Highlands; July 2015
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Fish and Chips at Ullapool
I've had a few trips to Scotland over the years usually to bag Round Britain Rally (RBR) landmarks. Although I have really enjoyed doing the RBR, I did find it quite liberating to plan a trip to Scotland without feeling the need to cover as much of it as possible bagging RBR landmarks. So when the weather was looking half decent in the second week of July 2015 I decided to just go to the north west of Scotland, the Highlands. I've always loved going to the Highlands even though in the past it's sometimes treated me to some challenging weather. Gale force winds on Skye were the worst.
So the plan was to start at Glencoe and go clockwise to finish at Inverness as shown on the accompanying map. A route of about some 450 miles. Mind you, coming from Dorset, it's around 600 miles to get to the start. On the way up, after enduring the M5 and M6, I pottered through the Borders and Inveraray which was nice. I took a leisurely 2 days to ride the 450 miles. The traffic was light, the scenery stunning and, lucky me, the weather was pretty good. My route took in my favourite roads including the roads to Applecross and Ullapool via Poolewe. There were quite a few Belgium, Dutch and German riders about.
They still do the best fish and chips I know of at Ullapool where I B&B'd for one night. A favourite place I always try to stop at. After that it was as far as you can go north on the mainland to Scourie, Durness and Tongue before turning south and heading for Lairg and Inverness. I had a good lunch at the Crask Inn on the way which which must be the most remote pub in the UK. It's in the middle of nowhere.
I had pretty good weather apart from the day I rode from Inverness to Lancaster. Perthshire treated me to to some strong winds and flooded roads. The golf at St Andrews was washed out that day and there was a news item about cars floating down a street in a Perthshire town somewhere. Still I was fortunate as I missed most of the rain and by the time I got to the A7 in the Borders, the weather had brightened and I had a lovely ride on the A7 through the Borders. After Lancaster, I decided to avoid the M6 and M5 by dipping into Wales and picking up the A49 at Shrewsbury. A very good move as it turned out as the M6 was closed that day due to a lorry catching fire and scorching the tarmac. A very good trip all in all.