Scotland? | Page 3 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Scotland?

Preface

Due to the questionable reliability of Canadian military transport aircraft my good friend, and best man at my own wedding, managed to convince a nice Scottish lass to marry him. They were nice enough to fly across the Atlantic to come to my wedding, so we had to return the favour. It’s the Canadian thing to do.

If we were going all that way to Scotland, we figured we might as well make a trip out of it. Myself never having been outside of North America, this was going to be quite the adventure. Scotland being well known for it’s incredible scenery and terrain, combined with our love for all things motorcycling, it was an easy decision to do a motorcycle tour of the country.

Having 9 days to travel (including flights) we set aside 5 days for the motorcycle tour, leaving the rest for the wedding and general sightseeing around Glasgow. Doing my research on routes to take and things to see I came across the ever popular North Coast 500 route around the northern coast of Scotland. 516 miles of scenic twisting roads following the coastline all the way around the northern part of the country.

As none of our current fleet of bikes are road legal, we were going to rent, or hire, motorcycle in Scotland. There were plenty of options available and we settled on renting two bikes, his and hers, from Cupar Motorcycles in Cupar. They offered brand new bikes, discounted rates when booking multiple days, 24/7 roadside assistance, and would even pick us up from the rail station upon our arrival. Amazon would be on a new Suzuki SV650 while I would be on the venerable Suzuki V-Strom 650.

With the wedding being in Glasgow, but the bikes being in Cupar, we managed to find a flight going into Edinburgh leaving Toronto on Friday evening, and leaving from Glasgow back to Toronto the following Sunday morning.


Day 0/1

We were up at 7am to get our bags loaded, and unfortunately, go to work before flying our Friday evening. We would be leaving in the evening so that we would arrive in Edinburgh, with the time zone changes, Saturday morning at 6:30am. This would give us time to clear the airport, grab the train to Cupar, and get a bite to eat in time for the dealership to open and be on the road early with the full day ahead of us.

The plan for Day 1 once we got the bikes was to head from Cupar to Glencoe, Fort William, see the Glenfinnan Viaduct, and end the day at a B&B near Dornie. I had left Loch Lomond as an option depending on what time we got the bikes and headed out.

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Our trusty stead from YYZ → EDI.

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A few in flight movies later, and we made it!

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Waiting for the train from Edinburgh to Cupar.

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The views from the train between Edinburgh and Cupar.

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Arriving in Cupar

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Cool little Coffee shop/truck at Cupar station. Super nice bloke running it. Talked to him while we waited to get picked up by the dealership. He was stoked on our trip and had done some of the North Coast before and also been to Alberta with some friends.

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Arrived at the dealer to grab our bikes. You can see the Strom and SV we hired in the front of the shop. Another great bunch of blokes there. Threw in the top box for the V-Strom for free (supposed to be £5 a day extra).

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The route for Day 1

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On the bikes and on our way to Loch Lomond.

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Stirling Castle

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Loch Lomond. We got the bikes early enough I decided to add it to the route. Honestly not much to see and would have skipped it if doing it over again.

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On the A82 north of Tyndrum

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On the A82 northwest of Loch Ba

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Although not my photo I have included this photo of the Three Sisters in Glencoe. One of the most beautiful areas we went through on the entire trip.However, because of that, and being fairly south it is absolutely rammed with tourists and I didn’t feel like stopping in the melee to take photos.
 
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The finish corral for the Scottish World Cup Downhill mountain bike track at Fort William.


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What it looks like when the World Cup is in town.


After being up for 30+ hours after not sleeping on the flight we were really tired and riding was getting a little sketchy. We had planned to go to the Glenfinnan Viaduct but decided against it and headed for the B&B near Dornie.


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Our B&B for our first night. Grianan House in Invernate, near Dornie.


Another amazing place with an amazing view. Great people running the B&B and would highly recommend. They make their own sausages that they offer for breakfast which were delicious.
 
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Day 2
The plan for Day 2 was to go from Dornie to Ullapool. We would check out the Eilan Donancastle in Dornie, visit the seaside town of Plockton (on the recommendation of our B&B hosts), traverse the Bealach na Bà to Applecross, and follow the coast to Ullapool.

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The route for Day 2

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Eilean Donan Castle. Really cool place to visit. There is a fee to go across and inside but it is well worth it.

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The Clan MacRae Roll of Honour etched with In Flanders Fields

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Plenty of other bikes afoot. We ran into camo jacket and his group every day at one point or another.

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Panorama of the seaside town of Plockton

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On the A890 just north of Attadale

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Along the Bealach na Ba

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Looking back South

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The Bealach na Ba viewpoint
 
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Stopping for lunch in Applecross. The other bikes were a group of German riders. They could barely make it up the switchbacks, riding with both feet out. It was very entertaining.

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Scottish traffic jam

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Not a fence, or a care in sight

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Looking back down the coast near Cuaig

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Fishing village of Kenmore

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On the A890 near Ardheslaig

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Amazon trying to ambush the sheep. They were having none of it.

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Outside of Annat

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Amazon modeling the latest swimwear. Turns out it rains a lot in Scotland.

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Pulling into Ullapool

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Our airBnB for the evening. Another great host. Most of our gear was wet and she gave usa heater to dry it out for the morning. Parking right next door in a public lot, a Tesco right behind.


Went out to the local pub and ran into another Canadian from London travelling the world with his wife.
 
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Day3
The plan for Day 3 was to travel from Ullapool to Thurso. We would be stopping at Ardvreck Castle, the Kylesku Bridge, the Smoo Caves, and along the coast to Thurso.

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The route for Day 3

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Most of our gear dried overnight, but our boots were still damp. Some bin liners and electrical tape solved that problem.

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The Deep Freeze Mountains north of Strathcanaird

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Ardvreck Castle

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The quintessential American tourist, from New York no less. After commenting that Amazon was a rock star for being able to push her own motorcycle, he then asked if we spoke English? LOL

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Kylesku Bridge

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Ran into these cheeky blokes doing the North Coast in their Ferrari’s. Truth be told they drove pretty damn slow as the cars are so wide they almost touch the ditch on both sides.

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Loch Taebhaidh


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Ferrari boys passing us

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I was really hoping it was legitimately called Award Winning Beach. Sango Sands in Durness.
 
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Smoo Caves in Durness. You can venture further into the caves by you have to pay for a guided your so we didn't bother.

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Ceannabeinne Beach

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Another Scottish traffic jam. Near Loch Eriboll.

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Kyle of Tongue causeway

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Torrisdale Bay

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Thurso

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Scottish Wrestling!

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River Thurso

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The holy grail. Nectar of the gods. Available straight off the shelf at the local Tesco.

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Day 3 AirBnB in Thurso. Another lovely place with a nice host. She gave us some recommendations for dinner. Turned out to be a nice bar and grill called Y Not. The bartender found out we were Canadians and told us his girlfriend works for Atomic Energy Canada in Deep River. He wrote us out a list of things to see on our next day on the way from Thurso to Inverness.
 
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Day4
The plan for Day 4 was to go from Thurso to Inverness via John o’ Groats. We planned on stopping at Dunnet Head, John o’ Groats, Girnigoe Castle, and a few other spots depending on time. We would end up at a AirBnB near Inverness in a smaller town called Beauly.

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The route for Day 4

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Dunnet Head. The Northernmost Point of Scotland and mainland Great Britain.

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John o’ Groats. One end of the End to End, the two furthest points from each other on mainland Britain. The other being Land’s End.

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Girnigoe Castle near Ackergill. This was one of the tips we got from the bartender the night before. If you didn’t know about it you’d never find it.There is no signage for it anywhere, it’s just there. Really cool castle currently under restoration.

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It started raining pretty heavy as we left Girnigoe. We stopped to put on rain gear and skipped the next stop at Whaligoe Steps. It got pretty sketchy as visibility got to be less than a few hundred feet riding into fog, so we pulled off at a nice little cafe in Berriedale, called The River Bothy, to grab a bite and wait out the storm. The pulled pork was fantastic and the weather cleared up fairly quickly.

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The Dornoch Firth Bridge. The sun came out and we stopped to get out of our rain gear. Of course that meant that quite literally 2 turns later is poured down rain again for a few minutes lol

Due to the weather causing us to skip some of the stops we were ahead of schedule so we decided to head for Urquhart Castle and then to the BnB.

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Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness. Yup, that Loch Ness. Can you spot Nessie?


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Our AirBnB for the evening. This place was crazy nice for the money and had a great view. The hostess was excellent and once again gave us a great tip for a nice dinner in town at The Priory Hotel. They make a mean Pizza!
 
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Day 5
The final day of our motorcycle journey. The plan was to head from the BnB in Beauly back down to Loch Ness to check it out, and then through Inverness back to Cupar to return the bikes.

The night before when we were leaving the restaurant a local inquired about the bikes and turned out to be a rider. He whipped out his phone and showed me his favourite route through Cairngorms National Park. The route passes by two different ski hills, the infamous Cock Bridge, and is full of twisty turns and elevation. Sounded like a good way to end the trip!

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The route for Day 5.

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Loch Ness. The exhibition was actually pretty interesting despite being overpriced. I figured they would try and sell the idea, but instead it basically debunks the Loch Ness Monster myths and throws shade at all the crazy people who tried to find it.

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Although I think Amazon might have spotted Nessie!

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View from the A939 near Bridge of Brown

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The A939 at the summit of the Lecht ski resort

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Standing stone on the hillside above Corgarff Castle.
“Take a moment to behold, as still skies or storms unfold, in sun rain sleet or snow, warm your soul before you go.”

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Your inner 8 year old is laughing. I know it.

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Even found some life advise on the backside.

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On the B976 between Braenaloin and Crathie

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Amazon being Majestic as ****.
 
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Wow! Great trip! Thanks N3wman. :thumbup:
 

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