Setting off from Fort William I’ve worked out I do about 10 miles per 1 litre of fuel. But at economical speeds the red light comes on at about 130 miles even tho I’ve got a 19L tank. This means I’m the one hunting for fuel at every town.
It was really steady going, good roads and intermittent showers all the way up to loch Carron, where the single track roads started. As I did with Eddy back in 2008, we stopped at the top of the hill to enjoy the spectacular view across the loch before continuing. It’s become a “must do” every time we pass this way.
Chatting away with Edd on the radio all the way up is fun. We get into some deep topics of conversation, between the endless shit we find hilarious to chat. However this is the crucible of the term “noise juice”. My bike runs on petrol, but about 75% of the energy comes out as noise every time I twist my wrist. It’s great fun!
I pulled us into a cafe overlooking the loch thinking of lunch. It was a cute little cabin at the base of a golf club but it only sold coffee and cakes. They were great, but this did force me to sate my appetite not 5 miles later when I stopped us again for some more noise juice.
Then we reached one of the highlights of the roadtrip – Applecross Pass. This is the closest to a Swiss mountain pass we can manage in the UK. “Normally impassable in winter”, reads the sign at the base of this single track road snaking its way up between two huge mountains. And then at the height of the valley it goes fully Swiss with several switchback hairpin bends.
I had spent all trip so far being very good and sticking nearly to the speed limit, riding sensibly. But here I wanted to give it the beans so took off up the road ahead of everyone. It was great fun driving fast and pushing myself, all the way up to the top. The only mildly annoying thing was that my camera didn’t record the whole ascent. But no matter, once at the top I came right back down to meet Aimi and Edd just reaching the switchbacks.
It was here that unfortunately, we had to stop on the hill, and Aimi slipped and rolled backwards with her bike. She couldn’t hold it or regain control and ended up dropping it. She was fine, unhurt and kept surprisingly good spirits about scraping up her brand new bike. And to be fair to the bike, there was only a bit of scuffing on the hand guards, the plastic that protects the corners of the panniers, and a slightly bent brake lever. If you didn’t look to closely you wouldn’t have known.
From the top we set off around the coast route, enjoying the beautiful sunshine and view across to Skye. It was just a bit frustrating that a belligerent camper van would not let us past. Eventually there was a straight and Aimi and Edd got thru, with me making it a short while later, but Adam was trapped. It was single track and passing places with just no options to overtake unless they offered, and they wouldn’t.
We had fun on the rollercoaster road, going as fast as we dared, avoiding sheep and braking hard for oncoming cars till we pulled up at the hotel. This is a huge Victorian looking building that is by far the nicest place we have stayed yet. Here, while Aimi went for a walk to the beach, Edd, Adam and I chatted with 4 Swedish chaps, learning about their culture. It was fascinating learning how strictly the government controls access to alcohol, and the price.
Then at dinner we met two Americans, Marty and Rochelle, visiting Scotland for their 20th wedding anniversary. We had great fun chatting with them about all things American and learning about their petrol prices, hunting sport and what they think of Trump. Admitting to having voted for him, Marty is not impressed with his conduct. To us Europeans we explained it’s like watching a toddler govern a box of kittens. Funny, but the consequences are real. It was all in good fun and we had such a nice time learning about them and sharing our trip.
