Just a word to anybody looking at doing a Scotland trip on the cheap .There are loads of cheap hostels / bothies up there for about £18 or less per person per night .We just took a printout from the internet with them all on and at about 3pm each day, we looked to see where we would be by 6.to 7pm and rang ahead to book them . Never had a bad one whilst we were there.
Just come back from a Scottish tour myself, taking in the North Coast 500 together with a couple of nights in Edinburgh, one in Glasgow, and calling in on various friends in the north of England. Like the OP, we were glad of the Goretex and staying in hotels and not camping. Word of the trip was definitely "dreich" with the approach to Glasgow rivalling the Yorkshire Dales for the heaviest rain. We saw rainbows most days that trip! However, the roads and awesome scenery made up for the weather, from a north Pennine detour (to cut out a bit of M6 tedium) on the B6277 from Middleton in Teesdale to Alston, hooning along the A9 north of Wick during a brief sunny spell, bits of the north coast (Thurso west to Bettyhill was quite flowing) or bimbling more slowly along the single track sections in the far north near Durness and down to Scourie and Ullapool with the odd glimpse of spectacular mountains or white sandy beaches looming through the mizzle. The A93 from Braemar through Glenshee to Blairgowrie was nearly 40 miles of epic riding (we spotted what we suspect was the Top Gear crew filming a McLaren along there). No wonder Princes Wiliam and Harry rode Ducatis - a trip to granny's summer house (Balmoral) could be made bearable with the A93 running right past the front door! Coming from the south east of England, the emptiness of the north Pennine and Scottish roads was really refreshing! When riding in the far north/northwest watch out for the RVs doing the NC500 route (promoted by the motorhome hire companies) who don't understand what passing places are for, and fill up well before you need to. We were subjected to a near 50 mile detour when the police closed the A832 between Corrieshalloch and Laide for hours due to a serious accident (we counted 2 ambulances, 3 police cars, 2 fire engines plus the coastguard helicopter), when we were heading from Ullapool to Gairloch. If we'd been running on fumes and counting on filling up in e.g. Laide, we could have been quite stuck (though not as stuck as the cyclist at the head of the queue for whom a 50 mile detour was a much bigger deal). We were also glad we'd pre-booked accommodation as an awful lot of the hotels & B&Bs we went past had no vacancies signs outside.
I got around that by moving to the middle of the Highlands a decade ago. Some of the finest roads, most glorious scenery, best food (seriously) and wettest bloody skies to be found anywhere. It’s only the last of those that makes me miss being 25 minutes from the Portsmouth ferry.
......it's all lies I can assure you, I live in North-East of Scotland and the roads, both here and on the West coast are really appalling and not suitable for bikes, miles and miles of terrible tarmac and acres and acres of nothing of any note to see. All the main routes are usually filled nose to tail with cars, caravans, campers and HGV's. Don't get me started on the food and accommodation on offer, simply not good enough. As for the weather, there isn't any, its just fifty shades of grey 24/7. Most places are infested with nuclear powered midges (the Terminator of the insect world). I really don't understand the fascination with this NC500 cul-de-sac either, all hyped out of proportion. Some places won't even accept Bank of England £10/£20 notes as legal tender? You've been warned. My advice would be not to go anywhere North of the border at all, but hop on a ferry and head South instead, you know it makes sense.
Please pass the good doctor's thoughts on to anyone you know with a camper van or caravan. Spare them from the disappointment too.
The biggest problem we locals have with the midges is that, since ISIS came along, RPG-7s are in short supply on the black market: they were about the only thing that worked against the basterds…
I'm going to stick my ore in here because like @steve c and others that have posted my experience of touring Scotland was sublime, cheap and little planning needed. It was fully 22 years ago on a Yamaha XJ600 with my not-yet-quite-fiance. We left from Isle-of-Dogs and within yards the oil light came on. A spare litre was added to the panniers. We just headed North on the A1 for starters and stayed a night at York. On to Edinburgh we called in at a studenty pub and asked where the B&Bs were. (This was pre iphone / internet mania era.) They told us where to go and we had a choice of excellent B&Bs. We plumped for the one that invited the oil leaky Yam onto his driveway and suggested we park there and try all the other places to check for value. We found this kind of hospitality pretty much everywhere on our trip. Next was Glasgee and Loch Lomond. Up via Fort William (the only day it rained) to the Isle-of-Skye. As @Bjohnson mentioned the scenery is truly stunning. I would describe it as if someone painted a picture you would tell the artist they had exaggerated the colours. If you go to the Highlands you will see they have not. In fact they have not done it justice. We made a long and, with hindsight unwise, walk across the Isle-of-Skye, just making it back before nightfall at Portree. Guinness, whiskey, haggis etc, followed. Homeward bound we went via Dumfries where the tourist information centre directed us to a £9 a night (1995 prices) B&B with antique furniture and deep pile carpets. Breakfast included of course. We stayed two nights. Called in at Gretna Green briefly and covered 300 miles in a day to get back home. At some point before we stopped at an aquaduct crossing. You wait in line while the boats sail across then the road swivels back into place. Anyone know it?? We extended our holiday to nine days. We had no itinerary so we could do as we pleased. The only poor place we stayed at was a regular hotel, which we had pre-booked. On a bike I have yet to experience a continental European tour although I can see the appeal haven driven there extensively. Family you see. Our trip to Scotland was bordering on miraculous. The only bug was the midges. One day of rain out of nine!! It is a crime to miss it. It is so accessible. And forget any of that anti English crap. They like a bit 'o banter and expect it back but on a scruffy oil leaky bike we were handsomely received everywhere we went. Including the driver in the Highlands that flashed his lights at us. WTF does he want, I thought, reverting to London biker commuting mode. Rounded the bend to encounter a herd of sheep across the road. It's Scotland. You should go.
As a Scottish person myself I can’t blame you! We did John O’Groats to Landsend this summer. Great trip, but heading to Europe next summer!
Scotland, in particular the west side is fantastic. A fair bit closer for me than some (County Durham). But the secret to getting there is some careful route planning through the Borders. No need for hours of motorway. Weather, in the hands of the gods. Never go without waterproofs! We did a trip late May a few years back and had rain day 1. Dry and cloudy day 2. Amazing high twenties and sun day3. Snow day4.....that was interesting going through Glencoe!! Someone always goes away with tyres that will not last the trip. Dont be that person!
Totally agree . The book "Bikers Britain"by Simon Weir has some great roads that you can work into your ride up to Scotland and back. As for the tyres.. we got to Tongue which is about as far away from a tyre retailer as you could possibly get in the uk and noticed that my mates tyre had white bits beginning to show. The nearest place that had a tyre was in Inverness ,and even then they had to order one in as they didn't have the tyre in stock.
Got back today, after a week. Rained every day, but worth it. Last time up, lost a rear tyre on the MS. They put on a new BT023GT at a place in Spinningdale. Guy there very helpful, but don't say I sent you, as he said he never wanted to see another Ducati again, after changing mine. Took him an hour, mainly as he had trouble getting wheel off.
I did the NW500 anti-clockwise 1st week of July this year and the midges almost ate me alive,best experience i had had on a bike,west coast slow and windy east coast faster but boring, b&b advised and on an mts rule of thumb fill up at half a tank.
