Sunday 4th October 2020
My decision to pull out of the August planned Pyrenees trip made it a clean sweep of cancelled overseas trips in 2020. Thailand, Eastern Europe and now the Pyrenees 🙁 So it was time to look nearer to home for a trip before the end of the riding season; why not Scotland?
I’ve been to Scotland 4 times; only once with no rain!! So I planned a route, 6 days riding, and booked accommodation with flexible cancellation terms..just in case. When cancel decision deadline came the weather forecast looked OK, so this trip was GO.
I rode up to Scotland via back roads to begin the journey, joining the A1 above Peterborough and then a short blast up the A1M coming off at Harrogate and then continuing North through the great roads and scenery of the Yorkshire Dales and North Pennines. I picked up the A68 in Northumberland all the way up to just below Edinburgh.
From Edinburgh up through the Cairngorms and then heading west to Ullapool to ride the coast road all the way down to Kyle of Lochash, near Skye. Then over to Loch Ness and down to Oban before heading south east through the Trossachs and down to Hawick on the border with England.
I’ve made a video of the trip so you can “ride” some of the great roads with me..and the not so great! As expected it rained, but this did not spoil my fun..but it did contribute to a low speed CRASH when riding over the “Pass of the Cattle” !!! All caught on video..check it out and enjoy 🙂
In summary; a great trip with a total mix of roads; twisty B roads, fast A roads, single lane tracks, mountain roads and even a forest dirt road on the way back, All through some fantastic scenery including a good part of the Highlands and the Scottish West Coast..and of course the fantastic North Pennines moors and the Yorkshire Dales. 🙂