Vacation 2006 in Great Britain.

Saturday, July 29.
Just after 12.30 we leave fully loaded. We fuel-up here in the village. It is 22 degrees. Just before Leeuwarden it starts raining. The shower lasts until we leave the city. After that no rain anymore. At the monument on the Afsluitdijk we have a nicotine-break. We have some time to spare in IJmuiden, so we first go for a drink. Then we leave for customs. Roel passes the long queue, that is waiting and that leaves us in front. There we can wait in the shade of a trailer. As third and fourth bike we can embark. That means, that we are on the upper-deck. So tomorrow, first the lower deck has to be empty, before we can leave the ship. We had a sandwich and go see a movie at half past eight. After that we see some of the show and right after midnight we find our cabin.

Sunday, July 30.
Leaving the ship goes reasonably quick and after customs, I see the bright yellow Daytona of Alex. Guess who's sitting on it? His son Gordon. I can hardly park the bike, take of my gloves and helmet, or I am embrased by the little fellow. Alex leads us to his house and there we are equally treated by June and Samantha. Even the dogs are enthousiastic. After lunch Alex rides with us to Kielder Waters, a reservoir. A beautiful area and the road to it is even prettier, certainly for bikers. We ride by the seven sisters. When you drive too fast, you will come of your saddle. When we get back, Mick arrives on his new Aprilia. He's invited to join us for dinner and that way, we have a chance to catch up. Alex asks us, if we would like to join him to a concert of Jimmy Barnes on the mondaynight. That would mean, we have to stay another night.

Monday July 31.
The day starts reasonably, but soon the sky becomes overcast. June suggests to go to the Milennium-bridge and the Baltic Exhibition Centre together in the car. There is not that much of interest and we have lunch in Westerhope, in the Poachers Cottage. The walls are covered with Harley-items Round 2.30 Alex can get home from work. He would love to take us for another tour. But as soon as he enters the house, it starts pouring with rain. So no biking. We do go to the concert and we meet up with two other members of the U-turn MCC. On arrival home, we have a look at the pictures on the computer of the tour they made last may.

Tuesday, August 1.

Moffat

The weather looks reasonable enough, exept for a few droplets. We load our stuff and leave via Haddon and Carlisle to Moffat. We use A-roads to get a move on. At the information in Moffat, we ask for campings in the area. There is one right around the corner. We pay for 3 nights ahead. Then put up our tent and get the stuff from the bikes. We have a stroll through Moffat in order to find a place for dinner. We go to an Indian Restaurant. While shopping, we also buy a bottle of wine. Let's have some in the tent.

Unleaded-Diesel

Moffat-Selkirk

MotherwellMCC

Wednesday, August 2.
Roel is fed up with leading and so I make an attempt to get us lost. With the GPS (we call her Miep) we will find our way back. When we fuel-up at a service-station I see that diesel is more expensive than unleaded. My choice for the day is the road between Moffat and Selkirk. A B-road, that sometimes changes from into a single-track-road with passing places. From there, I go into the direction of Peebles. Last year I had a tour with the Forthriders here in the Borders. Roel is surprised by the beauty of the scenery. I try to avoid the city of Glasgow, but I get very close. Roel asks me to mention a name and I say: Kilmarnock. From there I turn into the most silly roads. Tonight we have plans to meet up with members of the Motherwell MCC. It is about time to get a move on into that direction. With the help of Miep, we do find the "Bullfrog", but it is yet too early. So we go find us a restaurant, for a meal. When we return, my counter passes the 40.00 km ( 25.000 miles). Around 8 PM the first members arrive. They want us to join them. We have a pleasant hour. The bartender needs to make a picture of us. It is near 10 PM when we are back on the camping. We undress and hit the sleepingbags. we have a cup of wine and have a talk-over.

Thursday, August 3.
Today Dumfries and Galloway. This morning I woke up early. In the first place, because it was so bright, in the second place, because the birds were singing so lovely. That could be a promise for a nice day. At Rockcliffe we have a coffee-stop. Every day we fill the thermos with hot water. On the peninsula before Stranraer, near Kirkcolm we have some lunch by the side of the road. Roel will be leading now and near Newton Stewart, he turns left into the direction of New Galloway. The Queens Road, a National Park. Exactly the roads that make us come back to Scotland. In Balmaclellan we have our last coffee from the thermos. Then soon we hit the road that leads from Stranraer to Dumfries. Not much later we are back on the camping. There we change into our normal clothes and go find some souvenirs. I have a good meal with Haggis, neaps and mash. Accompanied by a glass of cold Irn Bru. Then we start packing our stuff. The laundry is dry, so it can be put in the panier, no need to wait til tomorrow.

Friday, August 4.
After a day like yesterday, we hoped it would be another nice day. But it's not. Just after 5.30 in the morning, there is a real downpour and around 7 AM a drizzle starts. Now we'd better be creative on how to get things dry on the bikes. We leave Moffat and take the Motorway up to Glasgow. At junction 13 we leave the Motorway into the direction of Edinburgh. This is an A-road and we can drive 60mph, exept for the villages. Without delay we reach the camping "Mortonhall" in Edinburgh. Thanks to CeesBMW, who gave us this tip. The camping is on a road, that runs parallel to the city-bypass. In no time you can be out of town. We have the tent up in minutes and get our gear from the bikes. Change our clothes and take the bus alle the way to the Ocean Terminal. (1 pound for a single trip and 2,30 for a day-ticket). The Ocean Terminal is a paradise for who loves shopping. There are sales, but my bike is packed already. So we have a coffee and a snack. On the way back, we are in the top of the double decker bus and see quite a lot of the city. I really admire the busdrivers here, in this chaos.

Saturday, August 5.
Truckfest Scotland in Ingliston, near the airport of Edinburgh. There are not only trucks to be admired, but there are also shows. Monstertrucks, Jason Smyth jumping with his bike over his truck and the emergency-services on show. Police, paramedics and the firetrucks. Plenty to see. (check the page: Truckfest 2006) Though we haven't made a lot of miles, we sure enjoyed this day. When we come back to the camping, we have a shower and get dressed for dinner. But the restaurant has no place for us. We don't feel like going on the bikes again, so we go to the shop on the camping. We find a few tins with chicken-curry and a tin with new patatoes. Mix it together in a pan and heat it up. We sit at the table with our French neighbours, from Nantes. Bikers too, with their son and daughter. I admire the amount of stuff that they can carry on only 2 bikes. My french is not that good after all those years, but we menage to have a conversation.

Sunday, Augustus 6.

It's been quite windy over night. I woke up 3 times by an alarm. The whole camping must have been awake, exept the owner. Today we made a tour along Peebles and Jedburg. There we pass "Scott's view". A beautiful view. Then we visit the whisky-brewery of Glenkinchie. Had a few sips of 43%. On sunday they don't work, so it was nice and quiet. We move on to Portobello, but Norrie and Gill are not at home. Then we have another tour in the area.

As soon as I see a side-road, I drive into it. I give all credit to my T-shirt and we have to make a U-turn serveral times. We end up at a farm, have to turn in the gravel. Then we end up in front of fences at some factory and another time it is a quarry. Eventually we end up in Peebles, where we have a bite in Hotel Crown. We're back on base by 8.30 PM. The campingshop is closed, but there is a snackbar, where we can grab some breakfast. It is open from 7 AM til 11 PM.

Monday, August 7.

Today we will go to Perth, to visit the factory of Caithnes-glass. We are driving via the Forth Road Bridge. It is a toll-bridge, but bikers are free. It is quite an event to pass this bridge. I enjoy it. At Caithness, there is only glass-ware, mainly paperweights. But first we visit Sterling castle. It is quite steep to drive up there and in a queue. Good practice though. We go with the guided tour.

Quite interesting. Also the architecture. After the tour we have a look in the kitchen and at the silver tablepiece of the 91st regiment. By 6 we arrive at the Maharatta-bar in Grangemouth. It is closed, due to redecorating. So we leave the bikes there and walk to the Oxgang House Hotel, just around the corner, to have our dinner. At 7 PM we are back in the pub of the Maharattabar, to meet up with members of the Central Motorcycle Club.

Tuesday, August 8.
This morning we packed our stuff back on the bikes. Quick a roll and a coffee at the snack-bar. No fuss. Then we move on to Inverness, the "long way round". I may lead today and I drive via the Forth Road Bridge once again. Then Braemar is on the signs and I follow them in order to go by the Devil's Elbow. In Guildtown we fill up our fueltanks and move on. Near Blairgowry it is starting to rain and we put on our waterproofs. At Bridge-of-Cally it is dry again, but we keep going. At the Glenshee Ski-resort, we grab a bite. The Devil's Elbow is only 12%, but fun to drive. I want to go via Tomintoul, but there are signs on the street. While driving past, I see that there are roadworks and the delay can get up to 20 minutes. So on the parking at Balmoral Castle I turn around and drive up into the direction of Tomintoul. Here are at least slopes of 20%. I pick up speed and with 60 mph I drive up the slope. See how long "Truusje" is coping. On the top I realise that she has no trouble with it at all, even with all the luggage.

In the exitement of Inverness, I need to concentrate, but I find my way easily. There is a warm welcome. That evening Ed and Marianne take us to a steakhouse for our dinner. Afterwards we have a drink in the Hootenanny.

Wednesday, August 9.

This morning I walk with Ed to Tesco's, for some groceries. Then we have breakfast with the four of us. It is drizzling, but at 11.30 we decide to mount the bikes anyway. Just a few miles into the Highlands. I'm still curious where that road leads to, that I drove into last year, but due to the loose gravel, I turned back. Now we are together, I take the lead again. So we go into the direction of Blackfold. The first 20 miles we meet 2 oncoming cars and we overtake one pedestrian.

When I drive around a corner, I see a fox, sitting on the road. While aproaching, he jumps up and disappears into the undergrowth. At a certain moment I see water apearing up far. What Loch will that be? Then the road starts decending without end. When I turn the last corner I feel laughter coming up. The sign says only one word: to the right is Fort William. We're standing in front of Loch Ness. We do go into the direction of Fort William and in Drumnadrochit we turn right. Just outside the village, there is a service-station and we fill up again. Then again we move into the mountains. On our strolls, we end up at a hydropowerplant.

It stays drizzling and eventually we end up on the road to Drumnadrochit. On our way to Inverness, we pass by the antiqueshop/postoffice/coffehouse in Dochgarroch, where we met Ed for the first time 2 years ago. We stop for some coffee, just for old time sake. Much has changed. The big tables are now smaller ones. On arrival back in Inverness, the sun is shining. When I have a look on the internet that evening, I see that this day, I've had my 25.000th visitor on my website.

Thursday, August 10.
Early this morning I heard the neighbour take his garbage-container to the road, meaning that the bikes need to be moved, in order to get the ones of Ed and Marianne there as well. Then we wait until the last B&B-guests have left. So after eleven we leave for a ride.

With a bit of luck we do get to the Falls of Shin. The salmon-season is to it's end, but we do see just one salmon jump up to the falls succesfully. Then our trip leads us to Ullapool "the long way". The touristic tour. The A839 becomes the A837 and is mostly a single-track-road. Now and then there is some drizzle. In Ullapool we stop for some fuel and move on. Along the road I find a snackbar, where we have a stop. Because Marianne has to work, we take Ed for a chines buffet at Jimmy Chung in Unionstreet.

Friday, August 11.
We leave at 10.30 for John o'Groats. We refuel in Wick. There are a few nice corners and slopes in the track. In portgower we need to stop. The road is occupied by sheep. Quickly I take my camera out to make some pictures. On John o'Groats we make some pictures and stroll through the shops. We buy some souvenirs and then it is time to move back. It is nearly 250 miles to and fro. We have promised to be back by 6 PM. Marianne will have dinner ready by then. We have a "Bambi-burger" for dinner. Deer-mince with new patatoes and green beans.

Saturday, August 12.

We mount the bikes at 11.30. First we have put some pictures on the memory-stick, because both cards were full. So we can make more pictures now. We take the B862 into the direction of Fort Augustus. This road leads us along the east side of Loch Ness. While driving, a small deer passes in front of me. In Fort Augustus we have a cup of coffee and then we move back by the B861. This road is closer to the Loch. I wouldn't have minded to take the same road back. It is thrillingly beautiful, especially now that the purple of the heather becomes more intense by the day.

On the way back I see the sign "Killin". Can't be the village Killin, because that is far more to the south. Seems to be Killin Lodge. It is a dead-end road, but I'm not sorry for driving into it. There is a beautiful valley, with a lake, surrounded by mountains. Roel wants to know where it leads to and moves on, by the road full of holes. I stay near the bridge and make some pictures. There are a few tents near the water. Probably fishermen or walkers. So we have to drive back the 4 miles. Then we are on track again. By the sign of Falls of Foyers, I stop, to have a look and make a picture of the Falls.

Sunday, August 13.

We leave Inverness. Immediatly we are stuck in traffic. Miep knows a detour and we take the A86 to Fort Augustus. Along the western banks of Loch Ness. On the road are all kinds of plastic-castles-on-wheels and caravans. The serpentine-road doesn't give us much chance to overtake, but when we can, we can move on quicker. We have a stop at Urquheart Castle, for some pictures. They are still rebuilding.

Glen Coe

Glen Coe

Glen Coe

Fort Augustus, Invermoriston, Fort William-monument, Speanbridge. Then we go on through Glen Coe. On a layby we stop to make some pictures. They are so impressive, these mountains. There are still roadworks, just like last year. So we have some delay at the traffic-lights. It is sunday and beautiful weather, so there are many bikers on the road. Never seen so many ways of bikers greeting in one day.

Tyndrum

Inveraray-Luss

Lagganbeg

Then we end up in Tyndrum, at the Green Welly Shop. We park on the special parkingplace for motorcycles. It is much frequented. When the bikes are parked, I walk away and unzip my coat. Suddenly I hear: Feanwâlden. I wear the sweater of the local bikerclub. It is a bikester from the next village. In the restaurant we have coffee with the four of us. John Christie of Inverardran House is not in the whisky-corner. Pity, I would have liked to meet him, if only for a few words. We leave into the direction of Oban and after Dalmally we turn left to Inveraray, to find us a camping. At the information they tell us, that there is no place for us. They give us documentation, where to find a place. We choose to go for Luss near Loch Lomond. That camping is booked solid as well. They give us directions to find something on the other side of the Loch. Between Balloch and Drymen we find a sign for a camping and we end up on camping Lagganbeg. For 12 pound we can stay for one night. Unfortionatly we have to go back to Balloch for our dinner. The camping has no facilities. The shops are still open and we buy some rolls, cheddar and spam for breakfast. Today it was lovely weather. This evening we walk along the camping towards Loch Lomond. We see the sun set over the water, on the other side.

Balloch

Loch Lomond

Monday, August 14.
Eight oçlock in the morning. Time for the morning-ritual of getting dressed and making coffee. We have rolls for breakfast. At 10 the bikes are loaded and we are on the move again. We go into the direction of Sterling and then on a single-track road. I'm not too happy with it this early, but Miep leads the way today. Then we turn to an even narrower road. Happy that we have no oncoming traffic. This could become a long day. But then we come to the road to Glasgow. Here we can move on. Miep brings us nicely in line for the Clyde-tunnel, but changes her mind. She sends us through the city of Glasgow. Every traffic-light we have to stop. Gives us a chance to look around. Then we reach the city-bypass. It is about 100 miles to Carlisle. Then we move on to Penrith and into the direction of Kendal;. Halfway we drive into the village of Burnside and leave it on the other side again. Then we are almost on the camping "Windemere". When the tent is up, we put our stuff in and drive to Windemere for some groceries for breakfast the next morning. We have dinner in the restaurant on the camping. Just the easy way.

Tuesday, August 15.

This morning we are late having our breakfast and coffee. At about 11.30 we mount the bikes. The sky is overcast and we decide to go to the "Pencil-museum". It is a museum dedicated to the (color)pencil. When we drive into the direction of Windemere, we ride into a queue. At Ings there are speed-camera's and everybody slows down here. Then we keep moving 30 ( instead of 60) to Windemere, but even through Ambleside and past Grasmere we can not build up speed.

The local people must be at work by now, so it must be tourists. Above that, there is so much oncoming traffic, that it is irrisponsable to overtake. With all the curves and summits, you simply can't. After visiting the museum, we decide to go to the mine-museum. So we try and find some documentation. We end up at the slate-mine of Honister. At 3 oçlock we can join with a guided tour in one of the older mines. At 5 we are back in the building. That was quite interesting. Then I want to drive through the Honister-pass, Miep wants us to go the other way. She'd better recalculate. So it takes 60 kilometres to get back to the camping. I don't regret my decision. On arrival we are adressed to by 2 other bikers, our neighbours, Brian and Nick. After dinner in the restaurant on the camping they ask us to join them in the pub. We stay until the pub is closed.

Wednesday, August 16.

This morning we leave the camping on to the A591 and we do 60 mph. Near Ings, Bingo! Again, until we leave Grasmere we are in a queue, that doesn't move any faster than 30 mph. That must be about 6 miles long. Then we drive up into the mountains and just before 10 AM we have our first slope of 25%. Before 11 we have done the Wrynose and the Hardknot-pass. The first is 25%, but the other is 30% with severe bends and is 1310 feet. The rest of the day, can only be easy.

We have a nicotine-break at Broughton and use our lunch in Coniston. When we are going to move on, Roel is already ahead of me, with a tour in his GPS (Miep). I try to follow, but there is a certain unbalance in my bike, as if the front wheel has come loose. I can't drive fast, my rear is sliding away in the corners, so deliberatly I stay behind. He will notice, and he does.

When I come to drive next to him, I yell that we have to stop. But we can't do that on this busy road and I overtake him. He already sees what is going on, by the cheeks on my rear tyre. It has lost air. Then I drive into Grasmere and there is a large parking. No place, exept on the yellow lines. We are out of the way and place the bike on the midstand. Then I see that I've used my rear-brake too much on the slopes of the passes. The canvas is showing.

We call the ANWB-emergency-centre. They call the AA. Within a quarter of an hour, Malcolm arrives. He diagnoses a puncture. With a spray we find it, next to the place where we can see the canvas. It is beyond repair and he starts calling to bikeshops for a tyre. The fourth attempt, there is a tyre in stock, but it is in Whitehaven. We will need a recovery-truck, for the 40 miles to go. We wait for 2 hours in the sun. I'd rather driven this tour that we started this morning. CeesBMW sent it to us, but we just can't. Then I mount the recovery-truck and together with Bill Smith I ride to Whitehaven. Roel follows on the bike. I can now do some sightseeing. Because of the many corners, you don't see much of the scenery, when on the bike. Bill tells me about the things that we see on our way. Right after Keswick, he calls to Dave Milling's bikeshop. Usually Dave closes at 5 PM but will wait for us, so that my bike can stay inside over night. The next morning at 11, my bike will be ready. So I have to be Roel his pillion on the way back to the camping.

Thursday, August 17.
I've set the alarm on my mobile phone for 8 o'clock. But the next morning I realise, that it still has Dutch time and it is only 7 AM when we wake up. We were supposed to go to New Castle today. We need to get the stuff out before 12 noon, but we can't make it. Roel goes to reception, to tell them about our problem. They had already seen that we came back with only one bike. They understand and tell us to take our time. We pack our things and leave them in the tent. Then it is just a matter of loading the stuff on the bike and pack the tent. So again I am Roel his pillion and we drive to my Deauville in Whitehaven. She's ready and after 89 kilometres, we are back on the camping. Just one more drink and a stop at the sanitary facilities and at 1 PM we go into the direction of New Castle. I've sent a text-message to tell we will aproxomatly arrive at 4 PM. No rush for us and plenty of time to make a few stops. The adres is put into Miep and off we go, she won't let us down. She leads us to a single-track-road. A good start, followed by an even narrower road, where only one vehicle fits. No oncoming traffic again, so we can move on. After a lot of going up and down we end up on a B-road. That moves a lot quicker.

We go by Alston Moor. On the highest point we stop on a parking, to make some pictures and get my nicotine-level up. I suggest to put on our waterproofs, but Roel thinks it is not necessary. The first droplets show on my top-suitcase, so we'd better get them on. Then we are decending the mountain in the rain and going up again. There are a few tricky and surprising hairpins and I haven't seen a sign to announce them. On the other side of the mountain it is dry. We end up on the A69 and are almost there.

When I ring the doorbel, Gordon opens up. By the sound of him, June knows that we have arrived. We park the bikes in the carport and throw the luggage off. What we need, we will bring into the house. Last time we have promised that we would come to the swimmingpool with them and so we do. Then there is a pleasant evening to follow.

Friday, August 18.

My grandmother her 103rd birthday today! A bit of a rainy day. The suggestion rises to go to the Discovery museum with the six of us. When there, Alex gets a call that he has to go immediatly. The kids stay with us and June takes Alex back to the house. That evening we go to the Metro-Centre and have dinner at Wetherspoons. Alex and I stay in the livingroom chatting, while the others are already asleep.

Saturday, August 19.

Alex has to work this morning for only a few hours. He can be home by 10. Then we mount our bikes and have a stroll through the bikeshops of New Castle. All in the same street. Gordon is getting a new biker-outfit. Then we have a short tour to the outer beach, where we meet up with Mick and John. When we come back, June has dinner ready. Then we need to get a move on, as it is time to leave. So we put our stuff on the bike and drive to the Royal Quays. Samantha is Alex his pillion this time and Gordon rides along in the car with June. Mick is there too. They come to say goodbye. Almost immediatly on arrival we can go through customs, so it is a brief, but very emotional goodbye.

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