Open question. Would I be too out of the way for day riding round the corner into the northern highlands and across to the west coast and maybe down to Argyll and Bute if I was on the east side of the Cairngorms? Glenkindie is where I have in mind. https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place...57672492933ac57!8m2!3d57.2144034!4d-2.9367828
I've lived in Helensburgh near loch lomond for 20 years and ridden for the last 5, Let me know what kind of riding you want to do and I'll tell you which roads to go and do! It's my local track, I've done 'em all! I also know where jonny law likes to sit and play bee-ka-boo....
Also forgot to mention the west coast is great because the lower highlands trap the clouds! So when you get up on a morning just look at a weather forecast with predictions of cloud movement - if you get a phone signal..- and you can play your route around the weather and 4/5 times you can stay dry. The road might not be dry by you will be!
No. He and his wife decided they liked Scotchland and decided Helensburgh was the place for them. So he started to look for work up there. He's a QS by trade and is now the project manager of a housing/apartment development opposite Hill House. They bought a house probably 300m away from there too.
Must be doing very well if he can afford a house near the top end of Helensburgh! Next time your up you should grab some food in The Commodore on the seafront, always nice there
The short answer is yes, you would be too far out of the way. I used to live about 5 miles south from there in a village called Logie Coldstone. It is a very nice area with some great roads but from there you go either clockwise or anticlockwise round the Cairngorms and it is a very very long way to the west coast or Argyll and Bute. You would be very much against the "grain" of the land. But as I said, it is a very nice area in it's own right.
Thanks John. I did wonder whether the Cairngorms would represent a scenic interlude or an immovable obstacle. You simply can't get that from looking at a map. You need to ask someone who knows. My next choice is tending towards Fort Augustus. From what you good people are telling me, that seems like the ideal location. That place at Glenkindie looked nice though...
Coming from a 3 bed detached in the suburbs of Manchester wasn't a leap too far in price. Even to move to Helensburgh. They'll struggle like hell if they decide the "dream" isn't all it seems.
@Robarano do you know this place at Hexham? http://www.bayhorseinn.org/home Its in the biker guide so I guess its cool. I've settled on a place near Fort Augustus as a final destination in Scotland but Dorset to Moffat in one go is quite a jaunt. This splits it up a bit more and I'll definitely go east up the A1 and take your route through Northumberland.
I don't @Gimlet It looks a decent place though and Hexam is a nice stop off point. This place looks to be right on the edge of the Northumberland National Park, close to your route.
If you give me a shout when you are planning to go, if I'm free, I'll have a partial ride up with you if you like.
Definitely. Letting period in the northern wilderness runs Saturday to Saturday so it'll be a Saturday morning, earlyish, looking like the first week of June. Won't be on the Streetfighter I'm afraid. It'll be the KTM 1190. Still a fiesty old soul though when it gets the wind in its ears and well up for a few twisties. I'll get the coffees.
Fort Augustus would be a great choice. The A87 Invergarry to Kyle road is a stunner and from there it is a short hop to Plockton where you can check out the palm trees, or over the bridge to Skye then down to Armadale, ferry to Mallaig and back up to Fort Augustus.
I thought from running various destinations through a route planner I should be able to get to most places from there. Its a bit isolated. 10 miles from a pub and 15 miles from a shop and then its only the londis petrol station at Fort Augustus and there's no wi-fi or phone signal but that's part of the attraction, except that I'll have to plot petrol stations well in advance. I will be packing my walking boots. If the weather's good I can get to the west coast easily and if its not so good there's the Moray coast or I can go and hide behind the Cairngorms in Aberdeenshire. Just hope the bike runs sweet..
