 | Home > Expedition & Overland > Scotland 2012 |
 
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| GREENI Member Since: 22 Aug 2010 Location: staffs Posts: 10381  
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The UK rocks
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13th Jun 2012 10:16pm |
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| cinstone Member Since: 29 Nov 2010 Location: Stourbridge Posts: 375  
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Right, day twelve & thirteen routes noted.
Day twelve is as previously mentioned and comes to 192 miles. Day thirteen: Dumfries, B roads along Solway Firth through Annan to M6 south at jn' 22. Continue south on M6 to jn' 40 at Penrith and take A6 south to Shap. After Shap rejoin M6 south at jn' 39 & continue to West Mid's. 223.4 miles. That makes a total for the main route (not including touring area days) of 1466.1 miles. On average that's just 146.61 miles per day. I think/hope to break the 2000 mile barrier quite easily. If I'm 100 mile short or so come arrival back in Cannock I'll be driving up and down the A5 until we get past the 2000 mile mark  .
Chris. http://shropshirelandrovers.freeforums.org 2015 Defender 90 XS SW & Helen, 1964 IIa. Previously 2012 Defender 90 XS SW & 2008 90 XS SW. Previous LR's: Michael, my 2008 Defender 90 XS SW. Machinas oportet intrare non capsicum annuum faveo |
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14th Jun 2012 3:34am |
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| cinstone Member Since: 29 Nov 2010 Location: Stourbridge Posts: 375
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Here's the outline route map.
 Click image to enlarge http://shropshirelandrovers.freeforums.org 2015 Defender 90 XS SW & Helen, 1964 IIa. Previously 2012 Defender 90 XS SW & 2008 90 XS SW. Previous LR's: Michael, my 2008 Defender 90 XS SW. Machinas oportet intrare non capsicum annuum faveo |
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18th Jun 2012 10:34pm |
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| GREENI Member Since: 22 Aug 2010 Location: staffs Posts: 10381
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Cool, take loads of pics
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19th Jun 2012 7:53am |
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| MartinK Member Since: 02 Mar 2011 Location: Silverdale (Lancashire/Cumbria Border) Posts: 2665 
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Went to Torridon, Applecross and Shieldaig with all the toys (sea kayak's on the roof, MTB's in the back) last week:
Click image to enlarge My Defender's in lower left of photo with Kayak's on roof. Stunning scenery! Defender "Puma" 2.4 110 County Utility (possibly the last of the 2.4's) |
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12th Jul 2012 6:46am |
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| cinstone Member Since: 29 Nov 2010 Location: Stourbridge Posts: 375
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Got back yesterday from Scotland, 2100 odd miles.
Still not sure if it's quite an overland expedition really. According to the dictionary it is, but in any case, get ready for a lot of landscape pic's in a few days time! Chris. http://shropshirelandrovers.freeforums.org 2015 Defender 90 XS SW & Helen, 1964 IIa. Previously 2012 Defender 90 XS SW & 2008 90 XS SW. Previous LR's: Michael, my 2008 Defender 90 XS SW. Machinas oportet intrare non capsicum annuum faveo |
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21st Jul 2012 3:58pm |
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| GREENI Member Since: 22 Aug 2010 Location: staffs Posts: 10381
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Cool Chris, can't wait see them.
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21st Jul 2012 4:49pm |
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| CR Member Since: 28 Jan 2010 Location: Ireland Posts: 947  
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list of highlights would be great
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21st Jul 2012 6:19pm |
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| cinstone Member Since: 29 Nov 2010 Location: Stourbridge Posts: 375
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Still going through all the pic's. Only about 300 to go.
Chris. http://shropshirelandrovers.freeforums.org 2015 Defender 90 XS SW & Helen, 1964 IIa. Previously 2012 Defender 90 XS SW & 2008 90 XS SW. Previous LR's: Michael, my 2008 Defender 90 XS SW. Machinas oportet intrare non capsicum annuum faveo |
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24th Jul 2012 8:29pm |
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| GREENI Member Since: 22 Aug 2010 Location: staffs Posts: 10381
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@MartinK
Just bumping this thread as we are sat with notebooks and maps, planning our trip...we are very much going on your recommendation |
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13th Aug 2012 8:33pm |
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| cinstone Member Since: 29 Nov 2010 Location: Stourbridge Posts: 375
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I have most of the report and photo's done on SLR. Still a few days to go, but I'll try a cut and paste job in a bit. Had trouble posting loads of photo's here in the past this way, so don't hold ya' breath.
Chris. http://shropshirelandrovers.freeforums.org 2015 Defender 90 XS SW & Helen, 1964 IIa. Previously 2012 Defender 90 XS SW & 2008 90 XS SW. Previous LR's: Michael, my 2008 Defender 90 XS SW. Machinas oportet intrare non capsicum annuum faveo |
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13th Aug 2012 9:33pm |
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| cinstone Member Since: 29 Nov 2010 Location: Stourbridge Posts: 375
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We're back!
We did try to cram as much as we could in two weeks, but two weeks was never going to be enough. The outline route, as depicted in the map in the next post above, was 1461 miles, but it did change. In the end we finished up doing 2100 odd miles. We didn't have a plan to visit attractions as such, although we did include at least some of the ideas and areas to visit from several sources including here, S3C and the Defender2 forum, as well as the BBC TV Coast Series, guide books and a map or two. Not all of the ideas were progressed with. Some were included to start with then not taken up, such as the estate drive near Braemar (I think) that was in a article in LRM a few months back. It wasn't for the want of trying either. I sent about five emails to them, but never did get a full reply answering all my questions. In any case, on reflection it would have taken to much time out of that day. So, here we go. Never one to take oneself too seriously, keep an eye out for Jess;- She's a sort of fluffy Cuneo Mouse, but larger. Also, whilst we were on the trip we decided to count all the Land Rovers we saw, from Series I's to Defenders. Perhaps something the kids on any long trip might like to do, if, like me they're LR freaks  .
So, day one was West Mid's to Coniston via M6 and Windermere Ferry. 154.8 miles, average speed 46.55 mph. L.R's spotted: 24.
Two weeks does go into a 90.
A tradition for our northern trips is to go hunting for the lesser spotted flame grilled double whopper!
Waiting for the Windermere Ferry. Great place for an ice cream van!
On the ferry. £4.70 for a ten min' crossing. Not cheap, but a nice break from motorways. Click image to enlarge
View from the B & B in Coniston, looking up at the Old Man. Click image to enlarge Donald Cambells grave, before...
Lovely chocolate box like Crown Pub. Beer & grub is o.k, but both are better in The Black Bull. Day two was Coniston to Bridge of Allan via Kirkstone Pass & Keilder Forest Drive (£3 for 12 miles), which is unsurfaced, but quite a good surface none the less and nothing to any LR. This was of course after tea and cakes and a look around the small castle. Then we headed through Galasheils, over the Forth Bridge to Bridge of Allen for one night, 212.8 miles, average speed 28.75 mph. We did have a later start than planned as the previous evening we found Cambells grave and thought it looked a little unkept, so the next day, as my green laning bag was in the back of Michael (my 90), we went back and gave it a tidy up. LR's spotted 27 (including one Santanna). Click image to enlarge ....Donald Cambells grave after, thanks to the green lane bag.
Kielder Castle. Click image to enlarge
Click image to enlarge
Click image to enlarge Kielder Forest Drive. You can drive off road days around here with the Forestry Commission.
It's nice that the Scot's remind you what you are driving! Click image to enlarge The Forth Road Bridge, which was actually the 2132nd .
Part of The Forth Rail Bridge. Day three was onward to Dundee, stopping at the Tay Bridge. There's a nice cafe there, but no Dundee cake! Then it was on to Arboath for smokies (Slurp!) and a look round the town and harbour. Leaving Arbroath we headed into the Carngorms via Forfar to the Captain Scott & Dr.Watson Cairn before travelling roughly north west then north to Braemar, where, en route, we reached the highest point of our trip at 2225ft on the Aberdeenshire border, 157 miles, average speed 29.9 mph. LR's spotted 24 (including 2 Series III's & 1 Series IIa).
The Tay Bridge. You can see, just , at the bottom of the bridge in the centre of the pic' the base of the piers of the original bridge which collapsed in December 1879 with the loss of 75 lives.
Yummy!
Captain Scott & Dr.Watson Cairn.
2225ft a.s.l. Day four was a distillery tour day, at least in part. Shirley chose the Royal Loch Nagar Distillery near Balmoral. However, we'd just missed the first tour on arrival and they start on the hour every hour during the opening times so we drove the lesser roads, the back way if you like, to Ballater, then back to the distillery for the 11.00hrs tour. LR's spotted: 21 (including 1 Series I & 1 Series 2 109 pick up).
Royal Loch Nagar Distillery, near Balmoral. The tour lasted just over an hour. We considered visiting Balmoral, but it was quite rammed with folk, so we drove the following circular tour;- Ballater, Logie of Goldstone, Srathdon, Crathie and back to Braemar Castle. £6 each adult for this small community run castle, but a very detailed guided tour lasting over an hour. Then it was back up the road to Braemar itself, 86.7 miles, average speed 26.27 mph.
Fortunately, apart from a couple of wrong turnings, the above didn't happen!
Looking very roughly down towards Balmoral.
Braemar Castle. Day five was touring Aberdeenshire, mainly the costal areas, but of course we had to get there first. Three or so years ago we went to Canada and visited Banff, so we thought we'd visit the first one. Starting from Braemar we proceded via Crathie to Tomintoul. I've always wanted to go to Tomintoul ever since I read an article in The Classic Motor Cycle Magazine about 20 years ago, or was it Classic Bike??? It told the tale of two blokes with a Matchless & sidecar doing a run for charity. They didn't make it owing to part of the cylinder braking off. Two head gaskets wouldn't patch it up, so it was time for the big yellow taxi. After Tomintoul it was through Dufftown and Keith to Banff. Not much there really, but a pleasant enough fishing village. We headed along the coast to Macduff, then back to Banff, then we followed the coast to Whitehills and Portsoy, before stopping off at Cullen. All nice quaint places, but Cullen was a tad larger. Great little cafe/resturant here. The salmon fish finger sarnies were excellent! Click image to enlarge Off shore rock near disused lido, Macduff. Click image to enlarge Bow Fiddle Rock.
Cullen. Shame there's no railway here anymore. Great spot for a shot of a steamer. After nosh and a potter about the small town, where I picked up some quality Sheffield Steel butter knives for £6, boxed. £1 a piece. That's cheaper than the Chinese tat from Wilko'! From Cullen we continued along the coast through Portknockie where we found brown signs pointing to Bow Fiddle Rock. This wasn't on my large scale road atlas, where many attractions were, so we were quite intrigued to see what it was. Of course it was a rock, but the wind rain and weather gave it a sort of fiddle bow shape, of sorts. The pic' will show you better than I can decribe. The journey then continued via Findochty, Buckie, Kingston, Lossimouth, Hopeman, Kinloss and finally Nairn. Shirley had been doing some research on the web and suggested going to Nairn as it was such a beautiful place. Whilst it wasn't bad at all, it wasn't the beautiful place the web made it out to be. As per tradition when at the coast, fish and chips must be taken. This time I wasn't happy though. We weren't in the mood for both so only had fish and mushy peas. When I came out I thought I'd been had. They seemed so expensive. I'd read the menu whilst I was waiting and on reflection I think it was about right. As we were half way through eating them I suddenly realised I was eating chips??? It turned out by mistake they'd given us chips as well and to the best of my recollection, we'd got them for free! One surprise, if you're in to engineering, was stumbled across in Nairn. We popped in to the public bogs for a tinkle and whilst I was waiting outside for Shirley I was reading an info' board. I was standing on the remains of a pier designed by Thomas Telford. This was added to the bridge over the river to Balmoral, designed by Brunel. Small world. Click image to enlarge Remains of Telfords' pier, Nairn. Then it was time to go back to Braemar via Grantown on Spey & Crathie, stopping off for photo's at an old AA call box. 243.2 miles, average speed for all day approx' 24.32 mph.
AA call box. Fortunately, this one, or any others, wasn't needed during any of the trip. LR's spotted: 18. Day six saw us moving on from Braemar, sadly. Really nice place, nice grub and even some local and Orkney real ale, even if it was in bottles. The first part of this stage saw us retrace our steps to Grantown on Spey, then head cross country to Tomatin, across the first narrow lane since Keilder Forest Drive. This took us to some picnic areas alongside Loch Ness. I say picnic areas as that's what the map described them as, but really they were just layby's with somewhat restricted views of the Loch. Never the less we took the opportunity to brew up.
Tomatin Viaduct.
Cross country towards Loch Ness, west of A9 at Tomatin.
Cross country towards Loch Ness, Loch Farr.
Loch Ness. This time the monster was taking the photo'! After a brew and a snack we retraced our steps a little alongside the Loch before heading around Inverness. Just north of Inverness we broke the 1000 mile mark for the first time during one trip. The moment was somewhat of an anti climax as the trip meter re-zero's itself at 1000 miles  . It was planned to use the Cromarty Ferry just because it's there, just past Inverness, but to save a bit of time we stayed on the A9, stopping off at Helmsdale for some nosh in a rather strange cafe, but good grub all the same.
Bridge over the Cromarty Firth, north of Inverness. After grub we continued on the A9 and A99 to the next stop over for a few days at a place called Spittal. A really nice place of no more than about half a dozen houses and a garage. We were staying in the Auld Post Office and it was well kitted out in quality art deco furniture. After settling in we drove off to Wick to get some nosh. Unfortunately the town has been ruined by the introduction of a couple of Tesco's near by, but even though it was knocking on for 20.00hrs we found a small cafe and the lasagni was possibly the best I've had, not to mention the freshly made Aero milkshake! Cheap too and excellent hosts. By the time we had returned to Spittal we had covered 239.6 miles at an average speed of 33.74 mph. LR's spotted: 21 (including 1 Series I). Day Seven, touring the north east Highlands. From Spittal we went to Thurso, but not by the most direct route. Looking at the large scale road atlas there seemed to be a lane, or possibly a track via Olgrinmore. It was here were my ears played tricks on me for the first time on the trip. Just about everyday before we departed from where we were staying I began by checking under the bonnet for any signs of any problems. I never did find anything wrong during the whole trip, but not long after departing from Spittal I felt that at tick over and low speed the engine sounded every so slightly lumpy. Sort of an uneven running. I stopped and had a look under the bonnet. Everything fine and no odd engine noise or running. Inside I thought I'd heard it again, so I gave him a boot full of right foot. No obvious problems and I'm inclined to agree that it was me, as Shirley had said all along. Just up the road we stopped over a railway bridge right above Scotscalder station, which is actually at Olgrinmore. A lovely period peace, well it would have been if it wasn't for the naff modern lamp posts and a bus stop style shelter.
Scotscalder Railway Station, actually at Olgrinmore. We continued into' Thurso and parked up for a nose around and a coffee. Just like Wick, the town is being ruined by the near by supermarkets. I believe that in the Wick and Thurso areas there are three Tesco's! Thurso is slightly larger than Wick and is a good point to stock up on grub, if you're camping etc. Most services are available here, although you wonder how the shops make anything. There's a ford dealer with a lovely Capri in the showroom, but your nearest dealer for more modern LR's is Inverness. When we started to plan the trip we did think about doing a few islands, but even Orkney was a little impractical to get there, spend some time on the island and get back, without eating too much into the trip. Ideally at least an overnight stay would have been prefered, but it being impractical and expensive (£90 each way for a 4x4 and driver and passenger, if I remember correctly). Lewis was better value for money at £120 each way (I think) but that was a 2.5 hour trip each way, and either come back straight away, or stay over night. To this end we scrapped any idea of visiting any islands, well almost, but more on this later. In the info' pack in the bedroom where we were staying we noticed that there were boat trips around the coast from John 'O' Groats, so we made a plan to check this out instead, but first we had time to kill as the boat trips only ran in the afternoon, so back to the map. We decided to head for Dunnet Head, the British mainlands most northerly point, and en route stopping off at Dunnet Bay.
Click image to enlarge Dunnet Bay. After piccies at the "most northerly point" plinth we made our way to John 'O' Groats. I must say I prefer John 'O' Groats to Lands End as, although it's commercial, it's less so than Lands End. Click image to enlarge
Dunnet Head, including mainland Britains' most northerly shed? Click image to enlarge
John 'O' Groats. We purchased two adult tickets for a 90 min' trip around the coast (£17 per adult) on the Pentland Venture. Exact destinations differ depending on the weather and local knowledge of wildlife. There's the potential of whales, seals and puffin's, to name three. On our trip we saw thousands of gulls, many puffins and the odd shag. There was also a few seals, but they were quite a way off. Hat's off the the crew of the boat. It's quite a large one and they get right up close to the rocks and cliffs.
Click image to enlarge
Boat trip from John 'O' Groats around to and beyond Freswick Bay. We departed John 'O' Groats after 17.00hrs and then drove back down to the Wick area to find somewhere to eat. After driving around a bit and going through Lybster (lovely harbour), we eventually went back to Dunbeath and a resturant there at the side of the main road. It doesn't look much from the outside, it being a square concrete structure from the late 60's or early 70's, but inside it was very nice and the large windows at the back gave great views out to sea. The service was a little slow though. Price wise, you'd be looking at about £50 for a three course meal for two and a couple of drinks. Great quality food, but perhaps a bit pricey if you've got a family to feed. That said, it was very busy, mostly with locals. After this I wanted to take a look at a lane, possibly track, that was again on the large scale road map. Ideally I would have loved to have bought and taken all the O.S Explorer maps for the entire trip, but when working out which maps were needed, just from Coniston to as far as Oban was 60 maps, so I didn't bother. I did have a few already, but nothing for this area. Anywho, it looked interesting and indeed it was quite narrow but a good surface and great scenery, but after a place called Braemore it was a private road, so we had to turn back. However, doing so did mean we came across quite a few deer. It was a shame it was private though as the full route would have been a great drive back to about 5 miles from Spittal.
Braemore. However, there was another nice drive via Camster, which, although a bit up and down, was one of the straightest roads I've been on with no real bends for several miles. 130 miles, average speed 26.14 mph. LR's spotted: 18. Day eight, Spittal to Ullapool. Starting out via the direct route to Thurso this time, after filling up the tank we made our way in a sort of anti clockwise direction around the coast. Now, as you may have guessed from many of the average speeds attained so far, many of the roads during the trip have been quite slow. Not all of them, but in many cases, what may be a country lane in Shropshire is a "B" road and what is a "A" road looks like a "B" road, if you get my meaning. The coastal route is very much like this, with hundreds, if not thousands of passing places, so the flow ain't too bad, but you have to be mindful of the odd, shall I say "fool". More on this in a bit. So, after our fill up in Thurso we proceded west across the top of Scotland via such places as Tongue, then south around the coast through Scourie, Nedd, Lochinver, Inverkirkgail and back to the main route at Drumrumie, where we turned right and dropped down in to the delightfully beautiful Ullapool. This was several miles away from the start of the day, 175.7 miles to be precise. Click image to enlarge Kyle of Tongue. During the day many a stop was taken for photography and indeed nosh, between Tongue & Durness, but before this, alongsode Loch Eriboll, we came up behind a car towing a caravan. It was an ordinary saloon family car (Reanult I think), but the caravan was much larger than your average 4 berth Sprite. However, this wasn't the problem. The problem was the driver, who decided to go about two car lengths past a passing place when there were three or four cars coming the other way. These cars had no where to reverse for some distance and the caravan only had to reverse more or less straight back about 15 yards and all would be well again, but no. The caravan driver wasn't having any of it. The driver of the lead car coming the other way even got out to assist, but in the end the caravan driver would only move back a yard or so, so all the vehicles coming the other way (about half a dozen by now) got fed up and reversed. Once past this narrow (ish) section the caravan driver did have the brains to pull over and let the traffic by. A few miles on, up hill and down dale a little we came to another narrower than normal section and coming the other way was a full blown artic. It was no trouble reversing 20 yards or so to let him by, once the car behind me decided it was "wise" to back up :rolleyes:. I would have loved to see the face of the caravan driver when the artic came round a narrow corner  . It turned out that the artic was a mobile cinema!
Loch Eriboll. On further around the Loch Eriboll we spotted a "tea room" sign, so we turned off the main route and enjoyed some great cake in a small tea room at the side of the loch. O.k, tea room was a bit of an exaggeration, it being a portacabin, but it was clean and the refreshments excellent. It turned out the chap who ran it had come up form Yorkshire about 40 years previously (must have took him 39 years to get past that caravan ) to fish for crabs, but some big boats came in and ruined the stocks.
As I say, this bloke was from Yorkshire and not for the first time during the trip we were wondering where all the Scots were. We'd spoken to folk from Hertshire, Bedfordshire and Eastern Europe, but as yet perhaps just half a dozen Scots. In fact, so far in the trip, none of the B & B's we'd stayed in were run by Scots??? Beach off A838 near Sangobeg. Click image to enlarge Above Smoo Cave, Leirinmore.
Kyle of Durness, near Keoldale.
A838 north of Laxford Bridge.
South of Scourie near Lower Badcall on A894.
B869, Newton to Drumbeg.
Drumbeg viewpoint. Heaven knows how the caravan got down there!
Loch Bad a' Ghaill. After many more photo' stops we arrived at Ullapool just after 19.00hrs and once settled in to our B & B went to check out the eateries and pubs. We found a nice one alongside the harbour. I say nice, but it was a tad loud inside, but the grub was great an they even had real ale on draught, which was a first since we'd left Coniston. It was o.k, but Shirley prefered the Flying Scotsman ale to the other, whatever that was, so we swapped. 175.7 miles, average speed 24.74 mph. LR's spotted: 4. Day nine ended up being a rest day with no driving at all. The owner of our B & B had told us it was o.k to walk through their garden and down to the beach alongside Loch Broom. Great. I'd bought some cheapo telescopic fishing rods from Aldi "just in case", so after breakfast we made our way down to the beech where I fought with shed loads of seaweed, Meanwhile, Shirley, who draws quite well, sat down to draw and drew a pic' of some bloke fishing. Can't think who that was! The owner of the B & B had told us that there was nothing much to catch except for small mackrel and duly enough, after an hour and half of fighting seaweed and my fishing line getting in a birds nest mess every other cast, I proved it with a lovely perfect little mackrel. Not big enough to eat, so back it went.
Success! The afternoon was meant to be another boat trip, either on a Atlantic 21 style power boat, or a steady cruise, but the wind out to sea was too strong so they were not running. We then explored Ullapool in more detail, including checking out the ferry costs for island hoping, possibly in Helen, my Series IIa, next year. After lunch consisting of a black pudding roll, tea and cakes we completed our tour of Ullapool and took a stroll back to the B & B to put our feet up before the evenings entertainment, FISH & CHIPS .
Hercules over Loch Broom, Ullapool.
So, fast forward to the fish and chips, which we ate sat alongside the harbour. B.E.A UTIFUL!!! This was followed by a stroll and in to a pub/resturant called "The Arch". Local real ale from across a couple of lochs was available here. It was nice, but perhaps a little too bitter an after taste for my pallet. Still, I've had much worse  .
Shirley's tipple is really single malt whisky and they had an offer on of three different single malts for £8. This seemed a bit of a bargain, which was even more of a bargain as they were the largest "single" measures I'd ever seen! Now on the way back we got ambushed. There's no other word for it and it left a bit of a nasty feeling in ones mind, if that's the right way to put it, to the effect that we wished we'd never bothered heading north of "the wall". Anyone got Hadrians' mobile number? We were "ambushed" by an elderly lady. It all started out so friendly, then quickly went down hill when the subject of Scottish home rule was dropped into the conversation. Now I'm all for freedom of speech, but some of the things she said were pathetic and bordering on racist! Now to go through it all would be one great long rant, and a political one at that, but when you start getting told things llike "our air's better than their's (England)" you realise that you have been "had" by the local loony. She gave up in the end as I'd had enough of holding my tongue and put over a few points of view. Suffice to say we were both a bit miffed. We did laugh about it later and when we told the B & B owner what had happend the next day we were told "oh not her again", "she wants knee capping" ! The best of it all was, she wasn't Scottish!
So, feeling rather like the mackrel I'd caught early that day, we'd been well and truely had by the local loon! LR's spotted: 4. Day ten, Ullapool to Oban. This was one day where, at least for the first half or so of the trip, we couldn't afford to hang about as we needed to catch a ferry. We started out just after 09.00hrs, a little earlier than most days so far, the idea being that we could get to Fort William in time to have a look round and if time allowed we'd turn back north to the Commando Monument a Spean Bridge. So, off we went on a route that was much shortened to that originally planned during the very early days of the planning of the outline route. This days' route was arguably the most altered of all the days involving the outline route. The original plan was to stay on the Isle of Skye and tour all the way around it. Touring Skye in this manner added 100 miles and more significantly, the best part of two days which we just didn't have the time for, so the route was altered in a few places to shorten the time travelling to Fort William. Initially we headed roughly south east along the A835 alongside Loch Broom to the A832 about a mile past Braemore. This took us alongside Little Loch Broom, through Gairloch, alongside Loch Maree to Kinlochewe. Here we turned right onto the A896 and continuing through Lochcarron to the A890, thus, cutting out (sadly) the route around the coast through Applecross. Once on the A890 it was down to the A87, through Kyle of Lochalsh and onto Skye. Once on to Skye we continued and joined the A851, cutting diagonally across the south of the Isle down to Armadale and the ferry. Heading south (roughly) towards Kyle of Lochalsh. Initially we hadn't booked the ferry in advance and prefered to drive so far before calling to book. As it happens we wouldn't have had to worry about a space on the ferry, but even though we stopped en route for a few pic's, we didn't hang about much and managed to get to Armadale for the ferry with an hour to spare, which meant some light refreshments and a chance to stretch our legs before departing on the 14.30hrs ferry. A851, Isle of Skye. A single journey for a 4x4 and driver and passenger was £31.50. Not cheap for a half hour/just under five mile crossing, but going over a bit of Skye and crossing by the ferry to Mallaig saved many miles and time in driving, not to mention the doubling up of the milage if you drove what would have been our alternative route had we not been able to get on the ferry, via Invergarry, Spean Bridge, Glenfinnan to Mallaig, then having to retrace your steps via Glenfinnan, back to Fort William, before rejoining the original planned route again. The crossing was very pleasant, but was over all too soon.
Armadale.
Looking north from ferry in the direction of Glenelg. Mallaig is a small but quaint place, largely in exsistance for the once large stocks of kippers that used to be landed here. In fact, the railway to Mallaig, finished in 1901, was built just for that traffic. Nowadays it's a tourist and to a much lesser extent a commuter line, but due to it's wonderful views has been voted the greatest railway journey in the world. A summer steam hauled service runs four times a day, every day, from Fort William to Mallaig, £32 return. We didn't have time to enjoy a trip on it. However, more by luck than judgement, we heard the steamer coming as we approached the Glenfinnan Viaduct (a masterpiece in concrete). We didn't have any time to find a nice spot to stop and take a good pic' of it. We just pulled up at the first suitable safe place, but the overgrowth was so bad I could only get a pic' by holding my camera above my head with both hands and effectively taking the photo' blind. The resulting pic' being somewhat naff. For anyone interested the loco' was a black five 4-6-0, no. 45407, from the East Lancashire Railway, and I made comments on the driving style when she slipped whilst accellerating away from us. Naff L.M.S rubbish  ! Sorry, almost went into a G.W.R is better than L.M.S rant there! Weird and spotter like I know, but 22 years on the railway makes you a bit like that .
We continued down to the Glenfinnan Viaduct, but photo's were spoilt by the amount of trees covering it, so really it was a bit pointless stopping. We continued on to Fort William and it looked so much less "alive" than the last time I was there in 1997. For the second time of visiting Fort William I came away having not seen Ben Nevis. The last part of the days' run down to Oban was possibly one of the longest 30 miles or so of my life. I'm all for safe driving, but driving well below the speed limit when there's no danger, just, it seemed, to slow everybody up when there was no chance of overtaking is one thing, but when it comes to it, turning and failing to indicate is another and winds me right up. Safe driving my backside! On arrival at Oban it took us a little while to find our B & B. On arrival we found our first Scotish host of the whole trip so far. A nice place, but the breakfast were bordering on the lame, as we found out the next day. Once settled in it was a short stroll down to the town to find a suitable eatery, hopefully one serving local real ale. It was a little damp by now, but en route we found a very interesting whisky shop and Shirley was in her ellement and it being a small local business the enthusiasm and knowledge was much appreciated, even by me, and whisky isn't my "thing". There's plenty of eateries to choose from, most of which are your usual take away places, but there's a few hotels and bar/grill style places. Across the harbour we noticed a rather new looking italian resturant next to a fish resturant. Both were very busy, but we picked the italian resturant and the food was excellent. Not cheap, but not too bad, a three course meal and bottle of wine for two being around £50. It was so good we went back the next night. Average speed 45.17 mph, 26 LR's. Day eleven, crossing the Atlantic. Tis’ true, we did cross the Atlantic, but more on this shortly. Today was a follow your nose day. Initially we walked back down to Oban town centre and popped into a couple of shops, one in which we had an interesting conversation with a local chap about several subjects including real ale .
We also popped into the Oban Brewery shop, after all, it had been over 12 hours since Shirley had had her last whiskey shopping fix! In all I reckon we bought back over a gallon of whiskey  .
We went into a little shop called the Oban Chocolate Factory. They make their own stuff here and half the place is a café, so I sampled a caramel hot chocolate. More calories than my fried breakfast. Having thought about that last statement, to have more calories than the breakfast wasn’t exactly difficult  .
So, we returned to the B & B and had a look at the map. Much of the initial route out and about the locality would have been the same as the next day when we were due to depart for Dumfries, so we thought about it a bit and decided to do some of what we would have done en route to Dumfries, but drive an alternative route for some of the run to Dumfries tomorrow. We departed Oban heading south along the coastal route for around eight to ten miles, then turning right onto the B844, then the B8003 to Cuan. Whilst driving down the B844 you do actually cross the Atlantic over the “Bridge over the Atlantic”, designed by Thomas Telford, on to the Ilse of Seil. The ferry was just about all there was at Cuan. On reflection, looking at the map now, perhaps we should have had a trip over to Luing, but it’s a small ferry and the queue was quite long. Anyway, we retraced our steps back to the B844 and turning left we made our way to Ellenabeich. Here we had a look in a rather weird shop selling all sorts of , well, tat really and some local artwork. However, across the road was the delightfully small Oyster Brewery. It was once a micro brewery, but it hasn’t brewed anything since 2008, which is a little sad, but the grub was good, reasonably priced and there’s a good selection of Scotish real ale. Shame I was driving. Making our way back to the A816, crossing the Atlantic again in the process, we turned right and headed south to Kimelford where we turned left and headed up a narrow road, past Loch an Losgainn Mor and Loch Avich down to Loch Awe near Dalavich, turning left towards Kilchrenan, where, a few miles later we stopped for a brew. Bridge over the Atlantic between the mainland and Isle of Seil. En route to Loch Awe.
Loch Awe. We joined the A85 at Taynuilt, turning left for less than a mile before tuning left yet again that took us onto a narrow road through Airdeny and Glen Lonan, right back into Oban. 73 miles, average speed 18.25 mph, 15 L.R’s including one Series II and one Series III. Click image to enlarge Glen Lonan.
View from resturant, Oban. Days 12 & 13 to follow soon. Chris. http://shropshirelandrovers.freeforums.org 2015 Defender 90 XS SW & Helen, 1964 IIa. Previously 2012 Defender 90 XS SW & 2008 90 XS SW. Previous LR's: Michael, my 2008 Defender 90 XS SW. Machinas oportet intrare non capsicum annuum faveo Last edited by cinstone on 16th Aug 2012 10:57am. Edited 5 times in total |
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13th Aug 2012 9:38pm |
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| cinstone Member Since: 29 Nov 2010 Location: Stourbridge Posts: 375
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Whoops, double post.
Greeni, it's taken a few thousand miles, but your gearbox oil has worked wonders. The remaining days and pic's will be added shortly. Chris. http://shropshirelandrovers.freeforums.org 2015 Defender 90 XS SW & Helen, 1964 IIa. Previously 2012 Defender 90 XS SW & 2008 90 XS SW. Previous LR's: Michael, my 2008 Defender 90 XS SW. Machinas oportet intrare non capsicum annuum faveo Last edited by cinstone on 13th Aug 2012 10:10pm. Edited 1 time in total |
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13th Aug 2012 9:39pm |
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| GREENI Member Since: 22 Aug 2010 Location: staffs Posts: 10381
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Chris, some amazing shots, kinda wishing I was going for 2 weeks now.
Thanks for the posting, I know. It's time consuming and for our benefit.. Thanks |
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13th Aug 2012 9:55pm |
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