OT Short Way Up or....Two Yanks in Scotland, The FINAL Chapter...Last post Options

[stephenaki]

Every great adventure starts with an idea that somehow or another blossoms into a grand scheme that sends our minds on a whirlwind of anticipation and visions, or delusions, of grandeur. Burly men and lusty wenches, beer, rum and…oh wait, that’s the other delusion I had…never mind. Back on topic, as the title would loan itself too, it is a play on the Long Way Down (motorcycle documentary of Ewing McGregor and Charley Boorman as they rode from John O' Groats Scotland to South Africa on BMW GS1200 motorcycles) and not even a 10th of the mileage; one, neither Lee or I are rich and have a full fledged support crew and two, neither Lee and I are rich and have a full fledged support crew. Did I mention that neither Lee nor I are rich and have a full fledged support crew? I won’t bore you with the details but after several discussions and then Lee’s acquisition of a shiny new GS1200 we finally settled on taking a 10 day trip to Scotland from our little slice of Deutschland. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/piratenanner.gif)

I don’t remember exactly how it came to pass but I do recall looking at the big map in our cubicle and discussing options of where to go and by the end, the destination was Scotland. With the general destination now set it was time to determine where and when. Over the course of the next few months it evolved from Glasgow to Inverness and then one fine day Lee said, “hey, why don’t we ride up to John O’ Groats?” At first the idea didn’t quite register as to why in the hell anyone would want to ride up to the top of nowhere but, after some thought, the hamster powered dimly lit light bulb in my mind flickered and remembrances of Charley and Ewan’s starting point in the Long Way Down played across the back of my mind like an old 8mm film that had past its time and flickered a lot. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

So I thought to myself, sure, why the hell not? I hear the country is beautiful and they speak English…of a sort. Now what? Oh yeah, I guess ‘we’(which really means ‘I’) should plan a route up and a route down. This would also lend itself to an ever changing plan of attack with no rhyme or reason as the only input I really got from Lee was, ‘dude, I just wanna ride.’ Gee thanks bro, you’re about as helpful as financial advice from Madoff. Oh yeah, we also settled on 10 to 20 May as our target date for the trip and no, we didn’t realize we were leaving on Mother’s day until later on.

I will have to say though that Lee did insist that there were at least two things he wanted to see and visit, Ace Café in London and Stonehenge. I was a bit worried about Stonehenge as he kept referencing Pagan rituals and furry goatskin pants…At six plus feet tall that would be a curious site to see.

Goatskin pants aside, we had also decided that we would visit a friend of mine up in Warwick to have a look at his 1920s era British motorcycle then visit the National Transport Museum in Coventry where Charley Boorman’s bike is supposedly on display. Since our interest was primarily on riding in Scotland we sorta decided to keep to the main roads on up towards Glasgow before disembarking from the ‘M’ series highways to the smaller country roads.

The original plan also called for a trip up to Bastogne, Belgium then across Northern France to the coast and then north to Calais. I then set to work using Google Map as my planning tool and using the terrain and satellite feature with the photos option flipped on and off intermittently to develop a first draft plan. Once I had a draft I posted our route to my Vulcan Drifters Owners Group UK (VDOG) to get some feedback and sent it off to my friend Alan in Warwick as well. Several things happened when I did this, Alan was reminded by his wife that the time we were coming they would be in Spain watching a formula one race and several members of my VDOG UK group offered some suggested changes as well as lodging for us.

After several discussions with Lee and route changes based on feedback as well as input into Google to gauge riding time and overall trip impact, we axed Bastogne and the country roads through France. Instead, we opted to avoid the toll roads in France and make it to Dover on day one of the trip with a stay in Dover that night. In case you’re wondering, Stuttgart, Germany to Calais France via autobahn is approximately 757 KM or 470 MI; reality is we did 500 miles that day with an unintended side trip into Luxembourg but that will come later. We had also decided that we would push on to the southeast perimeter of London if we felt up to in on that first day to buy us some additional time for the next day’s activities.

The other change was that we would cut over to Rhayader, England and take the A470 up through Wales to Conway before pressing on to Scotland. This was recommended by Andy, a VDOG UK member who offered us a place to stay and met us at Stonehenge. We did not stay with Andy but pushed on to Rhayader instead; never the less I did bring Andy a bottle of wine and 4 bottles of Andechs Doppel Boch for his offered hospitality.

Of course, as the Army says, no plan survives first contact and some minor changes would be made along the way but, the initial route was set and our accommodations would be campgrounds and a night at Bongos (yes, I’ll get to Bongos as well).

Now the only thing that remained was to try out my new sissy bar travel luggage and get used to using a GPS. For this we planned several rides whereby I would construct a route using Google then transfer it to my TomTom via a program called TYRE or Track Your Route Everywhere. TYRE allows you to import a route from Google maps, adjust it to suit your needs and save it to an ITN file that the TomTom can pull up as a programmed itinerary. Great little program and it is free.

Several rides later we were comfortable with each others riding styles, use of the GPS and how my bike felt with a full load. Lee tested his panniers and additional load on a business trip to Garmisch from Stuttgart in April as well. So lets meet our intrepid adventurers, get to some pre-trip photos, and close out the first chapter in this little adventure.

Lee on his brand new BMW GS1200
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Yours truly on a vehicle that is actually running as opposed to my 914.
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Finally the first draft load out of the bike with my Riggpack sissy bar system. Final adjustments would be done later to clean it all up.
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The following installments will have much more pictures I promise. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[stephenaki]

For some reason after the first day in the UK we continued to wake between 0500 and 0600. This day was no exception and by 0600 we were up and moving despite the chill in the air. It was probably the chill that made us move a bit quicker to stay warm! Today would be an easy day, no highways, no crazy traffic, no lane splitting and NO TIME HACKS! We basically had all day to do this leg of the journey and we were in no particular hurry. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biker.gif)

Since we were packed and out by 0700 we knew not much would be open so planned on riding about an hour then finding someplace to eat. We would spend the majority of the day on the A470 that goes up the middle of Wales towards the coastal town of Conwy.

Informational note, the Wyeside campground office opens at about 0830 and you pay a 5 GBP deposit for the gate key. We failed to coordinate our early leave time so forfeited our deposit. If you stay here and plan on being out early, make sure you talk to the management about it!
The morning was clear with absolutely beautiful blue skies! Saddle up, drop off our gate key and off we went. Since we tanked up a mere 8 miles from the campsite we were good on fuel and took off at a leisurely pace.

The views as we made our way along the route were spectacular with lush green hills punctuated by swathes of yellow flowers and spots of white that were the numerous sheep in the fields. We rode till about 0800 and as we came into the town of Mallwyd I spotted a sign that said lodging and food at the Brigands Inn! Woohoo! I’m hungry! Well, the inn didn’t look open but we pulled in and I got off the bike and went in to see if they were serving breakfast. YEP! SCORE! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dance.gif)

I have been a bit remiss in not providing the links to some of the places we stayed at so, before we go any further, here are the links for the campsites we stayed at in Dover and Rhayader.

http://kingsdowncamping.co.uk/ - Kingsdown Campsite near Dover.
wyesidecamping.co.uk – Wyside caravan and campsite, Rhayader, Powys

OK, now, on to breakfast! And a mighty fine breakfast it was! If you’re in the Mallwyd area in Wales and want a place to stay or eat, here is their website: brigandsinn.com. Absolutely lovely wait staff, very accommodating and friendly and great food to boot. Ever notice how food is so much better when you’re chilled and hungry? One of the older ladies on staff was born and raised in Ireland and she and Lee had a wonderful conversation about the area as Lee had visited Ireland a month or so back. The ladies who operated the Inn were fantastic and in truth we did not meet a single person that we didn’t like during our entire trip.
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Feeling warmed up and satiated we got back on our metal steeds and headed North along the 470 towards Conwy with our eventual destination being Keswick. Lee has already pointed out how beautiful the scenery was and here are some pictures we took along the way.

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Old Castle in the middle of nowhere...
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HEY! LOOKIT ME!!
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Now I must make an observation about English and Scottish warning signs at this point as we have now ridden through some gently curving roads and come across a standard sign that we see a lot of here in Germany.
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In Germany we slow down, push and lean hard and have a grand ole time tearing up the turn! This is not the case in the UK. No, in the UK we would learn that this means, ‘hey, no sweat, it’s really a very gentle curve that you can actually throttle up on…’ It didn’t take me long to start screaming at the signs loudly, ‘COME ON YOU F------ P---- SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT!! YOU AIN’T GOT SHIT!!!’ In fact I don’t think we encountered one set of turns that this sign forewarned of that warranted anything more than a dull yawn. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/yawn.gif)

On the other hand, you really gotta watch out for the BIG GODDAMN ARROWS ON CURVES! Those don’t come with nice little warning signs…no, you just see them in the distance and all of a sudden say, ‘OH SHIT!’ as you brake, throttle down and push hard so as not to run off the road or into the other lane!
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When you see these in the distance…be prepared for a sharp curve…or two…sometimes through a narrow stone gate! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/busted.gif)

OK, now..where was I? Oh yeah… yes, the wind was still with us but the mountainous terrain helped to quell some of its righteous anger and made it easier to deal with as we made our way through the Welsh countryside. Let’s take a look at the days route shall we?

First portion of the days ride.
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Second portion of the days ride.
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Well, as we got close to Conwy (spelled and pronounced Conway in English) we spied a mighty set of spires in the distance that looked pretty interesting. The GPS said to go on through the traffic circle and turn right in the opposite direction of the spires to get to Kesswick. Instead, I pulled into a gas station and had a talk with Lee about the castle we saw. It wasn’t a long conversation, we decided to go check out the castle and proceeded to look for signs to what it might be and just sort of navigated in the general direction.

It didn’t take much time to find the castle and as we followed the signs to a parking area we were pleasantly surprised at what this would present us with. As we neared the castle we had to pass over a long bridge and then wound our way through a huge and quite majestic stonework gate into the walled city of Conwy.

If someone had taken a picture of me they would have seen a big grin as I rolled under the gate saying to myself, ‘this is so f------cool!’ Around the corner we went and into a parking area that was a mere 100 meters from the actual castle itself.

We parked, got our valuables and off we went to explore Conwy castle!

Bridge on the left is what we rode over to the castle
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View from atop a tower!
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Inside Conwy Castle
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After our little tour Lee got himself a very nice Wales sticker that he put on one of his panniers. I unfortunately couldn’t find a similar one that would not take up half my helmet. I am hoping to find one in September as I’ll be back in the area with my family on our way to the Autumn VDOG UK rally in Somerset. We'll have just come in via ferry to Hollyhead and will be driving the opposite direction I rode on this day.

Luckily for us, our parking spot was right next to a little food stand and it was fish and chips for the both of us! Great food, just took a bit to get it out to us, no worries not like we were in a rush! Besides, the day was just beautiful so we sat out and enjoyed the sun while waiting for our food. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/jsharp.gif)

Feeling fat and happy we mounted back up and headed off to Keswick going around Liverpool and then along the M6 for a short bit before breaking off again and heading up into the English Lake district. If you have never been to the Lake District in England it is simply a beautiful area! I am extremely jealous of the lucky Brits that live in this area!

I wish we had gotten the opportunity to get some photos of the area but the roads just didn’t provide good places to stop and get photos without putting ourselves in jeopardy of being run over. There is just no description I could provide that would do the scenery justice. If you truly want to see it, you will just have to go and visit the area!

As we got into Keswick we actually turned off right before we got to town in search of a campground called Castlerigg. It wasn’t too difficult to find as it was off the main road into Keswick and there were well marked signs. We pulled in, parked the bikes and went to the reception area to have a chat with the owner. She was a nice woman but a bit strange. There were also a lot of rules and there was no convenient restaurant near the campground. No big deal, we’d just drop our load and head into town for a bite to eat. We paid our 7 GBP each and then scoped out the area to set up our tents.

The area was well maintained and clean and already had quite a few caravans and tents up. We found a spot then went back down and got the bikes. Now, when we were talking to the owner and when we were scoping out a spot the wind was only mildly blowing. Once we pulled the bikes up and got off them the wind decided that it was time to get us back for hiding behind the hills and mountains!

I pulled out my tent while Lee sat on his bike and stoically watched my attempts to roll out the tent and fight the wind. I was so focused on not letting my tent blow away that I am sure I missed the look of mirth in Lee’s eyes as he took bets in his head on whether or not the tent would become a kite and carry me away. I fought the wind for about 3 minutes and then looked up at Lee and could tell that he had the same thought…hotel. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

So, I rolled the tent back up, stuffed it back into my roll bag, got on the bike and we rode back down to the reception desk. After a short conversation with the owner, she gave us our money back and off we went in search of a hotel. The owner quite understood and didn’t blame us given we were considerably more exposed to the wind than the other guests with caravans or cars.

As we rolled down the hill into Keswick we saw a number of very well groomed establishments of which most looked like they cost more than our cheap asses wanted to pay. If you’re on a romantic sojourn in the area of Kesswick you will find a number of attractive bed and breakfasts in the area; we however, were not so inclined to partake of these dandy accommodations. At the bottom of the hill we saw a small simple looking building that had not only rooms but a pub in the same building. It was called the Twa Dogs Inn. Looked like a winner so we stopped and got a room with a couple of beds for 30 GBP each. I couldn’t find a website for them but if you do a search on ‘Twa Dogs Inn’ you will get quite a few hits with reviews.

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The room was clean and best of all…NO WIND! The pub was great with some outstanding local beers and very good food. The host, I think he was also the owner, was very friendly and the place just had a great atmosphere. I believe we tried about 4 of the beers they had on tap so when it was time to turn in for the night we slept very soundly. I would recommend this place to any travel worn and weary riders that want a no frills, clean place to stay with great food and drink.

So ended our 3rd day on the road; great scenery, beautiful weather (despite the wind) and great people; you just couldn’t ask for a better day!

Next up… welcome to Scotland boys!
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