InvictaMoto's Devall Boys!

Not much to add to Neill's bit so maybe just a few photographs instead. The first part of this route (as taken off the TomTom and viewed in Tyre) is the A86. Superbly surfaced with grippy overlay on the bend. In the dry it must be superb. In the on-off wet it was still pretty good. It is clear from this view that the loop top the east to get to Balmaha was a lot longer than the west back of Loch Lomond route.

Once again we were up early and down for breakfast for 8am when the restaurant opened. This time it was a serve yourself buffet and I guess had we wanted to, we could have gone mad. In the end a couple of pieces of toast and some bacon and eggs sufficed. Did I mention the third and final haggis of the trip? As we had a relatively short run down to Manchester again and so we thought about a side trip to see a little of the country.  After the planned fuel stop near Lockerbie, we set Gretna Green as the next port of call. I thought it would be about the right time for a coffee break and something of a tourist trap.   And we were right.  I had imagined it to be a town, but it seemed more like a complex built around the Blacksmith's Forge where people eloped to get married. There was a wedding party there, but we didn't stop to look. As was par for the course the weather was intermittent rain and a little dry. After coffee and then ...

A light brekkie at Auntie's this morning, waterproofs donned (of course) and we set off. Destination, The National Motorcycle Museum, Birmingham. The route had planned for us to do a fuel stop on the M6 but with the diversion into the Lakes, that looked as though it might now be a bit of a stretch for Dora, Paul's Explorer. I hadn't been able to id a non services fuel stop, so presumed we would just stop a bit earlier, though still on the M6. Within minutes of setting off, we were once again being peed on from a great height. It's not just the rain itself, it's also the spray thrown up by the cars and lorries. We were in sight of the M6, on the A556 actually, when I saw a BP garage up ahead, so we dived in there to top the tanks up once more. The M6 was busy, as usual and the going a little slower as a result and of course because of the conditions. Even so, we arrived at the museum around 11:30 ish. We took a couple of photos outside, then went in, now tha...

The hotel for the night was at Balmaha on the south-eastern shore of Loch Lomond. The journey from Spean Bridge took us a lot longer than expected as we caught on the back of a tin box queue stacked up behind a red van that was unable to exceed 30mph. The 8 miles seemed interminable! We broke cover and went into the petrol station as we entered Fort William.  The rain that started at at Spean continued to lash down ad we set off southwards through the city heading for Glencoe. The first part of the trip is alongside Loch Linnhe. A pretty nice 8 miles! Then across the bridge across the neck of Loch Leven and into Glencoe. This is one of the most scenic places in the UK. In the dry and sunny it would be perfect, but even in the wet it is still fantastic. At least the rain managed to fuel the waterfalls. We had intended to stop for a coffee at the tea bar at the southern end but it was closed. In the end we continued to Crianlarich  on the A82. I've stopped here before and the ra...

Mishap this morning, which delayed us somewhat. I discovered the 12v plug for the Tomtom power lead had come apart, depositing the pieces and the fuse into the socket, located unhandily, under the handlebars. After quite a few minutes fiddling and more than a few choice words, I managed to get the pieces out, all except the spring that sits behind the fuse. That, had sprung and was nowhere to be seen, so that meant no power to my TT. I'd have to hope that the charge it had from the day before would last the journey back to Manchester, though if not Paul's was OK. In the event, with power save mode on, it did. Once more we were in our waterproofs and once again it was a mixture of sunshine and showers, as we made our way south, through Glasgow, under the Clyde and towards our next fuel stop at the Lockerbie services on the M74. Motorway riding is pretty boring, as even car drivers will recognise but I have to say, the road surface of the M74 made it almost a pleasure to ride. Ve...

We left the Loch and started the return leg and the 'holiday' part of our trip. Sweeping round a narrow back road, we came across an old ruined barracks, Ruthven. A quick stop for some photos and back on the road we went. It was time for a coffee stop and we pulled up in a little village just south of Kingussie, Newtonmore. The 'coffee' shop was a combination of gift shop with a tea room in the rear but also some small tables in the shop window. We sat in the shop front, so as not to frighten any of the other customers ;-) Ruthven Barracks We set off once more, heading for the Commando Monument at Spean Bridge. This meant taking the A86 across the highlands. That's a really nice run, with some superb sweeping bends and is particularly nice where it runs alongside Loch Laggan. Not easy to look at the view and watch for the next bend though! Soon though we got on the end of the inevitable tin box train and were very shortly in Spean Bridge. Ultimately we would be goin...

I forgot to change the blog I was sending to and so this went to "On the Road". So here's a link instead!!!! Some pictures though.

We were up at 7am again and ready for our brekkie at 8. A healthy bowl of fruit and fibre was followed up with a not so healthy, full Scottish cooked brekkie. Plan was to leave by 9am. In the event, we are five minutes early. First stop was just 10 miles up the road, a fuel stop. One good thing about this trip thus far, we aren't using a much fuel as I thought we would. As we made our way along the A9, it wasn't long before some nasty black clouds appeared on the near horizon. I could tell they were rain bearing and tried to attract Paul's attention, he was leading, to pull over. Unfortunately, we didn't manage to pull over before we ended up in a contraflow system, where the laybys were all closed and the inevitable happened. A short heavy shower engulfed us. As the contraflow ended, a bright patch appeared up ahead, so I made the decision to push on through. The decision proved to be a good one, as we ended up in sunshine once again. It wasn't long though before t...