Sunday    18.6.2017
  523km Total: 3380km    3.89km Total: 151.03km

Today would be a pretty short stint (I thought) as it was completely hopeless finding accommodation up here.
it's just 190kms to the next stay and with the weather being absolute crap even by Highlands standards they disappear pretty quick.
It's really great riding on mostly single track and the fact that the riding is so good makes the weather a lot more sufferable.
The last stretch along Loch Shieldaig is some of the finest riding I've done since getting to Scotland.
The fact that the ridings good and the constant rain means there aren't many stops and I'm at Hartfield House in Applecross around noon.

Way to early to check-in and since there's plenty of day left I decide to just unload the gear in reception and head out on the Isle of Skye.
Bealach na Bà, the road between A890 and Applecross (simply called Applecross) is one of if not the most famous bikers roads in all of Great Britain.
It's pretty much the British Stelvio.
It's a single track mountain pass through some of the most scenic nature Scotland has to offer.
Since I rode this both from, to and then back over again the morning after I think I'm at least a bit qualified to give my thoughts on it and to be honest I wasn't really that impressed, at least not riding-wise.
It's the narrowest single track I've ridden in the Highlands and it is also the one with the most traffic which is a really terrible combo, it's basically a 20km chicken-race where you on the bike is destined to loose.
A bad day it's a chicken-race with little to no visibility on the mountain.
But if it's just pure adrenaline you're after this is definitely the place to go.

I stop at Sligachan Hotel on the Isle of Skye to get lunch.
Slowcooked Higland venison in an armchair by a crackling fire was just what the doctor ordered to recharge for the rest of todays ride.

The scenery was truly grand and the rain subsides to eventually stop completely which did wonders for my mood.
Actually I get in such a good mood I get the terrible idea to walk (or rather climb) all the way out on the cliffs of An Lethallt on the east coast.
It doesn't feel really stupid until I had to contemplate whether or not the bike gear would do me any good if any of the rams that looked pretty pissed that I had invaded their territory decided to hit me in the ding-dongs and put me over the side.
I almost regretted leaving the helmet on the bike.
But well in one piece out on the edge of the rock it was well worth both the effort and risk.

From here it isn't far to Quiraing Pass, a fantastic stretch of road that connect the two main roads on Skyes north eastern part.
Great ride, even if the rest of Skye had been boring (which it definitely isn't) it would have been worth it just go get to here.
I don't do many stops on the western part down, with todays route going from about 200 to 500kms I need to be getting back to my hotel.

That could have gotten a bit expensive.
Nearing Broadford a motorist is blinking with his headlights like crazy and in passing gives me a frenetic thumbs down.
I had just overtaken another car thus crossing into his lane so I just assumed he was critiquing my style.
I did think it was a bit weird because I though that pass was completely by the book.
I've never seen a thumbs down to indicate a police checkpoint but that was obviously what he meant because as soon as I crossed the city line, there they where.
Even with the db-killer installed the exhaust is pretty loud so acceleration and decelerations are rather obvious.
When I let go of the throttle and it sound like Braaaaaaaaaap you really don't need to be a genius to come to the conclusion that a there has just been a great reduction in speed.
It was just lucky for me they didn't have the laser up and had a sense of humour about it since they where both laughing at me as I went past, that one's on me.

When I get to Applecross for the second time the rain has picked up again, it's worse than ever and it's gotten really cold.
That same weather phenomenon has probably also contributed to the pea-soup fog up on the mountain.
I'm riding around in a white foggy blur and at its worst I guess I had about 10m visibility in front of the bike and with the visor fogging up I probably had 10m visibility in 10 percent of my field of vision.
Luckily there weren't many others stupid enough to do this in these conditions because I almost shat myself every time a car appeared out of the fog.

It was total bliss arriving at the hotel even though in reality it was a pretty poorly insulated hostel, at least there was a shower and a bed.

The west coast below Ullapool

West coast near Applecross, some of the best riding I've ever done

Applecross, Highland cattle

Bealach na Bà, Applecross pass with the bay and the Island of Raasay in the background

Skye

Cliffs of An Lethallt


Don't mind me.

Quaring Pass

It wasn't just the lack of visibility that made the ride back across Applecross exciting, there where also a flock of stags on the road which I just barely managed to get on camera

This picture makes it look a lot better than it was, or at least as it felt

Monday    19.6.2017
  301km Total: 3681km    4.19km Total: 155.22km

I've messed up my route somewhat by doing Skye yesterday but I'm glad I did because today the weather is extremely... Scottish.
The third time across Applecross wasn't much more fun than the other two times but I guess that's a bit coloured by the former stated.

I head straight east towards Loch Ness and the riding isn't either inspiring or scenic but at least the pace have picked up considerably with it being two lanes.
Since there isn't much to write about the riding I can instead take some time to write a bit about the signs posted at the side of the road.

E.g. they have large LED-signs by the roadside at a lot of places where there's probably meant to be current road conditions but when there isn't anything in particular to write they use them to make other motorists aware of motorcycles.
For example: Allow motorcycles to pass safely, Look once, look twice, think bike and Look in your rear view for motorbikes.
I can't remember any time in history when the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket) did anything for motorcyclists accept accuse them of reckless riding and speeding.
I'm impressed.
(A couple of days later I saw a reality show on tv where the stats for accidents in Britain was that bikers are 17% of casualties even though they're only 1% of the motorists.
The same numbers for Sweden is that we're 7% of the motorists and 1% of the casualties.
The unfortunately conclusion of that must be that for the Swedish Transport Administration to take biker safety seriously more of us have to die.)

Also on the single track roads there's a notice from the police to not hinder traffic and use the passing lanes to allow overtaking.
Another more humorous aspect of the signs is that all the signs for places that ends with ferry end with (no ferry).
I think it's so hysterically funny I almost run of the road every time I see it, I mean who the hell drives down somewhere to look for a ferry if you don't know beforehand that it's there and where it takes you?
Is there really a need for that kind of information?
A similar use for additional info on signs might be on the Swedish Moderate (conservative right) party who call them selves the "New Swedish workers party" might add (not a workers party) on their posters.

Just as I turn onto the A87 I spot a castle just beside the road that I can't resist taking a closer look at.
I turns out to be Eilean Donan Castle, a picturesque little (as castles go) castle from the 1200:s.
Self declared as the most photographed castle in Scotland.
It was well worth a visit so not to diminish the castle as such but I do think the location might help.

I get lunch at McD:s in Fort William (no fort 😆) and I don't linger because I involuntarily get accompanied at my table by an Indian family among which was an old spinster who spent the whole of my dinner vomiting loudly in her own mouth.
I already had a bit of a migraine coming on with the accompanying nausea so it certainly didn't do any wonders for my appetite.
I take a dose of medicine and ride on.
I arrive early at check-in at the Onich Hotel but I spend the wait in the hotel pub drinking tea so it wasn't bad.

I get my room at 3PM and immediately commence operation dry.
Considering my choice in hair style it might come as a surprise that I'm always overjoyed to find a blow-dryer in my hotel rooms but that is a bikers best friend.
My riding shoes are completely drenched as per usual and I haven't had any feeling in my feet since sometime this morning.

A change of socks and a pair of dried shoes later and everything seems all the brighter, not only has the meds killed off the migraine, the clouds have dissipated and the sun has come out.
I haven't seen a sky this blue for at least a week!
I can't resist getting back on the bike and head of to something I hade originally planned for tomorrow, Skyfall road.

A road in the Glen Etive valley, an area so scenic that apart from being in the Bondfilm Skyfall it's also been the location for scenes in Gladiator, Sherlock Holmes and to no ones surprise: Braveheart.
Oh my god what beautiful scenery and the riding is mind-blowingly amazing.
Even though it's single track there isn't much traffic considering how well known the road should be and the traffic that is there drive sensibly and with respect.
That the sun is shining from a clear blue sky probably adds to the experience more than a little but this riding was almost spiritual, the people who only drive/ride to the Skyfall-location to snap a picture and then head back to the main road are missing out big time.
I literally ride to the end of the road before I turn around and head back because I wouldn't want to miss out on a single meter of the ride.

I spend a ridiculous amount of time on the Skyfall selfie going back and I'm not ashamed to say I probably wasted half an hour waiting for just the right moment running back and forth to the camera with a max delay on the shutter of 10 seconds.
I don't do selfies very often but when I do I'm in the major leagues, it must have been absolutely hilarious for any onlookers.

Applecross. Third time's the charm?

Eilean Donan Castle (no photography allowed)
Fun fact: The castle has amongst other things been the MI6's Scottish headquarters in the Bondfilm The world is not enough (with a few extra antennas) and as home for the clan MacLeod in the movie Highlander.

Loch Ness. Yes it's just a lake and no, I didn't see the monster

Glen Etive, mind-bogglingly beautiful

Skyfall, Glen Etive. Here's what I tried my best to copy

Glencoe

Tuesday    20.6.2017
  309km Total: 3990km    12.51km Total: 167.73km

Since I did Skyfall road yesterday I just press on down to the A85 towards Oban.
I've chosen a ridiculously long detour to Glasgow but it's totally worth it, as soon as I leave A82 for A85 the road gets so twisty it almost unscrews my head.

From Oban south it gets a bit boring again to skyrocket in entertainment value on the A83 along Loch Fyne.
The miles disappear pretty quickly but still I don't arrive at the Onslow Guesthouse until about 6PM.

The very first thing that happens when I get there is that the man in reception who's basically a baldy dwarf with pretty obvious cognitive issues tells me that "that's right, you're the guy whose room is flooded".
Of course his overall appearance have no great significance but the fact that my accommodation, which I spent long and well looking for with absolutely no backup plan has no room for me.
The fact that those news are delivery by Quasimodo in the most incomprehensible accent in all of the British Empire just turned the whole situation completely surreal.

I don't know how Quasimodo expected me to react to this news but it seemed like it came as a complete surprise that I actually did expect to have a place to stay for the two nights I had booked.
He then starts to call around to other places he knew of, seemingly at random and eventually he gets me a room at the Alison Guesthouse in roughly the same neighbourhood.

I ride over to Alison and is met by a man called Kenny but I will forever remember him as the real life incarnation of Basil Fawlty.
One of the first things that happen is when told that I come from Sweden he asks me if I'm from the Flemish part?
He just waved it off when I told him his geography was a bit off so I still don't know what he meant, perhaps he meant Scania?

And throughout the whole stay he persisted in calling me Thomas.
I believe I pointed out that Tommy is my actual name and not a nickname no less than three times the first day and just to be extra clear I even showed him the exact spelling on the helmet but alas no my name was Thomas and that was the be all end all of that.

I got the only room he had left which was a family room.
The building must have been ancient because the room was huge and it had a really weird on suite bathroom solution.
The bathroom was like a box put in the corner of the room and the walls of the bathroom didn't extend to the ceiling in the room.

There was a bit more logistics involved since Alison didn't have parking so I had to ride back to Onslow and park and walk from there but after that I hit the town.
I'll admit I wasn't in the greatest of moods but that changes quickly because I don't get farther than the Cathedral and the Necropolis and I'm overjoyed.

The cathedral was obviously closed but the Necropolis where for obvious reasons still open (not many cemeteries close since the residents are sleeping the long sleep anyway).
A cemetery from 1832 with 3500 monuments spread over 15 hectares, I know it's a bit macabre but I love this sort of thing.
I couldn't have been more bleakishly beautiful if Tim Burton had been the architect.
I'm inevitably drawn to places like this and probably spent a couple of hours just walking around which made my dear brother question whether I really even needed a hotel room since I might as well just hang upside down in the nearest attic. 🦇

After that I headed further into town but didn't manage to get more sightseeing in than the town hall until it was time to get something to eat and head back to the hotel.
I really never ventured outside the touristy parts and I have to say it felt like there where a lot more drunks/druggies/homeless people per m² than in any other large town I've been in.
It might be that Trainspotting coloured this opinion so I just noticed it more than I usually do but I don't think so.

P.S. I didn't know it at the time but the fact that I paid the same at Alison as I would have at Onslow meant I payed more than the standard fee at that place, £90 for two days instead of the £60 their website stated.
Booking.com seem totally fine with that and the review I wrote was subsequently removed.
This is the fate suffered by most negative reviews on that site which are either not published at all or are rapidly "archived".
Their rating system is so skewed towards the hosts I'm sure even the shittiest rathole on the face of the earth has overwhelmingly positive reviews on that page.

The view on the beach at Onich hotel

Somewhere along the A83

Glasgow cathedral

Entrance to Glasgow Necropolis.

The cemetery was originally intended to be a crypt since it was built at a time when grave robbing was a full time occupation

Charles Tennant 1768 – 1838. Founded an industrial empire based on bleaching powder

Monument of John Knox and the reformation (he isn't buried here)

All parts of the cemetery wasn't in equally good order

Dr Livingstone I presume?

Glasgow City Hall