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**antz.bin** · 06-09-2012, 11:41 PM

Thread Approved

**pitbull** · 07-29-2012, 01:59 AM

Scotch Whisky [Ride Responsibly]

The weather forecast for Scotland read -1C and rains throughout the week. It was D-day minus 2 and I was very concerned with the weather playing spoilsport to my biking trip. I nervously checked with my Scottish colleague about the typical weather patterns in June in Scotland. He replied, “If you don’t like the weather in Scotland, just wait 15min – it will change” citing an old Gaelic saying. This induced some warmth even though deep down I was concerned about running into cold winds in the Scottish highlands and mentally preparing plan B. A wise lady colleague who overheard my conversation cheered me up saying, ‘If you gotto take a few more sweaters, you ve gotto take a few more sweaters – that’s it’. Also adding, “There is no such a thing called bad weather, only bad choice of clothes”. This hit the nail on the head! I was all raring to go.

My ride
A new continent, a new beginning and naturally a new ride! I got a Suzuki VStrom 650 from a good gent who bought it originally in the intention of touring Europe with his wife. However, not everything went according to plan so he put only 3000miles on it before deciding to sell it. This meant all that I needed to do was to pay-up, gear up and ride away and exactly that was what I did. I felt a crisp throttle response during the first few miles on the road – the 64hp and 63Nm torque made their presence felt. But I knew about Suz VStrom 650 very well, I owned one in 2006-07 in the land of G.W.Bush. So, to sum up, the bike is ‘that’ good that I bought it again in another continent - think global customer retention strategy! To add some icing on the cake - I got a new set of soft compound Michelin Anakees (80% road, 20% off-road pattern) fitted.

Some flashback
My last trip, to Pondy, was by far the acid test of the future of my passion - motorcycle touring. I wasn’t sure whether I would continue the vagabond lifestyle or cave in to family pressure and ‘settle down’ by buying a safe ‘box with 4 wheels’. Even my touring-prepped ZMA-R with Givi box had covered only 9000 km in 2 years. However, life had other plans…and my boss asked me to move to London. I was hoping this move would rejuvenate my biking – and it did.

D-Day
Even though the weather worries were on the back of my mind, I carried on packing the usual touring checklist with additional warm and wet weather clothing. I had bought our gear to be part-winter gear as we are used to 45C Chennai summers, so 20C could still be categorized as winter (the forecast was -1C). The sun rises early by 5am and sets only by 9pm, so I had a longer day to ride at my disposal. We left home at 8am in the midst of a drizzle wearing our rain gear. We carried our stuff in my ‘proudly made-in-India’ Cramster tank bag and Kappa top box.

I took the highway to cover ground quickly in the drizzle, but the rain got worse and I had to make a quick petrol pump stop to ensure that our goods were well protected from the rain. To make matters worse, the speeding trucks sprayed water all around making us invisible. The new tyres weren’t helping with the grip either even as I wondered how come the cars manage high speeds despite poor visibility and grip levels – guess ABS/TCS is to blame. However, 40miles later, the rain stopped and I managed to get to my destination 250miles away, a hotel in Preston for the night. A few routine breaks for lunch, coffee and fuel as usual. I mentally calculated my bike’s fuel efficiency to be 17kmpl. We managed to stay dry and crossed the first hurdle. In the evening, we managed to walk to the nearby grasslands and click some pictures and soak in some vitamin D.

Rain to heavy rain
The next morning, I was concerned about the downpour outside my hotel. I knew, it was too heavy to be ridden in. However, the BBC weather forecast said receding rain and therefore we headed out on the highway towards Scotland. It was all hell in the first 1 hour as I battled strong winds, heavy rain and wet roads just trying to keep the bike in a straight line at 65mph. Some of the trucks ignored my bike and splashed water all over us, while a few tried to cut into my lane too quickly as I was invisible in their rear-views. I pulled into a petrol pump for a brief respite and to gather more courage. I noticed a UK’s first Ducati Panigale – the rider too had stopped for escaping the rain. I contemplated turning around and switching plans to the Lake District instead of Scotland and not risk bad weather. However, my wife seemed very motivated to visit Scotland and granted me the green light to just go for it. I cranked up the engine and caressed the throttle to lead us both out of the heavy rain. The rain too stopped and even the roads dried out within 25miles, even the sun popped out for a little bit – it was dry all the way into Scottish border. The highway winds itself through the pretty Yorkshire hills, covered in verdant grass and scattered wooly sheep. These guys were everywhere, grazing day and night.

The hotel is located close to a lake (pronounced ‘loch’ in Scottish Gaelic) and we reached there by 2pm, a good 1hr before estimate. Hmm, so much for the rain and wind, I managed to ride hard and non-stop and thankfully wife and I shared the rationale, for once, that ‘faster was better’. We spent some time lazing near the lake, at the Scottish border while the highlands are located in the interior of the country. We retired early for an early morning start to the Highlands.

The Scottish Highlands
The sun was out by 5am and it was 10C, so much for a -1C forecast! The road to the interior of Scotland meandered through some rolling hills and small towns, once past the Industrial City of Glasgow. There were lots of bridges that offered eye-catching scenes of quaint towns and boats in the river below. We rode towards Loch Lomond, the biggest lake in Scotland. The excellent back roads were far better and quieter than the highways and did a world of good to my eardrums, wife relenting. I spotted a town called Luss offering some boating prospects, given the early sun and pleasant weather.

We enjoyed a boat ride that took us to the smaller islands in the lake. We noticed that several people were doing wild camping near the shores- hm, perhaps another time! We also had a hearty lunch, by the lakeside, after licking the highway grub for the last 2 days. We then rode another 40miles to Crianlarich, our abode for the next 3 days while we go exploring the many sights, sounds and smells of the highlands, weather permitting. We rode around the place visiting a freshwater spring and chatting away the day’s experience.

Skye-fall
The day’s agenda was to ride along the wildest part of the highlands, through Fort William and onto the much talked about Isle of Skye. The challenging part is that the route meanders through the mountains and valleys, with lakes and stream thrown in. The route is entirely single-laned for the 275miles – a blessing and a curse. I decided to keep photo stops to a minimum as a bid to save time. Infact, my first thought is that the plan is undoable in a single day unless we put in a super-couple effort.

The roads were simple breath-taking and the views arresting. I had a tough time keeping both eyes on the road ahead and my wife ensured this by knocking on my helmet, sometimes a bit hard. The roads rose and fell through the mountain’s many curves, sometimes without warning. The cambers were good in most places, however, some turns were off-camber, meaning the road incline wont support a cornering biker. I managed to track down a website run by the Motorcycle cops in Scottish highlands and they had sufficiently forewarned me about this. They also mentioned where speeding isn’t allowed, which I interpreted as where the cops would turn a blind-eye for some ‘speedometer-checking’. I didn’t have to, the roads were that brilliant to enjoy at sub-speed limit pace. I even tried a few corners by employing copious amounts of counter-steering, without touching the brakes and accelerating hard out of the corners. Even the tail kicked out hard and spun a lot. I really felt good as I attacked one corner after another like a seasoned, but much slower (46?), motogp rider. The scenery in the meantime changed at every corner – a desolate mountain, a verdant slope, rolling hills, lakes on the road side, a bridge that hugged the side of a mountain – and many more. I thought that was the closest I would see heaven while living life 100%.

The Isle of Skye, is separated from the mainland by a bridge that has a steep, very steep climb up and down that for a few moments, at the very top, all one would see is the blue sky and not the roaring ocean below – probably why it was called the Isle of Skye? I don’t want to know, I just wanted to believe that there were very few places elsewhere that I wanted to be – exactly there. It was a magical experience…
My camera doesn’t do justice to the place, so you may want to wait for the next Bond flick, which apparently covers the highlands in great detail with one Aston Martin DB5 thrown in for some nostalgia.

Of course, there were a few disappointments. My wife wanted to ride on the glass bottom boat and view the sea life up close. However, a faulty boat meant we couldn’t be accommodated on the lone operating boat. We had to return back to our hotel without that trip. May be, next time! On the ride back, I had a tough time concentrating after a hectic ride in the morning. However, I dropped down the speeds and did a realistic and steady pace to bring the bike and wife in good shape to the hotel. Just as we pulled into the parking, the rain gods opened up. I thought, ‘what a timing?’

The Seals

The next day’s ride was a relaxed ‘walk in the park’, given that we did 275miles in the hills the previous day. We rode to the Western coast of Scotland to catch a glimpse of the ocean and some seals. We tried a marina, but there were only all-day long cruises. We later rode into the town centre of Oban and parked by the shore. It is a quaint little town with pretty seafront buildings – essentially, one can move about without a map. I noticed a hand-drawn seal on a wall and approached the boat owner for a ride. We got a bargain too as we went to the ocean to catch sight of some seal colonies in the ocean. We were lucky to spot a seal herd basking in the sun. The boatman told us that the seals were all female and heavily pregnant, and that they ve driven out all the annoying males, all males – hmmm.

‘Salmon Fishing in Scotland’

The boatman took us to a salmon hatchery and described how salmon farming is done. I thought that all salmon came from the wild, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. Each of the tanks, 6 in all, could have more than 50,000 of salmons – each atleast a foot-long. Anyway, we moved on and back on the road to the hotel. We stopped by a few small towns enroute, just to enjoy the quaint setting and individuality that each town showcased despite the stark commercialization elsewhere. Even the small shops were named with some imagination ‘The Green-Welly Shop’. One petrol bunk had dedicated motorcycle parking for upto 50 motorcycles and the local bikers use it as a meeting point.

Heading back

All great things must come to an end. My vacation was coming to a close. I had a very heavy heart when I had to pack for my return trip back home. A long highway back to where I came from, probably where I deserve to be after all the week’s enjoyments. A good way for the law of averages to be proven may be. I never had this feeling before and it was a strange thing for me to fall in love with a place and never want to leave. Perhaps, I will come back in a decade and go through the highlands in a much more relaxed pace – probably, I won’t. This trip reflected life itself in a melancholy mood – happiness was brief and exciting beaded in a long and dull strain.

I called for an early end; however, the ride back wasn’t over. There was still 500miles to home and anything could happen- it did. We rode to our stop, Kendal Town, in the Lake District for an overnighter. My wife was tired so I stole a lone ride into the hills of the Yorkshire Dales. I ve written about the ‘English country side’-like sceneries in some of my earlier blogs on Ooty/Nilgiris, however, this is the real deal. The actual English country side with green grass and a million white sheep. It was drizzling, but I found a road that ran deep into the Yorkshire Dales region so followed it. Instinctively, it seemed like a biker road with corners and stunning scenery, but I couldn’t spot even a single bike. I carried along until there were no signs of humans and the stone houses looked more deserted and the scene eerie. I stopped near a pretty railway bridge and soaked in some of the rain. Later, I realized it was time for me to turn back and head to my hotel. It was a piece of biking gift as a consolation for my riding away from Scotland.

The very last day of highway riding was supposed to be a steady 250mile trip, but weather gods had other plans – including continuous rain for 10hours and winds as high as 45mph. I had a tough time holding a steady line and at instances the wind gusts were hitting me like a hammer. We were cold and wet, the winds weren’t helping us with the progress. We rode home braving the elements and home never felt so comfortable. As they say, ‘some travel the world searching for something that they find on reaching home’. That is my sweet home….

**Haroon** · 07-29-2012, 03:30 AM

At the start I was perplexed with the dates of your post, then read on...

BTW, firstly congrats on a wonderful selection of bike. The DL650 in many ways is a complete touring machine that will run & run & run....obviously you had one in USA, so you know better. And secondly, wonderful place to tour on. Its so, so, beautiful. If you r riding with your wife, probably you already have, if not I highly recommend a bluetooth intercom. Makes it so much more enjoyable on the ride.

Ride safe and hope to see many more trips from that part of the world.

**pitbull** · 07-29-2012, 04:06 AM

Originally posted by Haroon View Post

At the start I was perplexed with the dates of your post, then read on...

BTW, firstly congrats on a wonderful selection of bike. The DL650 in many ways is a complete touring machine that will run & run & run....obviously you had one in USA, so you know better. And secondly, wonderful place to tour on. Its so, so, beautiful. If you r riding with your wife, probably you already have, if not I highly recommend a bluetooth intercom. Makes it so much more enjoyable on the ride.

Ride safe and hope to see many more trips from that part of the world.

Hi Haroon, I ve enjoyed your trip logs! Infact showed it to my wife for some inspiration...

VStrom 650 - I couldnt find any fault... if I have to buy my next bike, it is going to be a VStrom again.

Intercom - I dont use one now as I dont use GPS/Phones (i m old school - use paper maps) at all while riding.
Are you recommending/not recommending Bluetooth intercom for an enjoyable ride?

My wife and I have agreed a complicated morse-code type sign language

My wife tried the BMW K1600 in Birmingham motoshow ...and has given the green light for a BMW K1600GT as my next ride...

**Haroon** · 07-30-2012, 12:22 AM

Originally posted by pitbull View Post

Hi Haroon, I ve enjoyed your trip logs! Infact showed it to my wife for some inspiration...

VStrom 650 - I couldnt find any fault... if I have to buy my next bike, it is going to be a VStrom again.

Intercom - I dont use one now as I dont use GPS/Phones (i m old school - use paper maps) at all while riding.
Are you recommending/not recommending Bluetooth intercom for an enjoyable ride?

My wife and I have agreed a complicated morse-code type sign language

My wife tried the BMW K1600 in Birmingham motoshow ...and has given the green light for a BMW K1600GT as my next ride...

Nice to hear you liked our trip log.

Infact, I am also a technologically backward person (still dont use a laptop of my own!). Initially it took me also some time to convince myself the intercom would be a good thing or not. But once we used it, its almost indespensable on the bike trip for us now.

The superb K1600GT/GTL truly comes from another planet.....no other words to describe it. I will pen down my ride review of the bike in a few days.

I am following your other thread also. Great going

**Shivanshu** · 07-30-2012, 01:27 AM

Good one Pitbull....Vstorm is a good machine and I am waiting for more pics and more detailed log

**rx100.7050** · 07-30-2012, 03:57 PM

A married person can't really want more... good roads, breath taking beauty, quite little places & a good bike which can not only run but make you & your better half comfortable.

Enjoyed thoroughly. Keep riding & all the best for your next purchase.

**pitbull** · 08-18-2012, 01:42 AM

sold my moto

I sold off my motorcycle today!

sad to see her go...

The new buyer, a Hungarian, and his girl friend jumped on the bike and happily rode away.

My next bike is still sometime away.... and I will keep away from motorcycle websites, forums and magazines (for a while, ...to keep the salt away from my wounds

)

Safe Riding friends...

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A long trip - a long way from home - in a very long time

A long trip - a long way from home - in a very long time

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