Kyle of Lochalsh and stop at the beautiful Eilean Donan Castle. Just after the castle take the A890 for Loch Carron then onto Achnasheen where you can either turn left and down Loch Maree or right taking you onto the A835 to Ullapool, then head up round the top of Scotland to John "O" Graoats. After Groats its a nice run down to Inverness where you can then travel down Loch Ness (my run very couple of nights after T round the Loch) travel back through Fort William onto Oban and home or cut off at Spean Bridge head for Newtownmore and down the A9
As for camp sites most are biker friendly in the north. Just one tip if heading round Loch Maree make sure you fill up at Loch Carron. If you need any more info just ask.
Jimmy
:yo:
9 days...! wow, lucky you hope the weather stays good for ya. I had my 1st trip over a long weekend to Scotland last July and it was fantastic. Every road we travelled was a must do again soon.. type road.iansyney said:
Our route took us:
up the A82 as far as Fort William and onwards to Loch Ness we stayed the 1st night at Fort Augustus at St Josephs B&B the place was imaculate, so we booked rooms again to stay there again on our trip back down.
Next day we headed towards the Isle of Sky along the A887 and A87 (excellent roads) we followed the A87 to the end then looped around the top of Sky and back down again to Kyle of Lochalsh (in hind sight we should have filled up near there), then onwards to Applecross. Once there we followed the single track coast road northwards (absolutely breathtaking). All the garages were now shut and our fuel lights were on (7:00pm on a Sat night), and we had to get to Ullapool (50 miles away) as we had rooms booked at the Arch Inn. The rooms wern't the best but the food was great and they had a live band on.
Day three was spent mainly exploring the near by coast line along the very narrow lanes, we started by heading towards Achnahaird and as we went over a blind rise a little further on at Althandhu or Polbain? we just had to hit the anchors and take in the view of dozens of Islands.. yep it's absolutely breathtaking. We gradually worked our way to the Stoer peninsular to the light house, there are some fantastic places there to just pitch your tent at the road side (loads of volk in NL plated cars were doing just that). The pace that day was so slow that it took 8 hours to cover the first 130 miles. So much so we had to curtail our vague plans, so when we got as far North as Laxford Bridge we turned and headed off down the A838 taking us towards Bonnar Bridge.
Obviously having been only the once, I aint no authority on what are 'the best' roads but .. All of the above route I will do again someday. It must be great to have 9 days to cover a lot more ground. :yo: :yo:
I
iansyney
Guest
Thanks guys Its always best to get this sort of info from someone who lives there or has travelled this part of UK .
birdie in for a service thurs so she will be ready just hope weather improves coz its quite crap here at the mo on the south coast . Thanks again for helpfull information:bow:
birdie in for a service thurs so she will be ready just hope weather improves coz its quite crap here at the mo on the south coast . Thanks again for helpfull information:bow:
B
Blue_CBRXX
Guest
Scotland Tour
Hi
A few years ago one of the mags did a tour round the cost of Scotland. We copied the tour and the west coast was superb. We left Glasgow up passed Loch Lomond to Arrachar over the rest and be thankful to Inverary. Then continued on the coast road to Lochgilphead and on to Oban. From there we headed to Fort William and up to Fort Agustus. We tried to stay as we like Fort Agustus, but we hadn't booked, bad idea as it is a very popular place. After that we headed to Invermoriston and then headed for Kyle of Lochalsh, hoping for accommodation on Skye. Due to a farm show on Skye we were advised to give it a miss. We then doubled back and headed over to LochCarron where we eventually found some accommodation. Next day we headed for the top of Scotland. We stayed at a wee B&B in Bettyshill, tiny place but there are very few places to stay up there! We then headed on to the obligatory stop at John O'Groats and then headed for inverness. Accommodation issues and the weather taking a turn for the worse we headed home via Fort William. The roads were great and we were lucky with the weather. The sun shone for 2 and 1/2 of the 3 days. Unfortunately the last 1/2 day we had 3 weeks of rain in one day and there was flooding and even a landslide on the road at one point. I will look out the autoroute file in case it gives you some ideas.
Cheers Paul
Hi
A few years ago one of the mags did a tour round the cost of Scotland. We copied the tour and the west coast was superb. We left Glasgow up passed Loch Lomond to Arrachar over the rest and be thankful to Inverary. Then continued on the coast road to Lochgilphead and on to Oban. From there we headed to Fort William and up to Fort Agustus. We tried to stay as we like Fort Agustus, but we hadn't booked, bad idea as it is a very popular place. After that we headed to Invermoriston and then headed for Kyle of Lochalsh, hoping for accommodation on Skye. Due to a farm show on Skye we were advised to give it a miss. We then doubled back and headed over to LochCarron where we eventually found some accommodation. Next day we headed for the top of Scotland. We stayed at a wee B&B in Bettyshill, tiny place but there are very few places to stay up there! We then headed on to the obligatory stop at John O'Groats and then headed for inverness. Accommodation issues and the weather taking a turn for the worse we headed home via Fort William. The roads were great and we were lucky with the weather. The sun shone for 2 and 1/2 of the 3 days. Unfortunately the last 1/2 day we had 3 weeks of rain in one day and there was flooding and even a landslide on the road at one point. I will look out the autoroute file in case it gives you some ideas.
Cheers Paul
B
Bornagain
Guest
I stay on the Black Isle just north of Inverness and can endorse Jimmy's comments 100%. Enjoy your tripdoghouse103 said:w;;v Hi I live a town called Nairn in the north of Scotlnd near Inverness I can recommend some great roads with breathtaking scenery, ones I travel every couple of weeks especially the Invergaarry to Achnasheen road wher you can max the bird out
If your travelling from the south head for Balloch on the south end of Loch Lomond from there travel up the A82 and stop at the famous Green Wellie watering hole before you travel through Gleencoe and up to Fort William. From there keep heading up the A82 as far as Invergarry where you can take the A87 for Kyle of Lochalsh and stop at the beautiful Eilean Donan Castle. Just after the castle take the A890 for Loch Carron then onto Achnasheen where you can either turn left and down Loch Maree or right taking you onto the A835 to Ullapool, then head up round the top of Scotland to John "O" Graoats. After Groats its a nice run down to Inverness where you can then travel down Loch Ness (my run very couple of nights after T round the Loch) travel back through Fort William onto Oban and home or cut off at Spean Bridge head for Newtownmore and down the A9
As for camp sites most are biker friendly in the north. Just one tip if heading round Loch Maree make sure you fill up at Loch Carron. If you need any more info just ask.
Jimmy
:yo:
D
dn1873
Guest
Northwest
Hi....stay in Aberdeen and agree with most of the info supplied...I do these roads on a regular basis when home as I work 5 x 5 in the midlle east so do a lot of biking/camping in that area. Yeah stick to the west as much as you can and if you are up for a challenge take the bird up over the Bealach.na.ba (scenery outstanding & mind take the camera )from Lochcarron into Applecross then follow the north route all the way up and cut in by Achmelvich...its absolutely beautiful and the campsite has a great fish and chip bar. Follow the route all the way up to Durness on the north coast and I can gaurentee you and your partner will be amazed. Its a bit of a hit or miss weather wise..but I will tell you this, if you are lucky enough to get the sun then there is no place better for a bike.
have fun :yo:
Hi....stay in Aberdeen and agree with most of the info supplied...I do these roads on a regular basis when home as I work 5 x 5 in the midlle east so do a lot of biking/camping in that area. Yeah stick to the west as much as you can and if you are up for a challenge take the bird up over the Bealach.na.ba (scenery outstanding & mind take the camera )from Lochcarron into Applecross then follow the north route all the way up and cut in by Achmelvich...its absolutely beautiful and the campsite has a great fish and chip bar. Follow the route all the way up to Durness on the north coast and I can gaurentee you and your partner will be amazed. Its a bit of a hit or miss weather wise..but I will tell you this, if you are lucky enough to get the sun then there is no place better for a bike.
have fun :yo:
I stayed a week in a little place called Corglass just to the right (east) of Inverness, and down a bit from Spey Bay. Hired a cottage from Ecosse, this one:
http://www.unique-cottages.co.uk/cottages/highlands/banffshire/corglass_cottage
and spent the week exploring that area of Scotland. Some of the roads are amazing, and some are so pheasant riddled that you can't actually go very fast at all just in case the daft biggers run for your tyres!
Went around one corner and saw 5 perrigrin (spelling??) Falcons eating the carcass of a pheasant. Just stopped and watched them circle and land and hop about and be all bird-of-prey like. They hopped to the side of the road, we drove past, they hopped back. Astounding. 10 minutes later, 2 red deer slowly wandered across the road in fornt of us whilst a couple of red squirrels ran around a tree chasing each other. It really was and is just an absolutely fantastic area.
The down side was we were in the car! Several reasons, we were supposed to be in France on the Bird, but the weather, the odd handling, (head bearings as it turns out) the weather, the tunnel fire, the weather and lack of planning. Scotland was supposed to also be soaked, but at least it was nearer, no ferry, no tunnel and everyone speaks English. Kind of....so we car's it. And EVERY DAY I wished I had me bike!
Did the John O' Groats thing, and was disappointed. the Roads weren't all that, on the East coast route, and there is Bog ALL at J.O'G!! Bloody long way for not a very lot. But at least I have done it. Won't have to bother with that again.
I found the best thing to do is simply to point the car or bike in any direction and head off with an open plan. I will be heading to Scotland again on the bike as soon as I can get away. Love that place.
http://www.unique-cottages.co.uk/cottages/highlands/banffshire/corglass_cottage
and spent the week exploring that area of Scotland. Some of the roads are amazing, and some are so pheasant riddled that you can't actually go very fast at all just in case the daft biggers run for your tyres!
Went around one corner and saw 5 perrigrin (spelling??) Falcons eating the carcass of a pheasant. Just stopped and watched them circle and land and hop about and be all bird-of-prey like. They hopped to the side of the road, we drove past, they hopped back. Astounding. 10 minutes later, 2 red deer slowly wandered across the road in fornt of us whilst a couple of red squirrels ran around a tree chasing each other. It really was and is just an absolutely fantastic area.
The down side was we were in the car! Several reasons, we were supposed to be in France on the Bird, but the weather, the odd handling, (head bearings as it turns out) the weather, the tunnel fire, the weather and lack of planning. Scotland was supposed to also be soaked, but at least it was nearer, no ferry, no tunnel and everyone speaks English. Kind of....so we car's it. And EVERY DAY I wished I had me bike!
Did the John O' Groats thing, and was disappointed. the Roads weren't all that, on the East coast route, and there is Bog ALL at J.O'G!! Bloody long way for not a very lot. But at least I have done it. Won't have to bother with that again.
I found the best thing to do is simply to point the car or bike in any direction and head off with an open plan. I will be heading to Scotland again on the bike as soon as I can get away. Love that place.