990 miles

[Mika]

Managed to get away from Sunday morning with a couple of friends and returned last night having covered 990 miles in three days of riding.

Started from Glasgow where we all stay and day one saw us making our way up the west coast of Scotland to Skye where we stayed overnight in Portree. We had a couple of light showers of rain and about 70% wet/damp roads during the first day, temperature never got above 7C so a pretty cold day all in.

Day two started with light rain and wet roads as we took a run around Skye, unfortunately the low cloud starved us of the spectacular views in the area and we made our way back on to the mainland and headed up to Ullapool. By the time we arrived about 4pm it was a lot brighter and most of the roads were now dry.

One of the company said to take a run up to Scourie as the roads up are fantastic.

He wasn't wrong. My favourite run in Scotland up until now is from Glengarry over to the A87, it is a fantastic road with stunning views.

The road from Ullapool up to Scourie, particularly run up the A894 is the best road I have been on since the last time I was on the Sort road in the Pyrenees. It is simply a fantastic biking road with absolutely stunning views if you take the time to enjoy it. This run made up for the fact that it had been another cold day and put the smile back on our faces.

The final day was a usual run for us back to Glasgow via the Wester Ross Coastal Trail and down through Glencoe. At least it was dry and about 90% dry roads all the way home.

To finish the run we stopped for a curry in Glasgow before we all headed to our respective homes.

Overall a great two nights away and the CT behaved impeccably throughout, averaging a very respectable 49.7 mpg. Biggest surprise to me was the OE Pirelli Scorpion tyres were excellent, best dual purpose tyre I have ever had on a bike.

The only downside to the trip was the temperature never got above 10C and probably averaged about 7C for the whole trip. It is the coldest I have been on a bike for a long while, thank goodness for heated grips!
Aftermarket screen and wind deflectors are now a must have for me and will be ordered this week.

Spent a good hour this afternoon washing 990 miles worth of crap and road salt off the bike 

Sorry, never took a camera so no pics 

[IanM]

A fantastic part of the world, I know it well.  Glad you had a good trip.

[aerochair]

Salt?!  Already!

On a serious note I must see that road up to Scourie.

[V4roar]

Originally Posted by Mika

The only downside to the trip was the temperature never got above 10C and probably averaged about 7C for the whole trip. It is the coldest I have been on a bike for a long while, thank goodness for heated grips!
Aftermarket screen and wind deflectors are now a must have for me and will be ordered this week.

Might be time for a heated jacket and gloves. Once logged into the site you get a 20% discount.
www.warmnsafe.com

[Africajim]

Someone on the ABR forum posted up seeing a gritter dumping salt over a week ago, first week in October. Early enough for the gritters to be out but it was minus 5'C around the Cairngorm area last week. Winter's comin! 

[Allroadtoad]

Lovely scenery overthere. Been there quite a few times, on GSses alas, can`t wait to take the CT to Scotland!

Here an uncut version of Bettyhill to Drumbeg, might be boring but for me good memories, following my wife on her 1150GS. I also love the Deeside and Cairn ò mount territory as well as the Lecht... Goodbrand Knitwear was  always a good coffeestop. And the fine coffee at the Crask Inn... mmmm

Betty Hill - Drumbeg on Vimeo

[paperman]

Hello MIKA, Jim at Devines mentioned you when I collected the bike today. I managed to get home with only wet roads, however I need a couple of dry weekends to get my first service before salt appears on the roads.
Going home today, wet roads, heavy traffic, new bike, new tyres, wife on the back, DCT == AMAZING CONTROL ! I could have rode all day.

[slomogadgie]

I agree....some of the roads up round the top of Scotland are great. Ullapool, Scourie, Tongue etc...ace