NC500 on the Guzzi

[Alan H]

Wuh,
Yow meant Dunnet head lighthouse.
Been all round there on me kettle. Mek sure to fill up..no petrol till Laxford Bridge ! (one pump on it's own, well back in '94 !).
Try The Morefield restaurant in Ullapool if you like fish. Say hello to me mom, ashes scattered in the bay !!

So it was mate, I couldn't make out the writing on the post! Of course it might have been a spelling mistake!!!!

[Alan H]

In the hotel in Ullapool now after a very tiring ride to the Kylescu bridge via the Smoo caves (I looked at it from the cliff top as it was a steep path!), Durness which was very busy so we gave it a miss, then the B869 which goes from the A894 and is all single carriageway with passing places, going through Drumbeg, Stoer, lots of little places that I can't remember, Inverkirkaig and back on the A835 near Drumrunie to Ullapool. Very nice & sunny as the day went on, but bloody hard work! I reckon it's Ibuprofen time, then some beer & nosebag!
More pics later after beer.....

[Scotch750]

In the hotel in Ullapool now after a very tiring ride to the Kylescu bridge via the Smoo caves (I looked at it from the cliff top as it was a steep path!), Durness which was very busy so we gave it a miss, then the B869 which goes from the A894 and is all single carriageway with passing places, going through Drumbeg, Stoer, lots of little places that I can't remember, Inverkirkaig and back on the A835vnear Drumrunie to Ullapool. Very nice & sunny as the day went on, but bloody hard work! I reckon it's Ibuprofen time, then some beer & nosebag!
More pics later after beer.....

Wuh,
Dun Smoo caves and all them single roads....gud ay it !
Which hotel yow in mate ?
Stopped there with some "mates" who said " cowin' ell Scotch, everybody looks the same"
Nuff sed.
Enjoy mate

[Alan H]

Argyll Hotel, Scotch.
Went to the chippy last night - £19.95 for chish'n'fips!?!? Haaar fkn much?!?!
Went to another one & had pie and chips - still £7.50. Spuds must be summat special oop here, and they know what they can charge for the fish too. K'inell!!! I've eaten cheaper in London.....

Looks like giving part of today's route a miss - weather forecast is monsoon horrible and I never did like wet weather riding.
After the ibuprofen kicked in last night, the aches went away, but I think another couple will be on the cards for 'breakfast'!
Enjoyed the ride yesterday, but it just shows how hard it was despite the easy way the Guzzi rides & handles. Idiot car drivers don't help though.

[Scotch750]

Argyll Hotel, Scotch.
Went to the chippy last night - £19.95 for chish'n'fips!?!? Haaar fkn much?!?!
Went to another one & had pie and chips - still £7.50. Spuds must be summat special oop here, and they know what they can charge for the fish too. K'inell!!! I've eaten cheaper in London.....

Looks like giving part of today's route a miss - weather forecast is monsoon horrible and I never did like wet weather riding.
After the ibuprofen kicked in last night, the aches went away, but I think another couple will be on the cards for 'breakfast'!
Enjoyed the ride yesterday, but it just shows how hard it was despite the easy way the Guzzi rides & handles. Idiot car drivers don't help though.

Wuh,
Yeh, that's the one we all stopped at. A "family" hotel

[Alan H]

Wuh,
Yeh, that's the one we all stopped at. A "family" hotel

Hmm. Strange family, although AC-DC on the juke box and IPA was good - and brekky this morning was ace as my mate isn't keen on bacon, so I got 2 lots. That'll save the knees somewhat anyway.....

Really bad rainy forecast today (Thursday), and I really didn't fancy doing the Applecross in another monsoon, so I decided to chalk a big F on continuing, and head back to civilisation in Yorkshire this morning. Set off at 10 and within a short time precipitation commenced. And then some....
Topped the tank off in Ballinuig services in Pitlochry after about 145 miles & 3 hours but couldn't get owt to eat or drink due to a long queue at the noshery, so had a free P and changed into dry gloves & headed southwards. Roadworks where the M90 starts, but nice drivers let me filter, so changed destination from Stirling to Biggar where I had a couple of Cappuchinos & a plateful of Haggis, neeps & tatties at the Crown Inn in there at 3pm ish. Chuffin lovely - still raining though....
Off on the M74 and the rain eventually stopped, for a bit - so the heated bar grips turned down to 2, rain off & on over the A66 & A1 and another P @ A66/A1 services, finally getting home just after 8pm after a final top up with E5 at last.
Shame I didn't do the full NW500, but not far off - I'll do the mileages tomorrow - but very entertaining, especially the idiots in cars (mainly audis somehow!?!?) that don't understand what passing places on single track roads are for, and that bikes are faster than cars especially those without canoes strapped to bendy roof brackets.
Scotland is a land of differences - rain or sun mainly, but generally very nice. I think after this week, I'll have grown a few scales & fins after all the rain, but then, we all know why it's so green there, don't we?
Mate safe & sound in Fort William - homeward bound tomorrow - and my Guzzi performed really well - as did his beemer GS1250 Adventure with a 7 gallon tank ffs!
More pics very soon on the link above.

[Scotch750]

A66/A1 services
Scotch Corner by any chance !

[Alan H]

Yup! The real services (A66 northbound) are at Sedbury layby as we all know though!!

[stevewharton]

[/quote]
Scotland is a land of differences - rain or sun mainly, but generally very nice. I think after this week, I'll have grown a few scales & fins after all the rain,
[/quote]

Should be okay if I take my scaly kettle up to Scotland then.

[Alan H]

Go for it Steve, and take plenty of ibuprofen with you!

Well, back home and ibuprofen is slowly curing the achy bits - neck, shoulders & legs - must admit that the bike is very comfy to ride, but it's been a very long time since I did any sort of high mileage remotely like that in such bad weather.
Sunday - home to Dumbarton - rain & strong winds most of the way - 264 miles.
Monday - Dumbarton to Alness (Inverness) - lots of rain showers - 209 miles.
Tuesday - Alness to Scrabster via John o' Groats - sunny! - 120 miles.
Wednesday - Scrabster to Ullapool - sun & showers - 162 miles.
Thursday - Ullapool to Home - heavy/light rain but no sun - 463 miles.
Total mileage 1218.
Total actual riding time - about 31.5 hrs over 5 days, so average just over 6 hours a day. No wonder I'm knackered!

Extras.....
102.9 litres of mixed E5 & E10 (some places didn't have E5) at a total cost of £155.83 gives an average of 53mp (imperial) gallon or 11.84 miles per litre. Set off with a brimmed tank, and brimmed it 2 miles from home on the way back.