Scotland Ride

Our HOG Fly-&-Ride to Scotland
May 2005

Doug & Kathy Roberts
Spokane, Washington

Our motorcycle loop around England and Scotland

Kathy and I have been riding and touring together since we got our first Sportster in the 1980s. We moved up to an older FL in the ‘90s and finally bought our new FLHTCI Electra-Glide Classic in 2002. We have ridden lots of miles in the U.S., but we had never been overseas before. So, beginning a couple of years ago, we started thinking about where we would really like to go, and Scotland just seemed to pop up. We didn’t have any particular reason – it just seemed like a cool place to visit. Old castles, Scotch whiskey, green fields, scenic lochs and lilting musical Scotch accents. . . yeah, I could go there.

The decision: Play it safe, ride the busses, the trains, get a rental car, avoid the rain, be a tourist . . . or go for it: tour on a Harley like we do every year here in the States. Will Kathy mind riding in the cold and rain? What a woman. She said let’s go for it. We’ll always regret it if we go all the way over there and don’t get to ride the roads. Was there ever any question?!

The folks at the HOG Fly-&-Ride office are great. I went on-line and booked a bike. Not available in Scotland yet, we had to make London our arrival and departure site, which meant riding across England and back too. Okay, we can do that. They are small countries, like riding across a couple of States. We paid half the rental on-line with the credit card, and the rest 6-weeks later, so we were all paid for before we even left. We booked the flights and ordered some British money. The guidebooks said late May or early June were the least rainy months, so we flew out Monday, May 16th from Seattle to London. The following descriptions have been taken from our maps, pictures and travel log, which we wrote each night after the day’s riding.

Tuesday, May 17

After a long flight over Greenland & Iceland, we landed at Heathrow and headed for Stadium Harley-Davidson in the north end of London, Chingford.

Kathy in front of the Harley dealership in London, Chingford Road

There, we were met by a really nice staff that knew who we were by our FL saddlebag luggage with the airline tags hanging off them. We were taken out to a brand new 2005 Ultra-Classic Electra-Glide with only 120-miles on it in deep black cherry and sparkling black. What a beauty! I was concerned about breaking-in the new engine, but the dealer said that it was okay, not to worry, and to just enjoy my ride. We dropped our bags in the saddlebags, put on our helmets, and were on our way.

I had gone online and found a hotel near the dealer for our first night, so we checked-in, freshened-up, and went for a shake-down cruise around north London. Riding on the left was odd at first, but not that hard. I never really had any trouble with that, except perhaps U-turns (I’m used to going left, but you need to go right over there). We even noticed that people on the sidewalks and grocery store aisles tend to walk and pass on the left! The travel books didn’t mention that one.

We cruised around Chingford, managed to get turned-around, and took a while to find our way back. That was only the first time we got lost in strange U.K. cities. We turned-in early because we were nine time-zones out of sync, and headed out the next morning on our Scotland ride.

Wednesday, May 18

Up for breakfast at the hotel and onto the road north. The weather was good, so we decided to make tracks for Scotland on the superslab, first the M-11 to Cambridge and onto the A-1(M) to the north. It was odd to ride through dozens of roundabouts wherever there would have been intersections or freeway interchanges in the U.S. They are quite efficient once you get used to them.

First stop: the little village of Wetherby for lunch. We found a little pub called the George & Dragon by a scenic bridge and ordered fish & chips. It was one single, huge piece of fish, and it was delicious, with home-made chips (French fries) and some local variation on coleslaw. We shot some pictures and continued north.

Lunch stop at the George & Dragon in Wetherby, England

Neighborhood view from the George & Dragon

The neighborhood view from behind the George & Dragon

Doug at the George & Dragon

Doug and the bike behind the George & Dragon

The English countryside was so green, with rolling fields of yellow flowers and cattle, sheep and pigs everywhere. Another odd sight: we passed a huge Concord jet airliner by the side of the road. Evidently a new air museum is being built. That was certainly an unexpected roadside encounter. We covered about 300-miles that first day and stopped for the night at a little hotel just north of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. We were only 50-miles from Scotland.

Thursday, May 19

A rainy morning. The hotel didn’t provide breakfast, so we headed out and had Eggs Florentine on English muffins with coffee at a little café in Alnwick. We took some pictures at a little coastal border town called Berwick-upon-Tweed which has some ancient Roman aqueducts and ruins set beside a quaint little harbor. Edinburgh was just ahead.

We thought we’d find the Harley dealer in Edinburgh and get a couple tee-shirts for our trouble. Who knew! We got off the highway into Edinburgh city traffic and got lost again. The town is magnificent. We were like drop-jawed provincials as we rode through the ancient streets, past the famous Edinburgh castle, and marveled at the architecture, the narrow streets and the blocks and blocks of tightly-packed row houses. I’d love to go back and spend a week there. Kathy shot pictures over my shoulder as we rode through the city. We never found the Harley dealer.

Riding through Edinburgh

Impressive Edinburgh street scenes

Eventually we made it back to the highway and crossed the toll bridge (motorcycles free) over the bay called the Firth of Forth (love that name!) where we found a quiet little bed & breakfast in the village of Kircaldy, just north across the bay from Edinburgh. It was in a 160-year-old house owned by a cute little Scottish couple. Rather overwhelmed by the amazing ride, we walked to a little store and brought back some bread, Danish sausage, cheese, oranges and brandy and had a quiet cold dinner at “Scottie’s B&B”.

Kathy at Scotties B&B in Kircaldy, Scotland

Friday, May 20

Helene, our landlady made us our first big Scottish breakfast: eggs, bacon (like big slices of ham), sausages, haggis, hash brown potatoes, toast, sautéed mushrooms, fried bread, a potato scone, hot tomato wedge, orange juice, and coffee in a coffee press. We went out to her little garden/patio and took some pictures, then headed out. What a meal. I even ate the haggis!

Kathy with Helene the landlady at Scotties B&B

Kathy with our Scotish Landlady, Helene, in the patio area behind Scotties B&B

We had noticed the Kircaldy town library on our walk to the store, so we stopped and went in to check our e-mail. Even the library was cool – an ancient stone building with a museum and art gallery, situated on a little green park surrounded with stonework. We sent updates to friends and family and headed out into a rainy morning.

At the Library in Kircaldy

View from the Kircaldy Library

The little park at Kircaldy Library

I had seen a picture of the coastal town of Crail in the guidebook, and it looked like a must-see, so we headed out in the rain to find it. We encountered our first single-lane country roads, where you have to go slow and pull over at the little turn-outs when somebody is coming the other way. Very quaint. We had a rain break for coffee and rolls at Crail and checked-out the little harbor.

Views of the little seaside harbor at Crail, eastern coast of Scotland

It seems amazing to me that people still live like this in little fishing hamlets by the sea with small stone houses clinging to the hillsides. And the green – everything was so green and damp and fresh.

We continued north up the scenic coast road to the sounds of Celtic music on the CD player (we brought appropriate road music) and soon hit the famous town of St. Andrews, home of ancient Roman architecture, ruins, and the birthplace of golf. There were seaside golf courses all along the road and some incredible ruins in the town. I got some great shots of an old battle-scarred tower and church, where Robert-the-Bruce’s heart is supposed to be buried.

Kathy at the ruins in St. Andrews

Ruins at St. Andrews

Robert the Bruce's heart is buried here

The road through St. Andrews

Continuing on the coastal trail, we came to the city of Dundee where we crossed another big bay bridge and kept going north up the coast. It started raining again, so we stopped at around 4:00 at another little harbor town called Stonehaven. We found a little Bed & Breakfast that turned out to be a real find. They had another couple there who had ridden in from Germany on a Ducati and didn’t speak much English. We were able to park our bikes in a little courtyard behind the B&B, clean them up a bit, and talked a little bit about our rides.

I’m a weekend musician, and I noticed the B&B owner had a guitar. I asked him if there might be any local music going on, since it was Friday night. He just happened to belong to a local folk music club that gets together at a little hotel & bar on Friday nights to jam and share music. He invited us to join them. The hotel was just a few blocks away, so we walked down for dinner and then joined in with the music night.

The hotel at Stonehaven where we had our local music night

What an experience! There were acoustic guitars, a fiddle, a small set of bagpipes, a button-box accordion, a mandolin, some hand drums and even spoons. And the singers . . . There were 14-people there sitting around a circle of tables and they just went ‘round the circle, each person playing or singing a song, or a drum solo, or joining in with the others to sing or play along with tunes they knew. I even got to play a couple of solos to much appreciation. These were the most wonderful and open local folks we had met, and some pretty good amateur musicians as well. We heard a piper play a sad solo melody. Two women were singers and each did a couple lovely Scottish ballads, pure and unaccompanied, just sitting there and making these beautiful tunes. We heard sad songs of love and loss, and a couple pretty bawdy drinking songs as well (which they translated for us so we’d get all the sly references). The ales were refilled and soon it was past 11:00. We walked back to the B&B through an old neighborhood of grey stone houses with lovely melodies in our heads. Traveling just doesn’t get much better than this.

Saturday, May 21

This morning we woke up to a sunny day and another big Scottish breakfast at the B&B. We shared the breakfast table with the young couple from Germany, ate too much food, and prepared to ride. I thanked Dennis, our host, for the fun night and gave him one of my CDs. Today would be the “Great Castle Ride”.

Our first castle was right there at Stonehaven, Dunnottar Castle. It’s an old ruin, built in 1392, which stands on a high bluff overlooking the rocky seacoast. It was partly destroyed in 1718, and now stands as a noble ruin and tourist magnet just on the edge of the town.

Dunnottar Castle ruins at Stonehaven, east coast of Scotland

Heading west from the scenic coast road, we cut across the highlands to explore parts of the “Castle Trail”. Stops included Drum Castle (1280), Crathes Castle, the small pink fairy-tale-like Craigievar Castle (1620s) and more.

On the "Castle Trail" in the Highlands, North-Central Scotland

Doug at Craigievar Castle, a small, odd castle on the "Castle Trail"

The ruins of the ancient Kildrummy Castle sit on a grassy hill, surrounded by sheep and baby lambs grazing in the surrounding fields. Kildrummy Castle (1250) is another ruined piece of history, with just assorted pieces of walls and towers still standing – another tribute to mankind’s penchant for war and destruction. It makes me kind of sad to see these wonderful ancient stone castles reduced to piles of rocks and rubble by centuries of conflict and war.

Kildrummy Castle Ruins

Sheep graze in the fields surrounding the ruins of Kildrummy Castle

We also passed by Auchindoun Castle and a bunch of whisky distilleries as we cut over the central highlands toward the river Spey.

The Glenlivet, Balmor, Glenfiddich and Aberlour distilleries are all located in that area. Most of them were surprisingly small operations, especially considering the worldwide sales and name recognition they enjoy. We also passed a small, historic cooperage, where oak barrels are made for aging the whisky.

Grantown-on-Spey was our stop for the night, where we found a B&B for 48-pounds and went out walking to explore the town.

Stopping at a quaint local pub, we sampled some whisky (no “e” in whisky over there) that was made just down the road and listened to the locals having their pints and watching the football on TV. Just down the street was an old hotel that had a restaurant and bar with the menu posted by the door. We decided to eat in the bar and try another whisky. Kathy had the lamb, with potatoes and veggies and I tried their Scottish version of chili. It was loaded with big, tender chunks of local Angus beef, and in a strange pairing, was served with rice on the side!

We eventually walked back to the B&B at 8:30 and watched a little American TV before bed. Another strange thing: They ran a CSI New York, and an episode of Law & Order Criminal Intent, but without the regular music soundtrack. Instead of that signature opening theme, Bum-pa bum-pa bum-pa Bummm… there was this cheesy orchestra music over the opening pictures of the cast, then right into the show. All those little musical transitions between scenes were missing too. It was like they got the rights to broadcast the show, but couldn’t get the rights to the music, so they just ran the program without the themes and incidental music interludes. They must have some legal problems with the overseas music copyrights. Curious.

Sunday, May 22nd

Yup, another big Scottish breakfast to start the day. We called on an e-mail acquaintance on our way out of Grantown-on-Spey and visited with him and his family for a while. When we finally got on the road it was late, about 1:00.

Our young friend Donny from Grantown-on-Spey

We took a quiet road west and north to Inverness, a thriving town at the north end of Loch Ness. We rode a loop through the town and realized it was decision time. We were almost at the half-way point of our two-weeks: Should we continue on further north, or start heading back toward London. We hadn’t seen any of the north coast yet, but didn’t want to get stuck too far out if the weather turned bad and have to ride 800-miles in the rain. Well hey, we may not get here again anytime soon – let’s go for it. We headed north for Wick.

A few light sprinkles fell as we set out on the coastal highway for the northernmost corner of Scotland – in fact the northernmost point of the whole UK. This was to be perhaps the most incredible ride of the trip so far. The highway follows the coastline and has spectacular views all along the road.

Dornach Firth, part of the North Sea, along the roadside in Northeast Scotland

Moray Firth, on the road to Wick, Northern Scotland

Dornach Firth and the Moray Firth come right up to the road, and cut inland into cold lochs crossed by bridges. There are no trees, just rocks, ochre scotch broom and heather, and the greenest greens you’ve ever seen. Just about every time we went around another curve, there would be a picture postcard view, as the little bays and fields unfolded before us. Ancient rows of low stone walls separate the various small farms and crofts, where sheep and cattle graze. Old stone cabins and the ruins of even older stone houses, barns and churches dot the landscape. We saw deer, wild rabbits, pheasants, hawks and seabirds soaring above. This is a great twisty road and every turn revealed another incredible view. In my trip log that night I wrote: “Maybe the best motorcycle ride I’ve ever taken!”

Stopping along that great road late that afternoon, we came to another huge castle. Dunrobin Castle on Moray Firth is another big, towering castle, now restored and made into a museum and visitor center.

It sits high above the windswept rocky coast where it protected the local Scotts from raiding Norseman from across the North Sea. We went in briefly and checked out some of the arms and armor on display by the entrance, but because it was getting late, we passed on the full tour.

Dunrobin Castle

Kathy at Dunrobin

Kathy at the huge front door of Dunrobin Castle

The Harley at Dunrobin

The bug-splattered Harley parked by the canons at Dunrobin Castle, near Wick, Northern Scotland

We finally made it to the town of Wick at 5:50. We looked at a couple B&Bs but they looked rather run-down and were down by the old industrial docks, so we decided to splurge on a nice hotel. We got a room at the Norseman Hotel for 60-pounds ($120.). Their “sea-view” rooms were all taken so we settled for a “garden view” room. The “garden” turned out to be an ancient ruined stone church and graveyard just outside our room’s window. Now there’s a view for you! What a night – things went down hill from there though. There was a grocery store across from the hotel that was busy when we checked-in. So after we cleaned-up a bit, we walked to the store and it had closed early (Sunday night). So we had to eat at the hotel. They wouldn’t cash a traveler’s check. The bar didn’t have any brandy (my usual drink). Over half the items on the menu weren’t available – yes, out of food too! Kathy wound up with a side-salad and a roll for 6-pounds ($12.00!). What a rip-off. There was a cool part though: It was still light at 10:00 pm and still twilight at after 11:00. It got cold and windy, but we had made it all the way to the north end of the British Isles. What a day!

The "Garden View" from our hotel room at the Norseman Hotel, in Wick

Monday May 23rd

“Riding in the Rain, from Tongue to Tain”

We started the day with breakfast at the hotel, sent 10 postcards from the post office in Wick, and headed north again for the last few miles to John-O-Groats on the very northern tip of the Great Britain. It was cold.

As we reached the northernmost point of the country, the road curved west to follow the rocky northern coastline. We came to still another cool castle, the Castle of Mey. This one sits on the windswept coast, facing north to where the Viking and Norse raiders would have come across the North Sea. The coast here is windy and cold, wild, with rock outcroppings and jutting barren spits of land poking out into a deep blue sea.

The Castle of Mey, on the North Sea, north coast of Scotland

Here, the nice road started trickling out. We started coming to sections of road that were only one-lane wide. There were little pull-offs every so-often where you could squeeze over and let another vehicle pass from the other direction. The north wind blew across the sea and chilled us on the Ultra. The road was spectacular, the views were incredible. The wind came across the North Sea from the cold fjords of Norway and the Shetland Islands. Our map showed we were at the same latitude as Oslo, St. Petersburg, Hudson Bay, and Skagway - further north than Anchorage.

The North Coast of Scotland - cold and windy

Another view from the road along the North Coast

Stunning views and cold wind from the "Top of Scotland"

While we had thought of circling clear around the north part of Scotland and back down the west coast, this was slow going, and it was cold on the bike. Our map showed a scenic road back to the south, going inland, from the little north coast town of Tongue, so we had lunch and a coffee break at Tongue and decided to finally start our ride south. It was getting pretty cold and we were looking to get back down to where it was warmer. We had definitely reached the halfway point – time to turn around and start the run back to London. Again, it wasn’t what we expected.

The wide accent line on our map meant this was a scenic road. It didn’t mention that it was another single-lane road for 80-MILES! It started pouring down rain about 10-miles out of Tongue. Kathy pointed up at the biggest, blackest thunderhead cloud we’d ever seen, and it was right ahead. She said she thought it was a hurricane or something.

A cold Highland Loch along the narrow one-lane road, south of Tongue

Although the Ultra gives great weather protection, my glasses got rain smeared and fogged so I cold hardly see the narrow, twisting road. There was very little traffic, but those cars coming the other way were moving pretty fast compared to us, creeping along on the slick pavement and splashing water up from the puddles. Then we got a big truck on our tail. Finally, I saw a solution. . . Pulling over at the next turn-out, I let the truck go by, and then I pulled-in behind him. He was wide, with lots of running lights, so approaching cars could see him coming and pull over. We followed behind him for the longest 60-miles I have ever ridden. He was going at a pretty good clip, so I had to push it to keep up a few times, but I felt like a small boat following an Ice Breaker into a frozen harbor. He cleared the road for us all the way to Tain, a full afternoon’s ride in the cold and rain at an average speed of about 35-mph – and that seemed FAST! All the cars would pull over for him, and we’d sail merrily past them in his wake.

Well, we knew we’d have to ride in some rain if we went to Scotland, but I never envisioned anything like that. By the way, it WAS a very scenic road, or so Kathy tells me. Cold Highland lochs and winding, rain-soaked road. I think I had 2-1/2 hours of tunnel-vision where I didn’t see anything but the lights on the back of that truck and the ruts and puddles of that narrow, twisting road. There was not a single town, village, gas station, store or any sign of civilization for that entire stretch, no shelter, and the narrow one-lane road was probably built for horses and carriages hundreds of years ago. It was like a time-warp ride into the past.

We finally made it to wider roads and I eventually passed our escort, giving him a happy wave as we rode past him. I had probably memorized every inch of the back of his truck. Coming into the town of Tain, we stopped at the St. Duthus B&B, the first place we found, and oozed our way in to register in our dripping rain gear.

The B&B in Tain

Duthas view

View of the village of Tain from our room

They had a small private bar and served dinners there, so we holed-up for the night in another 200-year-old lodge. After drying-off and cleaning up a bit, we came down to the little bar and had a couple of warming drinks with fellow travelers. There was a couple from Montana and another couple from New Zealand, and we had a very nice evening talking with them and having an excellent dinner. After hearing all about New Zealand, we couldn’t help but start thinking about another “Fly & Ride” down there.

Still raining a bit after dinner, we went out and wiped down the bike and put the cover on for the night. It was still daylight at 10:00.

Tuesday, May 24th

The next morning we woke up to clear skies and a beautiful morning. After breakfast at the B&B, we were on the road at a leisurely 10:00.

We had to backtrack briefly on the road back down to Inverness, the gateway to scenic Loch Ness. Just south of Inverness the road follows the western shore of this long lake in a very beautiful, twisting two-lane highway. It would have been an even better ride if not for all the other tourists. There were big tour busses and lots of cars, which was a very big change from the previous couple of days in the far north.

We pulled-over at a few of the scenic overlooks and got our picture taken by a nice fellow from the mid-west who wandered over to check out the Harley.

Kathy and Doug at Loch Ness

Looking North at scenic overlook, Loch Ness, Scotland

We made a stop at the touristy “Nessie” village, but refrained from buying any cheap (made-in-China) Loch Ness souvenirs. There is also a really cool ruined castle along the shore of the loch. Urquahart Castle is situated on a green, grassy promontory overlooking the loch. It was the site of some major battles and is just a ruin today, but a pretty impressive ruin all the same.

Urquahart Castle ruins on the shores of Loch Ness

The Loch Ness highway continues through very scenic country down to Fort William, another historical town where you start coming to the western Atlantic coast of Scotland. We crossed some classic old swing bridges, where the bridge swivels around 90 degrees and you have to wait while sailboats and tourist boats cross under the highway. The Scots have built canals which link the northern sea, through Loch Ness, down south all the way to the west coast by Oban. You can get a boat and travel the whole system of lakes and canals – maybe even see “Nessy”, if you prefer to get off the roads for a while.

Along the road to Oban

Oban

Pleasure boats at Oban

Oban is a really old town on the west coast, with a castle and old Roman ruins. The harbor is the sailing point for the western islands and tourist ferries come and go from the picturesque downtown area. There is an old Roman-style round coliseum with a circle of stone pillars high on a hill overlooking the town. The remains of the local castle sit on the coast above the harbor and are overgrown with woods and weeds. It is now private property. We rode around it trying to get a better look, but all the access roads were closed.

The remains of the castle at Oban

The old colisseum on the hill overlooking the harbor at Oban

This is the part of Scotland you see in the tourist brochures. People told us to skip the east coast and go to the west side, but although it is very pretty, the west coast seemed pretty touristy. The east coast somehow seemed more real, with working fishing harbors and small local businesses, not just tourist shops and fancy hotels. The east coast also gets less rain.

We took a room for the night in another B&B on a hillside overlooking the little Oban harbor. It had been another great day – good weather, scenic roads, good riding, no rain, and we were tired. Keeping it low-key, we found a grocery store and brought salami, cheese, fruit, bread and brandy back to the room for dinner. Early to bed.

Our Bed & Breakfast at Oban, and the view down to the harbor from the dining room

Wednesday, May 25th

The Great Rain Ride - Part 2

We woke up Wednesday morning to grey skies and pouring rain. The B&B served up a very nice breakfast, complete with delicate chinaware and ocean view. We had eggs, bacon, sausage, haggis, tomatoes, orange juice, toast and coffee, and spent as much time as we could hoping the weather would lighten-up a bit. No such luck.

We geared-up in the rain suits, gassed-up the bike, and headed out of Oban in a light rain by about 10:00. The road continued south along the west coast of Scotland where fingers of land jut out into the Atlantic and lochs and fiords of the sea reach into narrow highland valleys. After about an hour on the road, and only 37 miles of heavy rain, we pulled into a small town called Lochgilphead for a rain break. There, in a little converted blacksmith’s shop we had coffee and scones and tried to wait out the storm. No such luck – this storm was not going to pass quickly.

Waiting for the rain to stop at the village of Lochgilphead

We walked along the waterfront in all our rain gear. We talked with some young Scottish army lads who were set-up along the roadside in a portable shelter trying to encourage enlistment among the locals. Nobody was buying – nobody (but us) was even out. They were nice young guys though, and we had a fun time talking to them. They were in uniform, including one of them in full military kilts. They told us in heavily accented Scots dialect about where they were all from, and where we should be sure to visit. They wanted to know about our ride, the bike, and our home in Washington State. It still kept raining.

Classic sailing ship at dock near the Scottish Soldiers' kiosk

Making another circuit through the little village, I spotted a small bookstore, the Argyll Book Centre. Still trying to get out of the pouring rain, we went in. There was an elderly old gentleman with bad teeth at his small front counter. The place was loaded with local treasures. I couldn’t help myself – really I couldn’t. We had been wondering what to bring back for souvenirs for the kids and grandmas that we cold carry in the limited space we had. Here was an answer. We wound-up buying a bunch of Scottish books and having them sent home where they were waiting for us when we got back. The old fellow was great. He offered to take them down the street to the post office and get them weighed for postage fees, then came back and totaled up the cost of the purchase prices and the shipping charges for us. His wife, with even worse teeth than his, graciously took our charge card and had us address the shipping label to ourselves.

The little bookstore where we bought our Scotland books

Having killed as much time as we could, and with the rain still coming down, we mounted up and tried to make a few more miles. The rain got worse. I couldn’t see through my glasses, and scenery viewing was out of the question. We made it another 25-miles and pulled into a nice, fancy place, the Argyll Hotel, in the seaside town of Inverary. We paid the most we had spent for a room so far, 98-pounds for a room which overlooked the bay.

Kathy at the Argyll Hotel - not cheap lodging!

Argyll view

The rainy view from our room at the Argyll Hotel

Argyle

Check out the old fellow in his kilts in front of the hotel

Wet bike at Argyll

Our soaked Harley at the Argyll Hotel

Argyll

Tourists on the road near the hotel in Argyll

Other than a short walk around the town with umbrella in hand, we pretty much holed-up for the night. After dinner in the hotel lounge we hit the room early for some more British TV. How can a country as large and modern as the United Kingdom still have only six TV channels in this day and age?

It was still raining at 10:00.

Thursday, May 26th

We left the Argyle Hotel by 10:00 and got on a very scenic road along the waterfront. It followed the seacoast for a while and then turned inland toward Loch Lomand. The rain had finally passed and the morning was bright and clear, with amazing puddles along the roadside. We stopped at one place to take a picture and were astonished to see the roadside puddles were loaded with polliwogs swimming around in water that was only inches deep. Amazing! Another beautiful motorcycling road, with stunning views, little narrow bridges and green, green countryside dotted with cool blue lochs.

Along the Road to Glasgow

Long Loch

We passed Long Loch, rode through the small town of Dumbarton, and onto the bigger highway into Glasgow. There, across another big toll bridge (60p, but motorcycles “nil”) was the big city. We had directions to find Westcoast Harley, the Glasgow dealer, but managed to miss the exit, got turned-around in the city, and couldn’t find them. This was to be my last chance to pick up a Harley shirt with a Scotland dealer logo too. I guess I shouldn’t have been so tight when it came to packing light – the HOG tour book, European version, had maps showing all the dealers but I left it at home.

Riding around Glasgow, we started running low on fuel, but not a gas station was to be seen. It seemed like a million cars were driving around, but we didn’t see a single gas station in over an hour of riding around, trying to find our way back to the Harley dealer! Finally we found a Shell station while riding on fumes, filled-up the tank, and decided to get the Hell out of town. Just in time to hit more road construction.

The map showed the town of Kilmarnock ahead, so we thought we’d stop for the night. We circled through the town, twice, but didn’t see a single B&B or hotel. It was getting late, already past 5:00 when we finally found a Travelodge by the freeway interchange on our way back out of town. It was their last room left, 47-pounds for a single bed and a fold-down couch! No food or bar either. We walked down to one of the ubiquitous “Little Chef” chain restaurants by the highway (kind of a British Denny’s) where we had soup and rolls for a late meal and headed back to the room.

It started out as such a nice riding day too. Nice weather, good roads, beautiful scenery. But I still felt kind of bummed out. Lame hotel, bad dinner, no Scotland Harley shirt. Time was running short to get the Ultra back to London and the forecast said more rain was coming tomorrow. We’d only gone 180 miles the last two days and we were still more than 300-miles from London. And more rain was due. Well, we still had some good brandy left and we were still in Scotland, so I guess it could have been worse. But still, separate beds!?

Friday May 27th

We woke up Friday to more rain. Skipping the big breakfast, we had some in-room instant coffee and a couple left-over shortbread cookies, then we hit the road by 9:00. We rode 60-miles in the rain.

As we got on the road we passed a cute little tower that said it was a tribute to Robert Burns. There was a little pull-out there, so I stopped to snug-down our rain gear and get a bandanna on to help with the rain spatter on my glasses.

Roadside Robert Burns monument

While we were stopped, a nice HOG member from Glasgow pulled over so see if we needed any help. (Aren’t HOG members great!) His name was Eddie, and he knew the people from Glasgow Harley. He was headed to the HOG rally which was going on that weekend at Ayrshire and wanted to know if we were going.

We had e-mailed with the folks at Westcoast Harley, and they had invited us to go to the Ayrshire rally as their guests. Unfortunately, the timing didn’t work out. Because of the Monday Bank Holiday, we had to have the bike back by Sunday, and didn’t see how we could rally in Scotland on the weekend and still make it back to London in time, so we regretfully decided to pass on the ride down to Ayr. Too bad – we would have probably won the prize for furthest travel to the event. Anyway, Eddie was really a nice guy, although a wee bit hard to understand with his Scots accent. I thought it was really cool that he would stop and chat with us in the pouring rain along the roadside to check on our well-being. Great people, these Scots!

The next town was Dumfries, the home of Robert Burns, Scotland’s favorite son. We had lunch and walked through the central area of the town. Narrow streets, little shops, and tons of Bobbie Burns stuff.

Kathy at the town square in Dumfries

Narrow street scene in Dumfries

Robert Burns statue in Dumfries

The rain let up, and we got back on the road again. About 20-miles out, we hit the A-6, a six-lane freeway and were off at 70 mph on our way south back to England. It got really gusty and Kathy almost lost her helmet to a big wind.

It was getting to be late afternoon as we hit the town of Preston, so we started looking for a place to stop for the night. We found a little B&B but they were full, so we walked across the street to a little pub to enquire about local lodging. Boy can we find ‘em!

There were a few locals in there having their after-work pints. They all saw the bike and pretty soon we were the center of attraction, answering all their questions and sharing a pint of some very good John Smith bitter (a dark beer/ale). We got directions to the nearest lodging, where we soon checked-in and walked to the nearby bar & grill for a very good dinner of steaks, mushrooms and fries. We walked back, covered the bike for the night and found a silly Steven Segal movie on the BBC. Still a long way to go tomorrow, but the weather forecast was good, so we felt pretty good. Tomorrow we’d be leaving Scotland. Sigh.

Saturday May 28th

It was cloudy and windy when we got up, but at least it wasn’t raining. We had the continental breakfast, cereal, rolls, fruit and coffee, and left before 10:00. Back on the M-6, six and eight lanes of hi-speed traffic. The plan: Make some serious miles back toward London before the weather turned bad again.

There is something weird, yet logical about driving on the left on multi-lane, hi-speed freeways. After all, we read and write from left to right. We start things from the left. Out on the M-6, the slower cars stay to the left. As you go faster, you move over one more lane to the right. To really go fast, you move more to the right. It seemed totally logical to me and I never really had any trouble adjusting.

We made good time all day. Gas stop and lunch stop at the roadside services. We rode through Birmingham, a huge industrial-looking city, changed over to the A-4 toward London, and made it most of the way back on a long, hi-speed day. Stopping at an overpriced roadside Days Inn, we were all set for a relatively short ride into London the next morning. The place had a king-size bed though, our first really big bed of the whole trip. We had spaghetti and lasagna in the hotel restaurant, followed by an episode of CSI-New York on the tube and a round of Alka-Seltzer. Ah, traveling. Ain’t it great! Have to turn-in the bike tomorrow.

Sunday, May 29th

I was surprised to find out how close we actually were to London. The British, it seems, mark their road signs and maps with the distance to the center of the towns, not the city limits. So a big city like London, which is probably 20+ miles wide, is 20+ miles closer than the road signs say. I almost missed my exit as it came sailing by at 70 mph while I though I was still 20-miles out from the city!

Stadium Harley-Davidson is in Chingford, in the North end of London.. London has a neat road, called Circular Road, which makes a loop completely around the city at about 15 or 20-miles out from the center of the city. We caught North Circular Road and were able to easily follow it to Chingford and find our way to the dealer by 11:30 – plenty of time before their 4:00 closing. We checked-in with them but didn’t turn-in the bike yet. The rental agreement said it was to be returned clean and with a full tank of gas. Our tank was low and the bike was still covered with mud and road grime.

Once again, the staff at Stadium was great. They said to not worry about washing the Ultra, even though it had 2-weeks worth of Scottish rain and roads on it. There was in fact a “Ride-out” going on with the local HOG chapter, and we were invited to join them. There was a big group just getting ready to ride out.
They have an annual event held just outside of London called the Enfield Pageant of Motoring, and the dealer had a tent and motorcycle display set-up. They gave us a hand-drawn map showing how to get there, and a dealer’s pass to get in the back way and ride right to the dealer’s exhibit. We rode to the event at a huge fair-grounds-like location, parked the muddy bike with all the nice new shiny Harleys, and spent the afternoon enjoying the show and the company of some of the Essex Chapter HOG members.

There were exhibits of classic bikes, classic British cars and antique English military vehicles, including tanks, half-tracks, cannon and gun trucks. Whole rows of Jaguars, Bentleys and Triumphs! What an unexpected surprise. It kind of helped make-up for having to pass on the motorcycle rally at Ayrshire.

Kathy & Doug at the Stadium HD exhibit at the Enfield Pageant of Motoring

Rally

Classic bikes at the motorcycle exhibition area

Kathy at Rally

Kathy (with our dirty bike) at the Stadium HD tent with some HOG members from the Essex (London) HOG Chapter

Well, we made it back to town on time. We gassed up the bike, checked into our hotel, unloaded the bike, and then rode it back to the dealer in time to check it back in. They did a quick walk-around, pronounced it undamaged, and signed-off on the rental forms. We had put 2000 miles on a new Ultra-Classic Electra-Glide, brought it back covered in mud, and they were happy! Now that’s customer service.

Then to top it all off, they arranged for Essex HOG member and London Taxi driver Marlon Greaves to pick us up the next day at the hotel and run us back out to Heathrow Airport to catch our flight home.

Monday May 30th

Marlon came early. Because it was a Bank Holiday (Memorial Day in the U.S.), he offered to pick us up early and take us on a tour of London. Downtown was nearly deserted as everything was closed, so we scooted around town in his London Taxi and saw all the sights. This was really great, as we hadn’t really expected to get a chance to see that much of London.

He turned-off the meter.

Marlon Greaves: Essex HOG Chapter member and our personal London Taxi driver

It was raining lightly, so we just stayed in the cab as Marlon gave us the royal tour. We snapped pictures as we drove through the whole central area. Parliament, Hyde Park, the Tower of London, the Theatre District, Downing Street, Big Ben, London Bridge, Trafalgar Square, London City Hall, The Tower Bridge, Saint Paul’s Cathedral, The National Gallery of Art Museum, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Wellington Arch – we saw it all from the comfortable air-conditioned back seat of Marlon’s cab. What a spectacular finish to our U.K. adventure.

We got out at Heathrow, tipped Marlon – probably not enough for the great ride – and caught our British Air 747 back to the States. All told, we spent 14-days on the trip, and wished it could have been twice as long.

I want to thank the HOG Fly-and-Ride staff, the folks at Stadium H-D, the good people from Essex Chapter HOG, and all the other kind people we met along the way for helping make this the ride of a lifetime. We’re going to start saving for another Fly-and-Ride. If you, like us, tend to spend your vacations going on motorcycle rides, I can’t recommend this HOG benefit strongly enough. After all, if you’re going to go riding for a few weeks anyway, why not do it someplace really different than just another tour around the States somewhere. We’re already looking at maps and thinking about where in the world to go riding next.

        Sidebar 1                            “It’s Different over There!”

•   Riding & Driving:
    -As noted, they don’t just drive on the left, they walk on the left. We got some odd looks on sidewalks and stores if we didn’t pass other people on the left side.
    -Hardly any traffic lights. Get used to the roundabouts on all the roads.
    -Those traffic lights they do have give a second yellow light before “Go”. They go from green to yellow before red, and then again from red to yellow before green.
    -They don’t use flagmen for road construction. There are automatic red-light/green-light machines to stop traffic passing around work crews.
    -Temporary roadside directional signal lights don’t have motors running to power them – they have solar panels to run the flashing arrows or “construction ahead” signs.
    -“Give Way” means “Yield”
    -Lane-splitting is okay. You can ride down the center line between lanes when traffic is backing up (unless maybe you’re on a big Ultra).
    -As much as you may love your shorty helmet, almost everyone rides with a full-face lid over there. There is a LOT of rain!
    -Sport bike riders rule the roads. They are nuts, and outnumber Harley riders by a lot. They pass you everywhere going way too fast,
        including going into curves, over hills, and with oncoming traffic.
    -People are very friendly and helpful face-to-face, but not always so in their cars. They yell at you and flip you off on the highway if you
        aren’t going fast enough, and also pass like maniacs in unsafe places.
    -What we call going on a motorcycle run is called having a “Ride-out”.
    -Gas (petrol) is sold by the liter, and was selling for around 85p per liter. That’s around $6.00 per gallon U.S.   A Harley 4 or 5 gallon fill-up was close to $25.00.
    -You see completely different vehicles on the road. Tiny mini-cars and brands not imported here, like Vauxhalls & Citroens, and
        smaller models from Ford, Honda & Toyota you’ve never seen in the U.S.
    -Not a big SUV to be seen… no full-size pickups, Suburbans or Hummers. Small is IN, big is OUT.

•   Food & shopping:
    -Grocery store checkers don’t bag your groceries for you, they just sit on stools, even in the big chain stores.
    -Things close on Sundays. Even the big Safeway and Sainsbury grocery chains close by 6:00 on Sundays. Don’t wait to buy food or liquor if it’s Sunday night.
    -French fries are called chips, and potato chips are called crisps
    -No normal potato chips. They have weird flavors like chicken flavor, catsup flavor, shrimp and onion and other
        strange combinations. And no big bags – they sell in packages of smaller 1-serving bags.
    -All sausage and ground beef is very finely ground, like the consistency of mashed potatoes. There is no texture or chewy bits in their
        processed sausages or burgers.

•   Money and spending:
    -British and Scottish paper money is fun. England and Scotland each issue paper currency, and in Scotland, different banks
        issue their own bank notes. Each denomination is a different color too.
    -One-pound paper currency is no-longer issued in Britain. Only one-pound coins. (a pound is called a “quid”)
    -There is a 17-1/2 % Value-added-tax (VAT) on almost everything. It is refundable if you are there on business, but not if you are just visiting.
    -The exchange rate was about $1.85 per British Pound. Expensive. The best exchange rate is through ATMs.

•   Coins in the U.K. are strange at first, but very logical.
    -All British coins have the same face on them – Queen Elizabeth.
    -In copper (like our pennies) there are two coins. The smaller 1-p and the much-larger 2-p (t’pence).
    -In nickel-silver color, there are also two, the 5-p (smaller, dime-sized ) and the 10-p (larger, nickel-sized), just the reverse
        of ours. Odd to get used-to, but it makes sense.
    -The next two up the line have flat-sided edges (like a stop sign) and consist of a smaller 20-p coin (no quarter) and a larger
        50-p coin. You can pick them out of your pocket by feeling the edges.
    -Finally, the two biggest coins are gold-colored. They are the 1-pound and the 2-pound coins, and they are pretty thick and heavy.
        Easy to spot in a handful of change.
    -You get lots of heavy change in your pockets, as they don’t really use paper money for any change under 5-pounds.

        Sidebar 2                “Packing for a Fly & Ride”

Already owning an Electra-Glide Classic, we have the art of loading the bike worked-out pretty well. The trick was to figure out how best to pack our gear for a long air flight, not overload the luggage, and be able to stow everything on the bike when we get there. We had the following to deal with:

    2 saddlebag insert bags
    1 soft-sided travel bag with outside pockets that takes-up about 2/3 of the Tour Pack
    1 collapsible ice cooler
    1 motorcycle cover with storage bag
    1 zipper case for 24 CDs
    2 sets of leather riding gear and rain gear, gloves and bandannas (we wore our riding jackets)
    2 half-shell helmets with zip-off storm curtains
    Clothes, socks and underwear for two people for 5-days
    One small telescoping umbrella
    Bathrobe and slippers/change of shoes for each (we wore our boots)
    Bathroom & toiletries bag with first-aid kit
    Maps, notebook and address book
    Digital camera, batteries and 220-volt British battery recharger
    The usual small stuff in pack pocket: cards, small flashlight, candle, multi-tool, bottle opener/corkscrew
    Backpack for airline carry-on stuff

Somehow, we got the riding gear, rain gear, motorcycle cover, collapsible cooler, robes, slippers, the umbrella and the helmets into the two slanted saddlebag liners. They were stuffed.

The bigger bag got all the clothes, maps, hair brush, mini-flashlight, notebook, pens, a deck of cards, and the camera accessories.

The small backpack was our carry-on, with the camera, toiletries, medications, CDs, sunglasses, passports, paperbacks and paperwork for the Fly-&-Ride.

We checked the two saddlebags and the bigger tour pack bag with the airline, and only carried the backpack with us. Once we hit the Harley dealer in London, we took the helmets, bike cover, and cooler out of the saddle bag liners and put the backpack and stuff in. The cooler, bike cover and CDs fit in the Tour Pack with the bigger bag, and the saddlebag inserts dropped into the saddlebags. We had our riding gear and rain gear in the left side, and the medicine bag, slippers, robes, backpack and daily stuff (food, snacks, brandy, etc.) in the right side. Then we just had two bags and the cooler to bring in at night. Not much room for souvenirs, but it all fit, and we didn’t have to lash anything onto the luggage rack.

We did pick-up some tee shirts and a stuffed Scottish Teddy bear for grandma, but we bought Scottish books and games at a bookstore for souvenirs for the rest of the family, and had them shipped home. That way, we didn’t have to carry any more things onboard the Ultra.

The only problem: We only brought socks, clothes and underwear for 5-days and planned to do laundry along the way. But none of the places where we stayed had laundry facilities. So the second week found us with some pretty stiff jeans and shirts. We hand washed our socks and undies in the rooms at night. What can ya do? It’s all fun anyway!

c. 2005 by Doug Roberts