Day 2 Go West

After a good nights sleep and a cracking self service breakfast we head round the bottom of Loch Lomond and then West to Helensburgh, up to Faslane and Loch Long on the A814 then onto the A83 to Inveraray.
It`s a bit blustery here and the pair of slackers ( Al`s affectionate name for us ) stop again for a coffee.

The temperatures are much cooler today, nowhere near yesterdays teashirt weather.











From here we head up to the Bridge of Orchy and onto the Glencoe road, not too much traffic and we can enjoy the sweeping corners without going too mad.

Nige is hungry again so we stop for the healthy option!

Once again as is going to be the norm for the rest of the trip we strike up a conversation with a local. The woman manning both the petrol station and the burger stall is called Alley Cat and although she tells us she dosen`t sctratch wer`e not so sure! I think she fancied Steve.......She does however pass on a bit of a warning about the local police who are keen to slow the bikers down in the area as there have been four deaths in as many weeks, a sobering thought.

We fill up the bikes and carry on. Heading North to Fort William, Fort Augustus and then on the absolutely cack Loch Ness road, full of traffic, greasy surface and dismal, in future I`m going to try to avoid being on here again, it`s horrible.

We stop in Beauly for five minutes and Steve gets a phone call, it`s team leader ringing from Russia wanting to know why wev`e stopped again?? Has he got trackers on us?

The bright red brake disks on Niges bike aren`t a sign that he`s showing gixxers & blades the way to go through the twisty`s ( I wish! ) It`s the reflection of a little red car parked next, but it looks good......

Off we go again after logging in with Al and the promise that we wont stop until it`s dark....which won`t be very long as it happens..

From Here it`s up to Ullapool on the A835 and the weather really starts to change. The skies blacken, the temperature drops to 3.0c and it starts to snow, oh joy. The accommodation can`t come soon enough as I`m hungry again ( There`s a pattern here, Steve. ) We pull into our second nights digs which is the very nice Ardvreck House a couple of miles outside the town centre.

After meeting and greeting the owner, Evelyn we freshen up and gratefully accept the offer of a lift into town from Duncan her husband. The owners here are a really nice couple who keep a spotless house and we will definitely be back again. It`s Indian night tonight and then into the Arch pub for several pints of Guinness. Magic.

Day 1 Off we go

Day 1 of our first trip away to Scotland in 2012 and we are a man down as team leader is livin the dream in Russia ! So just the two of us on this jaunt.

As usual we meet at Southwaite services and then crack on up towards Largs. As we leave the services Nige tells steve to take the A75 from the motorway and head towards Dumfries. A few miles later Steve then takes Nige on one of the best biking roads he`s ever been on, unfortunately it`s heading in the wrong direction and he`s off to Stranraer...... The sun is out and we cant believe our luck as we stop at Fairlie and take a well earned rest. 20.0c according to Steves onboard computer. It`ll be like this all the way.......................A group of four locals strike up a conversation and they have been digging for fishing bait while the tide is out, they seem to be smoking some kind of strange cigarettes as they have funny grins and wobble about a lot.......Nice lads though.

We book into the Oak Tree in at Loch Lomond with Agnes who we know and get the keys to our cottage down the road, as usual Nige has blagged a bargain and we get an onsuite twin room with a full breakfast for two for the special offer price of £37.50! We like Oak Tree the place has a good feel, the meals very good and the rooms clean and modern. We get talking to a group of bikers from Yorkshire who are up here for 5 days going to similar places as us, they say that the weather is to get much colder and snow is forecast on the high roads? We`ll see.

I was going to post a picture of the room but realised I havent got one, so here`s one of Steve tucking his bike in for the night.

They've gone without me

Nige & Steve now in Scotland on our regular early season jaunt. Al missing out because he's still working in Russia - at least the weather is getting warmer.
Apparently the boys are keeping a diary and taking plenty of pics, plus are going to attempt to update the blog whilst on the move - no chance in my opinion but you never know.
Watch this space!!!

I've got a hairy.......

........Hat

Going to work in Russia for six months from end of November and the hat may come in useful


I will be in a place called Yayva about 900 miles east of Moscow as the crow flies. Thinking of doing a separate blog whilst I'm there - watch this space.
Russia blog here http://twoalsintheurals.blogspot.com/

24th

Homeward bound today and it's the A68 rollercoaster for 95 miles all the way to the A1 at Darlington, then the 113 mile motorway slog down the A1/M62/M18/M180/A15 to Lincoln.




Border at CarterBar - this is the English side of the road, just the rock!! The Scots side has flags flying, big welcome sign etc - bet they have a burger van as well when the suns out.
1661 miles overall for the week

23rd

09:30 start from Grantown and the first 60 miles or so is through Tomintoul, over the Lecht and then along Glenshee. Roads wet and the road gangs have been out with the gravel - but a cracking start to the day for all that


Looking west along Glenshee just after the ski centre.
It's a bit of a drag from Blairgowrie, around Perth and then around Edinburgh.


Take a road past the White Adder reservoir and head towards St Abbs & Eyemouth for an ice cream, then across to Jedburgh where we staying at the Meadhon House B&B. Bikes get locked up in a garage, and we have a bit of a pub crawl starting at the Caters Rest for a very nice steak pie, then some dodgy hotel bar, Belter Bar and finally the highlight of the night the Railway Tavern. Great little boozer with all your typical locals having a crack and taking the piss

Location:Blair Ave,Jedburgh,United Kingdom

22nd

Stayed at Morags last night in Fort Augustus - full of gap year types on tour buses (yanks, Aussies, Canadian, japs) but it keeps the place lively especially as it has its own bar and the live music entertainment was quite good.
Heading eastwards today to get away from the rain, but have to put up with it for the first couple of hours. The dam at Loch Laggan has got the spill ways open- quite a sight.





Breakfast in The Pantry at Newtonmore to keep us going for the rest of the day which is a trip up to Portsoy via Strathspey. Sun is out in Portsoy and time for an ice cream from the Beggars Belief.











Retrace our steps to Keith, then to Tomintoul via Glen Rinnes & Glen Livet. Stop at the Old Fire Station Cafe in Tomintoul for tea & scones and then a quick blast west along the A939 to Grantown where we're staying at the Kinross House guesthouse. All in all 204 miles for the day.
Dinner tonight at a Chinese, but it's not the best. We're off beer tonight but it's an evening of scotch & dominoes back at the digs. Steve is useless and it's an honourable draw eventually between Al & Nige.

Location:Forest Rd,Grantown-on-Spey,United Kingdom