Click to enlarge the route
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.
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| The magnificent Birnam Hotel |
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| 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.
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| 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.
