Biking in the West of Scotland

skye 2000 | switzerland 2000 | north west scotland 2001 | france 2001

France 2001

This trip came about because a friend had an apartment in La Rochelle in the mid west coast of France. So it was that Billy, Brydon and myself headed off to France only for a week. Well we didn't quite head off together, I was at a long arranged golf weekend at Royal Dornoch and on Sunday had a B&B booked in Lockerbie, to kill some of the journey to Portsmouth. Basically, I left the guys after the 12th hole, shot the 140 miles home. Packed my luggage and bike with all the necessities and started on the 160 mile journey to Lockerbie, in the process meeting my wife and kids at the MacDonalds for 6.30pm. Things never go smoothly as you know, so half way down on the Inveraray to Tarbert road I've already described on this site, there was a fatal car accident and the road was closed and had been for 4 hours. I met a team of bikers at the front of the queue who had already got a plan to get round and were turning round. They gesticulated to follow them and we went over the mountain by the single track road. Although this only took half an hour, I was seriously late for meeting Claire, so I decided to beetle down the Loch Lomondside road at a pace which if caught, would have been no license, hopefully the policeman would understand, wouldn't he! Got to MacDonalds at 6.55pm and Claire was going to give me till 7pm and then go, just made it, however she understood. A quick Quarterpounder with cheese meal and off to Lockerbie, which was one of the worst journeys I've had, pitch dark, pouring with rain and hellish fogging of my visor made the journey just terrible. Glad to see Lockerbie and the great B&B I've used a few times.

Up in the morning and a long trek to Portsmouth, the booking for the fast Cat boat being first thing in the morning. The journey, thankfully was dry, the Pan of course went like a dream, but my bum was killing me, the Pan seat is just too narrow for mega journeys. Anyway I made good time and met the guys at the Ibis hotel in Portsmouth.


Cherbourg	This was actually on our way back to Cherbourg, great weather and great roads. Anyone who has done it will tell you about the quality of the roads, mile after mile of billiard smooth tarmac with no seams. I would love to get into a debate about the gaping differences in our transport infrastructure and theirs, surely the movement of people around there own country is paramount. We may be in the top 10 economies, but we are in the bottom 10 for infrastructure. How people cope with the M6/M62 jams day after day and the M25 gridlock, I don't know.

This is the famous old monastery of Mont St Michel near St Malo on the Northern Coast of France. Absolutely stunning on the drive up to it. Inside it is full of small cobbled streets and tourist shops, quaint is probably the word. We didn't stay long and we didn't climb up to the monastery, however we did see the restaurant famous for its omelets and the chefs who beat the eggs in musical rhythm!	Mont St. Michel

Cafe	Of course, what makes it a holiday is finding a tucked away cafe in a tiny village with magic coffee. This cafe must have been so tucked away, the owners took a photo of us. The weather was great, clear skies as you can see but not boiling temperatures. In conclusion northern France will be a quick jaunt for some of you and is well worth it. For us, Portsmouth was nearly 600 miles, which at a decent pace can roll over into 2 days. On the way home we actually did Portsmouth to Oban in a oner, taking in total about 11 hours, mainly because of my sore bum. It has to be said that Billy did not have any posterior discomfort on his RT and Brydon took a gel pad, which he though helped a bit. I hope the new pan has a slightly wider seat! Finally, many thanks to Brydon for not only the use of the apartment but assuming the lead all the way. He is an ex police biker, I only wish I had the look that he gave some errant motorists, years of Police training I suppose!

skye 2000 | switzerland 2000 | north west scotland 2001 | france 2001