Alternative rides in stunning Scotland
Want to discover more of Scotland than the obvious bits? Motorcycle Scotland promises to help you do just that
WE KNOW RIDE readers realise there’s more to Scotland than Glen Coe, Applecross and John o’groats. That the North Coast 500 isn’t the only route worth riding. But with so many great roads, where do you start? We began with the experts: Motorcycle Scotland.
“So many people think of Scotland as something that happens north of the central belt — Edinburgh, Glasgow and all the urbanisation between them,” explains Dave Smith, the man behind Motorcycle Scotland. “But there’s so much more to see than simply the Highlands and Islands.”
As the proprietor of the famously bike-friendly Buccleuch Arms Hotel in Moffat in the Borders, Smith is keen to champion the biking attractions of other areas – which was why he set up Motorcycle Scotland, to be a complete resource for touring in the whole of the country. The accompanying website (www.motorcyclescotland.com) has information on what to see, where to eat and where to stay in just about every region — as well as dozens of tested routes to download.
“The most neglected area is southern Scotland,” Smith says. “Too many people just head straight up until they’re north of Edinburgh. If we can get them to stop in the south-west for one night, they discover a region where there are no cars, no tourists — just big, open spaces with brilliant riding. We have guests breaking the journey north or south and they all say the same thing: ‘I wish I’d done it sooner’.”
It’s not just Dumfries and Galloway that has lots to offer the touring motorcyclist. “There’s great riding in south-east Scotland as well,” says Smith. “Like here, there are rolling hills and valleys with miles of quiet roads. There are only really two main roads — the A68 and the A1 — and if you stay off them, the riding is brilliant.”
The best ways north
“You don’t want to get sucked into the central belt when you’re heading north,” advises Smith. “That’s at least an hour of riding wasted on motorways or picking your way through the urbanisation. We have two routes we recommend from Moffat. One bypasses the central belt completely so that you’re ready to head up the west coast. The other route picks its way through the central belt so you’d never know you were surrounded by towns and gets you to Falkirk, so you’re ready to head across to the east.”
We joined Smith to ride the western route. This bypasses Glasgow by heading across Dumfries and Galloway and Ayrshire to the port of Gourock. The riding there is excellent — quiet, flowing roads through a pleasantly wild (rather than dramatic) landscape, with only a few villages dotted around. Rolling off to the speed limit provides a welcome breather, rather than spoiling the rhythm of the ride.
“It’s only a short ferry from Gourock to Dunoon and because it’s a roll-on/roll-off service, there’s no real delay to the journey,” Smith explains. Rolling off on the northern bank, the road around Holy Loch and Loch Eck is beautiful and practically empty of traffic — even the cars that had been on the ferry with us seem to have melted away.
“The A82 around Loch Lomond has become painful to ride now from Friday to Monday. It’s seen as the gateway to the Highlands and it’s certainly the motorhome highway to the Highlands. It’s easy to get stuck behind a long queue of traffic as there are so few passing places,” Smith says. This route, heading from Dunoon to Inveraray and the A819, lets you bypass Loch Lomond altogether — either joining the A82 at Tyndrum or carrying on west, along the coast and up to Oban.
The eastern route is a cunning confection of local knowledge and careful thought, stringing together good-to-ride minor roads that cleverly sidestep the urban sprawl that links Scotland’s two biggest cities. You’d never know you were riding through the central belt. “It also gets you to two big attractions,” adds Smith. “The huge boat lift, the Falkirk Wheel, is something to be seen. And the Kelpies — the gigantic horse-head statues — are increasingly on a lot of bikers’ must-see lists.” From Falkirk, it’s easy to head east to the Cairngorms or pick up the A85 to head west through Glen Coe.
Other areas
Which other neglected Scottish areas would the Motorcycle Scotland experts recommend? “For a taste of the Islands, you can’t beat Islay,” says Smith. “The ride to the ferry is brilliant, down the edge of the Campbeltown peninsula. And when you’re there, it has everything.
“The other great, underrated island is Mull. You can get a ferry from Oban, explore the island, then take another ferry from Tobermory to the Ardnamurchan peninsula. And if you want a wild, unspoilt place that isn’t overrun with motorhomes… that’s another great location.”
The Cairngorms are also highly recommended. “If you ride along Loch Tay and head into the Cairngorms, you’re in for a real treat,” advises Smith. “It’s just green and lush and trimmed like it was treated by God’s own lawnmower. It’s a lot quieter than the West Coast and bear in mind, too, that it’s the whisky trail…”
The northern part of the Highlands and the West Coast still draws the largest number of bikers, thanks to the success of the North Coast 500. “But there’s great riding off the route,” Smith advises. “One of the greatest days you can have is to stay in Lairg and ride up through Altnaharra, join the A838 at Tongue and ride round Loch Eribol to Durness — which is the NC500 route — but then stay with the A838 from Laxford Bridge back to Lairg. And that’s an amazing road where you won’t see very much traffic.
“Personally, I never go to John o’groats,” Smith adds. “The riding isn’t great as it’s flat and exposed so it can be really windy. Better to go through Thurso to Castletown and then take the B876 to get to Wick. It’s a nice ride and then you’re back on the good bit of the coastal road south again.”
With so much good riding in Scotland, is there any need to ride a dull road like the A9 to Inverness or the A99 to John o’groats? Definitely not — and Motorcycle Scotland’s aim is to ensure you get to the good roads. “You can enjoy more of the big spaces, freedom and quiet roads in some of the places you don’t expect,” concludes Smith. “They might not have some of the iconic, must-see sights, but they don’t have the volume of tourists either — just great biking roads.”