I believe limited air travel to Scotland is now possible, weather permitting. There is a small, rutted, weed-strewn runway at Inverness which might be useful to you in future. And flying avoids Sheffield. Give Mum a ring en-route. Its good to talk. But make the call while still over civilisation. They'll be no signal north of Carlisle.
Yes I can fly to Inverness. Including the train to/from Gatwick it will probably cost under £100 and take about 5 hours door to door. It costs more than that in petrol to ride my bike there and back and it's an eleven hour ride. However, I like riding my bike. That's why I have it. If I ride to my dad's then if I'm there for a few days I can spend some time riding around and enjoying the wonderful roads of the Scottish highlands. I speak to my mum every day or two. She has Alzheimers and I go to see her every few weeks and usually pop in on my way to/from my dad's as it saves me making a separate journey to Sheffield within a week or two of my trip to Aviemore. I am lucky that I run my own business as I can be flexible with the amount of days away from work that I have. I take 50-60 days off work a year to spend time with my mum.
Agreed but bearing in mind I assuming the guy wants to take in some sights , country's side , fuel stops and food etc 250 - 300 is better target . Don't forget Cornwall, North Somerset and the national parks you can be lucky to average 40mph.
Yes. Hop on a motorway and you can be at the other end of the country in a few hours, but once off the motorway network it is a different story.
I have some news (not a complete route yet, but there's quite a lot of time to finish it), I already bought the Ferry tickets, I start my trip the 29th of June towards Plymouth (I arrive the 30th afternoon), and come back the 12nd of July from Portsmouth (what gives me 11 full days)... at least I have my start and end points! Thank you for all those traveling tips, I'm learning many interesting things with your help!
Here I come again! I've done a mix with your suggestions and the time available, and I've created a tour plan divided by days. I'm afraid I've covered "everything" within 10 days, so I've got 3 days left to fill with interesting tips (I was thinking about including the Isle of Man, but fitting the Ferry's timetable will be difficult, or maybe spend some more days in Scotland...). Here you can see my current plan including the routes on google maps (if any of the tracks look familiar for you the advices will be welcome!), total of miles and estimated duration: 1. Plymouth - Cornwall [90 miles /3h] From the Ferry, Plymouth (I'll arrive around 4:15PM) to Penzance, passing by St Michael's Mount: Google Maps 2. Cornwall - Bath [226 miles /6.5h] From Penzance (and visiting Land's End), passing by North Devon to Bath: Google Maps 3. Bath - Snowdonia [210 miles /5.5h] From Bath, passing by Severn Bridge, Brecon Beacons, Crossgates & Newtown to Colwyn Bay: Google Maps 4. Snowdonia - Carlisle [189 miles /5.5h] From Colwyn Bay, passing by Chester & Lake District to Carlisle: Google Maps 5. Carlisle - Fort_william [201 miles /5.5h] From Carlisle, passing by Glasgow, Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park to Fort William: Google Maps 6. Fort_william - Inverness [196 miles /5h] From Fort William, passing by Loch Ness, Ullapool & Rosehall to Inverness: Google Maps 7. Inverness - Northumberland [242 miles /5.5h] From Inverness, passing by Cairngorms National Park & Edinburgh to Northumberland: Google Maps 8. Northumberland - PeakDistrict [194 miles /5.5h] From Northumberland, passing by York & Peak District to Buxton: Google Maps 9. PeakDistrict - Stonehenge [206 miles /5.5h] From Buxton, passing by Cotswolds, Oxford & Avebury to Stonehenge: Google Maps 10. Stonehenge - Portsmouth [62 miles /1.5h] From Stonehenge to Portsmouth. The Ferry will set sail at 17:15PM: Google Maps What do you think about my plan?
That'll be a grand old tour. Northumberland to Peak District - I'd head to Holmfirth, Glossop via Holme Moss, Snake Pass, hope valley, Castleton, high peak, Buxton.... But that's local bias! If I'm around when you do that section 8, happy to meet n ride down to Buxton the interesting route - though after Scotland its all fairly arbitrary!
Inverness is a great base for riding in Scotland. Maybe fit in Inverness to Invergarry to Kyle of Lochalsh, quick lap around Isle of Skye, then up the west coast, via Applecross if the weather is good, to Ullapool then back to Inverness? I'm really glad you got to fit in the A483 Crossgates to Newtown in Wales. One of the best roads south of Scotland. Worth doing in both directions, imho. After crossing the Severn Bridge, you could ride up the Wye Valley to Monmouth (via Tintern - coffee stop at Tintern Abbey ruins), then go up the A466 to Llancloudy and turn left and go cross-country via Skenfrith to Abergavenny and resume your route there. Another great ride is Rhyader to Devil's Bridge via the Elan Valley. Great scenery. When are you in Wales - I'd be happy to ride with you if I can make the date? Oh, and mind the tight hairpins on Porlock Hill in Somerset - they are downhill going north and are not very nice at all.
I don't think that route will take 5.5 hours. I have ridden it many times when riding between Bognor Regis and Aviemore, a journey that takes about 11 hours. Aviemore to Edinburgh on the A9 is about a 2 hour ride. Personally I would ride from Inverness over the Cairngorms on the A939 to Ballater and then take the A93 to Perth. From Edinburgh I would take the A7 to Hawick in preference to the A68 as I think it is a better road to ride. Then take the A6088 to meet the A68 at the border.
That's a great plan. I'm glad you're coming Late June as I was going to suggest July or August for better weather (though you really can't tell.) I would add one piece of advice, take a day off riding in the middle. You'll enjoy the rest of the trip much more (and be safer) if you're not exhausted.
Thank you for pointing me those options! I'll study how to insert them in my route! Thanks for all the tips! Also pointing me the problems I can find is very helpful! So you think it would take me shorter than 5.5 hours? I was relying on Google maps estimations (it says it takes 5 hours and 40 minutes), which I have find very accurate many other times (it's supposed to take into account even the current traffic)... A lot of good ideas here that I'll try to include in the route, thank you very much! Before choosing the Ferry dates I did a bit of investigation regarding Great Britain weather, and I found that July is the month with the less average precipitation, and August is more rainy than June so... I thought that in the first half of July I shouldn't get wet (most of the days)... BTW, I've just received my new waterproofs (to put over the jacket, trousers, boots and gloves).. Your one-day-rest plan may be a good idea... My Monster mounts semi-handlebars and my shoulders would appreciate it... I'll think about it. I'd also be pleased to meet you all in any of the routes, so thank you all and we'll keep in contact
I can only base things upon my own riding experience. I find that I tend to average about 50mph on normal roads. Slightly closer to 60mph if the route has lots of motorways and dual carriageways and about 45mph if there are alpine roads involved. I think that I would probably ride that paricular route in about 5 hours, although going right through the centre of Edinburgh will be a bit slow. When touring I tend to avoid riding through cities, because it's slow and not fun. However bear in mind that I am used to riding long distances and when touring I will almost never ride less than 400 miles a day even when in mountains on small roads. 200-250 miles is for me a half day's ride. My bikes have been Kawasaki ZRX1100, Kawasaki ZRX1200R, Ducati Monster 1100, Ducati Monster 1100evo. So even on naked bikes you can do long distance touring. You schedule is nice and relaxed and will allow you a good amount of time to stop and look around and will not fatigue you. Which is probably a good plan for you.
Your experiences are highly appreciated Regarding my plan I would like to make some stops, so it still looks good to spend between 5 to 6 hours a day, I have even more time than what I expected to have. In fact, I still have one or even two days left in my plan. Would you recommend me the North of Scotland? I mean, a route through the North of Rosehall? And one extra question, how long are days on that latitude and dates (e.g. Scotland in July)? Thank you in advance!
If you are planning on going as far North as Rosehall (and I assume you mean the one in Sutherland) then you might as well head to Ullapool and use it as a base. Assuming you can spend 2 nights in Ullapool, after the first night head North to Leadmore Junction and turn right here heading East through Rosehall to Lairg (you can get petrol here and the Boathouse has decent coffee and home baking) and then turn North. A few miles North of Lairg you can turn left for Laxford Bridge but it is better to go straight on to Tongue, you turn left (West) when you reach the North coast road. Continuing through Tongue you eventually come to Durness (petrol here too but not on Sundays) and here the road swings South. The road takes you to Riconnich then Laxford Bridge, if you take a left here you end up back at the junction North of Lairg, but going straight on you come to Scourie (petrol pump here takes plastic) then you pass Kylesku (just after a stunning bridge) but it's worth a visit and the Hotel sells good seafood. Eventually you come to a junction by a large loch (Loch Assynt) turn left (South) and you'll come to Leadmore Junction again, turn right (South) to get back to Ullapool. That's about 180 miles of stunning scenery but with a lot of single track roads. It'll be a good day's ride because you'll probably want to stop a lot. If you want to add more miles then about 2miles after Kylesku turn right (West) and you have about 20miles of very, very twisty single track around the Stoer peninsula with some stunning views. When you meet the main road again turn left and you'll eventually end up back at Leadmore Junction. Or, turn right to head into Lochinver where the hotel serves decent food. That will add about 25miles or so to your day and the road round Stoer is slow. This will take you through some of the remotest and, IMHO, some of the most beautiful parts of Scotland.
