Cape Wrath or Bust – A 4pm start – in theory anyway.

Leaving our grub stop

My alarm went off at 3:30am, I’d only had about 3hrs sleep as I’d been up the night before getting the bike packed and giving the bike a once over, you know the score, check and top up the engine oil, check and top up the gearbox oil, check the brakes, set the suspension, sort out the tyre pressures and then after a couple of small bottles of Tuborg, off to sleep. Well 3:30 didn’t seem so bad after a cuppa and some grub. The plan was to set off down the M62 and onto the M6 northbound. On previous trips we had always arranged to meet at Lancaster or Charnock Richard services, however this time with a good number of miles to cover we decided on a rolling rendezvous.  As the lads were riding up from Stafford I would give them 20mins head start and then set off. In theory, I would join the M6 in front of them, slow down and wait for them to catch up. So at 4am I was sat outside the house waiting for the call, it eventually came at 4:18, my brother John had overslept and had been awoken by Giles throwing stones at his window. Well despite Johns best efforts at derailing the plan it did in fact work and we met as planned. Not having to stop saved a lot of time and we made swift progress up to the lakes before stopping for fuel.

The next few hours saw Glasgow come and go,  then up along the banks of Loch Lomond and on to the Green Welly Stop at Tyndrum. Just in time to replace the headlight bulb in the Zeppelin that had failed down by the Loch and attempt to get JWs Super Tenere running on both cylinders again. The rain had got to it and at low speeds it was missing like a good one. Our considered engineering solution was to spray it with water displacer and rev its nuts off.  An operation that was not to go unnoticed due to its rather alarming “silencer” and the fact we had parked it just by the shop!

The next stage of the ride was great, we climbed up onto Rannock Moor and headed into Glencoe, where we parked and continued with our Super Tenere problem solving technique. Now I must admit that one of Europe’s last unspoilt wilderness in not the place to be fixing the bike, let alone one with such an ineffective silence. Soon we set off again and before long we were north of Fort William and on our way  to Loch Carron and some grub in the Waterside Cafe. The cafes a great place, its very biker friendly and serves some of the best grub in the region. Highly recommended if you just happen to be passing on you way north or south for that matter.

After our stop for food it was back on the bikes for the ride and up over the pass of the cattle to Applecross campsite and a few jars in the pub, well more than a few if the truth be known, but thats another story.

Sundial on the pass of the cattle, looking out to the Western Isles.

Scrag on top of the pass

Bikes on the pass

Beautiful Applecross bay

The end of a long days riding

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~ by davidallanson on October 30, 2010.