[Keith]

A year's mileage in three and a half days. That was the longest I could take away from my family and business but in that time I rode 1640 miles. I got from the bottom of England to the top of Scotland and saw some really great places. Here are a few photos:


I rode through a couple of hours of this on the first day. A cycling waterproof over my regular riding jacket kept most of it out.

Day two, on the road to Glencoe.
IMG_1238 by Keith Whitten, on Flickr

IMG_1237 by Keith Whitten, on Flickr

The Commando Memorial at Glencoe.
IMG_1242 by Keith Whitten, on Flickr

A castle near Fort William.
IMG_1244 by Keith Whitten, on Flickr

View from the bridge to the Isle of Skye.
IMG_1245 by Keith Whitten, on Flickr

Looking back down the Bealach Na Ba (Pass of the Cattle), the highest tarmac road in Great Britain.
IMG_1254 by Keith Whitten, on Flickr

Wednesday evening I met up with a friend who lives up that way and we went for a mountain bike ride.

Thursday morning. Altnaharra, a farm, a hotel and frequently the coldest place in the UK in the weather reports.
IMG_1264 by Keith Whitten, on Flickr

Loch Eribol, a sea inlet and looks like a great place to take a kayak to explore those little islands.
IMG_1272 by Keith Whitten, on Flickr

The beach at Durness, the most north-westerly village in mainland UK.
IMG_1280 by Keith Whitten, on Flickr
IMG_1282 by Keith Whitten, on Flickr

Apparently John Lennon's aunt is buried here!
IMG_1285 by Keith Whitten, on Flickr

Nothing more out there until you get to the Arctic.
IMG_1281 by Keith Whitten, on Flickr


Then it was time to head back south. I got as far as Glasgow late on Thursday evening and on Friday rode about seven hours to get home in time to take my son out for a birthday evening meal.

 

[sendler]

Beautiful country. Probably have less rain than I do this year.

 

[djreastman]

That's some journey, good effort. Lucky to catch that rare Scottish sun too!

Sent from my XT1039 using Tapatalk

 

[RevIt]

That is an amazing ride! Thanks for sharing those beautiful photos.

 

[Keith]

Here's a link to the video I shot going up the pass to Applecross.

https://youtu.be/wNqWEApFdNA

 

[Stichill]

Fantastic trip and photos! I always enjoy a good ride report with great pics of the trip. Thank you!

 

[ladywillfly]

Super report and pictures.

 

[iahawk]

like the video...looks like a lot of fun

 

[Schroeder]

Here's a link to the video I shot going up the pass to Applecross.

https://youtu.be/wNqWEApFdNA

Awful. You never exceeded 100mph, didn't drag your knee and didn't overtake that SUV where real men would have (in blind corners, forcing the car half of the road and waving your middle finger at him for not vanishing into thin air). The engine noise is way too quiet and I bet you even wore gear while riding....

This is a forum frequented by beginners, how are they supposed to learn from that?

*If anybody finds irony/sarcasm they can keep it*:grin2:

 

[Keith]

Looking back on this thread recently I noticed that a couple of the photos had disappeared, presumably because they were stored in Facebook rather than Flickr where all the others are. As the original post cannot now be edited here's an update for anyone struggling to make sense of the captions to missing photos:

At the top.

I rode through a couple of hours of this on the first day. A cycling waterproof over my regular riding jacket kept most of it out.
Wet M6 by Keith Whitten, on Flickr

And about half way down.

Wednesday evening I met up with a friend who lives up that way and we went for a mountain bike ride.
Evanton by Keith Whitten, on Flickr

 

[Thomas M. Daley]

Some lovely scenery up there. Spent a lot of time at Thurso, Wick, Inverness and Invergordon. I liked the locals weather forecasting methods. If you could see the tops of the hills/mountains, bad weather was coming. If you could not see the tops, bad weather were here.

Usually it always felt damp, it never really got warm. Many times instead of rain a sort of mist/drizzle would soak you. But the locals would strip off at the first sign of that yellow globe appearing in the sky, how the girls did not get frostbite in their feet and legs I will never know. A great race of people the Highland Scots.

A curious but relatively unknown fact. The most correct English is spoken in Inverness Shire. The consonants and vowels are pronounced correctly.

 

[Keith]

Thomas, I got lucky with the weather. I'd postponed the trip from a couple of weeks beforehand due to it looking pretty horrible. That meant that I had to be back a day earlier not to miss my son's birthday.
A couple of months earlier at the end of May I'd been in Evanton just north of Inverness for the Singlespeed European Mountain Bike Championship. Throughout the Friday and Saturday the sun shone with temperatures in the mid to high twenties, warmer than any of the locals could remember.

 

[Thomas M. Daley]

Thomas, I got lucky with the weather. I'd postponed the trip from a couple of weeks beforehand due to it looking pretty horrible. That meant that I had to be back a day earlier not to miss my son's birthday.
A couple of months earlier at the end of May I'd been in Evanton just north of Inverness for the Singlespeed European Mountain Bike Championship. Throughout the Friday and Saturday the sun shone with temperatures in the mid to high twenties, warmer than any of the locals could remember.

High twenties?? Must of had some locals down with heatstroke :smile2:

When younger went camping/fishing up the Trossachs in Scotland, at Auchengillan. It were such a hot day I stripped to the waist whilst fishing and got sunburn. My mates were laughing at my face (Pain) carrying my rucksack + tent on sunburnt shoulders.

Left those shores 34 years ago, arrived here in Thailand 13 years ago, my travelling days are at an end now.
Before I left the UK, had a house in Newbury, just up the A34 from you.

Merry Xmas to you, hope you ride safe

 

[Keith]

I also spent time in the Newbury area. From 1985 to 88 I was stationed at the Army Survey unit in Hermitage, a few miles to the north.
Sounds like you had a very adventurous 20 years between Newbury and Thailand.

 

[Thomas M. Daley]

I also spent time in the Newbury area. From 1985 to 88 I was stationed at the Army Survey unit in Hermitage, a few miles to the north.
Sounds like you had a very adventurous 20 years between Newbury and Thailand.

Between 1977 and 1991 I were in the Merchant Navy, going around the world. On leaving the ship I would stay in that country for a few days before flying home. Great way to see other countries.

I really liked Asia, so when the drilling company I worked for, asked in 2004, if I fancied working in Indonesia?? I took it, decided to do the UK 90 day tax rule, by spending 50% of my onshore leave in Thailand and the other 50% back in the UK. Within a year, it were 10% UK and 90% Thailand.
Now retired and remarried in Thailand, never happier.

Ride safe