Day 3 - Killin (Scotland) to Nairn

Day 3 - Killin (Scotland) to Nairn

Wednesday 11/05/2022

-------------------------


After a comfy evening in the cabin, a porridge breakfast and making full use of the facilities, we slowly packed-up and set out on what promised to be a shorter yet even more spectacular day.

We left Loch Tay and headed via the Braes of Foss to Loch Rannoch in drizzle over a scenic pass, riding along it's southern forested shore to Rannoch Station- a remote train station on the West Highland Line (as close as we can ride to the train stop from Trainspotting!). We rode back on the other shore of the Loch back to Kinloch Rannoch, then on the scenic roads around Loch Tummel and the Tay Forest Park- avoiding most of the rain as we did.

We headed into Pitlochry for a light lunch and fuel then headed across on an epic backroad across to Glen Shee, where we rode on the epic ski roads. We stopped in Braemar for some photos, rode on to Lecht Ski Centre then carried on to Tomintoul where we stopped for some shortbread and drinks. Superb roads, very windy but dry so lots of time spent on the edge of the tyres, scraping boots on the ground.

Ahead of schedule,  we carried on riding to a campsite south of Nairn, where we stayed last year coming back from LEJOG and set up camp for the night. The bothy was still a great shelter for food and evening beers. We have both forgotten to bring towels to dry ourselves. I have just been putting my clothes back on and not worrying about it. I think towels are over-rated.

Tomorrow we head towards the North West corner of Scotland before coming back down to Ullapool. Probably my favourite part of Scotland (so far).



Mileage: 770
Beers: 15
Fines: 0
Bribes: 0
Ass pain: 2/10
Mechanical issues: 2 (Konrad's dodgy chain + oil leak)
Accidents: 0
Wetness: 3/10
Coldness: 5/10
Theft count: 0

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 5 - Ullapool to Lochboisdale South Uist (Outer Hebrides)

Image
Day 5 - Ullapool to Lochboisdale - South Uist (Outer Hebrodes) Friday 13/05/2022 ------------------------- We were shattered when we got back to the campsite from Ullapool and we had an early night. We both slept well but unfortunately woke to wind and rain again, packing away our wet tents into our dry dry-bags..... We rode back down to the ferry port at Ullapool, checked-in and then went to a local shop for breakfast and snacks before catching the ferry. The boat was reasonably busy, but only one other biker, a German called Stefan who joined us for a part of today's journey. He was on an epic cross European trip - thanks to some negotiated unpaid leave from his work. We spent a couple of hours on the ferry then got off at Stornoway on Lewis. We headed up across a very windy moor to Arnor, where we looked at an old peat-bog longhouse before heading to Callanish to visit a stone circle which was very interesting and scenic. We then headed south towards Harris (much cooler mountain...
Read more

Day 7 - Fionnphort (Mull) to Glentrool

Image
Day 7 - Fionnphort (Mull) to Glentrool Sunday 15/05/2022 -------------------------------- I slept pretty well and dozed-off again this morning (after getting up in the night), being woken-up by Konrad who informed me that we needed to get a move on if we were to make the boat to Oban at 9.30. Before traversing the island, we first made the stop at the harbour at Fionnphort to take a picture of the Monastery on Iona. Unfortunately we couldn't have crammed that in too! We re-traced some of yesterdays roads before hitting the slightly less challenging roads to Craignure. We are growing complacent with the views, but they really are stunning. We made good time and easily made it to the port for check-in. The boat took around an hour to get across. Quite a shock getting into Oban and seeing traffic and shops and people.... We filled-up with fuel and then popped into Lidl for some food and drink for tonight. We enjoyed the road down from Oban toward Campbeltown. Nice road surface and the...
Read more

Day 4 - Nairn to Ullapool

Image
Day 4 - Nairn to Ullapool,  Thursday 12/05/2022 ------------------------- After a nice evening sitting in the bothy, watching Goewizard's 'straight line mission across Scotland' YouTube video over beers, we slept well in our warm cosy tents and woke to sunshine and bird song. We were a bit slow getting going as the sun was out drying our tents and we had a nice bothy in which to cook our porridge breakfast. We eventually hit the road after 10am in pretty good weather. We rode towards Inverness and after going through the urban hustle rode towards Lairg, the crossroads of the northern Highlands and the centre of Sutherland. In fact we didn't have any rain until 1.30pm, but when it rained then it really rained and blew a gale.... Things didn't improve when Konrad hit a grouse (grouse was unharmed and flew off, bike and rider also unharmed so it's a draw) and the weather towards Laxford Bridge continued to get worse. That said, irrespective of the weather, riding t...
Read more