Trip to Scotland - Sept 2009 Day 1 - upto Scotland - 288 miles + an 85 mile tour

Breakfast chez Val was great; bacon, eggs, sausage etc etc; really good. However Emily and I had words as I got on board the GT; I had provided her with the postcode and she insisted that we turn right; however Val had told me to go straight ahead; over the M6 and then turn immediately left down an "authorised vehicles only" track of 20 metres and I would immediately enter the slip road to join the M6 northbound, saving quite some considerable time . So, having ignored Emily's pleas to "make a U turn where possible", I continued across the road, crossing the M6. Problem; there was a police car ahead turning into the "no authorised access" road. I stopped and waited for perhaps 30 seconds and then gingerly proceeded (hoping he had gone). Within seconds I was on the slip road and heading north together with many other cars bound mostly for Manchester.

The sky was pretty clear and I settled into a pace taking full advantage of my cruise control; well sort of. I mean, what is the point of a cruise control if you are continually twisting the throttle to go beyond the set speed?! Having lots of time to ponder such esoteric questions, I concluded that the optimum use of the cruise is to set the minimum speed below which you really didn't want to travel.... :-) Mmmmmm

It was at about this time that Emily woke up again and I sensed that she was still fuming about my last disobedient act. Normally she chirps in every few miles but now for the first time since we've been going out together (4 years in November) she simple said "Continue 274 kilometres on...M6". And that was it. So I turned on my MP3 player and listened to some wonderful worship songs from last year's New Wine.

The K1300GT does many things brilliantly but, devour miles of motorway in comfort and ease is certainly amongst its top virtues. It's not that it travels exceedingly fast (it does); it's not that it does so comfortably and without fuss, for it does. Nope, it's the way the GT seems to get into a stride with you and takes advantage of the road and continues at an overall pace that is very impressive indeed. I passed quite a few bikes on my way; a number of them BMW GS1200s. Quite unsurprisingly their riders were happy to lope along at the legal limit; and that's fine; however the GT is barely 38% of her rev limit and just beginning to breath properly. That's not to say that we traveled in 3 figures; we didn't, well not too often anyway.

The transition from England to Scotland is a complete non event; all that happens is that the M6 suddenly turns into the A74 (M). By 12:30pm I was off the final part of motorway and heading for Collander on the A84. The road was extremely good and the scenery was now becoming lovely; deep lush greens of the forest on either side of the road; sparkling rivers and above, a deep blue sky and 18C (and rising) ; perfect.

However, the A82 from Collander to Strathyre is a bit of a rat run; cars, caravans, and many motorcycles; after all, it was a beautiful Saturday afternoon !
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Having checked into my B&B, at 3:24pm I decided to go for a tour to see parts that I knew were not on my planned tour starting tomorrow.
This is the route I chose. Quite frankly, it was astounding. Not only was the scenery glorious, but the roads were exceptional, providing excellent surface with huge varietyof straights, bends and tight corners all with little traffic to snarl things up.

If the roads are like this all the way; this will be a total blast !




In the evening I had a great meal in the local pub. There they mentioned that, until today, it had rained for 56 days without a break!