Sunday 26 April 2015

7 Days in Spring

RhoCar Scotland Tour 17th - 23rd April 2015


This years Scotland run trumps the already high bar set by 2014 with similar routes and some of the same drivers.

We enjoyed some stunning new drives through the Dales & Lakes, towards and on Skye, a longer run across the top from Applecross to Inverness & this time bright weather on the southward run through the Cairngorms to Dunfermline.

Great fun; great roads and great company/attitudes from the participants.
Hats off to the route planning - Keith & Andy

The car behaved impeccably & very comfortable; if a little blustery!


The trip badge reads Mallaig - which never actually happened/read Glenelg instead - the route changed here and there depending on time available and the group driving. The bottom line though was the best part of a thousand miles open top driving through some of the most awesome country and roads in the UK.

Blog entries
  Friday 17th Here we go, Goodbye to Kent
  Saturday 18th Heading north: M1 J29a to Helensburgh.html
  Sunday 19th Helensburgh to Skye: Glencoe and the ferry
  Monday

20th

Skye to Inverness 1: Skye
Skye to Inverness 2: Applecross and a breakdown
  Tuesday 21st Inverness to Dunfermline: Sunny Ski Resorts and Whisky
  Wednesday 22nd Heading south: Dunfermline to Boroughbridge
  Thursday 23rd Homeward to Maidstone

Cars - full run
  MK - Keith
  Robin Hoods - Derek, John, Simon, Stuart
  Sylva Riot  - Callum
  Roadrunner SR2 - Terry
  SSC Stylus - Dan
  GBS Zeros - Andy, Andrew, David, Paul, Me

Cars - met for part runs
  Tiger - ? @ Broadford
  Porsche - Andy's mates with deep pockets :)
  Ferrari - ?
  Robin Hoods - Alantoon & ? @ Keswick
  Zero - ZeroKnowledge
  Blue Seven - ? Waved to us heading north on the last day

Miles
Map milage:
  Fri    186  (To the start)
  Sat    351
  Sun   205
  Mon  Skye loop 121, Mainland 201
  Tue   220
  Wed  280
  Thur 173 (Finish to home)

Above are map miles; 1,833+- miles on the clock in 7 days

Accommodation
The trick with the chain hotels being to book when they lower prices 2-3 months before.
  Mansfield Premier Inn
  Travelodge Seafront Broadford
  Dunollie Broadford
  Inverness East Premier Inn
  Dunfermline Premier Inn
  Retford Travelodge

Fuel Stops
Order of the day is to top up when fuel is available, not wait for an empty tank.
  Newport Pagnell
  Toddington
  Haddon
  Mauchline
  Markham
  Boroughbridge
  Keswick
  Fort william
  Broadford 1
  Broadford 2
  Lochcarron
  Kinlochewe
  Ballater
  Inverness
  Hexam
  Dunfermline
  Boroughbridge
  Huntinngdon

Drinks of choice
  Cider (evening only)
  Orange Juice and lemonade (lunch stops)
  Tea/Coffee - Caffeine hits

Essential Kit
  Eye protection
  Motorcyclist neck warmer
  Windproof Fleece
  Gloves
  Thermal leggings
  Narrow shoes
  Sun tan lotion

Running repairs & issues (roughly in order occurred)
  David - start button circuit
  Dan - oil leak, timing, brake bleeding, 3 cylinders (on run home)
  Keith - overheating head/water rail union issues
  Andy - offside rear tyre puncture
  Terry - cylinder #1 big end - car retired at Torridon
  Me - cracked windscreen, car camera stopped working
  Simon - front mudguard shaken loose
  Stuart - 3 cylinders (on run home)


The Drivers:
Left to right: John, Callum, David, Andy, Paul, Derek, Andrew, Stuart, Dan, Me, Simon
(where are Keith & Terry? can't be far their cars are there...)


Everyone who started made it to the end!
Frayed nerves at times, but hopefully mostly just good memories from exhilarating drives...

What an incredible way to spend 7 days.

Its ALWAYS sunny [sic] in Scotland -  head north!



Addendum... of course - other weather patterns are available - turns out today, 5-6 days after we were there, The Quiraing looks like this:











(Some pictures courtesy other members of the trip)



Update - All embedded maps now images with links to Google mapping to help with page sizes & site performance

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