Holidays

[richardg]

the west coast just wasn't designed for the internal combustion engine and it does it no good whatsoever.

The west coast was exactly where my Ducati felt most at home in all the time I owned it. Most of the day with the throttle wound wide open, my thunderous cat-free Termignonis sounded like the devil coming over the mountains. The Pirelli Super Corsas often bubbling at the twilight of adhesion as I cranked her over on the fabulous winding new tarmac, sparks occasionally flying from her undercarriage. Great roads, part-funded by the European Investment Bank loans....lol.

 

[HairyHaggis]

funded by the European Investment Bank loans

shirley shome mishtake

The west coast was exactly where my Ducati felt most at home

 

[chiily]

given we have to fly to Inverness, it means we have to leave the Porsche at home. It'll be down to Enterprise and whatever they allocate from their 4x4/SUV range. On other road trips in Scotland we've had a Nissan Pathfinder and a RAV4 - so nothing exotic.

Here is the route - I forgot about a visit to Loch Tay at the end to chill out.

planned route - version 2 by uh_simon, on Flickr


we have 17 days

Don't forget to get across to Cape Wrath, top NW corner.

 

[chiily]

Just booked for us to travel Japan for three weeks in Summer.

 

[darrell_giant]

Just returned from a 68 stop return journey through the fjords of the Norwegian coast from Bergen, into the Arctic Circle and around the top of Norway to Kirkenes and the Russian border. A truly life enhancing experience of landscape, wildlife, and beauty. Endless mountains, islands and bird life that are best experienced from an outside deck well wrapped up against the cold. I am in awe at the navigation and piloting skills of the captain of the MS Finnmarken when taking us through narrow channels of water in blizzard and poor visibility conditions. We have experienced many new tastes and foods through some excellent Norwegian cuisine (a lot of fish). The whole trip on Norway’s Hurtigruten Line was superbly organised and efficiently run and offers great value for money. If you go all inclusive and can cope without alcohol, daily living costs are minimal; we got by on a total spend of £100 over 12 days between three of us. Much is to be gained from the fact that the vessel is the ferry service and so visits so many small and interesting towns and operates as an important service to the remote communities. Thoroughly recommended; warm clothing, good binoculars and camera are essential.

 

[Derek Wright]

We did the Bergen to Bergen trip on the Finnmarken in June July 2013 so we got had the midnight sun experience. Excellent thinking of doing it again.
Interesting experience of the zero alcohol regime. When we got on the plane to go to LHR the opening of the alcohol bottle was reminiscent of the flight out of Iran in the Argo film - Now we are out of Iranian airspace the bar is now open

A couple of pictures from the trip
an overview of Bergen (select the "-" icon to zoom out
http://www.w9259.co.uk/Bergen/

and Hammerfest (again zoom out and then pan around)

http://www.w9259.co.uk/hammerfest/

 

[darrell_giant]

We did the Bergen to Bergen trip on the Finnmarken in June July 2013 so we got had the midnight sun experience.

We hoped for a show from the northern lights but activity was low, so we only got glimmers rather than a full on dancing sky. Can hardly be disappointed though, it was all just stunning. It would be nice to go back in summer and see the landscape change and the waterfalls flowing. They were all frozen solid in beautiful blue ice.

 

[Ponty]

Lol...the road surfaces, traffic, scenery, weather, midges etc are much worse these days, since it sold out. Locals are well nasty now too. Way too jaded by plebs coming up and asking for an English breakfast.

The only bit where felt we were in a tourist trap for the whole 500 miles was at a pub at the arse end of Applecross where it took 10 minutes to order fish and chips at the bar.

Here's a picture of my bike on the route, sulking about all the traffic, litter and chavs everywhere.

Nice bike...Ah yes, the Applecross Inn. In fairness we had a very good meal there whilst touring in the California. It was probably helped by sitting outside on a beautiful evening with no midges around watching a glorious sunset. Lovely part of the world, going back this year.

 

[tqineil]

Certain parts of the NC500 can be busy on the west coast but it's generally pretty quiet and I did it last August, recording the whole journey on a HD dashcam with perhaps 30 mins of rain over the 5 days. My only disappointment were during a detour - the crowds on Skye where tens of thousands of Game of Thrones fans seem to be trampling over the place snapping film locations?

 

[duncan]

The NC500 was a great drive before they made it a thing. Sad those days are gone.

I did this in 2016 with a stop off at Scrabster to get to Hoy. I thought the section from half way along the top down to Skye was magnificent, the further north and west you go the better. I had not realised it was "a thing" until today. Didn't strike me as especially busy (in August). At the time, I was pleasantly surprised how good the food and how pleasant and customer friendly the pubs and hotels were, a big change from NW Scotland in the 80s. Perhaps the NC500 has 'driven' this change or perhaps it's the Polish and Romanian staff.

Gratuitous Hoy photos:

 

[richardg]

Nice bike...Ah yes, the Applecross Inn. In fairness we had a very good meal there whilst touring in the California. It was probably helped by sitting outside on a beautiful evening with no midges around watching a glorious sunset. Lovely part of the world, going back this year.

That's the very pub! The queue was the only bit I didn't like. Oh the road to get to it would be better done on a small dirt bike than a big road bike.

 

[richardg]

perhaps it's the Polish and Romanian staff.

I'd put my money on that. There's not much smiling going on up there generally.

 

[suzywong]

Two weeks in Provence over June-July.

First week with friends, second on our own.

Then get back to, hopefully, semi retirement!