Just been up to Scotland for most of the last week. Bit of a last minute holiday as I had 10 days off work in a row so only started planning it the week before!

Day 1 (Sunday):

Scooter all set and ready to go

Set off from York in the morning to the campsite in Fort Augustus at the southern end of Loch Ness. Not the most exciting route as its mostly motorways till you get north of Glasgow, gets the mileage out of the way though!

Stopped a few times on the way for fuel for the bike and also for me, needed a few coffees and a Buger Ming etc on the way as it was a bit chilly as I had taken all of the thermal layers out of my textile kit thinking I would be too hot.Made it to campsite by tea time and after tens mins of scratching my head I remembered how to put my tent up, much to the amusement of the other people on the site. Had myself some dodgy camp food (beans and something that looked like sausages?) and then went for a drive down to the town to get some petrol for the following day and have a look around.

Loch Ness from Fort Augustus.

Returned back to the camp site and decided to have an early night as I was tired and had a lot to get into the next few days.

Day 2 (Monday):

After a crap nights sleep due to the cold and me bringing my summer +5 sleeping bag (dropped just below freezing overnight) I got up at 06.30 to have a hot shower and defrost myself. Plan for the day was Ullapool via lots of other places or just spend the day in the shower getting warm. After a long hot shower I decided that I would have to get out and get a move on! Route below was off the Undiscovered Scotland Website and was programmed into my sat nav. Sorry there are no place names however Map Source only outputs to google earth and not google maps. I also tacked on a trip up to Ullapool onto their suggested route.
What a fantastic route with some of the best roads I have ever driven on in the UK, you could stop pretty much anywhere on this route and get a fantastic view. The roads were pretty much all amazingly smooth, with open, sweeping bends and there was hardly any traffic on them. There was a slow single track bit on the route though it was through a really nice gorge so it was nice to be able to ride slowly and take in the scenery.
Loch Ewe (Nato Submarine/Ship Refuelling point pictured)


Ullapool

Stopped in at Ullapool for some lunch and a wander round then made my way back to Fort Augustus via the north side of Loch Ness and Loch Tarff as well as a quick stop at Urqhart Castle . More dodgy camp food for tea then another wander down to the town in the evening before another chilly night in the tent!
Urqhart Castle


Day 3 (Tuesday):

The longest (in terms of time travelling) of the week, todays plan was going up the Orkney's for the day. After another cold night in the tent and not much sleep I set off for John O Groats at about 8am. The A82 up the side of Loch Ness is a pretty crap road as its very twisty and enclosed and its full of trucks and caravans etc, the A9 just above Inverness is pretty much the same. Once you get about 20 miles north of Inverness everything improves, the roads get more open and quieter and the views are much better.
Made a quick stop at John O Groats to look around at what little there is there and decided not pay to have my photo taken next to the tacky sign. Took a few pics myself but couldn't cheekily take one of the sign as I didn't bring any of the bigger but bulkier zoom lenses for my camera with me!
John O Groats Harbour
Dunnet Head Lighthouse and Fog Horn
Had just enough time to get to Dunnet Head (the most northerly point) before getting to get the Ferry from Gills Bay over to St Margarets Hope on South Ronaldsay. The Ferry left at 13.45 and took about an hour to get there which didn't leave me that long to have a look round the Orkneys as I was getting the ferry back later the same day, Luckily the're only small islands so it doesn't take long to get anywhere! I went to Hoxa Head to have a wander round all the first and second war observation and gun emplacements that were still there. After this I had a drive over a few of the Churchill Barriers that link most of the islands together and secure the harbour of Scapa Flow.
Ferry Crossing from Gills Bay
St Margarets Hope

WW1 Gun Position on Hoxa Head

View across the mouth of Scapa Flow to Hoy

One of the Churchill Barriers with some old block ships next to it.

After this it was time to get the ferry back and I got back to the mainland at about 19.00 and made my way back to John O Groats in the hope of getting a cheeky picture next the the "famous" sign after the guy who owned it had gone home however the sign gets taken down overnight! Made my way back down South and decided I didn't fancy a 4 hour drive back this late in the day and stopped in a B&B near Lybster (just south of Wick), this would let me take my time getting back the following day and give me a chance to stop and look at places of interest I had to speed past today when I was rushing to get the ferry.

Day 4 (Wednesday):

After a great nights sleep in a warm B&B and a lovely cooked breakfast I set off down the A9 at about 10am. Stopped at Dunrobin Castle for a wander round the grounds and then took a bit of a detour off the A9 to Bonar Bridge.
Dunrobin Castle

Bonar Bridge

After a quick stop back at the campsite I then made my way down to Spaen Bridge to look at the Commando Memorial, then stopped at Loch Lochy and Oich Bridge on the way back.

Commando Memorial at Spaen Bridge (Ben Nevis is just visible in the background)
Oich Bridge

The Campsite on Wednesday afternoon when it was getting warmer.

Went into Fort Augustus again in the evening for a bit of pub grub instead of camp food, few pints and a nice venison burger then back to the camp site for the night.

Where the Canal meets Loch Ness at Fort Augustus


Day 5 (Thursday):

After a much better and warmer nights sleep it was time to take the tent down and pack everything away onto the bike, which is never easy as it never seems to pack down as small as it should.Pretty much the same route back down as I took on the way up; the A82 through the bleak and windy area below Fort William and then equally beautiful (but completely different looking) slow route past Loch Lomond. Stopped off in Grasmere to see my brother for a few days on the way back, didn't really do that much or take any photos of that other than a few of Coniston Water on the Friday, however it was a bit gloomy and Coniston is not the most interesting of lakes from a photographic point of view. Returned home to York on Saturday afternoon.
1435 miles of dead flies (looks worse in real life rather than on the picture!)


In all a very enjoyable week: 1435 miles covered without any problems, a few hicups with the sat nav due to how tiny some of the roads I used were. I did feel a bit like an odd one out due to my bike, not becuase its an MP3 but because its not a BMW. Almost all the other bikes I saw over the week were BMW GS Adventures!

The full gallery of pictures can be found here.

With some half decent weather and a Saturday with nothing planned for I decided to have a ride out on the new (ish) scooter. I had a quick look on the best biking roads website for a few ideas and decided on going across to Bridlington and then following the coast road (B1242) down to Spurn Point.



The B1242 is a really good twisty road with a few corners that could catch you out if you aren't careful. There are a few small sections of it with a really crap road surface, though this is nothing compared to the road down to Spurn Point itself! The "Road" is like a very rough almost cobbled surface in places and is covered in sand which is quite slippy and hard to drive on. I was glad of the extra wheel on the MP3, though the ride lock/suspension warning light came on while driving down this road!! Having just said that I was going pretty quickly







Stopped off at the Crown and Anchor pub for a bit off food and a coffee then made my way back through Hull, which was a pretty crap route as it went through all the nasty bits of Hull! I think next time I will go back up the coast road.

All in all, a good day out, no rain, 160 miles covered and the bike is now pretty much run in and is now due for its first service.

Also I have just found this picture I took of the Humber Bridge a few weeks ago on annother spare of the moment ride out to Hessle.



Dave

It would apear I have been slacking as I haven't posted on here for a while.
Anyways, I finally got my new scooter, its a Piaggio MP3 400ie. Looks a bit odd. in fact when I first saw them a year ago I didn't think much of them either. Take one for a test ride and you will soon change your mind! Have a quick google for reviews or one better, find a local Piaggio dealer with a demo bike if you don't believe me.

Anyways, took this picture a few hours after picking the bike up on 19/12/07. It was taken near the Hole of Horcum on the North  Yorkshire Moors.



Dave

A few photos from the Straightliners Top Speed and Wheelie Records at Elvington (23/09/07). Not the best of conditions as there was a bit off a crosswind that was knocking the top end off a lot of peoples times. Best times of the day were 241mph for the fastest flyer and 162mph for the 1km wheelie. Not quite as fast as last years times, but still very impressive. There was a also a decent stunt show, with various stunt teams including the local team Stunt Extreme, who I have photographed before at Elvington.







As always the rest of the pictures can be found on my Gallery website.

Last weekend (22-25th June) was the Darkside Scooter Rally in Belgium. Slightly bigger turnout to last year about 70 odd scooters this time (I think). Weather wasn't as hot as last year, but it didn't matter just as good (maybe better) a time was had! Same as last year we stayed at the Groenedijk motorcycle Loft in Oudenburg, which is a great place for bikers to stay due to secure indoor parking, bbq, self serve kitchen and most importantly, a bar and DJ Stand/Stage for live music.


Bit Rainy on the Friday night, so we just sat inside had microwave meals instead of the BBQ and had several beers.
Saturday was much nicer, at lunchtime most of us ventured out to Oostende on the bus (so we could have a few drinks!) and we spent the day in the beer garden of a nice Irish Bar we went to last year (there are loads of Irish Bars in Oostende, this was the nicest).


Got some food in the pub and after several pints we headed back to where we were staying for the evenings entertainment which was the local band Speedball Jr.

As well as a few of the other rally goers having a blast on the decks! Top night of Music and much Hoegarden was consumed!

Sunday morning (well more like early afternoon) a few of us went out on the scooters to Ieper to see the Menin Gate and see the Last Post. We also got some food in one of the many restaurants round the square and went round the WW1 Museum.



Menin Gate got really busy all of a sudden before the last post so I didn't get any decent pics (except for the back of peoples heads!).
After this we headed back to Oudenburg for a few beers and an early ish (3am) night before our trip back to the UK in the morning.

Left Oudenburg at about 08.30 in the morning, thrashed back along the E40 to the Euro Tunnel and we were back in the UK by 11am. Though my bike was not doing to well. It has been burning a lot of oil all weekend and seemed to be getting slower and losing power at the top end, probably due to low compression due to a knackered piston ring? To top this off the exhaust bracket fell off as I got on the train, though I was able to walk back down the train to pick this up and fit it back on! I took this as a sign of impending disaster as the bike was only doing 60mph driving along the M20 flat out (normally pulls to about 80mph) and rather than thrash it back the last 250 miles from Maidstone to York and risk it blow up I pulled in at the Maidstone services and called the RAC at 11.45am, after explaining that I though it was loosing compression/burning lots of oil and I didn't want a man to come out and tell me what I already knew and I told them to send a recovery truck, they said that it would be there within the hour. 2 hours later the truck arrives, though he only drives me as far as Dartford as he has been working all day and can't take me all the way back. We meet another Recovery truck there who was going to take me back to York. We get through all the traffic on the M25 and the M11 only to hit bad traffic that started on the A14 and continued onto the A1 to the point where we not even moving. This was due to the A1 being closed and there being a diversion. This also coincided with hitting the torrential rain and high winds as we were just getting into Lincolnshire. After spending a few hours in the traffic, we turned off at the next exit and tried to find our way across to the M1. This took ages due to the weather and there being loads of huge puddles/flooding and closed minor roads. Me made the Trowell Services on the M1 for about 8pm, however the truck driver had to stop for a break as he had been driving for too long and the tacho on the truck was beeping at him. Another Recovery truck was arranged and the truck that got me there left back for London leaving me waiting for the next truck to arrive. Apparently there was a slight delay, but it shouldn't have been too long. At about 9pm I called to ask roughly how long it would be as I had to get to work for about 10.30pm and we were about 2 hours away so I would have been a bit late. Due to all the heavy local flooding/gales and roads being closed they said they didn't think they would be able to pick me up until tomorrow and said the RAC would pay for me to stay at the Travelodge at the Services. Understandably I was not impressed and in any case the Travelodge was full! After a lot of pratting around trying to get info from the RAC (took ages on hold each time before I could speak to anyone) and calling the recovery company it became clear that no one could get me and the bike home. Recovery guy said all there trucks were either busy or stuck due to the flooding, he said there were bits of the M1 and the A1 closed. The RAC man suggested calling me a taxi and leaving my bike at the services (without the steering lock or disc lock on so they could load it up easily in the morning), understandably I wasn't that keen on that idea! Managed to get the Travelodge to look after my keys so I could leave it locked up and then got the RAC to call me a taxi (more time on hold before I could speak to them). Get home bikeless at 1.30am this morning. Had the bike not have been playing up, I would still have had trouble driving in the torrential rain and high winds so I would have had to stop and stay somewhere anyway! Bloody weather!

After all this I finally got the bike back of Friday Morning, so 4 Days after calling the RAC!

Still despite the saga of getting home, it was still a Brilliant weekend. Roll on next year!

The rest of the pics can be found in my Gallery

Dave

Fairly eventful round at Elvington the other day (22/04/07) as there were two crashes. A guy on a TL thou managed to flip it on the start line, luckily he and the bike both got off pretty lightly. The other crash was Tim Ellis on his 1300cc Competition Class Suzuki, the bike ran very wide and went off the track through the grass at the side at over 100mph. Scary to watch as it looked like a really serious crash. Thankfully he is now on the mend, details can be found on the Straightliners Forums Get well soon Tim.

Tims bike:






As Always, the Gallery Link

Dave

Derwent Water near Keswick, taken from Latrigg . Really pissed off with myself as I stupidly took the pic at ISO400, which is why its a bit grainy/noisy. Looks OK, but could have been better. Nevermind eh...

Edit: Its so crap I have had to clean it up using Noise Ninja! Looks a bit better now.

Dave

Two more photos from on the way home from work on the morning of the Easter Monday. Nice and quiet so a great morning for taking pics (to early for tourists!). Hopefully photos should be working, had some problems with the server there hosted on but should be sorted by now. Also has some problems with Photomatix as it wasn't aligning the photos properly. Nevermind....

County Court:



The dilapidated old Bonding Warehouse. Not as happy with this one but I thought I would post it up anyway!



As always the Gallery Link

Dave

Took some more pics at Straightliners Round 2 last Sunday. Weather was much better than last time and it wasn't as overcast so pics aren't quite as crap. Tailwind ment that many people were getting really good times. Rob Wilkinson ran a  7.93 second standing quarter @ 164mph which is an amazing time!



Also had a fiddle with some of the Stunt Photos I took a few weeks back and I have re loaded them after tweaking them in photoshop. I also found out who they were, StuntXtreme (which is Ash and Neil from York).



As always the rest of the pics can be found in my Gallery

Dave

First chance to use my new 70-200 F2.8 lens today as there was a Straightliners round at Elvington today. Really pleased with the quality of the lens. Weather was a bit overcast and windy, but still got some half assed pictures. All I have done so far is just slightly cropped some the photos and thats it. Will have a fiddle with them properly later on.

All the pics can be found in my Gallery.

Dave

Think I'm going to use the myspace blog as a photo blog from now on. Got a few new lenses to play with this year and weather should start to improve from now on (fingers crossed!)

Pic below was taken a few days ago and I had to fix the sky in photoshop as it was plain white and looked really boring. Looks a bit better now though.

Gallery Site