scottishpedro Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Myself and my friend John decided around Christmas time to plan a road trip in April which would more or less be a complete lap of Scotland. Day 1: Meeting point - Tarbet. I left from Dundee to meet John, who was coming from Glasgow, at the hotel in Tarbet where the tour would begin. The forecast a week earlier had been for snow showers but luckily (infact almost amazingly) it was 17 degrees and the sun was shining. The A83 from Tarbet to Lochgilphead was a good warm up, however I suspect the tail end of the school holidays made the road much busier. From there we followed the A816 all the way up to Oban. A fantastic road which really began to test the Z (and driver!). For the first time ever I felt a long brake pedal on the open road. John was very impressed with his new all round DBA discs and performance friction pads, with braided brake line. The A85 and A828 took us on to our first destination, Loch Leven. We had planned to stay in Kinlochleven, however the locals did not seem to appreciated 2 noisy zeds. We lapped loch leven (the Scottish equivalent to the Nurburgring? without the Armco), and stayed in the Glencoe campsite, which had a quite stunning view at sunset. Some beers and too many burgers before bed. The next morning we awoke to another rare but beautiful West of Scotland sunny day. Another quick lap of the loch and we were off up North. The A82 took us up to Fort William, where we stopped to fill with some super unleaded, sadly the last available on our trip before Inverness. On past the rather imaginatively named 'Loch Lochy' then onto the A87 towards Skye. For me this leg of the trip provided some of the most stunning scenery,and also some amazing long sweeping bends that the Z just tears up. Eilean Donan, as those who have seen it will know, provides a great photo opportunity, and we couldn't resist! The later part of this long day's driving involved some single track action, however the scenery and uniqueness of the drive made it well worthwhile. The following photos were taken on the mountain road to Applecross; we had lunch at the Applecross Inn. Some more sinlge track road took us beyond Gairloch and on up to Ullapool for the night. In hindsight we may have camped in Gairloch, which is a very picturesque little place, but we wanted to press on to make the 3rd day more manageable. Our night in Ullapool was a cold one in the tent, but enjoyable none the less. Day 3 began on possibly the greatest stretch of road on the Scottish tour, the A835. The Z really was in it's element here, and the road was completely deserted. Again some single track road but very few cars. The main obstacles are the sheep who seem to favour the roadside,however they are generally very well behaved and let you pass by safely (unlike the bastard deer that some of you will know ran head first into my car in a frenzy a few months ago). We drove all the way along the north coast, through Tongue which is somewhere John was very keen to visit; it is just out of reach for his day trips up north in the Z from Glasgow! It turned out to be a largely uneventful wee place. What amazed me most about the North west was how sparse the population was. I knew that there were 10 times as many sheep as people, but most places were accessed by single track road which shows how remote they are. We visited the petrol station for about 40 miles and had to fill up with satin's own 95. The lady in the shop remarked the only thing rarer than sunshine and people in the north west is petrol! Stunning scenery of course is plentiful. Day 3 ended with a rather more 'normal' drive down the east coast to Dornoch. On route we passed Wick,which seems to have a large 'cruise' culture. The place was full of horrificly modified corsas and the odd jap tuner, driven by spotty 15 year olds. They did seem to appreciate the Z though,as did many 5 year olds and pensioners on the trip. We stayed at Dornoch and I'm convinced this is the nearest i've been to death. It must have been below zero degrees, and 2 pairs of trousers,2 pairs of socks, 4 t-shirts, a jumper and big jacket inside a decent sleeping back was not enough to keep me warm - I duly defrosted in the car in the morning. The final day involved an hour of boring A9,some super juice in Inverness and a final blast down the A939 from Grantown on Spey to Glenshee,which also proved to be a contender for road of the tour. The tour finished in Blairgowrie Mileage: 902 Petrol cost: £174 (amazingly) Total other cost inc campsite,food etc: £80 each Total number of traffic policemen: 0 Total number of speed cameras: 0 Number of (bastard) deer: 0 Flies collected on front bumper: almost full coverage Number of bbq'd burgers consumed: 13 each! Total number of driving hours: 24 What an amazing trip, and mostly outstanding roads. Jeremy Claskson once called Scotland the greatest driving country in the world. Without driving in many, but by experiencing all of one, I think he could be right. Cheers all Pedro. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srobrien Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 wow mate, some seriously nice pics there....especially like the yellow one next to the tent, very arty. Glad you had a good time, serious amount of burgers too R Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MITZ@CougarStore Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Stunning photos and write-up... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stew Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Lovely run that. So I count you both in for the Hoon then???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richt Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Looks amazing (apart from the tenting), great photos and write up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M13KYF Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 great pics and write up Is your friend a member on here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stew Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Is your friend a member on here And if not, why not???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nurrish Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Very nice pics I could see this pic becoming a very nice canvas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stew Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Very nice pics I could see this pic becoming a very nice canvas +1. Remember the Calendar comp. Some strong contenders there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NWZ Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Wow great write up Some fantastic photos you took there as well. Out of interest how did you cope with all the camping gear in the boot? Did you take a gas bbq as well? I'm asking in prep for the hoon later this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pimm Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Fantastic shots, again great location. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Very nice pics I could see this pic becoming a very nice canvas +2 That's as good as I've seen. Great pics and a great write-up. Can't beat Scotland when the weather's good (which is not often!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beavis Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Great pics and great write up And the best colour zed too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elecious Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 great photos but whats the thing stuck to the rear window in the yellow 350z? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottishpedro Posted April 26, 2009 Author Share Posted April 26, 2009 Wow great write up Some fantastic photos you took there as well. Out of interest how did you cope with all the camping gear in the boot? Did you take a gas bbq as well? I'm asking in prep for the hoon later this year. I have a real thing about things rattling in my boot, and so I packed all my stuff really tightly in half my boot. I have a tanneau and managed to use my half boot anf glove box to good effect. I took 3 single use bbq's. One thing to remember is that there is always a shop available if necessary, not like le mans last year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottishpedro Posted April 26, 2009 Author Share Posted April 26, 2009 great photos but whats the thing stuck to the rear window in the yellow 350z? It's the custom TDE livery. Meant to be sad but funny! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottishpedro Posted April 26, 2009 Author Share Posted April 26, 2009 Very nice pics I could see this pic becoming a very nice canvas +2 That's as good as I've seen. Great pics and a great write-up. Can't beat Scotland when the weather's good (which is not often!). Thanks for your comments, if anyone wants full resolution copies let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.