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So pretty here! https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...DSC_0358-L.jpg This is one of our very few rest stops inside Cairngorms National Park... Why? Midges. Millions of tiny little flies. Argh!!! I hate midges! Every time we stop, dark clouds of midges descend on us and fly up beneath our helmets and buzz around our mouths and into our nostrils. And they bite! After awhile it gets unbearable and we have to ride off to get away from them. https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...DSCN1131-L.jpg Sun's getting low in the sky, gotta find a campsite |
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We stop in Braemar, a small town right in the centre of Cairngorms Park This area is very popular with bikers. After our tent is set up, we sit around and chat with our fellow motorcyclists. Most of them are up from England. https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...DSCN1132-L.jpg They introduce us to a most excellent insect repellent, called Smidge It's made in Scotland and specially brewed to combat the Scottish midge. It smells a bit lemony and I basically douse every inch of exposed skin with this lotion. What a difference! It's like I have a force-field about 6-inches away from my skin that the midges just bounce off of. Sweet! This might get a bit confusing, but I've taken to calling the Scottish midge, Smidges. Just like the product. So, for the sake of clarity on the blog, I'll call the insect S-midges. I'm so glad it's not raining anymore, so we can camp instead of staying in expensive AirBnBs. As the sun set, we crawl into our tent. Many s-midges follow us inside and I spend the next 20 minutes with a flashlight, pinching every single one of them to death as they land on the white walls of the tent so we're able to fall asleep in peace without any of them buzzing around our faces at night. I hate s-midges! Ah, finally I've murdered every last single one of them so we can sleep in peace. Until a couple of hours later, Neda exclaims, "I have to pee!" "Noooo! Can't you hold it in till the morning?!?!" I'm so mad at her. Actually, I'm pissed off. At her bladder... I shine my flashlight out the mesh window of the tent. An angry swarm of s-midges is waiting for us outside, attracted by all the carbon-dioxide emanating from our tent the entire night... She unzips the door and invites all of them inside. *sigh* I just zip up my sleeping bag over my head and suffocate on my own exhaled gases for the rest of the night. I hate s-midges! |
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Next morning, we release all the s-midges from the inside of our tent and set off again through Cairngorm It's an overcast morning and we ride some great roads east and then back up north. It clears up beautifully once we reach the coast of the Moray Firth, the triangular bay right underneath the top shelf of Scotland. https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...SCN1139-XL.jpg Over the communicator I hear a *THOK*. "What was that?!?!" At the next stop, Neda shows me her new helmet decoration... Juicy! https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...DSCN1146-L.jpg We stop in Elgin for a late lunch We are really enjoying Scotland. Much better than England actually. Edinburgh was such a vibrant city full of young people and everyone up here in the small towns and villages are so friendly! And everyone speaks English. I love that. I thought we'd settled on living in Chiang Mai for a while after our trip is over, but after having spent the last few weeks in an English-speaking country, I don't know if I can go back to being illiterate again... We spend a good long while outside a real estate office, perusing all the For Sale pictures plastered on their window. Houses here in Scotland are very cheap compared to where we lived. Single family homes are about a third to half the cost of a place in Toronto. I'm just thinking that when Brexit goes through, the pound is going to drop like a brick and it might be a great time to swoop in with our Canadian dollars and just buy up everything in Scotland! |
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Pretty town of Elgin https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...DSCN1151-L.jpg We are here to further my quest to find the best haggis. This is a hamburger topped with haggis! If we're going to live here, we're going to have to learn the Scottish language. Some of the items on the menu are unrecognizable. Neeps and Taters? I can kinda guess what taters are: potatoes. But what the heck is a neep. Google to the rescue... Neep = Turnip. Tur-Neep. Haha! The haggis burger was delicious. Next I want to try haggis nachos!!! :) Get in muh belly!!! Good to see the other national dish of the UK is on the menu: Chicken Tikka Marsala. Think I'm joking? Just Google "National Dish of the UK"... I wonder what curry and haggis tastes like? I think it might be good! |
We spend longer at the pub than we thought we did, because it's late when we leave Elgin.
https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...DSCN1152-L.jpg So we find another campsite, which is actually on a farm in Kinloss, just 15 minutes outside of Elgin. The farmer that owns this land told us that we are cutting it very close to the end of camping season this far up north. He warned us that the next couple of weeks could see more closures of campsites the further north we ride. We're just trying to squeeze in as much riding as we can! https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...DSC_0368-L.jpg These are our neighbours at our campsite! At first, I thought that it was so cute that our neighbours were a flock of sheep. And then the wind changed direction, and blew all the smell of the sheep manure towards our tent... Not so cute anymore... *sigh* I just zip up my sleeping bag over my head and suffocate on my own exhaled gases for the rest of the night. |
Gene, Neda, glad we could help, apologies for the midges they drive us crazy also. Hope you guys are still living the dream
Gino & Fiona |
Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/352.html
https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...L/map352-L.jpg We are starting a well-known route around the top of Scotland called the North Coast 500. It starts in Inverness and follows 500 miles of coastal road in a grand loop to end back at the same place. As we round the bend close to Inverness, we take a mini detour to visit a lake. https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...DSCN1177-L.jpg This lake, or loch as it's known in Scottish, is the largest lake by volume in the British Isles. The Loch is called Ness. You can probably guess why we're here. We're going monster hunting! I've probably mentioned this before (once or six times). When I was a kid, I used to watch a show called, "In search of..." and one of the episodes was about the Loch Ness Monster. I've always wanted to go to Loch Ness and try to find the creature in the lake myself. And now we're here! A dream come true!!! Loch Ness is not the largest lake in Scotland. At least by surface area. It is, however, the deepest. Which explains why it's the largest lake *by volume*. This makes it very easy for monsters to hide within its depths. It all makes so much sense. Despite reported sightings of the creature dating back to the 6th century, it wasn't until 1933 when a journalist published a first-handing sighting of a "pre-historic dragon with an animal in its mouth" that the popular media coined the term Loch Ness Monster. Loch Ness is about 36 kms long. We slowly trundled down the road beside the loch, our eyes peeled on the surface, looking for any sign of a neck or a head or humps poking out of its blue waters. At its widest point the other side of the loch is only 2.5 kms away, so the chances of spotting "Nessie", the affectionate nickname of the Loch Ness Monster, was quite high. https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...DSCN1179-L.jpg Along the side of the road, there are lots of attractions and tours capitalizing on the popularity of Nessie Still no sign of the Loch Ness monster. I was beginning to lose hope. It would be so disappointing to come all the way here and then leave empty-handed. |
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We popped into the Loch Ness Monster museum to get some tips on sightings. This is probably the closest we're going to get to getting a photo with Nessie *sigh* The museum had the most extensive collection of first-hand reports of sightings, including pictures and video. It also contained replicas of all the equipment used by monster-hunters, from simple diving equipment to high tech sonar and drones and submarines (!) sent deep into the depths of Loch Ness. And after all that time and money, still no conclusive evidence of a pre-historic creature frolicking in the murky depths of this Scottish lake. I believe we can find the Loch Ness Monster. I've perused through all the reputed pictures taken of the Loch Ness Monster and I've noticed that they all have one thing in common. They were all taken in poor conditions on very grainy film. It seemed like Nessie only liked to be photographed with high ISO settings and in black and white. Hmm... We rode a bit further down the road where the museum had reported the most sightings of Nessie. Playing the odds, we stopped and pulled over and I fiddled with the settings on my high-tech DSLR camera... https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...itter352-L.jpg It didn't take very long for Nessie to realize that the photography conditions were perfect for her to make an appearance! Mission accomplished! Myth confirmed. The Loch Ness Monster actually exists! https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...DSCN1184-L.jpg Pleased with the success of our Loch Ness hunt, we rode further into the Scottish North |
Even though it was still fairly early in the day, Gino and Fiona told us about a neat accommodation in Rogart which we wanted to check into early. Rogart is a tiny town a bit inland, about an hour and a half north of Loch Ness.
https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...DSC_0820-L.jpg Behind Rogart train station are some old railway cars that have been converted into a hostel! https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...DSC_0856-L.jpg We got "First Class" tickets, which netted us our own private car https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...DSC_0836-L.jpg These are our sleeping quarters for the night. So cool!!! |
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The entrance to the main car for washrooms, showers and kitchen https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...DSC_0376-L.jpg Lots of neat little railway decorations all over the place https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...DSC_0816-L.jpg In the main car, there are also many rooms for more guests |
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Neda prepares our dinner in the kitchen car https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...DSC_0842-L.jpg Lounging around in the common area trying to get the blog up to date It's such a neat place. We had so much fun exploring all the cars and hanging out in each section. We felt like little kids again! Well not really "again". I don't think we ever really grew up... https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...DSC_0854-L.jpg We've been passing so many sheep lately, we got a craving! Also, Neda used the national spice of the UK so we had curried lamb! Delicious!!! |
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Just by fluke, we've rented a roof over our heads and it starts raining! So glad we're not sleeping in a tent tonight! Later in the evening, we heard the rumbling of a motorcycle and peeked outside to see a guy on a Harley and another guy in a car pull up. Dan and his cousin are from Stirling, which is somewhere between Edinburgh and Glasgow. They're exploring the area and are the only other guests at Rogart station this evening. They've brought beer with them and instantly they are our friends! :) We spend the night drinking and talking in one of the lounge cars. Dan is planning to tour the US by motorcycle, so he rented this Harley to see what it would be like, because he said, "Don't they all ride Harleys in the USA?" That is true... they all do ride Harleys over there. LOL! Since they're local guys, we get some more roads to add to our route around Scotland! I love chance encounters like these! https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...DSC_0861-L.jpg In the morning, Dan shows off his sweet rental: King of the Road! https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...DSC_0871-L.jpg Rogart Station is actually operational! The sleeper car is on an abandoned rail, but the main one still runs. |
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Dan and his cousin are on their way back south to Stirling, while we head further north. Another great day for riding! https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...DSCN1207-L.jpg Riding up the north-eastern coast of The 500 https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...DSC_0383-L.jpg The towns and villages are fairly sparse up here, but we can see some neat buildings from the road |
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There is virtually no traffic this far north. And the weather is holding up for us, which is awesome! https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...DSC_0385-L.jpg More north-eastern coast scenery https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...DSC_0398-L.jpg And then, we're at John O'Groats! The very northern tip of Scotland!!! These markers are so popular with overlanders, because they're always obsessed with getting to the extreme ends of the land. You can find so many pictures online of people in front of the Prudhoe Bay General Store in Deadhorse, Alaska. Also, the big wooden Bahia Lapataia sign in Ushuaia, Argentina. The globe at Nordkapp, Norway. And then this one, the John O'Groats cross-roads sign. |
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John O'Groats is one end of the End-To-Enders route. The other end is Land's End at the southern tip in Cornwall There's a lot of marketing and merchandising around traveling from one end of the UK to the other end. There are completion certificates you can buy online, provided that you show adequate proof of the 823 mile journey. Hence all the pictures. There are also competitions to see who can travel the fastest end-to-end. So far the record is held by a Harrier jet which made the flight in 49 minutes. This is not a record we are interested in breaking... https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...DSC_0410-L.jpg This guy did the trip entirely on foot. He left Land's End over four months ago! His family greeted him at John O'Groats to congratulate him! He was probably clean-shaven when he first started off... So was I when we left in 2012 and I haven't shaved since then either. Still working on my own epic beard... https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...DSC_0405-L.jpg The Inn, a hotel at John O'Groats. Every one takes pictures of these coloured buildings when they're up here. |
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