The Scottish Trip 2009 Click here for The Scottish Trip 2010
Meriden to John O'Groats plus detours. 1700 miles.
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Day one the first stop was at the Hartside cafe, this is on the A686 between Penrith and Alston. At 1904ft above sea level it is England's highest |
After a slight detour we ended up at Hadrian's wall |
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| After travelling 350 miles we spent
the first night at the Balmorel pub in Moffatt, very nice. |
Bob Johnson took the option to get us lost on the second day. He did a fantastic job. We ended up here for tea/coffee and pies. Shame it was in Callander. |
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After leaving Callander
we made our way to Fort William via Loch Lomond and Glen Coe. We saw plenty
of rain today. |
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| Day three we set off from Fort William to Ullapool. We left the A835 and made our way via Poolewe on the A832. The A832 was a fantastic, beautiful, stunning, quiet and enjoyable detour to take. Recommended. | It only rained for three hours today so we were glad to get to Ullapool. This is a picture taken from our hotel bedroom. We were the youngest residents. Bob Wisdom was suffering with neck pain and wanted to purchase some pain killers. Bob consulted his Satnav which located the nearest chemist as being 55miles away. Later that evening after dinner we took a stroll. We found the chemist, 300 metres away. Travelled 185 miles today. |
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| Day four took us from Ullapool to Thurso. It started raining as we set off. Quite a long treck due to the number of bends in the roads, damn mountains. | Again the views were truly incredible. We would stop to take pictures, get back on the bikes, set off only to find there was another incredible view 3 miles down the road. Stop the bike, get off, take out the camera, say "Ooh" and "Arrgh" get back on bike and set off again. Travelled 180 miles. |
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Day five was spent in Castletown just outside Thurso. The
hotel pictured above was the local bank in days gone by. The hotel
owner kindly let us put our bikes in his garage for the night. This
hotel will hold dear memories for me. This was the first time I had slept
with three other men. Gerry looked wonderful in his baby blue pyjamas.
Bob "W" tried to frighten us by pretending to be a ghost or something,
pathetic behaviour. After Dunnett Head we made our way to JOHN O'GROATS. It rained. We had got here at last, wouldn't go again. It's all down hill from now on. |
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Our next overnight stop was at Grantown-on-Spey. We had a rest break at Bonar Bridge, more tea/coffee and cakes. Today we saw Puffins, oil rigs, snow, Seals and rain. Travelled another 185 miles. |
| Thursday we travelled from Grantown-on-Spey to
Berwick-on-Tweed. 205 miles We stopped at Braemar for more tea/coffee and cakes and then a quick look at Balmoral castle just down the road. |
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Stopped at the Forth rail bridge at Queensferry for pics. No cakes, tea or coffee this time. Our overnight stop was at The Castle hotel, a recently refurbished pub, recommended. The owner of the pub promised us parking for the bikes. The entrance to the yard was opened which revealed a space big enough to get a Weeley bin in. Several minutes past before the proprietor realised that Gerry's Rocket 111 wouldn't go in on its own. Arrangements were made for us to go across the road to the Kwik-Fit tyre bay. The lads who work here were very helpful. We parked the bikes inside the workshop overnight. They made us very welcome, so if you intend to visit Berwick-on-Tweed, stop at The Castle and get excellent parking. |
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| Friday.............200miles Berwick-on-Tweed to Scarborough via Lindisfarne, Bamburgh and Goathland. |
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We rode across the causeway to "Holy Island" fortunately we judged the tide right and were able to get back. Lindisfarne is a small pretty four road village. We stood in silence for at least thirty seconds waiting for a wave of religious fervour to enter our lives but nothing happened. Back on the bikes and off to Bamburgh castle |
| Bamburgh has a wonderful castle that was once owned by Mr Armstrong the engineer (Armstrong Siddely et al) Some of the biggest beaches in Great Britain are at Bamburgh. This time we did have tea/coffee and cakes. |
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We'd heard that the "Angel of the North" was BIG |
| But not this BIG The Angel stands on concrete base that is as deep into the ground as the Angel is high. |
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The next stop meant an awful lot to one member of the group. It transpired that he was a "Heartbeat" fan. Nothing wrong with that I hear you say. After a ride through some of the bleakest Yorkshire moors I have ever seen, we arrived at Goathland. Yes that's correct Goathland. Better known as "Aidensfield" |
| The village was busy with visitors. We concentrated on Scripps garage, we had heard a lot about this place. |
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Usual collection of cars from the 50's and 60's as seen in the television programme. |
| The bike collection here is wonderful. |
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The garage itself appears to be one mass of junk with the odd classic bike or car on show. |
| Looking amongst the junk you see G.P carbs hanging off the wall and Lucas racing magnetos under the bench. |
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This place is a goldmine for classic bits and
pieces never mind the bikes. Changed my mind about Heartbeat now, I watch every programme hoping to see more of the bike collection. A visit is a must. |
| Saturday. Scarborough to home.
190 miles. Spent our last night in Scarborough at a decent B&B. Had a walk into the town for our evening meal. The only town I've visited where the only food available was Fish n' Chips and we picked the worst place in town, Harry Ramsden's. Set off for home after breakfast via the Humber bridge. A great end to a great week |
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The End |