God's own country

t00lkit · Post by **t00lkit** » Mon May 16, 2005 9:00 pm

Just got back from doing a 4 day ride to Skye (Uig) and back from Sheffield.
No motorways (except over Erskine/Forth Rd Bridges) or dual carriageways, all A and B roads, plus the odd unclassifed.

We covered about 1200 miles and I must say the 'Storm was absolutely fantastic. One of the guys had a '05 Gixer 750 but the storm kept with him all of the way. At one point he had 148 on the clock... never looked down to see what I was doing, too busy holding on.

I must say that we experienced some of the best possible roads ever, here are just a few of the Scottish highlights.....

A76 Dumfries to Kilmarnock
A737 Kilmarnock to Johnstone
A82 Fort Bill to Invergarry
A87 Invergarry to Kyle of Lochalsh
Skye in general (new road to Armadale ferry is like a race track!)
A815 Malaig to Fort Bill
A85 Crianlarich to Crief
A702/3 Peebles to Gala

Best thing is no cameras and limited traffic.
If you haven't done it, plan a trip and make the effort, it is absolute motorbike heaven. I've done N and S Wales bit it isn't a patch on the above.

Might have to do it all again next year.

FAO Fester, used my GPS on the trip and it was a great help, you wouldn't believe how crap some signposts are in towns when you don't know where you're going. No probs with GPS! Even found every B&B without issue.

My thanks to Cupasoop for advise when planning the trip.
t00lkit.

sparky750 · Post by **sparky750** » Mon May 16, 2005 9:27 pm

Sounds awesome i did fort william a few years ago great roads but a few plod. You've made me really jealous still now i own a tourer for the first time i can tour in comformt wooohoooo. post any pics up so we can see and secretly hate you for being so lucky

cupasoop · Post by **cupasoop** » Tue May 17, 2005 9:22 am

A76?? You went right past my front door and didnt even say hello

Now you've seen what the roads are like.....keep it to yourself. We dont want everybody coming up and clogging up the roads

t00lkit · Post by **t00lkit** » Tue May 17, 2005 10:44 pm

Cupasoop

I waited for ages but you didn't turn up, you must have started your new job...

We passed by on the Friday morning, not much traffic and the A76 was a great 'taster' for what was to come later.

You really are lucky having roads like that on your doorstep, even the A737 up to Jonstone was a thrill....

Back to the grindstone now, until next time

t00lkit

tattie · Post by **tattie** » Tue May 17, 2005 11:23 pm

A87, nothing to say but Yahoooooooooooo all the way, absolutely magic.

Cheers

A.M.

t00lkit · Post by **t00lkit** » Wed May 18, 2005 6:55 pm

Mmmmm the memories......

I remember laughing my socks off going alongside the loch/sea, I thanked god for giving me a Firestorm, and praying not get get caught doing 130+? Don't fancy the sausage they serve in the clink!

A memory to treasure.

Can't wait to go back, will take the ferry from Gourock t Dunoon next time to avoid the traffic of A82 through Glasgow. More country roads to go at!

t00lkit.

Pipstorm · Post by **Pipstorm** » Thu May 19, 2005 9:33 am

You passed my door too (A76 @ Thornhill) we are sooo lucky with the kinds of roads up here, if anyone heads this way there is a road you MUST take.

Just north of Thornhill there is a road (A702- but donâ€™t think this is a main road) it leads to the M74 it's called the Dalveen Pass, this is just switchback heaven: lol:

, loads of mates from Edinburgh come down just for this 16 mile stretch of road, Iâ€™ve never ridden a road which is so much fun.

Phil

cupasoop · Post by **cupasoop** » Thu May 19, 2005 11:09 am

Here Pip, check this out..........

http://www.sw-scotland-screen.com/locat ... index.html

A D&G road preview. I should go and check if they cover any other part of the country.

Pipstorm · Post by **Pipstorm** » Tue May 24, 2005 3:54 pm

Nope can't get it Rich just get "can't find server" whoops!!, but the roads are bloody fantastic up here.

Phil

cupasoop · Post by **cupasoop** » Tue May 24, 2005 4:47 pm

Hhhmmm, same here. It was working the other day......honest

Try again another day, it had some good pictures of that road you mentioned and a few others down in D & G.

Post by **sirch345** » Tue May 24, 2005 5:13 pm

Cupasoop wrote :-
Hhhmmm, same here. It was working the other day......honest

Same for me at the moment, there were some good pictures on there as well!!

Chris.

yellafella · Post by **yellafella** » Tue May 24, 2005 9:57 pm

Too righty !!! Did a slow(ish) tour with my bird round from Dumfries area ( Hoddom) to Loch Lomond following the West Coast. Some class roads !
Found an absolute beauty by mistake. Somewher North of Newton Stewart i think, the twistiest, but almost flat, probably unclassified road ive ever seen ! You can see alll around you and the road seems to follow a valley or two. Only 1 car ( A postman ). If i hadnt been on a loaded tourer id have had loads more fun !

Pipstorm · Post by **Pipstorm** » Wed May 25, 2005 11:51 am

Only trouble with Dumfries and Galloway is that it PI55E5 down most of the year

otherwise fab roads

, few or no police

(and the ones we have got are fine as long as you don't get too silly) and a cheap cost of living means you can spend more on your bike! Yahooo

Phil

cupasoop · Post by **cupasoop** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 9:18 am

Pipstorm wrote:Just north of Thornhill there is a road (A702- but donâ€™t think this is a main road) it leads to the M74 it's called the Dalveen Pass, this is just switchback heaven: lol: , loads of mates from Edinburgh come down just for this 16 mile stretch of road, Iâ€™ve never ridden a road which is so much fun.

Phil

Well Phil, I went and tried your road on Saturday and your right. It's a cracker. The the first few miles has been resurfaced in places with what I can only assume to be very fine gravel and maked for some real elbow clenching moments. You know that feeling of the bike moving from side to side even though your only doing 30mph in a straight line and too scared to turn the bars. I could have shat diamonds I was that scared

Pipstorm · Post by **Pipstorm** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 5:31 pm

Nice one cupa, it's a fab bit of road, I've been in Northern France for 3 weeks and the roads there were beautiful, really empty and fast flowing roads, can't work out why everyone rides Harleyâ€™s when it's obviously sports bike territory.

Had an interesting few days in Paris, the local bikes were filtering through stationary traffic at 70mph+, 120mph+ undertakes on the hard shoulder, made me cringe and all this was done without an inch of leather, just jeans / shorts and T shirts!! I'd love to see their crash stats as any of these guys coming off would have been dead, no doubt.

Phil