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I took the CBR6 to Scotland for a tour with 4 mates, Paul (Fireblade), Alex (Harley Sportster Sport), Eamonn (Kwak Z650) and Mike (Kwak GPZ900R). I'm pictured here second from the right.

The latest entrants for the Michelin Man competition line up for the judges.

The twisties in Scotland were great ,and even with my CBR being loaded with soft panniers and seat bag it performed brilliantly. When pushing a bit harder I never even noticed the luggage and the bike just forgave me for all my mistakes.
I'd already changed the tyres to Dunlop D207s for Trackday thrashes and I must say these tyres are great. The only slips I had were on some over-banding which had been carried out on a few of the turns otherwise grip and feel were just excellent.

You can see Paul here showing us the size of the one that got away!

Because of my riding style (too much heavy braking in the turns) I scrubbed the front tyre out and I've had to fit a new one on my return.
Also I got to test the wet riding capabilities of the CBR and D207s and found them to be just fine with no surprises.
My favorite bit of road had to be the south side of Loch Ness. It was a tight, up, down twisty one track road which I just loved. It only went on for a few miles, but I pulled about 5 or so minutes on the rest of the guys!

The route maps. Well done Alex.
South East England
North West England
Mid Scotland
North Scotland

The start of Alex's and Mike's trip almost ended in tears. Alex writes:
Well, many days planning and drinking had finally come to fruition and we set off. We had planned to meet at 8:30 at the little chef in Thame and we were late. Mike E and I waved bye bye to our respective families and headed north.
We had gone about 3 miles when the first incident happened. Alex noticed Mike flashing in his mirrors and pulled up. Mike cruised past stopped and then dropped his bike! Amazing how these things are always done in slow motion. In preparation Mike had tightened the rear brake, but with the extra load (luggage) the rear brake was constantly on, once heated. Out came the tools, out came the mobile. No reply - no one waiting Yet !!
Finally arrived at Little Chef an hour late only to find Paul was also late. (always rains in Pangbourne!!) Mike tucked into a Little Chef breakfast whilst the rest (who had already eaten!! ed.) tried to get hold of Paul. No reply from his home and mobile just rang on. Good sign, he was on his way. Paul phoned; he was running late but should we start without him.? More coffee was ordered!

Other memorable moments include Alex running out of petrol! Those Harleys have a pretty short range, but riding it made me see Harleys in a whole new light. OK, so this Sportster had twin disks, Screaming Eagle pipes (god, they're loud!, but nice :-) and carb re-jetting to suit. The low torque is tremendous. Any gear, wind the throttle, and the surge pulls you anywhere.

A passer-by gets in the line of fire as I try to zap the cameraman.

Paul had a ride of Alex's Harley and was almost converted from the 'blade!!. We followed him for miles as he led us through some of Scotlands fast roads and at times was hard to keep with, especially powering out of some of those turns, which showed another advantage the Sport has over the standard Sportster - handling. This Harley has decent suspension with adjustments on forks and rear shocks: pre-load, compression and rebound, both ends. And I think Paul, in his black leathers and black visor, enjoyed the attention he got when we cruised through Edinburgh.

One downside to all this torque and low down pulling power is that it shreds the rear tyre. Which is what happened to Alex's pride and joy and, coupled with Mike needing a new rear also for his GPZ, lost us a day in traveling trying to locate a couple of tyres in the wilds of Scotland.

Alex writes:
Finally all get together and set off. Eamonn has spent time planning the route and we stick to it. (at first anyway!) Sun is out, roads busy, all in high spirits. Eamonn set a good pace and the south of England slipped by quickly.We had planned the most scenic route we could. Cotswolds, Peak District, Yorkshire moors and then overnight near the Lakes. We were determined not to go on motor-ways so kept to 'A' roads and the Fosse way.
First night was at a pre-arranged B&B. Bank holiday weekend and we weren't taking any chances. Great place, very comfortable, run by retired couple. Bit shocked when they saw 5 bikes tip up. We had already warned them we were running late, so we had to taxi into town for a meal. Great restaurant and superb food. Nice flow of beer and hair-raising taxi back ! Much safer on the bikes !!
Next day we finally got down to fry up (after Paul's 3 hour bath !!) first one of 7!
Stopped for petrol near Haydon Bridge and Paul took a spin on the HD. Only he can say how he felt on it, but judging by his expression and the way he threw it around, I'd say he had a really good time. For myself I had a go on the Blade. I know it has come in for criticism recently, what with the R1, but for a bike that has been on the market this long, it is still one hell of a bike. Straight line speed is amazing, cornering frightening until you get used to it. Gear change knobbly and frequent ! can't believe the number of times I had to change gear !!

Stopping for a pee at Haidrians Wall I decided it was time to fix the video camera on the back of bike. This almost worked first time, but the straps gradually pulled the camera round and also zoomed it in so all we got was a shaky scan of the countryside!. Later on we straightened it up and got some watch-able stuff. Paul took over the (Alex was beginning to worry he'd lose it to him!!) and went the back roads up to Edinburgh. Great roads with little traffic and not a single speed camera until you get to Edinburgh. Paul took the lead on the HD. Believe me those Sportsters can go. I had great fun keeping up with him. Paul for his part was trying to ground the HD on the corners. Never did though!!. We Stopped of at the Grassmarket for a drink then at the Forth Bridge to take in the view. There were a lot of bikers on the south side and a couple showed off by popping a wheelie just as they pasts us. In Perth We stayed with Alex's very hospitable relatives Heather and Stuart for an enormous meal.

Ben Elton tries to sneak into the Legion behind Stuart and Heather

We set off late from Perth, about 1pm, after trying to get Stuart's PC going (dodgy video card) and lounging in the bath (errr, not all together!) and headed West, although the weather was not good in any direction!
Our journey, by design, was to take lots of back roads or those that were twisty. Eamonn requested a stop in Moffat to buy some Moffat Toffee (recommended) So straight out of Perth, once we'd cleared the City, we took to the B8063,A822,A826,A827,A85,A82 to Fort William. The drizzle at first soon worsened and we had to stop and test the waterproofs at Loch Earn. Later we stopped at a Little Chef for tea and cakes (well we are City Slickers! - Alex) and decided to head for Fort William to stop for the night. Although it was still raining Alex and I swapped bikes and I cruised out of the Little Chef on the HD. I really enjoyed the ride, quite a lot of vibration through the bars, but so much torque.

Alex got to ride my CBR6:
What can I say about it? I really enjoyed it, found it easier on cornering than the Blade (maybe because I had gotten a bit used to the Blade first), but the gearing was worse than the Blade! Only because I had to change even more times!!!. At least with the Blade there is a greater range for acceleration (for us lazy riders!) but yet again pulling power on the straight is unbelievable. Because it was an import, the speed-o was only KPH, so I don't know what I got up to but it was something like 210KPH !!!!!!!!! I really enjoyed both bikes and would have been very happy to try them again, but it was not to be. Paul was to leave soon after and Mike wanted to try the HD again in the dry, Although it was later in the week we never got round to swapping again!

Our stay at Fort William coincided with the Scottish Six Day Trial and we stayed in a great B&B. At at the end of the car park was one of the trial stages. The bikes I saw go up there didn't seem to have too much problem, so I guess it wasn't a difficult one.
The weather was pretty awful in Fort William. It drizzled all the time. We were out of there after breakie the next day and headed for The Isle Of Skye via the A82 and A87. This was wet and raining all the way.
Up one of the steep mountain roads we had a hold up. Al the traffic was tailing back behind a slow lorry. I began to queue jump, as one does on a bike, and from behind I heard a horn blowing. Then this C type Jag came whizzing up the outside passing everything on the wrong side of the road, around blind turns! and there following behind him was Paul!! I thought "you nutter" and joined him! We cruised past the queue and once on a clearer road shot past the Jag. There were a couple of German guys in Jag doing the Six Day Endurance and I guess they didn't want to be held up.
From then on Paul and I kept a steady fast speed through the rain keeping as smooth as possible. We had a couple of little tussles with cars who thought they were quick, but saw them all off. One guy was a right old wrinkly and chasing us at about 110 at one point!

Although dressed to kill, there weren't too many curb crawlers on The Isle Of Skye.

The B&B on The Isle Of Skye, I'd say, was probably the best of out tour. We had run of a 3 bed house, complete with Satellite TV. The rooms were very comfy and the breakfast great. Mrs Morrison, our hostess, was also happy to do some washing for us! Although Eamonn, Mike and Paul were too genteel to take up her offer (or were they happy to stay smelly :-). Alex and I had a small amount done, but she complained that a small load was not good for the machine. Still, a big "thank you" to Mrs Morrison on The Isle Of Skye.
We dumped our gear and headed for our first distillery, about a 30 min ride along some pretty good roads, only to find we'd missed the last tour by a couple of minutes. Maybe we could have made it, if it hadn't been for some silly woman having a go at Mike E.
Alex explains:
We had found that sometimes if one bike overtook, the bikes behind couldn't always see if traffic was coming the other way. So to make it easier and safer (!) if the bike which had overtaken could see a clear rode, he would say out a bit longer than normal, so the other bikes could see it was clear.(we had done this quite happily from the south) Now Mike E had done this so that I could pass a truck. Nothing was coming and all passed very happily. We stopped further on to check our bearings and this old biddy stopped and started giving Mike E what for. Saying it was dangerous, cleaning him from the road etc etc etc. She nagged for about 10 mins (I think in truth she didn't like bikes and wanted a good whinge, time of month and all that!) In the end Mike E told her where to get off and we went on.

Outside the Skye Distillery

Alex has a complaint about the distillery:
Look out for the Talisker Distillery because they are a miserable bunch of lazy sods. At least at the tourist centre they are. They must have heard us arrive. (5 bikes, one with screaming eagle pipes). Watched us get out of our waterproofs lock up etc and then walk to the door. I arrived at the door at 4:32. Woman at the door said, we close at 4:30 your too late. Two minutes of which we must have been in the car park for a good 10 minutes. Miserable I call it.

The evening was spent pushing pool balls around and we noticed the bar prices were very close to London prices!!
After checking out the menu we chose various cordon-bleu dishes and sent Alex up to order. He returned and asks:
"What did you order?", "Chicken, wotsit" says I.
"Do you want to know what you're getting?" he says,
"Err.. chicken wotsit?"
"No, burger and chips"
We'd missed the cut-off for the day menu. It was a very nice burger and chips though.
I think this is where things went a bit hazy for Paul. We knew he was determined to leave the next day despite our protests, and continuous sampling of Scotlands finest whiskeys - Glenmorangie, Glenffidich and Chivas Regal. NO Talisker.
Paul made a sad departure from the group just outside Skye and rode all the way home (Nr. Cambridge) in one hit.

Paul sniffs his armpit wondering why he's just become Billy No-Mates.

The rest of us wiped away the tears and got going on a very dodgey road to Plockton. Took some pics of some palm trees and here we saw the cream of the Scottish emergency services. Fast asleep in his car looking out over the bay! Took our required pics and headed north again. It was another of these roads with passing places which wound its way along 'till we reached the A890. Following the A832 and A835 we stopped at Ullapool for lunch. Ullapool is a quiet little place (was until Alex rolled up!), but the weather that day encouraged us to retreat to a pub for hot soup coffee and a game of pool. We trudged through the elements to find a cash point, then headed for the gift shop.

"Where's those crash helmet instructions?"

We stopped frequently for pics and went towards Sandwood bay but the track stopped 4 miles from the beach so we decided not to walk. (Who walks when you have two wheels?) but we did go down to the coast where there were some strange goings on, well, only when we arrived!

SAS are spotted invading North Scottish coast!

Even sheep can be asked to take photo's

We rode on into the evening and stopped at Bettyhill right on the north coast. The B&B from hell as it was to become known. Dumped our stuff in the cold damp rooms where the water was brown and everything dirty. We decided to go straight to the pub/hotel, where we had a good meal, pool, darts and plenty of beer. View from the restaurant was fantastic looking north over the sea. However, the room was freezing so we ate in the pub bar.

The locals complained about some new copper stationed there, because he was trying to stamp out drink driving in the town ( !!! strange people). Back in our cold damp rooms the others slept with their clothes on (smelly or what!) except for me as I had the electric blanket! which I'd tossed for. The next morning we headed for our fry up (didn't care what state the place was, had to have our fry up!) but the butter was off! it smelt like three year old cheese! and tasted much worse! We packed quickly and got out (having eaten the eggs, bacon, sausage, toast (without butter) and tea (orange juice was poured back into the jug!!))

Alex had gone on reserve the evening before but there was a pump opposite the B&B so we parked alongside and waited to be served. This was a one pump affair run from the Post Office. A woman came out saying they had a power cut and the pump wouldn't work. Didn't know how long for. Alex reconned he had 10 -12 miles worth left in reserve. Next village? (Town in Scotland) was 18 miles away! and whilst we were trying to decide if we should risk it, the garage owner comes out, opens the garage and offers this spare can saying 'don't know what's in it but you can try this' I think he mistook Alex's expression. Alex was a tad worried about putting any old rubbish into his pride and joy and his face must have shown it because the next thing we hear is 'only trying to help, forget it then' and he closed the garage and buggered off indoors! Still it helped make our minds up.... Alex ran out of petrol 12 miles later.

Eamonn shot off and filled his tank (after I had tried pushing towing, linking arms etc). He eventually came back whipped his tank off and put some petrol in. Good man Eamonn. We Pushed on passed Doonreay (what's this about two headed cows?, didn't see any, but that doesn't mean there aren't any!) to John o' Groats and stopped for coffee and a view. Very clear sky and you could see the islands north. The Hotel itself is a bit run down and the whole area is a bit of an anti climax. Still the furthest point north on the mainland though. This is where we saw the "real" Eamonn. Obviously a hooligan in his youth. With no lid, he rode across the road and then across the pavement! into the car park. (A similar incident happened at a later gathering where Eamonn road across the path to get into the a petrol station!).

We then started south past wick with a detour to Rogart (an Alex family connection) but didn't stop and finally came to the Glenmorangie distillery. This tour around we did make and were treated very well. The guide was very helpful and informative and explained that Bettyhill was full of miserable people (we already knew that). After the tour we phoned up Paul who was back in the city working away. As soon as he answered, opened up the throttle on the HD. Lovely noise. I believe he put it on loud speaker in the office so everyone could hear. Teach them for wanting him back. (Teach him for going back!). We moved on to Loch Ness and went down the south side to Fort Augustus. The south side has a narrow road with passing places and the last 5-6 miles is very twisty and up down.. I had to just shoot off! and it took the others 5 minutes to catch me up. I wanted to go back for more (another year perhaps).

The fumes are enough to give a smile like that!

Another excellent B&B at Paddy's with heaters, hot showers, TV in rooms and en-suite. Then down into town for beer and food. Another relaxing evening drinking and talking about the ride. (Lets not mention Alex on the sharp corner going wide on the exit. Or me planning least damage into the hedge!, that was scary!)

Next morning , fry up, then another sad day as Eamonn chose to depart He didn't have to, but he had planned a Matchless weekend rally and wanted to take part. So off Eamonn went and managed to see Ben Nevis when he went through Fort William. Maybe it only rains when Alex goes through!

By now Alex's rear tyre was showing signs of wearing so we went into Inverness to change it. Wrong! Nowhere in Inverness had a spare that would fit. Try Nairn we were told. Did some shopping and then pushed on towards Nairn via Culloden, but didn't make Culloden. His tyre was by now really bad so we chose to go straight to Nairn. The shop didn't have the right size tyre either and spent a considerable time phoning round looking for one. Many thanks to 'Bikes and Bits' Nairn. They did find a tyre in the end which had been ordered by someone else and sold it Alex instead. Double thanks to 'Bikes and Bits'. Time was now short and we had to get to Perth (back to Stuart and Heather's), but we avoided the A9 as much as possible (unmarked police and cameras) and instead went down the B9007 (good road) and managed to avoid the A9 until Dalwhinnie, but had to join it to get past the 'Pass of Drumochter'. At Pitlochry we came off the A9 again and went on the B roads to Aberfeldy, Milton and Dunkeld. Yep we took a wrong turn!, but the A826 through Glen Cochill is superb.

Also during the finding of Alex's tyre, we decided to check all our tyres. Oh-Oh. Mike's tyre was showing canvas!. Bikes and Bits couldn't help this time and so we had to chance it for the journey into Perth and find another bike shop to get a rear for Mike's Kwak. We found out here that bikers are often caught out in Scotland and need new tyres because of the amount of Granite they use in their roads. No luck with Mike's tyre in Perth so try Edinburgh the next day.
As we'd stopped with Stuart and Heather again, went back down the club for more beer and pool (Bingo night!). Another fry up in the morning and a straight trip down to Edinburgh for a new tyre.

We left Edinburgh about 2:30 planning a long haul as we didn't want to be too late home the next day. Out by the A6094 through Howgate to Leadburn and then south on the A703. Got onto the B709 and stopped at Mountbenger for lunch. Then south again on the B709. Great road with very little traffic, which is just as well as I completely missed a left hander and overshot!
Pushed on and joined the A7 into England. We really were on our way home. Noticeably more traffic and we made a decision to ride as far south as we could that day. Joined the A6 after a slight collision! Mike knew which exit to take, unfortunately I didn't! I'd stopped at the roundabout but Mike drove into my luggage! He Only lost his indicator. Damage was bearable and Mike's done a good functional repair.

"Patched up"

The route south on the A6 was empty, evening was drawing in and the roads were empty. The route over Shap Fells was very windy causing a few moments of panic. Mike E reckons he was pushed over a complete lanes by the wind. So we slowed down a bit (!). In the end we had to join the M6 to get some distance and pressed on till 9pm arriving near Crewe. God those motor-ways are boring on a bike.
We booked in at the Travel lodge for the night and headed for the Little Chef for a meal (kicked out in the end!) Alex was slipped for a low alcohol drink and had to get it changed!! (with his beer gut it's obvious he drinks real beer!!)

Morning saw us back at the Little Chef for a Fry up (last one) then pushed on down the A51 and A5. Those roads are full of cameras. It was not a pleasant way to end the trip. Looking at all the traffic and cameras. (Not that we speed you understand, a purely psychological thing!)

I split off at Hinkley and got lost on my way down to Kent. The weather was good and hot, but the increasing traffic and 'busy-ness' off the South East was quite depressing. It made me realise how free and easy the north of England is.
Mike and Alex pushed on through Oxford and down Reading way returning home 2:30 in the afternoon.

A superb and wonderful trip - says us all!

All in all it was short but very enjoyable. We covered about 2.5 thousand miles in eight days.

Here it is! a song based on my Scotland tour. Written by myself and my brother Roger.

Electic Brae (we never made it) - MP3 format about 1.5Mb

Next year we plan to go to Spain through France (assuming the football hooligans haven't managed to ban all Brits traveling!) Alex concludes:

Lessons to be learned:

Should have done this years ago.
Keep a diary.
Take plenty of pics, but concentrate on bikes and mates!
Take as little luggage as possible
Put hard compound tyres on your bike before you set off!
Just go to have fun
Don't leave early for work (we are on this planet a short time, enjoy!!)

People to thank;

All my mates who came
Stuart and Heather
Bikes and Bits
Mrs Morrison
All B&B owners (except Bettyhill !!)
Family for letting us go

Things to remember

Open roads in Scotland
Incredible scenery in Scotland
No cameras in Scotland (GATSO)
Edinburgh
Women in Edinburgh!
Hospitality of the Scots (except Bettyhill)
Sheer exhilaration of riding without congestion

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