Me & Gladys on our road trip in Scotland

Sadly, my road trip with the rental gladius from Cupar Motorcycles came to an end last Saturday and I'm now sitting in my own lounge room in Melbourne, Australia. Anyhoo, some stuff about the bike and the road trip below:

THE GLADIUS

I loved:
• the easy handling and responsiveness
• braking
• seated position
• handlebar position
• mirror position & size, also good glass
• the economy—nearly 30k's to the litre! With a 14.5 litre tank this gives it a range of about 430k's!!!! My SV gives me about 22k's to the litre.

There were some items I would add to a wish list:
• change to the single seat set up—it was short for two and therefore crowded with even a small pack towards the rear. It was also cumbersome to try to attach the pack because I had to remove the seat to wrap the straps underneath. The seat itself was comfortable enough, but then I find the SV seat comfortable enough too. Any road trip ends up with a numb bum regardless of the seat.
• placement of the side stand was difficult to locate the kicker bar to get it down. I had to hook it from behind the footrest with my boot toe and once it was halfway down, I then had to move my boot to the front of the footrest to get it the rest of the way down—very messy
• a clock
• larger instrument cluster display
• less plastic, especially the ugly radiator covers
• change the colour to red

The bike was stock apart from lowered dog bones and only had 2085 on the clock when I rode her out of the dealership.

THE ROAD TRIP

Day 1—294k's Cupar - St Andrews - Kirkcaldy - Roslin - Lauder - Jedburgh - Bellingham - Hexham

SETTING OFF:


It was a gorgeous day getting acclimatised to the roads, the traffic behaviour, learning how to interpret the "slow" signs and understanding Gatso country, etc. etc.

I detoured via Roslin to vist the Roslin Chapel, something I had wanted to do for a very long time. What an amazing building! The interior is so very complex with so many different features. I also stopped at Lauder to visit the family ancestral home "Thirlstane Castle" but it was closed. Bugga. Last time I had visited in the dead of winter it was closed. I had expected it to be open this time.

Lovely weather, sunny, cool and only a little windy in places. Fantastic riding weather and I got to ride roads I have wanted to ride for a very long time.

Whilst passing a truck the top box flew open...stuff flew out...3 items according to the bloke in the car behind me...2 black (one looked like a wallet) and one bright red) All my important stuff including passport, wallet (all cards & cash), computer, camera, makeup case (essential), iPhone, local cheap mobile phone, journal, etc. etc. was still intact. I could only guess at what was missing coz lots of bits I had been travelling with were safely stored in my suitcase back at Cupar Motorcycles.



I arrived at my sisters to severe weather forecasts with winds and constant heavy rain for the midlands in England all the way to the very north of Scotland. Bugga. More research and I decided to continue with my original plan because to travel south for the good weather would take too many days out of the days I had available and the bad weather was moving south east so my plans to travel north west may just work out.

Content from my ride and over the trepidation of riding a different bike on different roads in a different country, I slept like a well fed baby.

Day 2—342k's Hexham - Lauder - Jedburgh - Cupar - Dundee - Blarigowrie - Braemar

It was absolutely pouring when I woke up and it was going to be like that for the rest of the day

Of the items lost out of the top box the previous day, one was medication I need every morning so my departure was delayed whilst I went to the doctors for a new script.

I said my final good byes to my family and set off at 10:30am travelling a similar route north as I had taken south the day before. I kept my eyes peeled at about where I thought the top box opened and lo and behold...I found the red sunglasses case now squished and my black covered stainless steel waterbottle now sans lid. I didn't find the drugs

I called past Thirlstane Castle once again and this time it was open. The woman on the gate said that given I am a Maitland, I really should look in the house at a cost of £10 but I opted for the £3 option for the privilege to park in the visitors car park :yikes: It was worth the £3 to shelter from the rain for half an hour. A cuppa tea and a fruit scone in the warm, dry cafe and then I set off again.




After Thirlstane, I had to detour via the dealership because there was a problem with the bike in as much as it had been lowered but the side stand hadn't been adjusted. I learned to live with it but there were places I wanted to stop but couldn't because surface sloped the wrong way. I invested in a flouro safety vest whilst I was there and despite how unflattering it looked, I wore it the entire ride. Given the lower temperatures, it wasn't just a safety article but it also served to keep a little more of the wind out.

I then changed into a second set of clothes and new set of wet weathers, new gloves plus latex ones underneath, donning the saftey vest. With a belly full of hot chips and deep fried uncoated chicken washed down with a big mug of hot tea, I set off aiming for Tomintoul.

A wee ride through what the guy at the dealership called "twisties" but to me was actually tightish sweepers was fun in the torrential rain and Gladys stuck to the road like a stalker to it's prey and she held the road admirably. North of Blairgowrie, the road traversed Glen Shee, a long valley high up in the mountains and through a ski resort. It was nothing short of stunning and strangely I was grateful for the rain because the roads were not only devoid of traffic, the views were breathtaking with mist around the mountain tops and rivers and waterfalls cascading down the sides from so much rain. I was really in the zone. At one point I had one of those intuitive moments where I thought "ooh, I might be going a tad fast coz I don't know what's around the next corner" and whaddayou know, I throttle off a bit and seconds later hit gravel all over the road :yikes: but like the ride from Dundee to Blairgowrie, Gladys hugged the road and I was confident with her the whole way.

When I pulled into the youth hostel at Braemar, I couldn't feel my fingers any more and water had seeped in everywhere, and I mean everywhere. I've been cold and wet on the bike before, but never this cold nor this wet! It was 8:45pm and getting dark and I still had another 30 miles of mountain roads to make it to the booking I had further along. The guy on reception assured me that yes, they have a bed and yes, they have a place for me to dry my gear so I forked out my £18.50 and asked him to cancel the booking at Tomintoul. After discovering that the drying room with 4 drying heaters had only 2 operational in an overcrowded room coz everybody was wet through and both the laundry dryers were defunct, as well the bed springs were clearly visible through the surface of the mattresses, I asked the guy "what exactly do I get for my £18.50" he replied "you get a bed and the use of our facilities" to which I retorted, bearing in mind I was frozen to the bone, wet through and very tired and hungry, "what f*!%ing facilities". I wouldn't recommend this particular hostel at all. Apart from being out of the rain for the night the only other good thing about it was the lovely people with whom I shared a dorm and the chooks gathered around Gladys in the morning.



I'm amazed I travelled so far in that weather!

Day 3—319km Braemar - Tomintoul - Inverness - Tain - Lairg - Ullapool

I was up before 7am because I was hoping to catch up on some of the miles I hadn't achieved the day before. It was drizzling at the time but the forecast was for clearer weather where I was heading.

I travelled some more amazing roads and stayed relatively dry...relative to the wetness of the day before

LEAVING THE RAIN BEHIND


When I reached Inverness I stopped to pick up some supplies (bread rolls, cheese, ham and yet another fruit scone). I was hoping for a cuppa and a scone but I couldn't find anywhere other than the food mall in a shopping centre and it wasn't an inviting place to stop when the road north west was beckoning.

A little north of Inverness I had to pull over to take a picture because the sun had come out. Whilst stopped I glanced up and noticed a particularly slow travelling mobile home I had passed earlier was approaching and being overtaken by a big truck. I sighed knowing it was going to go past before I could take off again.



This was a great piece of road so I waited in the sun for a bit so that the mobile home could get well ahead of me and hopefully take a different road at the next junction.

Once through a town called Lairg, I took the wrong fork in the road and so I doubled back to check with some roadside workers as to which road I should be on. Whilst pulled over, another mobile home came by and I thought "bugga" coz there are so many of these vehicles on these roads and the roads are primarily one track roads with passing places and the drivers of these vehicles seem to have an aversion to pulling into them to let you past...not dissimilar to the tourists on our Great Ocean Road in Vicgtoria. Grrrrrr.

I was weaving left to right because it was a German registration and therefore left hand drive so I wanted to be seen in the hope they would pull into a passing place to let me past. Just at the start of a bend in the road, a big semi approached quite quickly from the other direction. I braked as soon as I saw the truck not knowing what would happen but every body stopped in time with me about 3.5 metres behind the mobile home. The truck was fine where it was in the parking place and the mobile home had right of way, but what does he do...the silly old codger started to reverse. I was madly scrabbling in the loose gravel trying to push poor Gladys back. The mobile home backed right over Gladys front tyre and didn't stop there and continued to reverse with me screaming ineffectively in my helmet and tooting the piddly horn Suzuki install on these bikes. As you would expect as soon as the vehicle stopped and the pressure was off the front of the bike we toppled sideways and Gladys threw me into the ditch trapping my ankle under the frame preventing me from sliding right in I'm getting into a habit of pointing head down into spaces with water in them

THE OFFENDING MOBILE HOME


Given the driver was German and didn't speak any English at all and I don't speak any German...communication was impossible. I called 999 to get police assistance what I got was a rescue helicopter and ambulance dispatched as well as the local GP The police arrived in minutes and the doctor wasn't far behind—thank goodness. I wasn't hurt and I had already told 999 that there were no broken bones, no blood but procedure is procedure. The doctor authorised the police to cancel the chopper and the ambo but nobody cancelled the fire brigade and a truck with 6 firemen turned up and did what men do the world over—they stood around with their arms crossed over their chests admiring Glady's curves and sympathising over the broken bits.

A GIFT INTENDED AS GOODWILL FROM MRS MOBILE HOME


A SOUVENIER FROM GLADYS


Glady's didn't suffer much damage because she has roll bars and there were already some scratches down the side she fell. The main damage was the smashed front mud guard because without it the brake line that is normally supported by the mud guard was now swaying in the breeze with a very real risk of it rubbing against the tyre under load. Mr Plod and Mr Farmer did a great job of tying it up firstly with whipper snipper line, cable ties (yes Brian, I brought some with me as well as a socket and ratchet set, a set of allen keys and a few other bits and bobs). Mr Plod tidied the whole repair with orange police tape

MR PLOD WORKING ON GLADYS TO GET HER SAFELY BACK ON THE ROAD


Being unsure if there was any damage to the wheel rim, Mr Plod gave me escort for 30 miles. The first couple of miles was to check the bike was A'OK and fit for travel. Gladys gave the same standard of performance that she had prior to her streetfightering and so after refueling in the local town and a brief chat, the remainder of the trip was at speeds through the mountains that I wouldn't have done without someone to tail let alone an ex motorcycle cop in a zippy little car on roads he knew well Out of a disastrous afternoon I received the best serendipity ever

The rest of the day was through Harry Potter country but it was late in the day and I had neither the time to stop nor the light to get decent photos so I soaked up the scenery determined to remember how awesome it was.

I'm amazed I travelled 319k's despite losing more than 4 hours on the side of the road! I must have made up some time with my police escort.

FINALLY...ULLAPOOL FOR THE NIGHT

Day 4—323km Ullapool - Gairloch to - Kyle of Lochalsh - Invergarry - Fort Augustus - Lewiston

I had my morning coffee whilst gazing out the dining room window at yet more stunning views. It was too dark when I arrived to appreciate how beautiful it was and it was all the advertisement had promised, even in the gloom of a grey sky.

LOOKING OUT THE DINING ROOM WINDOW


After waiting for the dealership to open to discuss whether they wanted to recover Gladys or whether I could continue I packed up Gladys, got permission from the parking office to outstay my welcome without threat of a fine and fueled up with a full hot breakfast and a pot of tea at a great little cafe called "The Tea Store". I poured over the maps again cutting out some of the planned route because I really wanted to get to the hostel at a reasonable hour for a change. Arriving so late the previous few nights and still needing to have dinner before settling down for the night wasn't relaxing at all. I was looking forward to an early night, a cooked dinner accompanied by a few canned G&T's and some of the social chatter that is an integral part of staying in a hostel.

LOOKING EAST ON THE A82


LOOKING WEST BACK TO ULLAPOOL


A stunning, long open stretch of the A80 was very smooth and very fast having recently been resurfaced. There wasn't a vehicle in sight either direction and so throttle was opened. As any of us that know this engine would expect Gladys responded to the task at hand and accelerated rapidly and smoothly. In the distance a small speck in the sky rapidly became a fighter jet. Being one of my favorite sights I was waving madly and the pilot tipped his wing ever so briefly and continued straight along the glen. Did he see me and wave or was it an over-correction? I prefer to think it was a wave The breathtaking vista, the rolling mountains, the isolation and the barrenness of the mountains was in contrast to man's machine in the sky. Gladys' speed paled in comparison but I squealed with excitement none the less.

I had cut my planned lunch at Portree on the Isle of Skye out of my itinerary as part of the paring back on travel time for the day but the universe intervened. On arrival at the A87, the road to Invergarry had been blocked by a nasty accident and so I was forced to head towards Skye. On questioning the bloke redirecting the traffic, I was advised the road would be closed for approximately another 1.5 hours so I headed into Kyle of Lochalsh to pick up some supplies from the small supermaket there and to pass the time having a roadside lunch. I watched the rain approaching from Skye with trepidation but with the luck it didn't quite make it across the water and I remained dry.

OH NO! MORE RAIN!


KYLE OF LOCHALSH TO SKYE BRIDGE


Enough time had elapsed, so off we set again, heading back from where we came. The road block had been removed so we continued on. It was a fairly non eventful trip for the rest of the day, only stopping to admire the stunning views from a lookout over Loch Garry...layer after layer of mountain that doesn't show in the photos.

LOCH GARRY


After leaving the lookout, out of the approaching traffic came a group of about 12-15 motorbikes, overtaking very dangerously, so much so I had to pull over to the side of the road. Heroes NOT grrr. Most motorcyclists are cautious and considerate road users, but it's these few that behave like total ******s that make it bad for the rest of us.

The remainder of the day was unmarred by idiots and through the now expected but still stunning countryside this time along side Loch Ness into Lewiston and the Loch Ness Youth Hostel. The car park was a nice level piece of tarmac and Gladys was neatly parked without any side stand issues. We had arrived early so I got the pick of the beds in the dorm and I had already started cooking my dinner before most of the guests arrived.

Whilst uploading my photos to the computer i was stunned when I discovered that the aforementioned offending mobile home was in another photo taken some time previous...it was the mobile home being passed by the semi.

A relatively early night meant I could get away quicker in the morning so it was bed for this little black duck and i was away with the fairies before the rest of the inhabitants of the dorm stumbled into bed. :sleep:

Day 5—342km LEWISTON - FORT AUGUSTUS - PITLOCHRY - ABERFELDY - KILLIN - PERTH - CUPAR
At last. An uneventful day of lovely jublee riding Determined to get the miles in and still make it back to the dealers at the agreed 4:00pm time, I left early and rode through the rain again until I was too cold and too wet and really in need of a loo. I put off stopping for loo breaks because with all the cumbersome layers, it took me so long to get undressed and then dressed again. This stop was the first of 3 for the day and was at a tiny place called Dalwhinnie whose claim to fame is the Dalwhinnie Distillery.

On I travelled, stopping at Pitlochry for a cuppa, lunch and a quick shop for some obligatory souveniers. Just after I had dressed and done up my helmet, a fellow hosteller and her husband wandered down the road and stopped for a good chin wag putting me behind yet again but I didn't let the delay upset my plans. The remainder of the day was through Alberfeldy and along Loch Tay at a rapid rate of knots in yet more heavy rain. Upon reaching Killin, the waterfalls were not surprisingly huge and rapid—stunning to say the least. A fuel stop there and then back on the road for the last leg back to Cupar via Perth.

I couldn't locate the only servo in town so I returned Gladys about two thirds full and looking a little worse for wear and grubby from all the rain and mud. Big Russell the dealer's comment was that Gladys had been street fightered on her maiden voyage around the highlands Not only was she now without a front mudguard, she was also returned minus the squared off back tyre she set off with and sporting a new 1cm chicken strip on the back wheel—evidence of a truly great road trip

NUMBER CRUNCHING
Total kilometres travelled: just over 1750 all up including minor detours off the googlemaps route
Total litres of fuel consumed: just over 59 so not many—considering the riding conditions and the distance travelled
Motorcycle rental: $375 for 5 days including AA cover and full comprehensive insurance with a £350 excess. I had to pay for the damage given it was less than the excess and it's up to me to try to recover it from the driver although Cuper Motorcycles are going to try to recover it on my behalf. I should also mention, Cupar Motorcycles only charged the wholesale for the damaged parts and nil for labour to fix the bike.
Total cost to me without airfares including food, accommodation, rental and fuel: LESS THAN $700!!!!!!!!

I would highly recommend Cupar Motorcycles for anybody looking for a rental bike. It was very reasonably priced and the level of service was outstanding.

I'll be back

thanks for reading

cheers
Linda

[christopher]

Excellent read, sounds like you had fun Aren't the police in that part of the world the best?! Shame about the silly motorhome, not a bad outcome with the dealer compared to what might have been though!

Sent using Tapatalk

[STRAMASHER]

Brilliant write up!

(Did you notice Loch Garry is famously a map of Scotland, by the way?)





Haste-ye-back!

[Geodude]

Fantastic write up Teddee. Looks like you had a great time, apart from being reversed into grr. Im embarrased to say ive never ridden round Scotland yet. I think i may have to try your route myself sometime.

Thoroughly enjoyable read, sounds like a fantastic adventure! It was indeed a shame about the motorhome but given all the help you received afterwards it only adds to the experience

You have undoubtedly proved that a lady travelling on a bike on her lonesome is muchos fun, good on ya lass I loved my trip up there and wish it had been longer, but plenty of time yet!