Day 2 - I’m Falling For Scotland

I woke up at 1.30am freezing cold and needing a wee. I went outside and saturated my socks - from the heavy dew, not wee. I then wrapped up in extra clothes and with a blanket over me and managed to get back to sleep.

I woke up again at 5.30am and to my horror I discovered that I had not saved my blog and it was lost for ever, so my first job of the day was to rewrite it. I had also left both my Ipad and iPhone on overnight and they were now short on charge. It was then I made my second horrific discovery that of all the charging cables I had packed, not one was for my iPhone. This was not going well.

I prised myself out of my tent around 7am and made myself a green tea (only because the teabag fell in my cup by accident). I then made my breakfast of heated up cream of chicken soup.

After breakfast, I set about packing up all my gear and trying to force it back into the panniers and top box. My bike weighs an absolute ton. I left the campsite at 8.58am and headed back to Alnwick for a photo of the castle. I could only get long distance shots.

My next stop was Low Newton-By-The-Sea, which turned out to be a lovely little village with a stunning beach. This definitely requires a return visit.

I followed the Coastal Route north to Bamburgh Castle for a quick photo. It is apparently Northumberland’s most dramatic castle built in the 11th century by Henry ll. The castle played a key role in the border wars of the 13th and 14th centuries, and in 1946 was the first castle to fall during the War of the Roses.

I then continued towards the Holy Island of Lindisfarne that is connected to the mainland by a narrow causeway that only appears at low tide. It is cut off from the mainland for about 5 hours each day. There was a long queue of traffic all waiting to negotiate the causeway, so I abandoned the idea of going across. I had some interesting facts, but as I didn’t visit it, I’ll save them for another time!

Next stop was Berwick-Upon-Tweed, where I stopped at an Asda to refuel and purchase a charger cable for my iPhone. Whilst at Asda, I typed in the Union Chain Bridge which was the recommendation from my fellow camper the previous evening. I didn’t realise that it was 4 miles inland from Berwick-Upon-Tweed, so I didn’t actually get to see B-U-T and its harbour.

Anyway, the Union Chain Bridge is a suspension bridge that spans the River Tweed between Horncliffe, Northumberland, England and Fishwick, Borders, Scotland. It was designed by Captain (later Sir) Samuel Brown RN, who held patents for the design of the chains, although Brown altered the tower and abutments on the suggestion of John Rennie. When it opened in 1820 it was the longest wrought iron suspension bridge in the world with a span of 137 metres (449 ft), and the first vehicular bridge of its type in the United Kingdom.

I was able to ride over the bridge on my motorcycle to enter Scotland whereupon it immediately started to rain. After lots of windy little roads I eventually rejoined the A1 and sped north. At Dunbar, I saw a McDonalds and thought it would be a good opportunity to get a coffee to warm up AND charge my iPhone, iPad etc.

The car park was busy and I took the only available space which was on a slope. I kicked down my bike stand (or so I thought), then went to climb off my bike when all of a sudden I crashed to the ground with my bike collapsing on top of me. The stand wasn’t fully down and had sprung back up again.

The old couple in their car next to me eating their McWrap had the shock of their lives as my head and back slammed into their wheel. Miraculously my bike didn’t hit their car. The only damage suffered was the metal ball on the end of my clutch lever which snapped off and of course my bruised pride. Luckily no-one witnessed my mishap…not. A couple of kind Scottish builders ran over to help me get the bike back up and on the stand again.

Totally mortified with embarrassment, I dusted myself down and headed towards McDonalds, when I suddenly discovered that the back of my left thigh was really painful. I hobbled into McDonalds and bought a coffee. I am hoping that my injury is just a severe dead leg.

45 minutes later, I reluctantly returned to my bike and set the SatNav for Braemar. My bike started which was a bonus, but it was agony getting my leg over the saddle. I bravely rode on towards Edinburgh, where I experienced high winds, then across the Forth Bridge and up to Perth. I passed Scone Palace, but it wasn’t visible from the road.

After Perth, I picked up the A93 or Snow Road Tourist Route (also called the Highland Route and other variations on this theme) that took me along heather strewn valleys and up and around mountains. The scenery was stunning, or I imagine it would be if the low clouds and rain lifted. I passed several ski centres with chairlifts disappearing up the mountains into the clouds.

It was around 4.30pm, that I finally arrived in Braemar and the birthplace of the Highland Games. I located the Highland Games arena and was surprised that anybody was allowed to walk in. The only rule I could see was that no dogs were allowed on the actual playing field. The next event is on the 7th September.

I had plans to go past Balmoral Castle and visit Ballater and Aboyne, but I still had over 2 hours to go to reach my final destination of the day, so I abandoned that idea. As it happened my SatNav got confused my a road closure and I did end up in Ballater, where I reset the SatNav and went back the way I had just came from.

The scenery was more of the same, but I was cold and wet and yearning for a lovely hot shower. After riding through Inverness, I followed the northern shore of Loch Ness to Drumnadrochit and checked into Loch Ness Bunk Inn. Before finding my dormitory, I rode back to the town centre and bought and ate a not very appealing jumbo sausage in batter and chips.

I returned to the Bunk Inn where I made up my top bunk bedding, had a shower and started writing my blog surrounded by numerous electronic devices all on charge. I am sharing my dorm with an American who has been sleeping rough in his car for the last few days and stunk when he arrived and 2 other foreign lads.

Song of the Day - Stone and Heather by Justin Sullivan.Read more