Adventure Bike Rider Forum

My young 'un wants to tour Scotland next year, with me riding along. As he is on a 125, it'll take a while to get up there from Devon. I was wondering if anyone has any good ideas on how to get a pair of 125s up to Scotland quickly and hopefully cheaply!

Hire a van or trailer and find somewhere to leave it for a week or whatever in Scotland

I’ve ridden up from Bristol about three times now on 125s. I know I’m already a fair bit up from you but I head up through the borders of Wales, A49 and then a sneaky whizz through Warrington (which is the boring bit) then up to the lakes and an overnight in Keswick, then up from there. You can always cross from there and do the Kielder roads but depends on where you are aiming. It’s really quite doable and actually a good bit of fun. Always get away early and plan some nice tea/sandwich/pee stops and it becomes quite fun

Godspeed wrote: ↑Mon Oct 18, 2021 7:42 pm I’ve ridden up from Bristol about three times now on 125s. I know I’m already a fair bit up from you but I head up through the borders of Wales, A49 and then a sneaky whizz through Warrington (which is the boring bit) then up to the lakes and an overnight in Keswick, then up from there. You can always cross from there and do the Kielder roads but depends on where you are aiming.6DF32EB5-AF7E-4BF9-ABFC-881902C28385.jpeg
It’s really quite doable and actually a good bit of fun. Always get away early and plan some nice tea/sandwich/pee stops and it becomes quite fun

Yes, I thought about doing something like this, but it'll take 2 days up, and 2 days back again afterwards, and he's rather tight for time.

I've thought of the trailer/ van idea, but whet could I leave it for a week or so?

fatowl wrote: ↑Mon Oct 18, 2021 8:35 pm

Godspeed wrote: ↑Mon Oct 18, 2021 7:42 pm I’ve ridden up from Bristol about three times now on 125s. I know I’m already a fair bit up from you but I head up through the borders of Wales, A49 and then a sneaky whizz through Warrington (which is the boring bit) then up to the lakes and an overnight in Keswick, then up from there. You can always cross from there and do the Kielder roads but depends on where you are aiming.6DF32EB5-AF7E-4BF9-ABFC-881902C28385.jpeg
It’s really quite doable and actually a good bit of fun. Always get away early and plan some nice tea/sandwich/pee stops and it becomes quite fun

Yes, I thought about doing something like this, but it'll take 2 days up, and 2 days back again afterwards, and he's rather tight for time.

I've thought of the trailer/ van idea, but whet could I leave it for a week or so?

One way hires, you'll pay a premium but probably work out cheaper because you're off hiring the van when you're riding.

I agree with Godspeed.
The trip up to Scotland from Devon sounds like a nice little adventure on a couple of 125’s.
It’s a miserable journey in a van on the motorways from Devon to north of Glasgow. At any point you could be sitting in a traffic jam for hours, in which case you’d wish you where filtering through on your bikes!
Ride up through the borders (A49) Cut through the industrial North West, up through The Forest of Bowland.
You could join the M6 after the M55 exit…..it’s probably England’s most scenic motorway north of the M55 and after the M55 it’s generally not that busy….and if it is busy you can get off it and ride the A/B roads.
If you have the attitude that your holiday starts with the first turn of your wheels, rather than “let’s get this bit over with” you’ll probably enjoy the ride.

I rode my 650 VStrom from Kirkcudbright home to North Somerset in one long run down through Wales, Staffs, Herefordshire etc as the last day of my Scotland tour in September and it took around ten hours and was pretty tiring come the end of the run.

If you are looking to make Devon to Scotland in a day, you are going to have a long ride, which could easily spoil the next couple of days riding in Scotland itself. There are some amazing roads and views in England that are there to be enjoyed on the way.

It's also worth saying the Dumfries and Galloway has some really spectacular roads and views, and I think you could easily spend a week there and not see a half of what it has to offer.

Have a look at Simon Weir's book Bikers Britain, he has a couple of excellent routes you could either use or adapt.

Having done both & also on a 'low powered' motorbike (admittedly a closer London) you can smash it up the motorways in a van, but that in itself is a long long day & I personally need a day off after something like that!

A realistic average moving speed for a 125 is 40mph so say 15 riding hours to get you up there, there are some fantastic roads between you & the border, 2 days up, 3 days round & 2 days back would be a great riding trip & you'd see most of the country, rather than a load of gridlock?

If a week is too tight i'd personally just have a mooch around Wales, which is always my go to when I only have a long weekend

We regularly van it to Scotland from Devon as we've interests in and around Edinburgh, time the drive and you'll rarely be held up. Mostly we head off early evening and do 3-4 hours which gets you past the Midlands, then a reasonable start the next day and we're in West Lothian by mid morning. Glasgow would be about the same. We do bunk down in the van though.
I think the benefit of using a van (yes I'm aware this is a bike forum) is the return journey doesn't become a looming unknown where you're looking at the weather forecast for days before you leave. A couple of days of very bad weather on the horizon and a tight time schedule can be a distraction from enjoying your riding.

All the same though if given the time, we'd love to ride all the way over a few days each way.

Snaf MKII wrote: ↑Mon Oct 18, 2021 11:15 pm One way hires, you'll pay a premium but probably work out cheaper because you're off hiring the van when you're riding.

That would be my suggestion too. Just need to have an address in Scotland that you can send them to eg a friend / dealers / relative / bike friendly hotel (Buccleuch Arms in Moffat? https://www.buccleucharms.com/ )

Then, how do you get up there? Train means no parking problems for you there, but will it align with the bike transport.

I'd be booking accommodation ASAP as the staycation boom has made getting a bed for the night problematical, especially in the tourist hotspots eg the NC500.