Bike8 North (Scotland in the main)

Two of us set off at 10:15 on Monday 17th Sept to do the northern half of the Bike8 route, me on the Silverwing and my mate on his BMW 650GS (800cc twin). The nearest point to start the route was Sedbergh. The first day was Sedbergh,
Hawes, Richmond, Hexham, Jedburgh and Newtown St Boswells. This was our first overnight stop. Leaving NSB on the second day I forgot to turn the tracker on until we got to Stow (via Galashiels), on up to Dalkeith and on the Edinburgh By Pass, over the Forth Road Bridge which is a spectactular piece of engineering but not as good as the
Railway Bridge. Once over that it was on to Auchterarder, Perth and Scone. Once we got passed Blairgowrie the scenery and the roads just got better and better, pity the weather didn't do the same. Passing Balmoral Castle the Royal Standard was flying so the Queen was in residence. We gave her a wave and continued on. Up through Tomintoul and reached the Moray Firth at Nairn. We decided to get on the other side of Inverness before looking for somewhere to stay. Found a hotel at Inchmore. Day three, Inchmore to the Muir of Ord and Garve. Here we turned westward towrds Loch Maree. Down through Torridon was brilliant, mountains rising up virtually by the roadside. No easy walk in the get warmed up if you wanted to climb them. The weather was good so we decided to ride around the Applecross Peninsular. Applecross has the only petrol pumps I know that are owned by the community. Then it was over the most stunning part of the ride, the Bealach Na Ba (Pass of the Cattle). The views were breathtaking. Then down the other side, onto Lochcarron for lunch. After lunch it was down to Eilean Donan Castle, passed the Five Sisters of Kintail, which we never saw as the weather had clagged in plus low cloud. Invergarry, Fort William and Ballachulish, over the bridge. The weather had improved greatly and Glencoe was bathed in evening sunshine. I must say that the ride up through Glencoe was something to remember, best I have ever seen it and I've seen it a few times. We stopped at Tyndrum for the night, the chicken curry in Paddy's Bar was excellent. Next morning we packed in the rain, it rained passed Loch Lomond, the Erskine Bridge, Glasgow, Biggar, Moffat and it stopped raining just before Dumfries. Dumfries onto Gretna, and fourth night spent at Brampton. Next morning it was dry and bright. An easy day riding to Alston, Middleton in Teesdale, and finally to Sedbergh to complete the route. That just left the fifty miles back to home. Tomtom showed 1017 miles from door to door, Silverwing was a bit dirty when I put it in the garage on Friday evening.
The Silverwing behaved flawlessly, used a bit of oil 300ml which I was surprised at. No idea of how much petrol it used as when we fill the bikes we just pass the nozzle to each other. (We have what we call the 'Fun Fund', we both put money in and use that for petrol, meals, accommodation etc).
Friday night - luxury of my own bed.
Here is link to the tracker's recording of the route. It will open in Google Earth if you have it installed.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/89523430/bike8north.kml

Would I do it again? Just let me fill up the tank and I'm away.

Photos too big so I'll add some links to Dropbox. Hope these work.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/89523430/Brewtime.JPG

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/89523430/Foreign-Soil.JPG

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/89523430/glencoe.JPG

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/89523430/Me_taking_Phil.JPG

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/89523430/Nice_Bin%21.JPG

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/89523430/Phil_taking_me.JPG

Cheers,

Nice account of your trip and good photos too, I'm sure marco aka Horobags will enjoy seeing that Silver Wing being put to good use.

, nice one meldrew, well remembered, after the trip to France earlier this year with Fred, I dont really look at his s/wing as my old scoot anymore, mind you not a bad thing if he's using so much oil, , only joking , great pics Fred, sounds like a great trip, Im jelous!!
Just a thought, I wonder if the K+N, power commander, and arrow can which makes the engine breath easier, can cause the increase in oil consumption ??, did you burn any oil in France Fred?? that trip was around 900 miles.

Another question for young Fred, why did you start at Sedbergh, a small South Cumbrian town home of the posh boys Public school, and Steadmans one of the best butchers in the country that does up to 100 varieties of sausages.

Many's the time I've rode past that old sandstone school on my MZ on the way to a MZ Riders Club camping weekend at nearby Dent, saw the Rugby teams out on the playing fields, and heard the traditional cry of the school prefects..."Fetch me another boy, this one's split!"

Hello Meldrew,

The route done by bike 8 actually uses Hawes as their start and finish point but it was more logical for us to go up the M6 to J37 and go across to Sedbergh. So we did the Sedbergh to Hawes bit first instead of last. As you will see on the .kml file that on the way home we left Sedbergh and came down through Kirkby Lonsdale and jumped on the motorway at Lancaster.
You can obviously start and finish the route anywhere, to do the southern half we will probably ride over to Skipton to start it.

Already received my silver Bike8 badge from the magazine.

Cheers

I joined the MZRC in 2001, used to go to the lancs meets at Leyland, quite a friendly bunch, and some strange bikes, not just the MZs,

I joined about 1977-8, and was dead keen from the early 80's to the mid 90's. I went to quite a few MZ rallies in Germany, Holland, and Czechoslovakia, and was a third of the MZRC team that went to the FIM Rally in 1986.

I lost interest in the early 90's when I got back into BMW's, and lost interest in bikes generally before I bought a Helix. I carried on my membership out of loyalty until 2003-4, and that's about it. I've got an ETZ 250 rusting away in my garage, spare wheels, general spares, and a couple of boxes of MZ Rider magazine. I really should have got rid of all this stuff years ago, and now my house is up for sale I should make the effort.

One of the latest additions to the MZRC committee, is ,,,,,, well the best complement I can say about him is that he's unbearable.!!
If you bung your ETZ in the mzrc 'for sale section' on their website, I think you,ll be suprised at the interest you,ll get Meldrew , even for the spares. Just put 'non member after the advert, it,ll still go in. Then wait for the dreaded phone calls 'what, where ,when, how much'??

Is there a scottish section to join? I am getting my s/wing on 25 th feb . delivered from dobles. Ilive in the penicuik area i would like to meet fellow s/wing riders. All the best. Mind dont use force use vaseline.

Hello drewsieboy,

You would probably get more response if you post a new thread in the introductions section introducing yourself.

No separate Scotland section, not many posters in the UK section. You could always start a thread in the UK section asking for Scottish members to post there, you may be able to arrange some meets or rides.

Cheers,

drewsieboy wrote:

Is there a scottish section to join?

There was originally an England section set up for members on this side of the Atlantic. It was changed about 18 months ago to UK section at the request of Mick, a Scottish forum member.

drewsieboy wrote:

Is there a scottish section to join? I am getting my s/wing on 25 th feb . delivered from dobles. Ilive in the penicuik area i would like to meet fellow s/wing riders. All the best. Mind dont use force use vaseline.

Nah laddie but there is an introduction section that will give you less grief and more joy!!!!

Nice pics tarmacburner. Glad you had good time.

TMB, just viewed your pics!!

The 'brewtime' brought memories and a pic I took of what you don't want to find in a 'passing place'.

Great pics, TMB - looks like a good trip

Love seeing the pictures and glad you had a good safe trip.
Old Dave in Western Nebraska