Well the weather up here in northern Jockland has been awesome this weekend and it would have been criminal not to go out and enjoy it. I roped in a good friend of mine to come along on his CBR and we met up at his house at midday to discuss our plans.
Normally we take a quick 10 minute spin to a village called Dores situated right next to Loch Ness but today we were feeling more adventurous and decided to visit Urquhart Castle instead. The sun was shining and we set off for the half hour ride through the town and onto the A82. A pleasant enough ride with Craig leading the way but a surprisingly short slip road down to the visitor centre. After parking up and taking my jacket off (I was cooking!!) this was the view we had:
Me and my Yammy
Now seeing as we had already traveled just under a third of the way to Fort William it made sense to get back in the saddle and just keep on cruising. Now the A82 can be either a terrible road you wouldn't want your worst enemy to drive or ride down or it can be SENSATIONAL if everything comes together and today it was the latter!! Plenty of places to open the bikes up and see what they can really do, lots of long swoopy lefts and rights and plenty of slower tighter corners. Made for the most brilliant riding I've had yet without going exceeding my experience levels.
So after another hour of enjoyable riding we arrived at Fort William and decided to park up at the west end car park which is situated next to the fabulous Loch Linnhe:
Just after I took this picture we moved on to a different car park closer to the High Street (Less time walking in all the gear the better!) Stopped for a pint of ice cold juice, had a walk about, had some grub and decided it was time to hit the road again....
But not before riding the Glen Nevis road :twisted:
6.4 miles of twisty heaven :D passing through some of the most eye droppingly fantastic scenery the UK has to offer. I didn't take any pictures partly because we were running out of time but mostly I was having too much fun. I took this off Google maps but imagine another 6 miles of the same with a few long straights and clear swoopers.
After fueling up (I love how cheap the Yammy is to fill :D) we headed away from Fort William and back toward Inverness. Just after a town called Spean Bridge there is a monument to the Commandos who trained in the local area and lost their lives during WWII so we decided to pull in have a stretch and get some more pictures. Whilst we were parked up we heard the familier sound of a 125 and lo and behold one appeared over the hill. Didn't get the guys name but he was on a weekend ride from Glasgow and had already passed through Inverness and was headed back via Fort William. A 346 mile round trip.
Commando Memorial:
The view the monument has:
So after a quick 15 minute break we hit the road again but only for 8 minutes before pulling over. Again to get a picture and partly to have a quick toilet break.
Parked up next to Loch Lochy and I kid you not it could have been straight out of the Lord Of The Rings, we were seriously suprised not to see some Hobbits paddling a boat across!!
Loch Lochy:
So after another 15 minutes we carried on back up the road before pulling over at Fort Augustus to get a drink and have a chat with a pair of other bikers. They were riding a GSXR1000 and a GSXR750 and were both brilliant chaps who were more than willing to stand and chat with us and impart knowledge of some cracking roads neither me or Craig had heard of. After that break we didn't stop again until we arrived back in Inverness although we would have arrived quicker if a somewhat dithery Ford Ka driver had gone more than 42mph in a 60mph zone or at least had the common decency to pull over and let the traffic past!! Anyhoo I digress...
After stopping off at my mums to show her the pictures and have a quick chat we decided to head to Dores, park up, get a drink and have a good old chat about the days riding and whilst we were there I snapped this:
The sun setting on Loch ness.
Looks like a fun trip.
