An impromptu couple of work cancellations left me with some free time and as my 690 has almost completed it transformation into an adventure bike for travelling the world upon, I decided to pack some kit and head up north. I vaguely mentioned this to a mate, Nigel, who jumped at the chance and so off we set on a damp Monday morning last week.
Weaving through the growing traffic levels near Carlisle these days, we headed onto the back roads, crossing River Esk estuary into Scotland via Gretna Green. Some meandering around got us to Dumfries for a fuel stop before heading north via AE forest and over towards Sanquhar.
We avoided all the main roads where possible, sticking to the smaller B roads and adding in a couple of the forest dirt roads. Nigel was on his BMW GS1200, so not keen to get onto anything too serious, we stuck mainly to tarmac for the trip.
We arrived at Wemyss Bay around early evening and caught the last ferry across to Bute. Once across a very calm sea, we headed south to find a camping spot for the night. After a lovely visit to St Blanes, a ruin of a chapel, (originally built in the 6th century), we started looking for a camp spot.
Unfortunately, the island is basically a series of farms, interspersed by small villages, so wild camping spots proved difficult to find. The one we did find looked great until we noticed the tide debris, which came up higher than the only good camp spot. It had also started to rain now, so we headed back to Rothesay and ended up in the Bute Backpackers Hotel, which happened to be run by a fella who was mad about old British bikes. Needless to say, after some fish and chips from the local chippy, we passed the night talking about bikes!
Day 2 dawned warm and sunny. Once we had loaded up the bikes, we headed back south to explore. We found the ideal, but illusive wild camp spot, a beach with great views, where we lingered for awhile as it was such a lovely spot.
The island isn't very big and the roads limited, so after Nigel had gotten shouted at by a grumpy farmer as we passed on a dirt road through his farm yard, we found ourselves on the road heading for the northern ferry.
Its a very short hop across back to the mainland at Colintraive, which then opens up onto the really fast, sweeping A886. This joined onto the A8003, which wound its way down to Portavadie / Tarbert, where we could get the ferry across from one peninsula to another. The roads here are beautiful and Scotland in this warm sunny weather is truly magical!.
Our third ferry saw us in Tarbert. We headed south and onto the B8001/B842 which took us down the east side of the peninsula and Cambeltown, which is the main town on the Mull of Kintyre. Lots of sweeping roads took us back north, until Nigel had to pull up as he had a puncture. We found a garage near Oban, filled it full of green goo and that seemed to do the trick as we carried for the rest of the trip with it.
Camp that night was at the back of some ruined Black Cottages. These were houses given to locals by a Laird in older times. However, during the clearances of the 1700's, where the population of Scotland and Ireland was effectively thrown out and moved to Canada, America and Australia, these building had their timber roofs taken off and burnt so they were inhabitable. Apparently sheep were more profitable than people after the clan wars and the uprising was quelled by the English.
Day 3: After some midges came to say hello, both the previous evening and in the morning, causing me to grumble a bit as I got bitten all over, we packed and headed up the B845, heading towards Corran and our next ferry crossing.
The Corran ferry is another small one, friendly and we were very lucky to arrive as they were finishing loading and had space at the back for a couple of bikes. Once across Loch Linnhe, we followed the A861 until a turn off for the B8043. This turned out to be a narrow, single lane road that wound through some great scenery and it is also on the Scottish Six Days International Trial route. If you're not familiar with that, look it up, it's a gem of a competition!
Arriving at Lochaline, we found a small cafe, so bacon butties and coffee all round. Then another short hop on the ferry. Whilst waiting in the queue, I got a shove in my back and a 'eh up, I thought it was you!' This turned out to be a mate from Cumbria, out on a jolly with his wife and another couple. Going for a tour around Mull before heading back south later in the day. Some good craic was soon to be had and the ferry journey over way to soon!
Mull is a beautiful island. Well worth a visit on any tour. After the brief one day trip onto here, I want to go back and have a good mooch around. The history and the scenery is stunning. There are two of the Munro's on the island and also the beautiful Calgary Bay. The story of that area is heart breaking. During the clearances, the Laird threw out thousands of the areas inhabitants. They were left at Calgary Bay to await ships to take them to Canada & North America. During the three week wait, they suffered deaths in the thousands from disease and raids. The bodies were left there to rot and a memorial stone sits near the quay where they were finally loaded onto the ships. This is just one story of this appalling crime against humanity during these times.
As a stark contrast to this, as we rode down the approach road, we saw White Tailed Eagles and a Golden Eagle. There were loads of other birds but these majestic beauties held our attention until they disappeared into the distance.
We left the island via another ferry at Tobermory, heading to Kilchoan on the Ardnamurchan Peninsula after some great fish and chips in Tobermory.
All the roads here are single lane with passing places and the area is how Scotland was 30 years ago before road builders made all the roads wider.
We had a look at Sanna Bay, another white sandy bay, spoilt by the unwelcoming signage there from the land owners who I guess are trying to preserve the place from the hordes who show no respect for their surroundings.
As it was pretty late,we found a wild camp next to the road side, hardly any midges and quiet made it an excellent spot for a few hours.
Day 4 started with a visit to the lighthouse at Ardnamuchan, which turned out to be closed for repairs, so we headed along the B8007, stopping often to enjoy the views of Skye, Rhum, Eigg and the rest. Breakfast at Ardshealach saw us filling ourselves up with a traditional Scottish breakfast, haggis and all! Once replete, a visit to Castle Tioram where Nigel recounted the story of the Laird who had buit it for his wife as a token of his love and then burnt it to the ground when the English tried to use its position and fortifications as a war tool.
After this, it was some great riding to get to Arisaig and visit the surrounding areas, before a trip to Mallaig for fuel and a camp on a friend of Nigel's campsite.
Day 5: We set off with a slightly dry mouth after finishing off a bottle of malt whiskey the night before watching seals play in the bay. Still lots of coffee, tea and some breakfast sorted us out and after saying our goodbyes, we headed over to Creag Meagaidh National Park. the A86 is a joy on a bike and more than pays for the horrible A82 that goes north of Fort William.
As we were heading home now, we had all day, so our route took us past Struan and down to Loch Tummel, then onto the Tay Forest and underneath Schiehallion. At Aberfeldy, we headed south to Crieff and bypassed Stirling on the back roads. The M74 took us down towards Larkhall where we jumped onto the B7078,(the old A74). this took us back to Carlisle via some excellent sections of sweeping bends. this finished the trip off and we were back in houses in time for tea.
Another excellent trip. My 690 performed really well, it coped with all the 1100 + road miles easily, so next up is a rougher surface type of trip to make sure everything stands up to the test!
