So a mid November trip to Applecross and the quandary was do we wimp out and take the car as heavy rain was forecast or just get on with it and take the bikes, the bikes won. We left in heavy rain and headed up the A9 to Dalwhinnie before cutting across the Laggan road to Spean bridge for some lunch as unbelievably the rain stopped for a while. A stunning ride through Glengarry and up past Cluanie Dam (Diesel at £1.84 a litre) passed Eilean Donan Castle and over by Lochcarron and the clouds and rain made an appearance again for the run over the Bealach. Into the Inn and it felt I had never been away, great catching up with everyone we haven't seen for a while. Judy was on holiday (probably to avoid us :-) ) and we met up with Keith a fellow motorcyclist we first met there three years ago.
A walk on the Saturday with a visit to see our friend Phil was pleasant and then back to the Inn for an al fresco beer, perfect, two of the young waitresses spoke as they went on their break and said they were going in for a swim in the bay, I thought they were joking but five minutes later there they were, out for a swim in the sea in Scotland in November, they did say later they were freezing, no surprise!
The run home on Sunday was dry the whole way, a tad windy over the hill but apart from that it was excellent, so happy that we took the bikes, it just makes you feel alive and part of the landscape instead of a spectator, a car or van is handy sometimes but as a travel mode its nothing like the freedom of motorcycling. Until the next time.....
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| Gas at Dalwhinnie |
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| Cafe at Spean Bridge, sunshine! |
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| Quiet roads unlike the Summer |
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| Loch Duich |
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| Sunny |
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| Top of the Bealach, winter again |
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| Wet and dreich but braw |
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| Triumph coped well with the conditions |
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| Some glimpses of sun |
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| Getting dark |
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| Pub |
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| Saturday, rain still hanging around |
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| which means we get a rainbow |
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| Beer al fresco |
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| Skye looking dark and forboding |
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| Me looking happy |
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| Loonies in for a swim, top marks |
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| I love this view even when it is dreich |
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| Sunday, dry but cloudy |
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| New "layby" on the Bealach with a pavement to make it easier for the motorhomes, of course the rest of it is quickly eroding. |
