Scottish National Rally; September 2005
Gallery
The Plan
OK, Chris and I had done the 2005 Welsh (May) and English (July) rallies so all that was left was to do the Scottish rally to qualify for a Three-Nations award. Our intention was to combine doing the Scottish rally with a touring holiday of Scotland. One of the awards for the Scottish rally is a touring award. This award allows you to start up to a month before the second weekend in September. You have to do over a 1000 miles stopping at receipt points all over Scotland. The receipt points are usually garages and they're called receipt points because you have to get a receipt as proof you've visited. The receipt points are designated as points on a grid overlaid on a map of Scotland. Basically the rules are: You are not allowed go through a receipt point more than once and you can only travel between receipt points that are directly connected on the grid.
Chris' Mum comes from a small village in Caithness called Keiss, which is halfway between Wick and John O'Groats. We planned our route to take in a visit to Keiss and the receipt points we needed to visit to qualify for a touring award. We also planned to go right along the north coast of Scotland. We came up with a route that started in Dumfries and went anticlockwise around Scotland to finish at Johnstonebridge. The receipt points are shown below.
The leg mileage gives how many miles you are credited with for travelling between two receipt points, e.g. for going from Dumfries to Kelso the rules state that you are credited with 85 miles. The actual miles could be a lot more especially if you were touring like we were. For each receipt point visited you are also awarded a bonus mileage of 5 miles.
We pre-booked 10 B&Bs along the route, which with the exception of the Tyndrum B&B, were all comfortable. A point to note is that we didn't come across any anti-biker mentality with these B&Bs. We chose our B&Bs on the basis that they:
- Had decent off-road parking for the bike.
- Were near to somewhere we could walk to and get a meal. (It's not much fun when the weather is bad to have to get back on the bike to find somewhere to eat.)
North to The Borders, Cairngorms and Inverness
So on Thursday 25th August, before the bank holiday weekend, we left Corfe Mullen to get to Kirkoswald, not far from Penrith and a distance of about 350 miles. We kept off the motorway until Stroud where we got onto the M5. We filtered through the car park where the M5 and M6 join leaving the M6 at Kendall to take the A6. Boring motorway but it's the quickest way of getting to Scotland. Also gave Chris' first long distance try out of the Melboy 'gel packed' seat she made me buy when she took an instant dislike to the standard Bird seat. (Dam the expense; she's very pleased with it.)
Kirkoswald was a great stop with a very comfortable B&B and a nice pub serving great food. In the morning, raring to go, we set off for our first receipt point at Dumfries. From there we went east through the beautiful Borders skirting Kilder Dam to Kelso. Just before Kelso we caught up with and overtook a guy on a BMW R1150GS. He obviously was a bit put out by this as he then stuck to us like glue as we wound our way through some nice twisty roads (the kind I like). As he followed us to the Kelso receipt point, a garage, I couldn't resist asking him whether he was on the rally (meaning Scottish rally). Looking disdainfully at my Bird, his reply was, "there must be another rally going on as I'm on the BMW rally". At which point about 20 BMWs came dawdling down the road. We promptly left for our next stop, Berwick-on-Tweed.
Now being old enough to know of the band Lindisfarne, I fancied a trip to Holy Island on the way to Berwick. After crossing the tidal road and visiting the impressive Holy Island we headed for our B&B at Berwick. The following morning we pushed on to our next B&B at Braemar going through receipt points at Berwick, Musselburgh (just outside Edinburgh), Leven, Perth, Blairgowrie and Braemar. A friendly biker offered to show us the way to Musselburgh so we tagged along behind him. He had good knowledge of the speed cameras on the A1. (We did get flashed just before the Forth bridge but that was because of a blind man in VW Golf who went flying down the outside lane.)
Braemar is a biker's spot and it's easy to see why. The A93 from Blairgowrie to Braemar introduces you to some stunning highland scenery and is a lovely road to ride. Braemar is a picturesque village located at the meeting point of three passes through the surrounding mountains. They hold the Highland games there.
It had started raining when we arrived in Braemar and the next morning it was raining hard, misty and blowing a gale (and I mean a gale). The road from Braemar to Aviemore through the Cairngorms national park passes by Balmoral and a ski center. It reaches elevations of around 800 feet so the ride was very invigorating! When we got to Aviemore we discovered that Harley Davidson was holding a rally. Lots of Harley Davidsons and designer motorcycle gear getting a good soaking plus a covered trailer with a band playing. Bit of a shame really but full marks to them for turning out in numbers in such foul weather.
After Aviemore the weather cleared up a bit as we made our way to Nairn and the B&B at Inverness, the capital of the Highlands. (Everybody in the highlands gets their shopping from Tesco at Inverness.) Next day, the wind had got worse and ferries and flights were stopped, as were high-sided vehicles from taking the Kessock bridge out of Inverness over the Moray Firth. We, however, leaned into the wind and made our way across the bridge. On the other side we had a ride around the Black Isle stopping at the Cromarty mentioned in Radio 4 weather forecasts. You get a good look at the oilrigs out in the Cromarty Firth.
We crossed the Cromarty Firth on the elevated road that spans it and stopped at Evanton, our next receipt point. We then continued north up the coast on the A9 stopping off at the Glenmorangie distillery started by the legendary 16 men of Taine. We enjoyed our tour of the distillery and the wee dram we got at the end of it. Just before we got to Brora we had a bit of a moment on a corner when the wind gusted hard and the front wheel hopped sideways a bit. (I'm clenching my buttocks but the wife's misplaced confidence in my skills leaves her unperturbed by it all.)
Caithness
We get to Wick, look around and Chris buys some new pants. You see you can only get so much in a pair of panniers so Chris decided to take some old pants she could chuck on the way. Me, I'm just made my pants go a bit longer. Anyway, we press on to Keiss where Chris' Mum comes from.
We booked into our B&B at Keiss around 5pm. We were so close to John O'Groats we couldn't resist making the trip that evening even though we're going by it the next morning. Now we had heard that John O'Groats was a bit of a disappointment so we were prepared. We felt it was a bit shabby with its prominent closed down hotel. We headed back to Keiss and discovered the cottages where Chris' Mum was brought up. After that we went to the hub of the village, the Sinclair Hotel to have something to eat. There were some locals there who we started talking to see if they remembered Chris' Mum. Trouble was they had been drinking since lunch and it was a bit like a scene out of Father Ted. Drinking in the Sinclair Hotel for extended periods seemed to be a popular pastime (as there's not much else to do there).
Along The Top, Keiss to Scourie
In the morning we had a last look around Keiss and returned to John O'Groats. From there we headed west along the north Scottish coastline. Dunnet Head, just along from John O'Groats, is actually the most northern part of the Scottish mainland. We stopped off there to get a better look at the Orkneys and Scapa Flow. Our receipt points for that day were Castletown and Bettyhill. The domed reactor of Dounreay came into view so we stopped to see how the decommissioning of the reactor was going. Dounreay is a major employer in the area so the local population is happy to have it there. We were assured the local beaches were safe.
After Dounreay we went on to Bettyhill, Tongue and Durness. The main (and only) road is single track in places but it's not too bad as usually you can see quite a way ahead and spot other vehicles when they are a fair way off. There weren't many other vehicles and we made good time in spite of the AA route finder's dire predictions of how long it would take. We could have chosen to go south directly to the Lairg receipt point but we wanted to go right along the north coast. The scenery changes from being flat in the east to being mountainous in the west. The long sandy beaches near Durness were impressive and I visited the famous Smoo Cave. (It was quite warm and Chris didn't fancy the hike in her motorcycle gear.)
After Durness we cut across to Scourie to stay the night at Scourie Lodge. It was recommended by MCN and it was nice enough. We actually got to stay in the same room as Robin Cook and his wife Gaynor the night before he died! They were staying at the Lodge and he died trekking up Ben Stack, which is close by.
Ullapool
The next day it was on to receipt points at Lairg and Ullapool so we retraced our route a few miles to get on the single track road to Lairg. We came across the local postman pat in his van barreling down the road and tucked in behind him. He was going too fast for us to overtake him on a single track road and there was the assurance of knowing that he would be the first to hit anything coming the other way. Those highland postman really motor and soon we were approaching Lairg. Childishly I overtook him just before Lairg when the road widened. The infamous Scottish midges had started to get at us by now and Chris was not to keen on the tingly feeling of being eaten alive. We had taken something with us to ward off the midges but it was proving to be limited in its effectiveness. A wise old local told us that the local pharmacist from South Africa sold a green cream you smeared all over that was very effective. We passed on that and went on to the Falls of Shin to see the salmon leaping and to visit the Harrods outpost there. I'm pleased to say that we did see some leaping fish.
As we pressed onto Ullapool the rains started so we pulled over to have a break in pub come restaurant and came across another dispirited 'get-away-from-it-all' English person. You see, there seem to be a lot of English people who up sticks to move to Scotland to get away from the hubbub who are not quite so happy as they imagined they would be. The large amounts of wind and rain seems to be the main reason for their unhappiness and the summer of 2005 was not a good one up north. (Last time I went to Scotland was in 2003 with Dave when the weather was brilliant. I was told that 2003 summers are very rare.)
By the time we got to Ullapool it was raining very hard so we parked up at our B&B and walked into town. Despite the rain, we really liked Ullapool. The B&B was very nice. We watched the local fisherman tossing fish to huge grey seals, did a bit of tourist shopping and had a great curry at an Indian restaurant, which had been recommended to us by Sue and Dave. (We got complementary drinks when we said they had been recommended.) We reckon that Ullapool would make a good base to tour the area from.
Skye
Next day we had to go through the Achnasheen, Lochcarron and Broadford receipt points to get to our B&B at Portree on the Isle of Sky. The weather was miserable when we started out from Ullapool but after passing through Gairloch it turned into quite a nice day. The scenery on the way to Skye was stunning as was Skye itself. Compared to where we had been Skye felt really busy and there were lots of tourists. Chris wanted to see a castle so we went and had a look around Dunvegan castle.
After Skye our receipt points were Claunie, Fort William, Oban and Tyndrum where we stayed the night. Once again the weather was not so good to start with but it cleared up later on. After the far north, it was starting to feel really busy on the roads and there was a huge traffic jam at Oban. After filtering through the traffic we stopped to sit in the sunshine and eat some tasty fish and chips on Oban front. At Tyndrum we ran into a lot of bikers heading out for the weekend. The Tyndrum B&B was dire but this was the exception.
Home via the Lake District
Tyndrum effectively marked the end of our rally as we had done 1000 miles but we thought we would put in a few more receipt points on the way down to the Lake District just to make sure. We went through the Stirling, Maddiston and Johnstonebridge receipt points on the way. We also called in to see Tom's folks at Denny where we were treated to a nice lunch and a wee dram (Tom's dad insisted).
It was sad to leave Scotland but we did finish up our holiday with a great weekend in Keswick where we stayed at another very nice B&B and had a few nice meals in the local pubs. Only problem was, the weather was very hot and the Lakes were heaving with people that weekend. I had promised Chris I would take her over Hardknott Pass as I had already been through the pass with Dave the last time I was in the Lakes. On the way there it made me laugh when Chris thought that the road we were on was very steep and twisty as it was nothing compared to where we were going. Anyway, we made it despite being forced to do a hill start two-up going up the steepest part and nearly dropping the bike as I tried to back it up off the road. I don't think Chris enjoyed going over the pass? On Monday morning we left Keswick and returned home via the M6 and M5 to Corfe Mullen. We had done a total of 2,346 miles in 12 days.
We both look back on our holiday in Scotland with a great deal of affection and wish we were still there doing it. It was really nice to get away from the crowds and traffic that you find in most parts of this crowded island of ours. It was brilliant to motor through some fantastic scenery. The weather could be challenging at times but that's something you need to be realistic about when planning to tour around Scotland in September. Overall I would say we had good weather. There were some days when the rain and wind was around but there was also a good few days when the sun shone. I should mention that you need to take something to combat the infamous midges. (They are as bad as you've heard.)
Three Nations
As I said at the start of this article, the Scottish rally is the last of the three domestic rallies. Although I had done a few rallies before, it was Chris' first time and she did really well to pillion three different bikes for 4000 miles as we rode around Wales, England and Scotland. All the bikes were Hondas, a CBR1000FV for the Welsh, a CB1000FS "Big One" for the English and a CBR1100XX Blackbird for the Scottish. Fingers crossed, we should be getting our Three-Nations award any day soon.