VTR1000.ORG

Hi
Has anyone done the Highland tour ,the mileage ,how is it for bikers and what are the roads like?
I usually go to the Lake District and N.E Yorkshire but fancy going further this year.
Thanks

As someone who lives up North, I would recommend a trip up.
My preferred route would go up the west Glen Coe/Oban/Fort William/Dornie/Skye/Lochcarron/Applecross via the Bealach/Shieldaig/Kinlochewe/Gairloch/Dundonell/ Corrieshalloch/Ullapool/Ledmore/ Lochinver/ Laxford Bridge/ Durness/Tongue/Bettyhill/Thurso/Wick/Helmsdale/Dornoch/Tain/Inverness. You could do a few variables on the above routes but it will depend on the time you have.
Then depending on how you are for time I would go down the A9 head to Edinburgh and take the A7 south to Carlisle.
Things to watch out are when over the west/ north west are that fuel stations can be at a premium on a Sunday.
Milage a fair bit but do an AA routeplanner search to give you a better idea. Lots of B+Bs. The roads are less busy than down south and the condition of them will be no better than anywhere else, early in the season you get the usual chipins all over the place but by May they are generally away oot of the line

If you are looking for any info just keep this thread going as I would guess there are a few from here that will be making the trip up this year.

Cheers

A.M.

Oh you'll like Scotland for bikes. It's spot on. Much better than the Lakes. Island hopping is good on a bike using the little ferries. Oh, and not to forget the A82 through Ben Nevis country park which is the road on the Renault advert where the satnav says 'Now Enjoy'.

A82 from Loch Lomond to Fort William. What a road!

I was worried about getting fuel as the range is not great and I don't like carrying cans.I intend to go on my own so I can go at my own pace so I have to be well prepared.This is a trip I want to savor as Britain has very little left like it and I shall take no maps as I like the mystery of exploring and hope to get well lost.A Storm is a lovely bike to get lost on.
Thanks for replying and I will post any good pics

oldbikeman wrote:I was worried about getting fuel as the range is not great and I don't like carrying cans.I intend to go on my own so I can go at my own pace so I have to be well prepared.This is a trip I want to savor as Britain has very little left like it and I shall take no maps as I like the mystery of exploring and hope to get well lost.A Storm is a lovely bike to get lost on.
Thanks for replying and I will post any good pics

Getting fuel aint as bad as you might think, but it is worth doing some research first - rural petrol stations suffer from one big problem, that is shorter opening times. I think it would at least be worthwhile carrying a couple of litres at least, I have one of these:


http://www.getgeared.co.uk/Travel_Petrol_Can_2_Litres

Agree with everyone else, the road from Loch Lomond to Fort William is simply fantastic, done it many times.

Oldbikeman,
The main problem on the northern most circuit is the lack of fuel stations, petrol at lochcarron (ask in supermarket), Applecross (self service satellite pumps) Gairloch (not on sundays), Ullapool 7 days, Lochinver (go in to supermarket and ask, not on sundays from OCT -May)Tongue most days, Durness (go in to supermarket and ask) and by the time you head to Thurso you are back in the land of the living and things revert back to normal.

When you have a more specific agenda drop me a line and I will look up/ find out the latest times for all the filling stations up in my neck of the woods.

cheers

A.M.

Mind and take Avon skin so soft for the MIDGE they wee thing drive you mental.
Other than that its a brilliant place to tour about, west coast better
Thinking of doing the same in the next few months.

It's shite up there, don't bother wasting your time coming up.


Actually we just want to keep the roads empty and all to ourselves

""Then depending on how you are for time I would go down the A9 head to Edinburgh and take the A7 south to Carlisle.""

STAY OFF THE A9 from Inverness down, appart from being one of the worst killers in the UK- jumps from single to duel carageway all the way up, too many left hand drivers, its full of the old plod with their 2 mile range -lazer points nabbers... head east from Inverness and either follow the coast or get over to Donside- Deeside and into Angus.. you could spend 2-3 days up there, not be on the same road twice and hardly any plod.. Aberdeen to Blairgowrie down the spittal of glenshee is mega if you can keep her on the ground..

Midges.

Hi there Grumpyfrog,
One could argue, that the roads to the "East" feature in the papers more often than the A9! plus there are plenty of bobbies over there too.

Cheers

A.M.

I went as far north as Luss in about 1987(it was the year Maggy gave them poll tax) and walked into the set of "Take The Highroad"by mistake.The A82 looked brand new at the time and I wish I could have gone further but work got in the way.I was staying in the pub at Balloch for only tenner a night.A Gorgeous place in Summer.
Thanks for all the replies

Was up in Skye with the car end of last month, brother lives up there and a lot of the roads are in terrible condition

Hi , i myself was born and bread in the outer hebrides , on the isle of lewis , NW and it best to ride west coast, loads of rd and bendys to test the storm ,west coast has loads more mountains and bendy rds ,where the east coast is more like the rds down south , i lived in aberdeen for a few yrs .The west coast is alot more technical to ride .i would engurage everyone to tour the whole of scotland as east coast has lovely scienery aswel as the west coast its all good but its abit barron from ullapool heading north up to lochinver/tongue to thurso /wick but lovely .
things to look out for rd side!
sheep
deer!!!!
haggis running across the rd

ps yes the a9 has taken alot of lives over the yrs and this is due to it been a long boring rd with loads of left hand drivers (mostly in the summer months) overtaking in wrong places, loads of lorries and very few places for overtaking.

tattie, has got the route spot on .