had a tour of Scotland last week on the multi, 5 days and 1600 miles it never missed a beat. I still love this bike. 4 of us made the trip from the west country, me on the DVT, a 2012 pikes peak an XR1000 and a triumph Daytona. Headed to Fort William for the first night, from there across to Skye for a quick look, then north on the coast road via apple cross to Ullapool for second night. Third day Ullapool to Wick, via the coat roads, we got to John O'Groats just as it was getting dark in time for a photo shot. Fourth day from Wick back to Fort William and last day back home to the West Country. Weather was mixed, we had one dry day but every other day we had rain, either mixed showers or torrential, non stop. Couple of days we may as well have been wearing wetsuits! Have some good gorerex gear, but when it's been torrential for 6 hours or more on the bike everything just gets damp and clammy! At least we chose to stay in hotels, my preference was to take the tents and wild camp a few places, so glad we had hotels which quickly turned into large scale drying rooms!! It's the first time I've been beyond Glasgow and Edinburgh cities and ventured into the countryside, despite the weather it was truly epic scenery, the west coast especially - around every single corner is yet another stunning vista, you just can't believe it. North coast was good, but not a patch on the west, the east coast was nice but probably the least interesting part of the route. For our final run back to Fort William, we took the road alongside Loch Ness which was another great road - although that route is pretty busy with tourists. We had a couple of mishaps, the pikes peak needed a new rear on day 1!!! Owner was told at the MOT the week before that the tyre should last the trip, but it lasted the 450 miles to fort William and was knackered. We only spotted it on the ferry going over to Skye! So a diversion of 100 miles was needed to get a replacement. He'll check it more carefully next trip! With the tyre replaced we were back on course..... until we got to Durness when we stopped for some photos. Having saddled up to crack on to Wick, the pikes peak developed another problem, the welds on the lambda sensor collar failed and it fell out of the exhaust!!!! Couldn't ride the bike with exhaust gasses coming straight out and potentially melting wiring, shock hoses etc. I had some epoxy liquid steel that we thought would solve the issue, but it doesn't stick to titanium - the PP had a titanium akra and headers. We spent 2 hours trying to make it stick and even tried applying some heat protection in the form of tin foil to at least limp to a larger town to try and sort a repair - but it was doomed to fail and we had to give up and call the AA. We couldn't have been any further from home! Good times though and the weather, tyre and exhaust fail didn't dampen the spirits and it was a great trip. I think next year we'll be heading to Spain though!!!! On the way to Scotland
Did that trip a few years ago, great riding! We did it via Wales and the Lakes so took a bit longer over it. Agree on the East side from JoG being the least interesting. We pulled into Ullapool after the worst rain any of us had experienced and like you, the room became one large drying room/sauna! Must try it again soon.
Have planned similar several times, just can’t get past the trek to Scotland and back! It’s two days of your holiday....and I’m sure it’s my loss
Yep, its a major PITA. We looked at all sorts of options to try and work around this but in the end you cant avoid it or make it any easier. We just opted for the motorway slog, some 450 miles each way from home, a day there and a day back. The MS is great for this, great wind protection, heated grips, cruise control. Just get some good tunes on the ipod and settle in. Although I do need a better/comfy seat, my ar$e was numb after about 2 hours! In reality the trip there and back wasn't too bad, would have been a ton easier if the roadworks on the M6 were finished! Narrow lanes through the roadworks mean with the panniers on the bike its difficult to filter between the standing traffic. We ended up filtering along the outside edge of the central reservation, but its full of $hit and I was half expecting one of us to get a puncture! Having made the trip, I wouldn't hesitate to go again and spend more time on the West/North coast and I'd take the same approach with a long run there and back. My only modification might be to leave super early - 3 or 4am - to get well past Manchester before the rush hour. Once your up to the Lakes its an easy ride (apart from a bit of traffic around Glasgow).
Tbf it’s no different to blasting to Germany on a Friday and coming back on a Tuesday except doing 100mph over a sustained distance is more likely to get you a ticket, if you can with the roadworks plaguing the Uk network (I wonder if ISIS have taken over the highways agency and its roadwork plans....30mph for miles on m5?! Wtf is that about!!)
Don't know where you live Bradders, but take it from me there are some of the best biking roads I've ever experienced in Scotland, especially the west coast. I live near Ipswich and it's worth the trip up. We've been a couple of times for a week at a time, starting on a Friday late pm, stop off at somewhere around Nottingham first night just to kill a few miles, then maybe Kielder Forest Park via the Lakes, then up from there. You'll love it!
I'm in bath, one from Weston and one of the guys from Stroud, so not too far from you. You've probably got a hours advantage on me from here to Gloucester!
I did it this year from Sittingbourne in Kent . Did 2600 miles for the week which was more than riding back from spain the previous trip . Scotland has stunning views and empty roads, We stayed in Fort Agustus . I don't think I heard a scottish accent all week . Anyone working was eastern european and all the tourists were from the US&A or Japan .
I'm occasionally tempted to do a trip to Scotland again. But France, Italy and Germany are even more tempting and always win out. Sorry, Scottish persons.
