Road Trip 2022 Peak District and Snowdonia

  Col and I don't live that far from the Peak district to our North. It's the kind of distance you could do easily in 1 day, but the journey to get there is kind of boring. Its either through the built up areas or along the Motorway and its a few hours before you get there. 

 The Peak district does however have the Cat and Fiddle road or as its correctly know the A537.  We have often heard of this road mentioned in pubs and magazines so decided it should be on our places to visit list.

 This was the first ride for my new bike, the Triumph Trident 660, I had only picked it up 2 days before. (there will be a review on that soon) 

 Day 1, Our first night was booked at Buxton in the Premier Inn. On the way we tried to avoid the motorways as I was running the bike in and we just didn't want to go via them, so picked a route around Wolverhampton and Stafford, through Uttoxeter, Ashbourne and on to Matlock Bath for some dinner. We found a chip shop with parking in front and sat in the street eating our chips. Col spotted 5 other chip shops from where we sat, they must eat a lot of chips up there!  

After dinner we headed north west towards Lady Bower, the reservoir is there so we stopped to take a rest and watch the world go by for a while.  There is a road called Snake Road (A57) to the north of the reservoir I had spotted this when looking for places to stay, its twisty so I thought perfect for us. It didn't disappoint and was the best road of the day. Eventually we found our destination which was perfect, the bikes were hidden and were undercover which was good as it rained through the night. While having a pint in the bar we commented about the amount of our route that had 50mph limits, nearly all of them North of Wolverhampton, which was handy as 50mph was about as fast as I could go before the rev counter flashed in annoyance for over revving during the 1st 250 miles of the bikes existence. 

 Day 2, we planned to go to North Wales to spend 2 nights in the Premier Inn at Llandudno Junction. We loaded the bikes up with our luggage and head of to the A537 and the Cat and Fiddle for a coffee. It was only about 10 minutes from the hotel, the road was fun but has a 50mph limit on it and average speed check cameras. 

  We picked our way West on lots of roads with 50mph speed limits, via Macclesfield then Crewe, eventually finding our way to the Ponderosa café on the horseshoe pass near Llangollen. From there its West along the A5 and the A470. This was another fun road, which again, over a pint we decided was the best road of the day.

 The hotel was fine for what we wanted it for, comfy room and the bikes hidden from the road. As the weather had been very good when we got to Wales we decided to get some chips in town, then take a ride to the top of the Great Orm and then follow the coastal road down around the back of the hill which was very picturesque.

Day 3,  The route we took started by going back up the A470 until it meets the A5, then along the A5 to Capel Curig, staying on the A5 until it meets the A4244 following the signs for Llanberis, where we stopped for dinner,  then continue along until it meets the A4086 and eventually meeting the A5 again.  Then its back to the hotel. We fell lucky not getting caught in any rain, but missing it by minutes by the look of the wet roads.

 

Day 4, The long ride home.  We came home via Bala, where there is another of our favourite places to get a coffee. By now Col was beginning to feel the problems that touring on a Supersports bike delivers. Stiffness in his legs and hands and an uncomfortable seat. Although Bala is only 90 minutes from home he needed a few stops to stretch his legs. I on the other hand was very comfortable on the Trident. 

All in all we had a great time, we commented that we need not travel hundreds of miles to find some great rides, when just 2 hours away is the Snowdonia National Park with its beautiful scenery and look forward to heading this way again.

Summary
Date:- July 2022
Weather:- 4 Days 22-24 degrees
Hotel:- Premier Inn Buxton - Premier Inn Llandudno junction
Miles:-600 approx, all on bikes
Fuel Cost:- 1.89 approx
EDSBK Riders:- Phill, Col
Aim:- To ride in the Peak District and the Snowdonia National Park

 

2017 Clermont Ferrand & Millau

  Col and I couldn't decide where to go for our 2017 trip, we talked about Ireland, Scotland and 

Le-man all because we wanted a cheaper trip than the last 2 years. Eventually on a cold December night in the pub and after watching a re-run of a Top Gear episode, we came up with the Millau Viaduct and Tarn Gorge in the South of France.

 The plan was to do it over 5 days, 3 days of riding once we had got there and again this involved the van and a 13 hour drive.

The  Viaduct has been on our visit list in the past, but we have not been quite close enough to it before.  In January I looked for a hotel with secure parking, that was bike friendly and not too far from civilisation so we could enjoy the area when not on the bikes and the obvious choice was Clermont Ferrand.

 When I looked on Google maps it was about a 2 hour ride down to Millau and the viaduct, so thought that a far enough distance for a day out. The rest of the area closer to the hotel on the map had some bendy looking roads, so thought it seemed a good destination.

 July came and we collected the van. Eurocar again supplied us with a van with only 1000 miles on the clock, unfortunately for the 2nd time, it didnt have air-con which is what we asked for, or cruise control and worst it was also a transit custom, which I know far to well as being the most broken into van on the market and it can be done in about 40 seconds, so we were rather disappointed as we loaded the bikes. 

 We set out at 4:15am made our booking on Euro-tunnel and headed off deep in to France. The journey was event free only traffic we encountered was through Paris which lost us about 45 minutes.

We pulled onto our hotel carpark at 18:15 French time. We used  The Comfort Hotel next to the hospital and a petrol station, its not far off the main roads out of town, has a tram stop outside, some English speaking staff, was clean but tired looking and the car park was secured and kept the van hidden from the road so just what we wanted. 3 stars ***. The tour de France also used the same hotel the 1st night we were there.

 Day 1

  We were asleep for 10 hours so when we woke up it was after 9am, it was raining when we opened the curtains and we watched the sky as we ate our cornflakes. There was alot of blue heading our way so looked at the map and spotted a race circuit not to far away, I said lets go see whats there. It was closed and we could see nothing, apart from old volcano stacks, lots of them, I said lets wing it, we will just head up and eventually find something to look at, Col agreed as there was not much option. I lead for most of this ride, taking the N roads which looked like they were headed up hill, eventually we came across a shop, which looked good to get a drink from, but it only sold cheese.

 I took out my smart phone, looked at the maps and noticed we were close to a road called the D996.
 "This looks twisty, its gotta be good, its named after the Ducatti 996" I said, and was only 6 miles away, so we set off in that direction.
 To get there we followed the D983 which  takes you to the top edge of a volcano, we stopped for a rest and to admire the view.  The cauldron was along down to the left and full of trees.

Eventually we reached the left turn onto the D996 which in reality seemed better than it looked on the map, the corners just kept coming and the ribbon of tarmac was race track smooth, the road kept climbing taking you to heights where your higher than the low lying clouds covering our visors with a layer of drizzle, eventually we came out the top of the clouds and found the 1401 mtrs summit of col de la croix Morand and stopped for a magnum at the little gift shop.

The clouds lifted as we sat there and we could see a lake bathed in sunshine along way below us, so Col said shall we go there.
 I looked at the map and the D996 went passed the lake so we set off down the hill to Lac Chambon. We found a Lakeside hotel called Belle Vue and stopped for a drink watching the world go by for over an hour. The clouds on the mountains started to look threatening so we continued our journey back towards the hotel.
A few more miles along the road was the Chateau de Murol, an impressive looking hill fort, the clouds were gaining on us so we moved on, but the clouds had straight lines to follow, we had the twisty road and inevitably they caught us, we took to hiding under the trees until it stopped raining and headed back to the Hotel. 

D996   9 out of 10.

Day 2

 The weather app said that day2 was going to be the best weather of the 3 day, this was going to be the day to go on our longest trip of our few days away. We got up early opened the curtains to a grey clouded day, but at least it was dry.
 We set off in the local rush hour traffic which was like a Sunday morning in the UK, headed down the A75 towards  Millau, as this was the purpose of this trip, to ride over the Tallest bridge in the world, the Millau Viaduct. The previous night we watched how it was built on Youtube which put us even more in the mood for seeing it.
  The Journey there was around 2 hours, it threatened to rain numerous times, even dropping cool over the taller mountains that the route took us. The dark grey threatening sky seemed to be endless and I was fearing the worst for the photo opportunities.
  We were only about 5 or 6 miles from the bridge when it first came into sight. The grey clouds came to an end and blue patches seen here and there, and bigger patches of blue over the bridge and the gorge below. I saw the turn for the visitor centre and we went to have a closer look.
  We left the bikes on the carpark, the walked up the hill to the viewing platform which is just a bit higher than the 245m high road deck of the bridge.  The Viaduct is built over the river Tarn, and was built to re leave the traffic problems through Millau.
The Millau Viaduct is 2460m long, has 7 pillars, The tallest pillar is 343m tall which makes it taller than the Shard in England and the  Eifle Tower making it the 4th tallest structure in France, the shortest pillar is 77m, which is still a long way up!

We took the photo's and headed back to the bikes to ride over it. There was a Toll to pay, this was a little confusing as it didnt show what vehicle you were paying to take over the bridge, we went to a lane that showed a picture of a car and a bike, posted your credit card in the slot and the barrier lifted so we pulled away, not until you get home do you actually see what you paid, we both paid 8 Euro the price for a car....

We crossed the bridge and gave each other a thumbs up, as if saying "thats one more thing off our bucket list!" We took the next turn off and followed the road so we could next ride under the bridge for a few photos, refuel and dinner in an air conditioned MacDonalds in Millau as it was warming up quickly.

 After Dinner we followed the road up through the gorge to a road that had appeared on an episode of Top Gear where the 3 presenters had some fun on a zig zag of a road running up the mountain. This was the village of Les Vignes and the road the D995.  The Gorge was lovely the river runs to the right of the road which had a number of tunnels and hairpins, its very touristy and there were a lot of camp sites, so the road speed was limited.
  We took the left turn onto the D995, by now it was hot the forecast had said 29 degrees but in leathers it felt hotter. We climbed the road out of the gorge, the heat effecting Col more than usual so I stopped and waited for him in the lay by near the top, where the Top Gear presenters had filmed part of the show. The journey back from there was another 2 hours, but the cooling breeze helped make it more bareable.

Day 3

 We had no plans for day 3 just to ride around and explore similar to day 1. We set off in a different direction, after spotting on the map the D216 another twisty bit of tarmac to the south west. This road was nice and the weather was good at this point.

 At the time I didn't  realise where it was headed only to end up back in the same place as we did on day 1, which wasn't all bad as we got to ride the D996 again, but this time it was wet. Infact so wet we had to get the waterproofs out which is a mood changer and the ride is more for the hell of it than enjoyment. We called it a day in the early afternoon after another stop by Lac Chambon and went back to the hotel and planned to spend the evening in the city, which was most impressive.

 All in all I enjoyed the trip and would definately head to that area again, the weather could have been more generous to us, but we have some new roads to add to our Ultimate Roads section.

Summary
Date:- July 2017
Weather:- 5 mixed Days 22-26 degrees
Hotel:- The Comfort Hotel - Claremont Ferrand - gated parking
Miles:-1860, 1370 in a van
Fuel Cost:- 1.22 approx
EDSBK Riders:- Phill, Col
Aim:- To ride over the Millau bridge

A4069 Black Mountains

June

 With the hottest day of 2017 so far forecast for a Sunday, Col and I decided on an early start and a trip down to the Black Mountains in Wales, we were looking for the Top Gear / 5th Gear favourite the  A4069.
 We left home at 6:45am and the skies were blue and it had already began to heat up, the plan was to incorporated some other of our favourite roads along the way and after a couple of hours riding we had arrived at the start of the road in the village of Llangadog.

 The A4069 for about 5 miles passes fields of sheep and sleepy villages before it gently starts to climb the hill, some road works gave us a short rest and Col shouted across to me,
"this is where its supposed to get good!"

  We both gave the throttle a sharp twist making the engine revs climb to the middle of the rev range as we followed the road. It went around a sharp right hand corner and climbed quite steeply and then there it was.......the spoiler........ a 40mph speed limit sign.
  We followed the road along while it continued to climb and twist up to a sharp left bend, and then it climbs further up passing a few parking areas and over the 493mtr peak.

The road then twists along the landscape for  a few miles and came to a village called Upper Brynamman, so we stopped and looked at Google maps on the phone.
"So... thats it?" I said looking at Col who just shrugged.

We rode back in the direction we came from, this time less focused on the road and took in the scenery which was very nice, then stopped in a pull in to take a few photos.

  We were expecting the A4069 to be a contender for our ultimate roads list but left feeling disappointed, the good bit is only 5.1 miles long and its had a 40mph speed limit added, even if you ignore the speed limit and ride it how you want to its still nothing more than an OK road with some nice scenery.
 The day we were there was hot, 27 degrees and while we were there we only saw 20 or so other vehicles so couldn't understand why it would warrant a 40mph limit.



 In our opinion if you have never been, go take a look, but the road itself is not as much fun as some of the roads we used to get there.

 BUT there is a saving grace for the bikers who do go there, we came across the Owls Nest cafe, that place is worth a visit.
  

Trip 2016

The Jura Mountains.

   In January we put a few ideas forward for the 2016 road trip and only Col and I were going to be able to go. So we decided as in 2015 the temperature had been so hot in Geneva so we decided to go back and hope the freakishly hot summer of 2015 was going to be more to our liking this year.

 We planned to use the same hotel as last year as we knew it was good and had underground parking for the van and the bikes.

 We set off in the VW van at 4am headed to the Euro tunnel to find we have the wrong sized van. The lady in the Kiosk was helpful and told us to go to the help desk.  At the desk another lady told us we had to pay an extra £70 which was fine, but she said, i am struggling to find you a space on the train, however 30 minutes later we were in the tunnel and Calais bound. 

 Its a blooming long way to Geneva, we watched the temperature climb to 37 degrees as we crossed France and were thankful that this van had air-con. 

 We arrived at the Hotel at 18:10 to the sound of a crash on the back of the van as we went around the last 2 roundabouts. We checked what had happened and the strap holding the bikes inplace had come undone sending my bike into Cols as we cornered causing a crack in the fairing and a broken indicator on Cols bike and scratches to mine, we both were gutted as we had checked the bikes were ok at every stop we made for the last 14 hours. We ate our Pizza thinking of better ways to secure the bikes for the return journey.


 The next day, we got the bikes off the van and assessed the damage, it didn't look quite so bad and we managed to do minor repairs where needed, then headed to the nearest fuel station.
 The plan was to ride the Jura mountains and go to St Claudes as this road was our favourite of the 2015 trip and well worth a 2nd visit. That is until we discovered the main road had 3 sets of roadworks spoiling the flow, and the clouds were gathered at the half way height which let go as we arrived, so we had our first soaking of the trip.

After the 1st down pour

The botttom of the hill down to St Claudes

 The afternoon dried up nicely and we found the good roads from last year and had a good time in the afternoon sunshine. We stopped at the top of the road from Gex for an drink and Ice-cream and noticed a leaflet for the Jura park and Jeux Chateau so decided that was tomorrows destination.

Stopped by the lake

 The next day we awoke to the sound of heavy rain. The mountains behind the hotel could not be seen so after a late breakfast we waited at the hotel for a while and chatted to some English people who were going home after touring for 3 weeks on their bike. They were telling us how many people wanted to talk to them about Brexit but not in a positive way.
   The rain stopped so we headed to the Joux Lakes crossing into Switzerland for a few feet, and then made a run for it back to the hotel only stopping to put on the waterproofs under a bridge as heavy rain, well i say heavy rain but actually it was very heavy waterproof penetrating rain which came and spoiled the rest of the ride.
  Back at the hotel the sum came out so we went to talk to the Bike Shuttle crew that had come to take the other bikes that were parked in the underground car park.

 The last day we thought we would give the Joux chateau another chance, but the rain was so heavy on the mountain we decided to go to Annecy in the opposite direction. As we got within 2Km of Annecy the rain started and lightning streaked over the black sky ahead so we changed our course and rode around some of the lesser know areas of the French Alps and Jura mountains until we found a sign for somewhere we had heard of.

The darkest of dark clouds was hiding out of shot to the left

 All in all we didnt find any new roads worth a mention, but at least we did ride some good ones again that we rode last year.

The sun arrived as we waited to get on the train back to the UK

 At Calais we were held up for 2 hours which caused us to hit Londons M25 at rush hour, what joy. The journey home was 15 hrs.

Summary
Date:- July 2016
Weather:- 6 Hot Days 22-32 degrees
Hotel:- Business Park Hotel - Geneva
Miles:-1900, 1560 in a van
Fuel Cost:- 1.22 approx
EDSBK Riders:- Phill, Col
Aim:- To explore more of the Jura mountains

Trip 2015

The French, Swiss and Italian Alps

   In November of 2014 I was at the motorcycle show in the NEC in Birmingham with Col and came across the guys from Bikeshuttle. The plan is to put your bike in the back of their purpose built truck and take it to Geneva, leaving you to make your own way their by train and plane then meet your bike the following day. We thought the idea had promise so decided there and then that Geneva was on the table for the 2015 road trip. In January we put the trip to Geneva idea to the others, and forecast our costs using bikeshuttle and only myself and Col were going to be able to do this one. The were afew other issues by using the Bikeshuttle service we hadn't thought of which when we weighed it up shoved our costs up and the price out of reach.
 Still determined by the idea to ride in the Alps we looked at other ways to get us there. Riding the 740 miles eachway was not what we wanted to do, so we decided to hire a van ourselves, stick the bikes in the back, along with anything else we needed but we would still use the same hotel Bikeshuttle use as they have underground parking. So through the early parts of the year we hired a van from Europcar, booked the hotel and Eurotunnel and our trip was made.

  We set off at 4am heading to the tunnel, the news was reporting strikes in Calais and the illegal immigrants were also up to no good, so we were expecting to be part of "operation stack", but along the M20 nothing was left apart from a portable loo every half a mile.

  We planned to visit the old Grand Prix curcuit at Reims on the way as Col and I both have seen it on television and wanted to do a lap, also to Ride the Italian Jobs Grand St Bernards Pass and find some roads to add to our Ultimate riding roads list.

   The van seemed to be a great idea as we arrived at the Eurotunnel only 3 and a half hours later which on the bikes in the past had took a further 1 hour due to fuel stops. It felt great not to be sweating and stuck in leathers on the back of the train.

    We arrived in Reims at dinnertime and made our way to Gueux where the old grandstands are still standing and had a look around before taking the van around for a few laps of the 1952 layout of the circuit.
 Time was rolling on so we continued on across France and the temperature on the vans read out went from 22 up to 29 degrees, again we were glad not to be in leathers at this point.
 We arrived at the Business Park Hotel at 18:30 local time, its just on the outskirts of the French part of Geneva. A brief cock up took us into the Swiss part and the City centre which meant we had to buy a Vignette from the Police for 40 Swiss Francs (about £28) this meant we could use the Swiss motorways for a whole year, even though we only needed them for all of 5 miles.  The room was nice on the top floor and we dropped our luggage then went to the restaurant next door for Pizza and Beer.

  We woke up to blue sky, I suggested we went to the 3rd highest of the mountain passes Grand St. Bernards Pass as it was the closest, just 2 hours 10 minutes away from the hotel of which 90 mins are on the motorway. We arrived at a town called Martigny and I put the camera on the bike. The climb started and a few long bends that doubled back on themselves got us back into riding twisty roads again, Snow could bee seen on the mountain tops in the far distance and I pressumed that was where we were headed as we followed the river then through a few tunnels before taking the turn that says Col de St Bernardo, it got steeper and tighter, the road surface was a bit broken and patchy in places and the bike was in first gear alot suddenly you see the buildings at the highest point of the road and we stopped on the carpark to look at from where we had came. The temperature was a good few degrees cooler, and with your leather jacket off a definite chill could be felt at 8100ft. Snow was left in patches here and there but not on the roads. I bought an over priced drink from the restaurant and then we set off into Italy to see the bit from the film " The Italian Job".
  The tarmac was very good over the border, imagine someone has just dropped spaghetti onto the

The high road zig zags up the mountain

mountain is the best way to describe the way the road had been laid. It just kept twisting left and right, some corners were into huge rock faces and others were onto huge drops with nothing but a small fence to stop you going over the edge. After 10 miles we came to some roadworks so turned around then headed back to the top. Col wanted to do it fast, where I went for the quick but scenic version, trying to look at the views as well as keep a reasonable fun pace,  Thank you Italy, the road was great fun.We both enjoyed the Italian side but my mind was now on the journey back to the hotel as it was getting a bit hot. We stopped for fuel on the route back, the local temp was now 32 degrees, even with the visor open and my jacket undone it was not cooling down. The motorway was busy and the engines were running over 100 degrees for a lot of the time the fan was on trying to keep it cool but all it was doing was using the battery up. We hit Geneva at 17:30 rush hour and in the queue Col saw 117 degrees on the temp gauge, We got back to the hotel our leathers stuck to us and our faces covered in road dust stuck to sweat. I checked the weather app on the phone. it said the next 3 days were going to be 32,34 and 37 degrees!
 Our UK all year round leathers are not designed for that kind of heat, there's no vents only a zip out inner lining, so out it came.
 
 Next day we looked at the map and headed for the French Alps and Annecy Lake, we noticed a

Mont Blanc in the distance

Lake Annecy behind the bikes

mountain called Semnoz with a twisty road on the map so after a drink and cooling Ice cream we climbed the 16km route along the D41/D110 to the top at 5446 feet. Another great bit of tarmac through the forest with plenty of turns to keep you busy. Not quite so exciting as the previous day on St Bernards Pass but still entertaining enough and cool enough on the top to be bearable.

 Down by the lake it was 34 degrees the clear water looked inviting as we sat on a bench in the shade our leather trousers and boots not giving us a break from the heat. We needed petrol but neither of us wanted to summon up the will to go looking for a garage and to go on the journey back to the hotel.
      Back in the village St Genus Poullity we used a pub called Charly's, a guy from the USA got chatting to us about bikes and his mate lived locally so told us to try a road I had been looking at earlier from Gex to Saint-Claude. This became our plan for the next day as it was not so far and it was gonna be hotter again. So we discovered the Jura Mountains.

  The road leaves Gex and snakes its way up the mountain, through a few villages, over some fresh tarmac and then over the top.
Its around 4650ft so was nice and cool, which was a relief as the temperature was forecast for 37 degrees. We took a left and dropped down the mountain another twisty road with a couple of tight bends and a hairpin thrown in for good measure before we rode through the village of Mijoux. The climb starts again and the road now with race track smooth and fresh tarmac which had the banked corners you would expect on a track, weaved its way up through 5 hairpins in the forest section. Over the top the road opens and dips slowly down and eventually you get to my favourite part called Les Moulins,

this doubles back on itself and has 9 sharp bends all very close to each before it goes through a few more villages, one of which I liked the name of called Mont Brilliant. We pulled into the little picnic area just before arriving at Saint-Claude and threw our leather jackets on the ground, the sweat was dripping out of us but we both enjoyed the ride.





 The Journey home was 14 hours long, it could have been 80 minutes shorter but there was an incident on the M25 causing tail backs for 4 junctions and unfortunately we were stuck in it.

  We found some great roads, its such a shame that none of them are just up the road from where we live!
 I think there will be another trip in Switzerland yet.

 The whole trip for 5 nights cost us just under £750 each, (not inc spending money)

Summary
Date:- 12th - 17th July 2015
Weather:- 6 Hot Days 29-37 degrees
Hotel:- Business Park Hotel - Geneva
Miles:-1900, 1560 in a van
Fuel Cost:- 1.20 approx
EDSBK Riders:- Phill, Col
Aim:- To ride in the Swiss Alps
 At the 2014 bikeshow we met bikeshuttle, so we tried to book a week in the Swiss Alps using their services, but it was going to cost too much. We liked the idea so hired a van and did the trip saving a few hundred pounds. Riding in Italy, France and Switzerland we discovered some amazing roads and scenery. Even saw snow in July.

2012 EDSBK Road Trip. Part 1 (Moffat)

  We set out on Sunday 8th July headed for Moffat in Scotland, about 50 miles from the border with England. Col arrived first followed by Rich who was already wearing his water proofs and Jon arrived a few minutes later. The sun was trying to make an appearance as we set off and the odd patch of blue sky appeared on the horizon. We stopped for a cuppa and fuel and Rich said he was too hot, so took off his waterproof suit and we headed off. As we approached the climb up Shap in the lakes district the heavens opened and gave us a few minutes of rain, we decided to wear the water proofs until we arrived in Moffat.

The Buccleuch Arms Hotel

The garages

  Moffat is just off the A74 (M) at junction 15.
The Buccleuch Arms Hotel was our destination in Moffat. We were met by the owner David, who showed each of us to our own garage for the bikes, then to our rooms in the hotel. (EDSBK Recommended)
 The following morning we decided over breakfast to follow a route that was recommended by a website called
  Motorcycle Scotland, through Dumfries to Galloway Forest following along the coast roads. After a while we needed a coffee so pulled in at Carsluith Castle over looking the bay towards Wigtown where we stopped and had a look around. We could see the clouds were once again getting dark and heavy so water proofed up in preparation for the next part of the ride.

Along the A712

Carsluith Castle

 We mostly avoided the rain only seeing a few seconds worth just before we reached a town called Newton Stewart, we headed through Galloway Forest along the twisty A712 until we came across Clatteringshaws Loch where we stopped for a few minutes to admire the views. Then we headed towards the village of  New Galloway where we found the A702 and followed it as it again twisted and dipped and climbed its way through the landscape. The route made it into our list of ultimate roads.
 We arrived at Thornhill not seeing any rain from the again threatening skies. Drumlanrig Castle was only a few miles away so we went off route to go and have a look.

Drumlanrig Castle

Clatteringshaws Loch

Once getting back on route (A702) we followed the road up through the valley which was Cols favourite section of road and then the heavens opened and it absolutely threw it down for the last 20 minutes of the ride, we headed back to the Hotel and parked the bikes back under cover and left the water proofs to dry out. Luckily the radiators were on in our rooms so all the wet clothing got dried overnight.

 The next Morning we awoke to more rain, that got heavier as we ate breakfast. We were heading to Kendal after dinner for the 2nd part of our trip, to the Lake District.
  David from the Buccleuch Arms had talked to us about a short route he used that went around an area known locally as The 3 Locks and The Devils Beef Tub, we thought it sounded an interesting route and long enough to give us something to do before heading off to Kendal. We put our now dry clothes on, packed our bags to collect later and set off along the A708 towards St. Mary's Loch and as it rained all the way we stopped at Glen Cafe for a drink.

Glen cafe looking towards Loch of the Lowes

 The rain carried on as we set off along the A708 and took the first road on the left heading towards Meggets Reservoir and Talla Reservoir linking the A708 to the A701. The road was steep, windy,  slippery from the covering of a mixture of sheep dung and slime, had loose gravel, puddles and was flooded in places, not really a sports bike type of road at all, but the scenery was beautiful.
 At the end of the road we turned left onto the A701 and rode through the forest, a winding fast section of tarmac, it felt good to be back on an A class road again, even if it was soaking wet.

The water proofs brigade!

 We had been told that the Devils Beef Tub is so called as it was a place that Scottish cattle rustlers used to bring the cattle from England too. The English used to chase after the cattle to get them back and the Scotts then attacked, killing the English and keeping the cattle. We stopped in a layby and looked down the valley at the Beef Tub and could see how the natural shape of the land played a part working in the favour of the Scotts.

The Devils Beef Tub

 We went back to the Hotel and collected our luggage then set off to Kendal.