The Stats

You know you love stats.  I'll save you the number of pints or baked beans I had this time round and concentrate solely on the bike stats.

Total distance covered: 1897.8 miles

Number of Gallons used: 35.89
Number of litres used: 163.17

Average Miles per Gallon: 53.75
Average Miles per Litre: 11.82

Total Fuel Cost: £211.35
Average Cost Per Mile: 0.11p

Ginny's pence per mile figure varied between 0.09p and 0.13p. Not surprisingly, given the nature of the beast, she produces better figures on those long motorway runs with the cruise control set. The autobahns are what she was built for but she was more than capable of tackling the twisty and mountainous single track roads in the highlands, she was just a little more thirsty doing it.

All in all, the weather was pretty kind, though if I'd gone 2/3 weeks earlier, as a couple of people told me, I could have left the waterproofs packed away. I'd gone prepared, so although it was a tad unpleasant at times, it was never persistent heavy rain, so I never got despondent. A big plus for me and Ginny, was the distinct lack of midges. I did encounter some and they were a bit of a pain but nothing like I had anticipated. I'm glad I didn't splash out on one of those bee keeper hats, let's put it that way.

I've said this already but the west side of Scotland, the first part of my tour, is far better than the east. The scenery is simply breathtaking in places and just beautiful in most. I said after the tour last year, Norway is like Scotland on steroids. The landscape in Scotland is very similar, though not quite as high. On the plus side, the western highlands are a lot easier to get to and a damned sight cheaper!

If I was thinking of doing the NC500 again, I'd probably cut out the eastern side and either ride clockwise to Thurso and come back over the central highlands or most likely, turn around at Thurso and do the west coast bit in reverse.

Given that this is billed as Scotland's answer to Route 66, it is surprising that there are only two (that I saw) signs along the route to tell you you are on the NC500. Those I believe were put up privately by businesses or the village. You can buy maps and souvenirs at garages and tourist info but other than that those responsible for Scotland's roads, don't seem to have embraced the idea, as those along Route 66 have. Maybe it's early days, maybe they think a free map is more appropriate. I'm just glad I had tomtom programmed.

Speaking of tomtom, you may recall a day where she appeared to go loopy, telling me to turn into almost every lay-by I came across. The following days were all perfect, so I think it must've had something to do with me removing the whale watching stop and entering the deer museum.

Anyway, I think that's your lot. I hope you've enjoyed coming on this tour with me. If you have any comments, then feel free to make them. I like to know people are actually reading my posts. I'll be looking to get some photos uploaded asap, so you can come back one more time to check them out and don't forget, I'll be blogging (already am) again next year, for the Wild Hogs tour of Portugal & Spain. Make sure you sign up for email updates of that one.

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