This then, is my North Coast 500 Tour blog.
Faced with not having a job anymore by August, as a result of my taking voluntary redundancy, and with a new bike just begging to be ridden, I was looking for something to fill my time. What better then, than a road trip?
I've heard and read a few things about this route, heck, I've even watched a programme about it in gaelic!, so I was quite taken with the idea of giving it a go. Everybody talks about the beauty of the Scottish Highlands and I've witnessed some myself before (Ed. not as nice as Norway though) but I've never been down the West coast, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to rectify that.
Despite my reservations about the weather and the midges, I decided I would plan the trip, giving me the opportunity to get out and about on Ginny and to catch up with some folks in the process. Some alive, like my Wild West Tour friends Cheryl & Geoff, who live in Inverurie and some sadly departed, such as my Wild Hog buddy Dudley, who rests in Keswick and my mum, bless her, whose ashes my brother and I scattered at Loch an Eilein, near Aviemore, back in 2013.
Although the route itself, incidentally, billed as Scotland's answer to Route 66, is only 516 or so miles, there's the small matter of the Inverness starting point being 600 miles away from my home! All in all then, I'm expecting to cover about 1,950 miles.
The plan is to set out on 2nd August and return on the 12th.
Follow me then, as I venture into the heathen north, to the land where men wear skirts and everyone, even the women, is called Jimmy! I'll take you to mountains, lochs, sandy beaches, right to the tip of mainland Britain and even to a place where the sky glows....and that's not from the northern lights!
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