A couple of weekends back HB and I had planned to go to Applecross with Maw and Faithir. They had booked a static caravan, or chalet (depends how posh you are) for the weekend and there was plenty room for us.
Faithir and I had a couple of days off before we had to leave for Applecross so we decided to go the long way stopping to camp at Glencoe and Dunvegan on the Isle of Skye.
The road up to to Glencoe is brilliant. The first bit to Callander is a bit dull with a few motorway/dual carriageway miles but after that its great fun. There's a really nice twisty bit along the side of Loch Lubnaig, then on to Rannoch Moor, where it was windy as fuck. It must have been the strongest wind I've ridden in, which includes a run along Loch Eribol where the full loaded GS was nearly blown off its side stand. I found that accelerating was the best way to keep the bike in a relatively straight line.
Riding into Glencoe the scenery is stunning. I've tried to show it in the video below but the camera really doesn't do it justice.
Following Faithir along the nice twisty bit after Callander.
Riding through Glencoe.
The Red Squirrel Campsite
We were camping at the
Red Squirrel campsite, a nice site where folk have been camping for years and years. You are allowed to have fires on site, which is quite rare here and the toilets and showers have recently been upgraded.
After we got the tents up we nipped to the shop for a couple of beers and some supplies. We also bought some logs to go along with the planks I had strapped to the back of the GS. The Red Squirrel is a popular site so you'll rarely find any fallen wood on the site. Being quite close to Glasgow the Red Squirrel can occasionally be visited by a special brand of fuckwit who try to pull the branches off the trees for firewood. If they watched Ray Mears instead of Jeremy Kyle they know that green wood doesn't burn that great. Luckily it was midweek so the campsite was fuckwit free, apart from myself and Faithir of course.
Sitting round the fire was great crack. Usually you need a fire at Glencoe to keep the midgies at bay but there was quite still quite a strong wind blowing which gets rid of them too. After a while we headed along the road to the
Clachaig Inn where we had some food and a few nice beers.
The next morning I opened my tent.
Bastard.
FUCKING MIDGIES.
There were millions of them. I'm usually not that bothered by midgies but these wee fuckers were unbearable. For those of you that don't know, midgies are tiny wee flying insect that bite and are really fucking annoying. We took the tents down as quick as we could then went to a cafe for breakfast. We were both covered in wee red dots like someone had drawn on us with a red felt tip pen, fucking midgies. Breafast at the
Glencoe Cafe good though. No fucking midgies there.
Midgie bites on Faithis heid.
Fucking midgies
Braw, and nae midgies.
Our next destination was Dunvegan on Skye. We rode up the side of Loch Ness, not seeing any monsters, then along Glen Garry and the A87, passing the famous Eilean Donan Castle at Dornie. Eilean Donan was mobbed with tourists so I didn't stop for a photo, instead we pushed on into Skye, riding the fast, twisty road through the Cullin hills and over to Dunvegan.
Dunvegan Campsite.
Lens cap ya fud.
At Danny MacAskill's folks place.
Dunvegan Campsite
Dunvegan. Dunno how the sheep get off the wee island.
Nice spicy venison burger.
After a quiet night in Dunvegan we headed back over the Skye Bridge to the mainland and on to Applecross. The road to Applecross, the Bealach Na Ba, is the highest in Scotland at 2052 feet. its a really scenic, narrow twisty single track road, you can see lots of it in the video below and the GS is parked on it in the title picture of this blog.
From Loch Ness to Applecross.
Faithir on the Bealach Na Ba
At the top of the Bealach Na Ba
The caravan at
Applecross campsite was great. It had a nice wee raised decking bit on it with a table and chairs with a view looking out over Applecross Bay. Faithir and I arrivesd a few hours before HB, Maw and Roli Dog so got a quick pint in at the Applecross Inn.
We had the caravan for three nights and spent most of out time chilling out. We had a meal in the
Applecross Inn and got the crack with some of the staff locals and other visitors. It really is a great place to visit, the landlady, Judy Fish, keeps the place at a really high standard and no matter how busy they are you always get fed and watered. One night was the annual Applecross Raft Race. The
RNLI had their lifeboats there doing a display and the Applecross Inn had a barbecue, music and other entertainment on.
We visited the
Walled Garden and I had a good few spins on the bike. HB and I went for a spin round the coast road to
Shards Stained Glass and I went down to the pier at Toscaig where a couple on a Bandit 600 and a Suzuki Intruder 250 were catching mackerel.
We also got the usual cracking sunsets.
The appropriately named Sand on the Applecross Coast Road.
Chilling oot at the caravan.
HB and Roli at the Walled garden.
Shards Stained Glass.
We seen these Goldwings on the campsite....
This was their camp setup! looks cool but I wouldn't want to be in there if the weather turned bad, or if the bastard midgies came out!
Got speaking to this Polish guy. He came up to Applecross from a break working at the Edinburgh Festival on his
MZ 250.
Applecross Inn menu. Its all really fucking good.
Plaice and squat lobster.
Mussels
Drambuie soaked haggis
Chowder.
The food is goooood.
So was the crack.
Barbecue
RNLI
HB, Roli and Maw outside the Applecross Inn.
There was this picture on the wall of when the Six Day Trials came to Applecross in 1930.
The Cullins of Skye from Applecross.
When the sun goes down the cameras come out.
If you've not been to Applecross go for a visit. Its gid.
