Adventure Bike Rider Forum

Oop North John wrote: ↑Tue Aug 15, 2017 10:13 am JoG isn't the most northern point of the UK mainland, that belongs to Dunnet head a few miles to the west.

Ardnamurchan lighthouse is the most westerly point you can get to by road on the UK mainland.

We knew this before we set off. As I mentioned in my first post, the points of the Four Corners Tour are the furthest North/South and East/West from each other on the map. I also wanted to visit the places that you mentioned but I think that it would have added a day to the journey and that was the day that I was really exhausted!

Oop North John wrote: ↑Tue Aug 15, 2017 10:14 am

Alun wrote: ↑Tue Aug 15, 2017 10:09 am This is starting to become a major problem in Scotland even out of the main school holiday season. Back in May we could not find a hotel room north of Inverness. I'd advise anyone travelling up there in the summer months to pre-book or plan on camping.

Inverness is never cheap, and often is booked out especially during the holiday season etc. Airbnb or booking.com get used by me if I'm going to be in the NC500 area.

Airbnb, Booking.com and HostelWorld are the apps that we used throughout our journey. That night in Inverness, we searched for anything within 100 miles and the only thing we found was £378 for one night! I think that's how much we spent on all our accommodation for the whole week. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and we were ruing the decision to leave the camping equipment with my mum as we passed so many campsites with loads of room.

At the end of the day, for me, this is all part of the adventure!

Really enjoying this post keep it coming in.Have you tried SYHA I have found them very good also backpackers theres a really good one called the jolly crofter at Durness if your heading up that way.and a fantastic one called coran house at Oban.failing that bus shelter,

cheers tony.

We rode off into the night, heading north and beginning the North Coast 500. Esther had donned a jumper and I had a long-sleeved base layer to help with the evening chill. We use Sena Bluetooth headsets whilst riding, however, as we had been travelling for over 12 hours, the batteries had run down so we resorted to nudges and shoulder taps to ensure that we were both okay and to signal when we needed a rest. Esther was getting twitchy legs from tiredness so every so often we pulled into a lay-by and she stretched her legs whilst I had a cigarette and a drink. The night was beautiful and clear with a full moon highlighting the sea on our right and during these stops, the only thing we could hear was the ticking of the Tiger as it cooled down.



We travelled at a moderate pace and eventually covered the 120 miles in 3 hours, riding past the sign for John o'Groats at 4 o'clock sharp. We pulled over just inside the village boundary for a quick chat and decided to head over to the lighthouse first. Once that was done, we rode over to the hotel and the famous sign. This time, we didn't need permission to park right in front of the sign as there are none of the tourist trappings that we found at Land's End, just a few shops and cafés.

After wandering around for a while, we heard the sound of a couple of bikes approaching: a Harley and a Honda rode straight up to the sign so we walked over to talk to the riders. The Harley rider had just completed a run from John o'Groats to Land's End and back in 48 hours! He looked frazzled with wide, red staring eyes and in need of a hot coffee. They hung around for half an hour chatting before heading off to a much needed bed. As for Esther and me, we just found a couple of benches and managed to get about an hour and a half of sleep before sunrise.

By 8 o'clock we were ready for some food and, as luck would have it, one of the cafés had just opened up so in we went and ordered a Full Scottish. We tapped into the café's Wi-Fi so that we could book a place to stay in Ullapool that night - looks like we're starting to learn!

We continued on the North Coast 500 route which was exhausting for me: after riding through the night and minimal sleep, my shoulders and wrists were aching and I was very tired. The route takes you down the most remote places along single track lanes with sheep and cows wandering all over; at one point a whole flock of sheep decided to run down a hill towards us! I just wish that I'd had some sleep as the roads and scenery were wonderful: I, unfortunately, just wanted to get to the end of it!



We stopped for some lunch at the Cask Inn... somewhere... can't remember where but it was very welcoming.



We decided to head straight to the hotel in Ullapool instead of completing the full loop of the NC500. We showered and headed into town for something to eat and saw this sticker on the pub sign next door to our hotel.



We found a lovely little pub by the bay which had great music and wonderful food.



Then we headed back to the hotel for some much needed sleep.

Distance for the day: 659 miles
Distance total: 1,585 miles

Fully rested after 10 hours of sleep, we packed up the bike and pointed the front wheel south back towards Inverness.

We pulled into a petrol station in a beautiful place called Carrbridge.



Onward and southward we went through Perth, over the Forth Road Bridge and past Edinburgh. We decided to travel on the A1, even though, that far north, it is just a standard single carriageway road. We were able to make some progress, regardless of the traffic, towards our destination for the evening: back in England in Berwick-upon-Tweed. Another lovely town with some nice restaurants. We ate at a place called Audela where we were made to feel very welcome: the host even went to the kitchen to get a bottle of pastis as I had expressed a liking to it while Esther sampled the selection of gin. We ate a full three-course meal that night as the menu was so good.



As a side note, the Castle Hotel in Berwick was one of the best we stayed at. The room was lovely with a large bed and very modern en-suite and they even had somewhere for our helmets!



Distance for the day: 274 miles
Distance total: 1,859 miles

Day 7 arrived with overcast skies and rain - not heavy but constant. We carried on down the east coast past Lindisfarne which I would have loved to stop at but couldn't be bothered because of the rain. We did, however, stop at the Angel of the North, just outside of Gateshead. A landmark that I had wanted to visit for some time as I am a huge fan of Antony Gormley.



The going was slow on the A1, especially as we approached Scotch Corner where they are widening the road. The queue up to the service station was so long that it must have taken car drivers half an hour to get from the slip road to the car park. We took to the verge and rode past them all!

From there it was down the A1 to the M62 towards Hull and over the Humber Bridge. Although this hasn't changed since I was at University in Hull 20 years ago, something of a surprise was that motorcycles now go over for free! Then we were back home... for me anyway. I'm originally from Lincolnshire so I was now on familiar roads and, rather than travelling down the A15, I decided that we should go over the Lincolnshire Wolds to show Esther that Lincolnshire isn't as flat as people think. Past Humberside Airport in the direction of Market Rasen, we rounded a long swooping corner at about 60 mph only to be confronted by bollards and a road closed sign: unable to stop before the bollards, I swung round them and took a side road only to find that was also closed! A quick detour got us back on the road heading in the direction of Wragby and on to Bardney, a road that I know really well as Esther can tell you as I was giggling my head off over the intercom as to swooped through the corners as if I'd last ridden them yesterday.

That evening, we bedded down at my mum's house with a belly full of Indian takeaway and a nice hot shower. The end was in sight!

Distance for the day: 260 miles
Distance total: 2,119 miles

We were nearly there. A gentle ride south through the Lincolnshire fens took us to Norfolk so we aimed for Cromer, so as to avoid Norwich, and then down the coast to Lowestoft. The night before, Esther had put a post on the East Anglian Bikers' Facebook page saying what we were doing and when we would be arriving at Lowestoft: queue the marching bands, ticker-tape parade and police escort... nah... what we got was Hamish from the Black Shuck mcc waiting for us at Lowestoft Ness! It was great to see him and so nice that he came out to welcome us home.



We hung around chatting for about half an hour before heading over to Beccles to meet up with Esther's parents for a well earned celebration meal and drink.

The only downside to the day was that we had booked in at Pontins for the night... let's just say that I'll never go back there!

Distance for the day: 147 miles
Distance total: 2,266 miles



The next morning we rode the last few miles home to Ipswich for a nice shower and a veg-out for the rest of the day. We had done it.

Distance for the day: 46 miles
Distance total: 2,312 miles



The actual distance for the full trip was 2,426.8 miles (figures above are from Google) because we rode around some places to find somewhere to stay or eat. Fuel economy was good (as usual) on the Tiger at around 55 mpg.

Next year we're off to the IOM TT for the first time!

Well done budd, a good read, just enough detail.

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Well done that man and lady, rather you than me on some of those roads. Great effort