Hexham to home via the Pennines and Dales

 

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The ride home wasn't all bad either, we left the Queens Arms (via the Fire Escape as you do) quite early and took off for the twisty road to Alston through the Northern Pennines stopping for our final full breakfast in Barnard Castle. A bit of good stuff afterwards with a good run through the Dales to Grassington and Skipton in the general south west direction to join the M65 near Barrowford avoiding the North West traffic. I said farewell to Mark at one of the M6 Services. Always my preferred option is to get off the M6 as soon as possible and enjoy the sunshine and the rolling hills of Cheshire and Shropshire tracking back home near Telford and Bridgnorth to arrive home around 4:45pm.

A superb week riding around Scotland. The weather was fantastic, perfect temperature for riding my new GS and while we were away we missed a heatwave back home too. The only real rain we saw was the morning ride out of Oban, and that had cleared by mid-morning on the way through Glencoe. The Torridon hills up to Gairloch, Skye and that wonderful late afternoon ride around Loch Fyne really made the trip for me. Great company in Mark too who also enjoys getting a bit of a lick on these days, at times I had trouble keeping up with him, though mostly due to me admiring all of that wonderful Scottish scenery!   

Dunkeld to Hexham via Loch Tay, Falkirk and Kielder

 

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The plan for today includes a ride out west out to Loch Tay while skirting around the Trossachs making our way south east to Falkirk then south east into Northumberland towards Hexham via the Kielder Forest. Last night Mark became concerned of rear tyre wear, and we realised he was now running an illegal tyre with about 400 miles to go before we reached home we agreed to look for a Motorcycle service shop and see if he could get a quick replacement. Thankfully early morning he had contacted a garage in Perth who could fit a new tyre that same morning so Mark left just after breakfast while I stayed behind to meet with Yasmin who arrived with her Grandad. Really nice to see her and she kindly sent me home with a box of home made shortbread to give to Hayley. I have to say they did survive the journey without being eaten on the way ... many thanks to both of them for the very friendly visit. 

  

The magnificent Birnam Hotel

Mark arriving back from Perth with his new rear tyre.

Mark arrived soon enough with his new tyre, somehow already scrubbed in by the look of it, I was waiting outside ready to go so we soon left the hotel heading on the longer route I had planned toward Loch Tay via the A482 to Trochry then on through the great looking Welsh sounding village 'Aberfeldy'  ('Aber' meaning mouth of the river in Welsh) to ride the western side of the Loch. The roads were still a bit wet this morning but drying out in the sun ideal for a steady view of the Tay river valley and across the Loch. After riding the northern side of Loch Earn we then headed south toward Dunblane before joining the A9 and the M9 to Falkirk. 

 

At some point I lost Mark in traffic on the A9, but having our headsets paired with our phones we were able to contact each other. It seemed Mark was heading for the 'Kelpies' thinking Helix park would serve the Falkirk Wheel too, our intended first stop so a bit of confusion when we had both stopped in Car Park 2 but couldn't see each other .. he being 3 miles away in a different car park altogether! We met up again at the Falkirk Wheel and stayed for a while to watch the wheel lift a canal boat between the two Canals serving the Forth and Clyde. Historically they were separated by a flight of locks between the two that took a long time to navigate. Since the Locks were dismantled and the two canals opened again the Falkirk Wheel was opened in 1994 to join the two canals together again.      

Fascinating piece of engineering, simple in concept but quite magnificent to watch in operation.

Our next stop was Helix park to see the 'Kelpies' up close. Quite impressive 30 Metre high horse head sculptures made of stainless steel plate representing the horse heritage of Scotland. They were built as part of the extension to the Canal during regeneration of the area. I guess the original canal boats relied on horse drawn power to navigate so they are a fitting tribute to working horses of that time.  

 

After leaving Helix park the planned route took us along the M9 and around the Edinburgh by-pass, but I noticed signs saying the A68 South was shut and realised after zooming in and out on the Navigator this was on our route down to Bonchester Bridge. We had planned to ride through the Kielder Forest later in the day, so needed to find our way onto the B6357. I called up Mark and we agreed to head down the A7 instead, this turned out to be the official detour for the closed A68 but we were unsure how far down the A7 to ride. It was a bit slow going, but ended up back on the A68 somewhere before Bonchester Bridge near Jedburgh. Unfortunately that wasn't our only problem. After Bonchester Bridge we took the B6537 hoping to ride into the Forest and across the border back into England at Kielder and came across our next impasse. The bridge was closed for repairs at a small place called Saughtree. Despite seeing the road closed signs way before we hoped we could get around the blockage somehow, the road was just too good to miss as we were the only vehicles around as we wound our way through some fantastic countryside on the lead up to the forest.

 

At the bridge we pulled up and re-assessed the situation. Concrete blocks on the other side stopped any route through with no way of riding across fields since the river bank was too steep. It looked like the only option was to turn around, find another route that would inevitably mean missing the Kielder Forest ride altogether. By now it was getting late, and just as we were about to ride back a man appeared on the other side of the bridge who suggested we might want to try the forest trail as he had just driven it in his Land Rover. The trail was accessed a few miles back up the road on the right and he said as long as we kept taking a right turn on the trail we would make it past the bridge assuming our bikes suited the rough terrain that is. Our only option was to give the trail a go, if it looked like I could stay on my bike I was happy to try. We turned off along the trail and although quite bumpy with rocky sections the ground and earth was dry, using the GS's Enduro mode again I took it steady for what seemed like the 3 miles to take us up high through dense forest in order to cut the corner and bring us on to the deserted road to Kielder just past the bridge and onto the reservoir below. Mark's Versys was handling the trail well too despite it now having a new road biased rear tyre fitted today. We both made it and I have to say quite enjoyed our little off-road excursion, at least with these adventure bikes we do get to use their full potential every once in a while.  

The end of our Forest trail diversion and back onto the Kielder road into England

Now on the other side of the border we had a fast evening ride through the forest on deserted roads. Definitely worth the effort to take the trail, I had been looking forward to the ride down past Kielder following the river valley down to Hexham all day. Our night stop was the Queens Arms in the neighbouring village 'Acomb'. Great little pub next to a Fish and Chip shop and safe parking for the bikes, really good value too. We managed to get a chippie tea just before they closed and sat in the beer garden cum car park to eat as we wound down replaying some of the great roads (and trails) we had ridden today. The locals were on a night out so we joined them with a beer in the pub. Great atmosphere, fully recommended.     

Inverness to Dunkeld via Glen Affric and Cairngorms

 

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While planning the trip last week Mark suggested we visited Glen Affric an area west of Loch Ness described as:

'.. a magical mix of native woods, glistening lochs and haunting moorland. It features over 30 miles of ancient pinewoods and is one of the largest ancient Caledonian pine woods in Scotland. You can wander amongst the pine trees accompanied by the chirpy calls of woodland birds. Elsewhere you might encounter ospreys, secretive otters or red- and black-throated divers. Come in autumn and you’ll be inspired by the mosaic of colour and the echoing roar of red deer stags."

So we added the Glen to the route, the problem though was its route has one way in and out, probably why it doesn't feature as a regular motorcycle ride destination and heading in the opposite direction to where we were heading towards the Cairngorms. We started out early after breakfast and decided to give it a go, first riding around part of Loch Ness before turning off down the road to the Glen.

There was a huge waterfall nearby too -  Plodda Falls so we turned off the road to follow the trail track down to find it. At first I was a bit concerned with my new bike riding it down through the forest across gravel and dirt tracks but considering I was on a GS I quickly flipped the ride mode to 'Enduro' and enjoyed the ride. The suspension softened and the throttle response changed to allow a slower less 'snatchy' ride. I considered standing on the pegs and speeding up a bit but didn't want to push it too much with full pannier luggage and top box so took it steady parking up near the short walk down to the falls. Quite impressive I thought, and ended up following Mark down the steps to the foot of the falls to gain perspective as well as standing on the platform at the top.

 

Later, we continued our ride down to the end of the Glen stopping near River Affric to to savour the wonderful views across the forest. I can't say I saw any wildlife as described, maybe two large motorcycles rumbling through scared them off but it was well worth taking the detour out here to pay a visit. Definitely somewhere I would come back to, and perhaps next time stay nearby and walk some of the trails, however I  would bring plenty of 'midge spray'. While parked up waiting for Mark to get moving I was literally surrounded in a fog of midges that somehow ended up getting into my helmet and elsewhere!

After a quick run back into Inverness along the faster A9 out towards Grantown-on-Spey via 'Boat of Garten' making up for lost time in the Glen. By now we were running short on fuel, my gauge was showing less than 20 miles so relieved when we found a petrol station to fill up by looking on the Navigator. Later, we had a fantastic fast ride across the Cairngorms towards Braemar. Mark suggested we ride out to see some of the Balmoral Estate so he took the lead down to Balleter in order to get across the correct side of the River Dee pulling up right on the Balmoral Castle car park. Unfortunately due to Covid it was closed to the public but we had a good break wandering around near the River Dee admiring the Crathie Girder Bridge commissioned by Prince Albert and built by the great Isambard Kingdom Brunel no less.   

Crathie Girder Bridge across the River Dee

 

The final part of today's ride took us up high past the Lecht ski centre into Perthshire and on through the very twisty and fun Spittal of Glenshee section where I was unsure if we had missed the best part so we decided to ride it twice just to be sure! We arrived at the Birnam Hotel on the other side of the River Tay from the larger town of Dunkeld around 6pm. I found it interesting that in common to our own local River Severn town in Bewdley, Worcestershire the bridge across the River Tay was also built by the very same Thomas Telford! 

 

Not long after arrival, I received notification that my daughter Hayley's friend Yasmin (from Uni') had been in touch and her Grandad had visited the hotel a few times to meet up with us. Hayley had a wonderful stay with Yasmin last year in the next village Luncarty and it was by coincidence I had booked the Birnam Hotel for the night in the same town her Grandad had lived all of his life. It would be good to meet up after meeting them at their Graduation ceremony in Southampton a few years ago. Thankfully Yasmin's Grandad caught up with us in the end after I had chance to get out of my biking gear and shower, and kindly took us down to the recommended Perth Arms for our evening meal.     

Skye to Inverness via Applecross and Gairloch

 

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Last night we had a nice meal at the hotel - mine was a mackerel potato salad to start with braised lamb shank to follow and Mark? well surprise surprise some more Nachos! I think that was his third plate of the Mexican wonder food this week, I can't recall if this was a starter or main though. I do remember the beer we drank was Isle of Skye Red Ale and notice it's available in your local Sainsbury's. Most enjoyable I think I'll order a few when I get back. 

After loading up the bikes we decided to have a go on the Hotel's large Scottish Breakfast too, to include yet more haggis and black pudding so feeling rather stuffed now we set off for a brief stop at the 13th Century Eilean Donan castle made famous to me for the scenes in the film 'Highlander'. 

I do like visiting this place and we got chatting to a fellow GS'er on his nice 2007 GSA single cam with low mileage, I didn't get his name but he was new to GS ownership and later we followed him for quite some while afterwards. I did think of waving him to pull over just to see if he had a pack of anti-acid tablets for indigestion since I had by now run out of mine. 

Me and 'Wolverine' at Eilean Donan trying to hold my now very full stomache in! 

I've visited the castle a few times by bike, the last time it was 'chucking' it down so good to be here on a warm dry day this time. Stunning scenery and I really like the location of this house. What a view! 

Looking back toward Loch Kishorn

Soon we were heading for Bealach Na Ba .. the Pass of the Cattle the highest mountain road in the UK that leads down to Applecross. This road is the closest we get to an Alpine road in the UK with an amazing twisty climb up and over the top. The road up to this is great too as we ride the A890 around Loch Carron before the turning at Tornapress as we cross over the River Kishorn to start the ascent. A brief stop at the top of the pass for a view of Skye albeit in a shroud of mist this time and on to the next leg of the days ride.

Mark and I had been looking forward to this next section, with a loop around Loch Torridon and Loch Sheildaig to Kinlochewe for refuelling at one of the most remote petrol stations in the UK and a  quick snack before riding onto Gairloch. 

On the bend near Strathcarron

Somewhere between Sheildaig and Kinlochewe we came across these two hearses. At first I thought it strange heading for a funeral way out in these remote parts and didn't want to pass out of respect for the deceased - until we caught up with them and realised they were converted 'campers'. Hilarious, what a great idea! 

Somewhere near the Torridon Luxury Hotel as featured on TV. Way out of our budget on this trip though.

Neither of us were disappointed with these great scenic roads that include the glorious ride down through the Torridon hills and part of the Beinn Eighe massif we both agreed some of the most breathtaking scenery was riding from Kinlochewe around Loch Maree then on past Loch Ewe and along the A832  for a quick stop in the Corrishalloch gorge.

Later in the afternoon we had shall I say a 'sprited' ride (ahem) in to Inverness for our next stop staying at the rather plush but welcome Craigmonie Hotel . Our night out tonight included a few beers and onto a popular Thai restaurant. The Green Thai Curry was very spicy, and complimented nicely with the haggis breakfasts I had been having. Inverness is a good stop off and the weather well in to the 20's today made for yet another fantastic day riding. 

Inverness Castle