Road trip - Scotland

[garynortheast]

Packed and ready, oil change done, rear tyre changed. Mick arrived this afternoon and we're ready for the off early doors tomorrow.

All of my, Sioned's, and Eleri's stuff for six days away is contained in a tank bag, except three pairs of shoes in a small rucsack. Can't beat travelling light.

Pictures will follow.

[BanannaMan]

I'm jealous!!!
Looking forward to the pics!

[DarrenSV650S]

Enjoy it Gary :thumbsup:

[shiftin_gear98]

Enjoy.

[garynortheast]

Bugger! Starter relay has died. Clicking but passing no current to the starter motor. Starter spins when the relay terminals are bridged so starter is fine. Ordered a new replacement from Busters on next day delivery. Don't want to be bump starting the SV for too long!

[garynortheast]

Well, a very enjoyable day of riding lots of twisty back roads between Kircudbright, Auchencairn, Castle Douglas, and Laurieston. No big miles, just a spot of back roads bimbling and pretty much no other traffic.
Be glad to have the new starter relay arrive though, fed up with having to bump the bike!

[punyXpress]

C'mon Gary - you know the rule!
Always park at the top of a hill when starting dodgy ;)
Bought my first house for that reason, then had to sell my bike to pay for it.
As they say in Scotland: " gang aft agley " ;)

[garynortheast]

C'mon Gary - you know the rule!
Always park at the top of a hill when starting dodgy ;)
Bought my first house for that reason, then had to sell my bike to pay for it.
As they say in Scotland: " gang aft agley " ;)

Ha ha! Problem is that the places we've needed to stop so far have all been pretty flat. The SV is pretty good at being bumped but it's not pretty getting those two big ol' pistons turning fast enough to fire up!

DPD have just messaged to say the relay will arrive tomorrow and they'll give us our 1 hour delivery time slot in the morning.

[BanannaMan]

Bugger! Starter relay has died. Clicking but passing no current to the starter motor. Starter spins when the relay terminals are bridged so starter is fine. Ordered a new replacement from Busters on next day delivery. Don't want to be bump starting the SV for too long!








Lucky it happened pre-trip vs mid-trip somewhere.

Having to overcome something to get there always makes it that much sweeter. Especially when it comes to rideouts.
Have a great trip!

[garynortheast]

Ah, unfortunately Bill it has happened during the trip! We're up in Scotland currently. We were about to head out on our first day of riding up here when it happened.
In the end though, it was just a bit of an inconvenience rather than a major problem. Once the new relay arrives today I should be sorted.

[garynortheast]

And we're up and running again. Prompt despatch by Busters and a speedy delivery by DPD meant the relay arrived early this afternoon. 15 minutes later it was installed and I was able to get into Kircudbright and back without needing to bump start the bike.:p

[shiftin_gear98]

Hooray. Hope it makes the adventure more enjoyable.

[BanannaMan]

Kudos for ordering the part and getting it fixed along the way. :thumbsup:
Hoping the rest of your trip will be smooth sailing from here on out.

[maviczap]

Excellent, I didn't have a good experience with DPD

Enjoy the rest of the trip, I hope for no more about woes

[garynortheast]

We're now down at Scotland's most southerly point, the Mull of Galloway. Sat in the cafe next to the lighthouse eating a second breakfast. Fabulous views, very few people, and a quite remote feel.
I'll post pictures when we get home, can't be bothered with faffing on the phone!

[garynortheast]

Well, a cracking day today, Great weather, superb views, good roads, and we arrived back at our holiday accommodation to find that our host, Elaine had baked a birthday cake for Sioned and Eleri. They were 16 today. I think they've had a birthday to remember!

We're off to have a ride around the Galloway forest park area tomorrow.

[Talking Heads]

Galloway...?



Galway is in Ireland :lol:

[garynortheast]

Argh! Galloway. Bloody autocorrect. :-(

[maviczap]

Superb. Waiting for the pictures

[SV650rules]

We're now down at Scotland's most southerly point, the Mull of Galloway. Sat in the cafe next to the lighthouse eating a second breakfast. Fabulous views, very few people, and a quite remote feel.
I'll post pictures when we get home, can't be bothered with faffing on the phone!

Certainly is a beautiful spot, we were there about 6 years ago, stayed in Drummore, seemed to take as long to get from Carlisle to Drummore as it had taken from Shropshire to Carlisle. Very quiet farming country in Dumfries and Galloway, with fish smoke houses dotted around. Those belted Galloway cattle are some of the most handsome beasts I have seen.

[garynortheast]

Home again!

[DarrenSV650S]

Oh man you timed that well!

[littleoldman2]

We're now down at Scotland's most southerly point, the Mull of Galloway. Sat in the cafe next to the lighthouse eating a second breakfast. Fabulous views, very few people, and a quite remote feel.
I'll post pictures when we get home, can't be bothered with faffing on the phone!

Hope you've had a lovely trip.

I was told (not sure how true) that it is one of only 2 places in europe you can see 4 States from one place. Scotland, IOM, NI and England. When I was there I struggled to see much pasted the front wheel of the Strple.
I've been to the other one close to the Swiss border with Liechtenstein where you can also see Austrian hills and Germany across the Bodensee in the FAR FAR distance.

[garynortheast]

Hope you've had a lovely trip.

I was told (not sure how true) that it is one of only 2 places in europe you can see 4 States from one place. Scotland, IOM, NI and England. When I was there I struggled to see much pasted the front wheel of the Strple.
I've been to the other one close to the Swiss border with Liechtenstein where you can also see Austrian hills and Germany across the Bodensee in the FAR FAR distance.

It's true Malc, and we did see all four places from there. The IoM looked so close you felt if you stretched out a hand you could touch it!

[garynortheast]

Oh man you timed that well!

Why, what's happened Darren? What have I missed? :D

[DarrenSV650S]

Summer's over and it's thunder and rain all weekend

[littleoldman2]

Yep that's what we got.

[garynortheast]

Ah, well yes. After a week of pretty good weather, with no more than a light shower on Tuesday, we got back home to wet roads and within 10 minutes of arriving it was bucketing down!

Hope it's not too wet tomorrow as Mick's riding back home to Yorkshire in the morning!

[Heorot]

Massive thunderstorm here in South Norfolk last night. Today we have a cloudless sky and the humidity is through the roof. I am sweating just sitting quietly on the sofa.

[garynortheast]

Some photos of our trip to Dumfries and Galloway. Some of these were taken by me, and some by Mick (marked MB).

Coffee stop on the way up to Scotland (MB).

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/859/42975907774_84f1932e81_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/28tCL89)
Coffee stop heading north (https://flic.kr/p/28tCL89) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/), on Flickr

Balcary Bay near Auchencairn (MB).

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/942/42975899644_b296f75a34_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/28tCHGY)
South Kircudbrightshire (https://flic.kr/p/28tCHGY) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/), on Flickr

It was Sioned and Eleri's 16th birthdays on the Wednesday. Mick bought them their first motorbikes! :-D (MB)

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/860/42975900934_158252fa5c_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/28tCJ6d)
New bikes for the girls! (https://flic.kr/p/28tCJ6d) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/), on Flickr

We headed down to the Mull of Galloway the same day.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/934/42975898654_8060d98c83_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/28tCHpU)
Mull of Galloway (https://flic.kr/p/28tCHpU) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/), on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/859/42975896914_710f55281c_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/28tCGTU)
Mull of Galloway (https://flic.kr/p/28tCGTU) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/), on Flickr


Teenagers and photos!
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/855/42975895274_ca7f35b4a0_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/28tCGpC)
Mull of Galloway (https://flic.kr/p/28tCGpC) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/), on Flickr

No puffins unfortunately..... (MB)

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/851/42975902534_098917c392_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/28tCJyN)
Mull of Galloway (https://flic.kr/p/28tCJyN) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/), on Flickr

But lots of kittiwakes.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/855/42975893874_8f9fab9c11_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/28tCFZu)
Mull of Galloway (https://flic.kr/p/28tCFZu) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/), on Flickr

The Isle of Man.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/850/43692037941_2b82c53627_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/29yV7EZ)
Mull of Galloway (https://flic.kr/p/29yV7EZ) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/), on Flickr

Great view back up the peninsula.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/932/42975891314_69f8156053_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/28tCFem)
Mull of Galloway (https://flic.kr/p/28tCFem) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/), on Flickr

On to Port Patrick, looking for a chippie - there wasn't one!

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/862/29821954398_a3ff7a0722_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/Mrgj4y)
Port Patrick (https://flic.kr/p/Mrgj4y) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/), on Flickr

Headed up to Galway Forest Park and Loch Doon on Thursday. It involved a bit of offroading with the SV and the Bandit! (MB)

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/862/42975904754_3e438d6571_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/28tCKe5)
Loch Doon (https://flic.kr/p/28tCKe5) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/), on Flickr

(MB)

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/848/42975903694_0c9cce0b42_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/28tCJUN)
Loch Doon (https://flic.kr/p/28tCJUN) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/), on Flickr

Found this place on the way through the forest park.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/850/42789244465_2609a43013_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/28c94Ce)
Castle Doon (https://flic.kr/p/28c94Ce) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/), on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/857/42789242915_a000a2b6b8_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/28c94av)
Castle Doon (https://flic.kr/p/28c94av) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/), on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/849/42789243745_cf32a17153_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/28c94pP)
Castle Doon (https://flic.kr/p/28c94pP) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/), on Flickr

(MB)

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/856/42789242385_184f1bdf10_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/28c941n)
Castle Doon (https://flic.kr/p/28c941n) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/), on Flickr

Got back to Castle Creavie where we were staying, and found this chap obviously feeling the heat after working during the afternoon! (MB)

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/939/42975906184_9d37dee340_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/28tCKDJ)
Hot dog! (https://flic.kr/p/28tCKDJ) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/), on Flickr

[shiftin_gear98]

Nice, looks like fun.

[BanannaMan]

Great pics!
Looks like a wonderful trip!

[DarrenSV650S]

Good pics Gary. I'm glad you got the weather for it

[garynortheast]

Cheers fellers, 'twas a great few days.

Mick and I both thought we should take proper cameras next trip.

[maviczap]

Yep, looked like a great trip.

[garynortheast]

Back from your big trip now then Mav?

Just realised that this year was probably the last year that my girls will do a long trip as pillions.
They're hoping to have their own bikes next year, but as they will only be 125cc machines we'll not be doing a big run. We'll probably just do days out with some camping here in Wales. Once they've turned 19 they can go for their A2 licenses, which means they can have bikes big enough to cope with longer trips.
They've both been talking for the last two years about riding down to the Pyrenees. Sounds good to me!

[maviczap]

Back from your big trip now then Mav?

Just realised that this year was probably the last year that my girls will do a long trip as pillions.
They're hoping to have their own bikes next year, but as they will only be 125cc machines we'll not be doing a big run. We'll probably just do days out with some camping here in Wales. Once they've turned 19 they can go for their A2 licenses, which means they can have bikes big enough to cope with longer trips.
They've both been talking for the last two years about riding down to the Pyrenees. Sounds good to me!

Yep, back last night from the Pyrenees. Only one HP :D

This is becoming one of my favourite roads, despite the gradients :)

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/851/43717602591_a8ae68b544_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/29Bb99P)IMG_20180727_100905 (https://flic.kr/p/29Bb99P) by maviczap (https://www.flickr.com/photos/89416312@N07/), on Flickr

[garynortheast]

That's a cracking picture, I can almost feel that warm sun and smell the air!

[Heather650]

Back from your big trip now then Mav?

Just realised that this year was probably the last year that my girls will do a long trip as pillions.
They're hoping to have their own bikes next year, but as they will only be 125cc machines we'll not be doing a big run. We'll probably just do days out with some camping here in Wales. Once they've turned 19 they can go for their A2 licenses, which means they can have bikes big enough to cope with longer trips.
They've both been talking for the last two years about riding down to the Pyrenees. Sounds good to me!

There is also the route de napolean, through the Alps. Worth checking out. :D

[BanannaMan]

Yep, back last night from the Pyrenees. Only one HP :D

This is becoming one of my favourite roads, despite the gradients :)

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/851/43717602591_a8ae68b544_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/29Bb99P)IMG_20180727_100905 (https://flic.kr/p/29Bb99P) by maviczap (https://www.flickr.com/photos/89416312@N07/), on Flickr







Wow what a view!

[maviczap]

I never tire of the views in the mountains on days like this

[Luckypants]

Yep, back last night from the Pyrenees. Only one HP :D

This is becoming one of my favourite roads, despite the gradients :)

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/851/43717602591_a8ae68b544_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/29Bb99P)IMG_20180727_100905 (https://flic.kr/p/29Bb99P) by maviczap (https://www.flickr.com/photos/89416312@N07/), on Flickr
Is that the Voie Laurent Fignon on the Tourmalet?

[maviczap]

Yes Mike, it is.

I did it twice last week, both times as nice as when we did it back in 2011.

The descent of Luz Ardiden was still as great too, thoughly enjoyed that again :-)

[Luckypants]

Twice? You are certifiable! I want to do it from the La Mongie side next time.

[maviczap]

Twice? You are certifiable! I want to do it from the La Mongie side next time.

LOL :)

I don't know if I want to do it from the Dark Side (La Minge), even Rob doesn't like it.

What is a nice climb, is the Col d'Aspin, but it would mean riding back up the dark side, once you'd done, as there's no loop back to Bareges.

Best get in training then Mike :bom: