Am I an adventure rider? Well, I smelt like one! I hadn't had a shower in four days and was beginning to get pretty ripe! There must be a story around this post,,,, well,,,,, of course there is!
Subtitle;
Scotland in September adventure.
Fiona and myself left Elgin, Moray on a windy Monday 06/09/10, Fiona on her F650GS BMW and me on the Mighty Honda Varadero VA9 destined for John 'o' Groats in the far N.E. of Scotland. The wind up in the north was pretty keen, around stormforce 8 overnight! We survived the night and headed west to Durness and down the coast toward Ullapool on the Tuesday. Fiona's BMW ended up on its side in a layby during a photo stop which gives an indication of how harsh the wind was! The wind wasn't quite so severe at the campsite but gusts were causing the tent to shake violently enough to waken us through the night.
At the Ullapool campsite I came across an XRV RD04 with a trick front end, a photo was taken and off I went bemused, this turned out to be Anton from the XRV forum's XRV750 RD04! He came down for a chat later that morning to advise us his bike had been over in the wind as well! We then packed up for the run down the coast to Kyle of Lochalsh on the Wednesday.
The wind died for the first time at the Reraig campsite which brought a new menace, the dreaded midge! Skye was beautiful as ever, unlike the food in the pub at Reraig, we had to complain about Fiona's chicken! But we did have a lovely walk in the evening.
On Thursday we moved on to Meet Largewayround from the forum, who we had agreed to meet at a campsite on the Isle of Mull. We had to catch two ferries to reach the Island and the weather and views were stunning! We met at the campsite at around 5.00p.m. and went to sort out provisions for the weekend. We spent the next couple of days touring the island, North on Friday then south on Saturday, the roads and scenery were second to none I've ever seen!
We had a cracking weekend, I'm sure LWR will do a stunning write up with a heap of pictures! The memorable parts of the weekend in Mull were;
1:
Don't speak to ugly women on the site as they're bound to be psychopaths (AKA Helen the Hiefer)
2:
Be prepared to smell like a dead animal as showers are not an option!
3:
While washing dishes in the Loch ensure someone is watching for the bullshit sharks!
4:
The skies are full of Sea - e- Gulls! Don't be dissuaded from believing these are sea eagles by "said" ugly women!
Ok, just short of 1000 miles, a major adventure, Fiona's bike has plenty of scars to prove it, (including the guys car on Mull which I sprayed with stones powersliding her bike after having to bump start it on Mull on Sunday morning!)
The Mighty Varadero, as ever, just needs a wash! Damn, I love that bike!
Final notes, the trip was a great success, I enjoyed every minute of it. Special thanks to, firstly, my Fiona, without you baby the sun wouldn't shine, thank you for making the whole damned thing so much fun!
And secondly to Craig, AKA Largewayround, for having the idea to rough camp it with a bunch of twitchers in a desolate beach on the west coast of the island with a sink and a shitter that doesn't flush! It also had the most spectacular roads, even the ones with grass growing out of them! The views, the castles, the beaches, the wildlife, (young red deer jumping out of the ditch next to you on the walk to the shitter! Damn!) Thank you Craig, you're a star, and I can only say thanks from the bottom of my heart, Fiona thanks you from the heart of her bottom, as only she can!
We both had the time of our life! Including the part where we passed through a dark wood into a farmyard that looked straight out of the Texas chainsaw massacre with me holding a torch under my chin playing out a part from the Blair witch project!
It was a great adventure and would have no issue with recommending a visit to the Isle of Mull, the ferry trip makes it so much more of an adventure than touring the mainland. Be prepared for the weather, it is the west of Scotland and I will certainly take better precautions for rain next time! But if you want an experience of a lifetime then get up north west of Scotland and spend a couple of days on the Isle of Mull!
- Mull_campsite.JPG (51.51 KiB) Viewed 3178 times
