Day One
Trip Start
Jul 13, 2006
1
11
Trip End
Jul 27, 2006
Bishopbriggs, Glasgow, United Kingdom
Sunday, July 16, 2006
At 8:30, Motorrad opened the garage doors and began to pull the bikes out, one beautiful BMW after another. The one we rented was a K1200 GT, a brand new demo bike.
On this tour would be Derek and me on one bike, and another gentleman, Carl, on his own bike he drove up from England, a Honda Varadero (what an awesome bike! website link below). Our guide for today was Stewart, the head honcho himself from the touring company, since our guide was finishing up with some other tourists and would be joining us in the evening.
We started off, and adjusting to a new bike, and driving on the opposite side of the road than what we were used to took a while, Derek almost dropped the bike, but recovered it nicely. Derek has been riding for 20 years, and he found the roads to be challenging. The roundabouts are interesting, they even have them incorporated into their highway system, which I think they do just to confuse the foreigners.
Our first stop is at the Bannockburn Visitor Centre, where you get to see and learn about the real William Wallace and Robert the Bruce, if you are into history.
The Visitor Centre has snacks and beverages to refresh, and there is a gift shop. You can opt for an admission in which you get a movie and a walk through.
Then it was back to the bikes. From there it was on to The Drovers Inn in Inverarnan, North Loch Lomond, for good food and beer. The atmosphere of the place makes one feel like you have stepped back in time, although I can't imagine Rob Roy eating burgers and chips. Derek drank American brew, I am a Guiness girl myself, and hopefully someday my hubby will graduate to a real beer.
After lunch we headed down the picturesque Scottish country side down to Loch Katrine. A pleasant stop to get some ice cream and relax by the water.
Our journey for the day ends at St. Fillans, at the beautiful Four Seasons Hotel , that overlooks Loch Earn. The food and accommodation are very good, with large rooms and a bathroom all to yourself (I did not want to experience the place without a bathroom to yourself, that's an adventure you can check out on your own).
You can choose to eat in the bar, or you can enjoy fine dining in the restaurant. They serve seafood, steak and vegetarian fare.
We met our official tour guide Keith Henderson, a former police motorcycle instructor, class one rider, who also does motorcycle training for Ecosse Advanced. He also likes to tell jokes, and some of them are funny!
That evening we sat outside drank some more beer (which becomes a common recurrent theme throughout our journey),and went over our travel plans with Keith. Tomorrow is the Super Bike race at Knockhill. We watched the sun go down over Loch Earn, and after that the midgies came out and we were forced indoors. For Americans, it's the mosquito. In Scotland, it's the midgies, and it's always plural, because there is never just one. Bikers who want to tent it through Scotland, beware, these cunning bugs are capable of getting into everything, tent, helmet, coat, gloves, etc.
We are asked very nicely to leave the bar at 11 pm, this is my first time closing down a bar, at least they were nice.
Tomorrow were off the races.
click here for tour information
click here for Honda UK website
click here for The Drovers Inn website
click here for The Four Seasons Hotel website
