Gong to Scotland in a few weeks, need tips!

rat_race

Hey!

Have the time and funds for 4/5/6 days or so, in Scotland, in a few weeks. Nothing booked yet. Will head over from Belfast or Larne. Going alone!

Any tips/advice/recommendations? I've never been to Scotland, and have done no research yet.

Wouldn't really want to do more than 200-300KM a day!


EDIT: will be on my motorbike!

GBX

Im considering doing this myself .. Any suggestions on routes out of Stranraer?

Wolfie67

Hi There

Head from Belfast, and then sit back and enjoy the scenery in Ayre to Glasgow, spend a night there, def visit Sauchiehall street, great bars and entertainment. Jump a coach or train onto to Edinburgh ...(train cost about 10 pounds) coach is even cheaper, Lots of stuff to see in Edinburgh, Avoid the obvious tourist trap of wanting to go see the Lough Ness Monster...12/13 hours round trip on a coach and 2 of them spent at the lough!

Transport is regular and easy to navigate around scotland, food is lovely and people are friendly and helpful

Enjoy

rat_race

Wolfie67 wrote: »

Hi There

Head from Belfast, and then sit back and enjoy the scenery in Ayre to Glasgow, spend a night there, def visit Sauchiehall street, great bars and entertainment. Jump a coach or train onto to Edinburgh ...(train cost about 10 pounds) coach is even cheaper, Lots of stuff to see in Edinburgh, Avoid the obvious tourist trap of wanting to go see the Lough Ness Monster...12/13 hours round trip on a coach and 2 of them spent at the lough!

Transport is regular and easy to navigate around scotland, food is lovely and people are friendly and helpful

Enjoy

Thanks Meant to say that I will be on my motorbike! Ferry to Cairnryan!

AgileMyth

You don't need tips. Just get on the boat!

You'll figure it out!

rat_race

AgileMyth wrote: »

You don't need tips. Just get on the boat!

You'll figure it out!

Yeah, but I'm a really dull boring non-spontaneous person with no imagination or sense of adventure.

batman_oh

Can give you an idea of the route I did in May if you want. 1700km over 5 days.
The world's biggest and cheapaest race track :pac:

rat_race

rat_race wrote: »

Yeah, but I'm a really dull boring non-spontaneous person with no imagination or sense of adventure.

That was a joke, btw!

batman_oh wrote: »

Can give you an idea of the route I did in May if you want. 1700km over 5 days.
The world's biggest and cheapaest race track :pac:

Sure, worth looking at anyway...

KT10

batman_oh wrote: »

The world's biggest and cheapaest race track :pac:

+1

I was there not too long ago for a week, when asked about the trip I simply replied, "I've been on slower track days!"

Stunning, stunning scenery, friendly locals, but most local brewed beers are p!ss though! :P

Get off the ferry in Cairnryan and head North, you'll struggle to find a bad road, you've no reason to be on the motorway so stay away.

From Cairnryan follow the A77 to A78
Ferry in Gourock to Dunoon
A815 to A83 (heading for Inverarary)
In Inveraray take the A819 to meet the A85
Proceed at warp factor 9 down the A85, turn right onto A83 and pull into the Green Welly (big bike stop place, good cheap food) to catch your breath
Follow the A85 as far as Crief then turn around and run the road again back to the Welly
Follow the A82 through the stunning Glencoe onto Fort William
From there you can take the A830 (probably the worst road you'll be on the entire trip, even then its better then most roads here) to Mallaig, get the ferry to the Isle of Skye
Alternatively (if its fast roads you want) from Fort William follow the A82 out of the town and either stay on to hit Loch Ness or jump on the A86/A9, either way you end up in Inverness

I keep going, but to be honest, whatever road you end up on, chances are it'll be a cracker, just pray to the weather gods for sun.

Wonda-Boy

This is all you need. Zoom in and pick the route you wanna go, Red is the best, Blue is good and purple is so so rated. Or you can choose from the drop down menu.

http://www.bestbikingroads.com/motorcycle-roads/motorbike-rides-in-united-kingdom-/united-kingdom-__134.html

rat_race

Deadly, thanks lads! Will let ye know what I end up doing...

Wonda-Boy

If the weather stays dry its meant to be a fabulous spot for a bit of motorbiking, its just that the roads get very bad when raining heavy. Best of luck pics galore mate.

BlackWizard

I've been thinking of driving around Scotland myself this year. I was hoping to just hop on a ferry and make it up as I go but do a little research at the start. Glad that the general consensus is that most of the roads are good.

Wonda-Boy

Wales is another great spot for a relatively cheap hop on hop off holiday.....was going there myself this year for a few days till I invited someone along and they invited someone along and then they asked could another fella go and now there is 8 of us going to GERMANY!

rat_race

Ferry booked, 31st July -> 6th August!

Was only a few weeks ago I came home from France never wanting to see a motorbike again!

CJhaughey

Bring plenty of Midge repellent. Seriously those little bastards can ruin your day.
Scotland is full of them outside the cities.

Cienciano

I was there before in the summer, I remember driving through towns and seeing "no vacancies" signs everywhere. Might be handy to organise data roaming and find places online when you stop for lunch, only takes a few minutes.
But echo what others said, great roads. Loads of mountain roads, so no trees so you can see there's no cars ahead (think sally gap) but the roads are wider with better surface.

dubscottie

Don't forget the East coast.. Edinburgh, Fife, the Forth Bridges (visit the Albert Hotel in North Queensferry), Aberdour (great views of Edinburgh over the river) The borders (Kelso, Hawick etc)

You could do the Stirling/ Callander area easy in a day from the east.

The west coast is nice but it is over rated.. And expensive. Plus midges.. lots of midges on the west.. (avoid Glasgow.. Absolute ****hole and your bike will be gone)

fatbast

was over a few weeks ago stayed in moffat in scottish borders great hotel called the buchleuch in moffat, brilliant roads very little traffic no midges, the hotel offers discounts if you arrive on a bike and has individual steel garages for bikes and cleaning and chain lubing on site!...they will tell you the very best routes to take and the breakfast is good. approx 90 miles from cairnryan. keep tank topped up as petrol garages may be closed. roads better there with positive camber on bends, non existant in ireland.

Wonda-Boy

fatbast wrote: »

was over a few weeks ago stayed in moffat in scottish borders great hotel called the buchleuch in moffat, brilliant roads very little traffic no midges, the hotel offers discounts if you arrive on a bike and has individual steel garages for bikes and cleaning and chain lubing on site!...they will tell you the very best routes to take and the breakfast is good. approx 90 miles from cairnryan. keep tank topped up as petrol garages may be closed. roads better there with positive camber on bends, non existant in ireland.

Lovely stuff, I can see myself heading there before the year end.

Cienciano

It's so handy to go to scotland too, everyone should try and do it at some point.

Blondie919

There's a biker-friendly b&b near Inverness called Torguish House. I've never been there or to Scotland (yet) but I heard or read about it some years ago. It looks decent enough.

http://www.motogoloco.com/torguish-house-ac-47-a-87

mr chips

If scenery is your thing then one of the most enjoyable trips I had in Scotland (I've done a few) was a route heading initially west after crossing the Erskine Bridge over the Clyde. Deliberately ignored the main road up past Loch Lomond, which has usually been pretty bunged any time I've been on it, but instead passed through Helensburgh and on up Gare Loch past Faslane, where the nuclear submarine base is (don't stop there!). This is one of my favourite routes anywhere and I'm hoping to get back over there soon. Last time I was on it I ate along the way in the Village Inn, a hotel in Arrochar on the right-hand side as you pass that way - the venison was top-notch & decent value. Continued on right round to stay in Lochgilphead - there's a reasonably-priced B&B in Lochgilphead called the Empire Travel Lodge, which is a converted cinema and has parking in round the back, off the road.

Next day I followed the Crinan Canal for a little bit before heading north to ride past Jura/Scarba - there's one or two miles of poor surface initially after you cross the canal, but then it's just endless near-empty smooth road and ever-changing scenery that takes your breath away. Stopped in Oban for lunch and continued on via the Mallaig-Armadale ferry to Skye, which I've been to a few times and still want to go back to.

Next day I took my time and went round the Five Sisters of Kintall (oo-er missus), then toddled round the Applecross peninsula for a while before heading down past Fortwilliam to stay in Glencoe Independent Hostel, which had a log cabin and includes access to a drying room (great for sorting your gear out if you've had a wet ride!) for £25 each - that's excellent value for that part of the world, you'll struggle to get anything cheaper outside of a tent/dorm.

Three nights for that trip was going pretty easy - I covered 900-950 miles from & to the ferry. So you could definitely do all that in two nights if you just wanted to blat up & back, but I wanted to take it all in and would recommend taking your time if this is your first trip over there. About the midges, a while back I read somewhere that a cosmetic spray called Avon Skin So Soft puts them off biting you - turns out loads of shops & chemists sell it there, I've used it every time I've gone to Scotland over the past 5-6 years and only got bitten once.

neamhspleachi

Haggis baps with round sausage & brown sauce for breakfast is my Scots recommendation