Scotland

[Redmurty]

looking at doing Scotland over the Easter weekend, route may be stourbridge to Fort william then Lochness, (but whilst side is best north or south) to Inverness up north to John O'scrotes then west to Tongue down the middle to Inverness around to the Spey valley and Cairngorms Edinburgh and A7 to carlisle. So which side of the Loch ? cheers spud

[Steve T]

Might I suggest a slight change (well, a big change actually ) - from Fort Bill, head north via the west coast towards Skye. If your not wanting to ride round Skye, head over to Applecross via Strathcarron / Loch Carron. Then round to Ullapool via Gairloch. From Ullapool take the coast road north towards Durness. You can then do the north coast to John O'Groats (which is sh1te - Dunnet head is the furthest north anyway ). If you dont mind missing out John O'Groats, take the road from Tongue down the middle via Altnaharra to Inverness. If you want to do the a side of Loch Ness, the northern side's roads are ace but will have more traffic than the southern side (traffic levels still not "down south" levels, but it's all relative ).
From Fort Agustus head to Spean Bridge, then down to Newtoinmore via Laggan (this road still makes me grin for it's full length). From Newtonmore head to Aviemore via the old road, then your heading into Malt country via the A95. At Grantown on Spey you can head south via Tomintoul, Braemar & Glenshee.
There are some great roads down through the borders as well - my preference is the A7 via Galashiels & Hawick. This road is virtually Gatso free, so all those twisties can be enjoyed when your not oggling the scenery.

Thats the route that I'd do, if I was coming to Scotland to ride.

Steve T

B)

[LargeWayRound]

If it was me I would avoid the main A82 road (west of loch ness) , usually very busy road .

I would rather turn off at fort augustus and take the single track roads up the east side of the loch . Quite abit slower but some excellent views and not so busy , just watch out for mad locals coming the other way . Good for spotting nessie you can just pull over and get the camera out .

On the A82 you mainly have to wait til there is a car park to stop and they are on the other side of the road (if heading north).

Just my opinion , some people like a faster road.

edit

Steve was posting same time as me, I agree with his route, sounds great ..

[Redmurty]

Did west coast last september and fell in love with the place, wanted to finish circuit so to speak by doing east coast. I missed Applecross last time but went all the way up to cape wrath then over to Tongue then down the middle to inverness cheers Spud

[minkyhead]

got to be the west for me

ive done more than a few times and its offers up some stunning roads and scenery

anywhere west of the a9 its diffucult to go wrong

i would say that loch ness is nice but 2nd best in terms of riding to a lot of other areas can be busier too
when i got there i was slightly underwhelmed by a plastic dinasaur sitting forlornly in a small duck pond :laugh: :laugh:
im sure you have your own agenda ..
heres a few highlights from my excursions
depends on time .. a nice way in in the ferry from gurock to dunnoon
oban is a good stopover point
i love riding through glencoe and always try to bolt it in ..
theres a famous stop at tyndum the green welly .. its ok but nothing to write home about ..
if you do glencoe check out this little gem
a river runs through it single track tarmack .. brings you out for the best part of the glen
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&sourc ... ngdom&z=11

i love the road to sky and the famouse castle mm cant remeber its name


By null at 2011-02-09


By null at 2011-02-09

sky the road to portree is lovley in places


By null at 2009-06-02

applecross pass is well worth a look the highest in great britain so they say
its the liitle road from tomapress

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&sourc ... 87891&z=14


By null at 2011-02-09

on me way north


By null at 2011-02-09

ullapool is a nice place to stop


By null at 2011-02-09

this is a real nice single track loop real pretty

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&sourc ... ngdom&z=13

the coatal route around sangobeg to tongue is just stunning

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&sourc ... ngdom&z=13


By null at 2011-02-09


these are perhaps my highlights of my trip but you really cant go wrong
at all ithink it would be impossible to take a wrong road ,,

i hope you have great weather
whereever you go have agreat time

ps by the time you said youd already done it i hadnt finished the post
ooops

this is a great ride from inverness .. spittle of glenshee

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&sourc ... ngdom&z=12

[GUNDOG]

West, west, west...the islands

this is going onto mull...

[jkclive1971]

West, west, west...the islands

this is going onto mull...

Ferry-06.jpg

GSA-Mull-01.jpg

Love the pic

[LargeWayRound]

Ahhhh

The isle of Mull , one of my favorite places .

See last years ride report here
http://www.adventurebikerider.com/forum ... -2010.html

[hornet]

As the other guys who have posted have got it spot on

west is best but just for a change did this a while ago

This is worth considering perhaps on the way down

inverness to either nairn or forres which is dull

BUT head south to grantown-on-spey carry on pass the ski center

on to balata keep heading south to blairgowrie and perth

this takes you over the cairngorms and its a rollercoaster

have fun

hornet

[hornet]

bugger should have read your post properly:laugh:

deffo south twisty a bit of gravel but nice great scenery saw a stag there last time

top side is nice good race track if you want to easy to overtake the only thing is if

you've just come up the A82 its a nice change to do the south side

hornet