bright and warm. We wanted to stay of the big roads up to Edinburgh, so we followed the coastline. On the way we visited
Lindisfarne, the Holy Island and the castle in Alnwyk.
Arriving in Edinburgh we finally found the B&B we had book for two nights. I had been there the last time in '94, this time we had more time to see and enjoy the city.
Leaving
Edinburgh we headed for Inverness, just stopping to visit Blair Atholl
and Dahlwinnie distillery. Just befor Blair my bike just died. The
feeling
you get when things like that happens isn't nice. It turn out to be a
faulty
regulator. As it turned out I rode rest of the trip without lights.
Arriving
in Inverness we found that the B&B was very nice. Kind hosts and a
spaceious room withen suite facilities. Next day we explored the town and later we rode down to the end of Loch Ness and back up the east side. The
scenery was stunning, small lakes and a beautiful view of far away mountains. The roads was awesome! And they stayed that
way for the rest of the highlands. At a small hotell by Loch Ness we had our first haggis!
Leaving Inverness we choose to ride across the mountains to Kyle of Loch lash. This road was a one lane road as many of the other roads was. Riding an MC was smart on these roads. Two cars couldn't pass eachother but bike and car worked well. This road was also twistie and nice, we had to watch out for gravel on the tarmac though.
Coming down from the mountains we took a detour to have a look at Eilean Donan Castle from the Highlander movie. From there it was a short trip to the Skye bridge. The landdscape changed when we came to Skye. It was stunning mountains, sea and moores and the road was good. We arrived at Dunvegan, The Atholl House in time for dinner, Haggis again!
What a superb dinner! The morning after we visited Dunvegan castle and also had a nice boat trip out to watch the seals that lived in the firtt. After the tour of the castle and it's history, we felt almost like visiting family. It seems that Harald Haraade, the viking king, had his seat here. The first Leod was probably of his family. The weather was still very good and the leather suit was warm! We headed for Portree on the other side of the island. Again we where stunned by the exiting roads and the scenery. From Portree we headed for Ardvasar and the ferry to Mallaig. The road from Mallaig to Fort William must have been made by a MC rider, the twisties was endles. After a short stop in FW we carried on down to Loch Lomond. Stopping at Invernanan inn, an old place along the road from the north. Buildt several 100 years ago. We found a B&B and had dinner in the kirk!!
Next day found us on our way down to Ayrshire and Alloway, Robert Burns birthplace. After reading Burns and celebrating Burns supper for the last 13 years, it felt like on a philgrimage to stand in the very same room where the poet was born.
On our way down to Galloway we managed to get off the route somehow, but then we found some fantastic twisty roads!!
We visited castle by a small town called....... and then headed for Carlisle and on to Hexham where we spendt the night at another B&B. Next day took us to see Hadrians Wall, a 210km long wall built by emperor Hadrian to mark the ending of the roman empire. And probably to hold the scots on the right side of the border. ;-)
After the wall we headed for Newcastle and the ferry. A fantastic week had come to an end, but my search for Burns,Skye and all the other places was fullfilled.