Tag Archives: Scottish Borders

The Last Lap Home

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OK, I need to be honest about this trip; I’ve found it really tough!

I’m thinking that its a mixture of things:
1. I’m out of practice riding motorcycles; with all the upheaval last year I just haven’t had time to get out on any kind of two wheels. Plus with all our things in storage, I couldn’t get at them anyway.
2. I’m carrying a couple of injuries at the moment, nothing serious, but enough to inhibit me a bit and at times make life a bit uncomfortable, plus I’m as a result not as fit as I like to be!
3. The weather. Riding in our Northern latitudes in early Spring is always going to be a bit of a lottery with the weather, plus inevitably it’s going to cold a times. OK, I do wear my heated clothing and it has been quite a bonus on this trip, but after a few hours in the saddle you do still feel the cold in the unheated bits! Rain doesn’t really bother me, except when it makes the roads greasy, as my gear is all very waterproof.
4. I’m getting older. No escaping this, I’m not going to let it stop me, but maybe I need to modify my approach to motorcycle touring in future?

Anyway, we are now home in Caithness, arriving here after a 300 mile push from Lauder in the Scottish Borders last Saturday.

I think that I can describe the day as a symphony in four movements…

Lauder to Edinburgh was delightful on open roads in the early morning crisp sunshine.

Scottish Borders Roads. Smooth, Sweeping, Empty.

Edinburgh ring road to Perth via the Queensferry Crossing was busy, very busy and not over enjoyable.

Queensferry Crossing.

Perth to Inverness on the A9 climbing into the Highlands was a hard section; fantastic scenery as the mountains rose around us, annoying traffic at times and getting colder.

Welcome to The Highlands, snow on the mountains still!

Inverness to Caithness, a feeling of opening freedom, clean air, less traffic, fun roads and the joy of getting near home.

Nearly Home!

The last bit is always something to be wary of, as many accidents befall motorcyclists at the end of long trips just as they are nearing home! A bit of light rain began to fall ten minutes from Dookes H.Q. and was enough to turn the roads quite greasy, so yes, time to be extra cautious!

Caithness Roads, take us home!

The trip is over now and though I’m still physically recovering from it, I’ve had time to process it all a bit.

It’s been strange doing a long trip in my own Country and by that I mean the UK.

In comparison to my many Continental Europe trips I was struck by how busy and crowded our small island is; I didn’t have to stray into any major city centres to notice that!
Everywhere in England people seemed to be always in a massive hurry and yes it was really noticeable how much things change once we got into Scotland.

I saw evidence throughout the journey of crumbling and neglected infrastructure. Roads were deteriorating and pot holes common; bloody dangerous for the unwary motorcyclist too! Even on the arterial Motorways, potholes were not uncommon and many motorway signs were becoming barely legible through weathering and neglect.
The verges of many roads were strewn with litter and obvious fly tipping in lay-bys seemed normal.
Considerate and careful driving was not over common…
In many ways parts of the trip were quite depressing, but then there were the people, people who were friendly, wanted to ask about Harls and just were interested in what we were doing; that was nice and rather up-lifting. More about them in another post I feel.

The scenery was the thing though; at time it’s just breathtakingly beautiful.
From distant glimpses of the Welsh mountains, the wide sweeping Severn Valley, the sturdy Pennines and West Riding of Yorkshire, the high Westmorland Fells, Scottish Borders and finally the Highlands, every region has such lovely natural treasures.
The 868 miles that we covered were worth it for that alone; even though I didn’t grab many pictures, so much variety in such a little island!
Would I want to do the whole trip again? No, I don’t think so, I’ve got a lot of other new places I really want to go and most of them are pretty much on my doorstep.

The view from Dookes H.Q.
The view from home at Dookes H.Q.

Now, I’m starting to build a new garage for Harls and Hettie and when I’ve done that we will be back out on the road, after all I have the whole of Scotland to explore!


Hope to catch you soon.

“This land is my land,
This land is your land,
From Cornwall to the Scottish Highlands,
This land was made for you and me” …with apologies to Woody Guthrie!

Dookes

On The Border

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After the relentless rain in Lancashire yesterday afternoon, it was a relief to wake to almost dry skies.

Harls and I hit the road bang on nine o’clock and headed North, through Gisburn and then to Settle, which is at the South end of the famous Settle and Carlisle Railway.

The fells looked fabulous, but I wanted to push on and get a sixty mile section of the M6 Motorway out of the way.
I generally dislike riding on Motorways, not just because they are boring, but mostly they can be dangerous for motorcyclists. Dangerous through poor lane discipline and bad driving habbits of many other road users and wow were those on full display today!

Because the weather was so nice when we got on the motorway, I was planning to stop at Shap and maybe watch a few trains pass on the famous climb from Tebay; a gradient that used to severely tax the old steam locomotives and even makes modern traction cough a bit!

In my railway career days, I’ve driven trains over it and I know how it can catch out the unwary. It’s a stunning location, but is mountainous country and the weather can change in an instant…. just like today.
We were happily travelling up the sunny Lune Gorge just South of Shap, up ahead I could see ominous black clouds and mist, this was going to be interesting! True to form, we rapidly moved into reduced visibility, biblical rain and gale force winds; I do like a challenge, but the Shap stop was scrubbed!

The Fells though, have a habit of changing their mind fairly quickly and by Carlisle we got back into sunshine and swung off the dreadful motorway and onto the A7 road through the Scottish Borders.

The A7, my kind of road!

This road has long been on my UK bucket list and I wasn’t disappointed. It starts of innocuously enough, then sort of develops into a lovely scenic twisty indulgent asphalt ribbon of happiness.
It has enough jeopardy at times to keep a motorcyclist alert without being dangerous and some glorious straight bits where you can soak in the views or burn up the fuel a bit quicker.

I’m afraid that on the best bit, between Langholm and Hawick, I didn’t stop to take photos, I was too busy enjoying myself!
North of Galashiels though I grabbed a few pictures, it’s not bad, eh?

Tonight we are in the Royal Burgh of Lauder, a delightful small town about 30 miles South of Edinburgh. 

Tomorrow, it’s a big push of 300 miles back home to Caithness, with a brief stop at Edinburgh Harley Davidson to discuss service plans; yes they really are my “local” Harley Davidson Dealership and service workshop!

We will be traversing the Queensferry Crossing over the Firth of Forth adjacent to the famous Forth Bridge built to carry the North British Railway’s line from Edinburgh to Aberdeen in 1890.

Then its off to Perth and the Highlands, following the A9 just about all the way home…

The Highlands are calling me …..

Are you coming along for the ride?
Good, stands up at 09:00; Screw it, Let’s ride!

“On the border 
Leave me be , I’m just walkin’ this line 
On the border” 

Catch you soon,
Dookes