Day 9 - 27th September

A nice sunny day for a run through Wales. A bit busy until Oswestry, but after that I was able to Araf down. The scenery is not as majestic as Scotland, more rounded and green rather than angular and grey, but there are still some decent hills and bends, where Araf really means Araf.

Mid-Wales, but no pylon signs

Looking towards the Black Mountains

The inhabitants of mid Wales seem much exercised about wind farms and pylons - they are not in favour. Lots of "No Pylons" and "No Wind Farms" signs, but none saying "We are happy for someone else to generate the power we use". All the road signs are bilingual, but all the protest signs are in English - is English used for political argument and Welsh reserved for poetical argument? I noticed the Eisteddfod is/was in Wrexham/Wrecsam this year.

I felt like stopping for a cup of tea, but couldn't find an open cafe for about 20 miles until I saw a sign for the "Honey Cafe" at Bronllys. I turned in just after a new looking Morgan sports car, and parked up next to  two big BMW bikes. Turned out it was a new lady owner and the personal instructor you can hire from BMW for a bit of one to one tuition. The pot of tea and welsh cakes (like a thin scone) were very welcome. I've just looked it up to check the spelling (of Bronllys) and find it has been given 10/10 by a cyclist from Birmingham who "would cycle an extra 20 - 30 miles to visit this cafe".

Sunny day at the Honey Cafe

View from the Honey Cafe

Arrived a bit early in Caerleon, did a circuit of the one way system to try to find the Pendragon House B&B but failed, looked at the map again and realised I had to do another circuit - found it, but was still too early so went to look for fuel which ended up taking two more circuits. Unfortunately most of these circuits coincided with some kind of traffic problem which meant I was stationary for much of the time - I never did come across what caused it.

A nice welcome from Kathryn and Peter, the owners, who are letting me put the bike in their back garden because they have no off-street parking. Unfortunately the gate is very narrow, so I've had to loosen the mirrors and turn them inwards to get it through.

Day 8 - 26th September

A rest (and seat-drying) day in Chester - I promise that will be last reference to the dampness or otherwise of my posterior. I walked around the city walls and visited the Cathedral, and this evening I hope to watch Norwich v Sunderland at the pub just across the road.

Decent food, decent beer, Norwich 2 Sunderland 1 - a good evening.

A few pics from Chester below:

Chester Cathedral

West window of Chester Cathedral

The weir and bridge over the River Dee - the weir led to the harbour silting up and the rise of the port of Liverpool - previously just "a crikke in the port of Chester"

Looking down from the Eastgate bridge towards the High Cross

Sedan House - the porch with the black door has another one on the other side, so you could alight from your sedan chair without getting wet

Day 7 - 25th September

A good dry (apart from a wet bottom - seat still damp) run from Dumfries to Chester. Typing this for the second time because the B&B internet is so flaky that I lost almost all of the previous attempt, and having to do it sitting on the landing because their WiFi doesn't stretch to my room on the top floor. Pity that the place I am staying for two nights has such poor internet, because otherwise it's comfortable and welcoming.

I used the A6 and A59 through Liverpool to avoid the motorway, but had to go through Lancaster and Preston as well so it was slow going following long trains of Sunday trippers. The top part of the A6 has some nice scenery, though not as extreme as Scotland. Sunday seems to be the day that all Lancastrian bikers go for a run - there were hordes of them, mostly well behaved, though one group including a trike with the two wheels at the front were being a bit naughty.

From the A6 approaching Penrith - M6 in the distance

Entering Lancashire, a place where letters fall off their signs

I was a bit worried about how I was going to pay the toll for the Mersey Tunnel, but as I emerged there was a big sign saying "Motorcycles free" (good slogan) directing me to a little lane running round the back of the toll booths.

Distance today 178.2 miles in 6 hr 42 min, total so far 1290.4 miles.

Day 6 - 24th September

A nice dry day, but the rain overnight had soaked my seat, so it was like sitting on a wet sponge all day.

Lovely scenery going down through Glencoe, then across to Loch Awe, Inverary and all round the top end of Loch Fyne. Passed the Oyster Bar, but no sign of any politicians doing deals. Down to Dunoon along the shore of Loch Eck, then took the ferry from Hunters Quay to Gourock to avoid going through Glasgow. It was nice and sunny and the Clyde looked very pretty.

Loch Awe

Loch Eck

Dunoon from the Hunters Quay ferry

On the other side I rode round the coast road down towards Ayr then took the Doon Valley through to Dumfries - very pretty but not as spectacular as the Highlands. Tried to fill up at a Marie Celeste filling station in Patna, said open on the sign, pumps were unlocked, but the office was locked up and no one about, so had to use the can again.

Distance today 211.4 miles in 6hr 35m. Total distance 1112.2 miles.

Day 5 - 23rd September

A day which promised to be pretty wet, as the view out of my room in Fort Augustus shows. Very comfortable B&B, with smoked salmon and scrambled eggs for breakfast.

I put on my packaway waterproof jacket under my motorcycle one, and remembered to put on my silk glove inners.

View from Corrie Liath B&B Fort Augustus

The extra layers kept me warm, even though I had to fill up from my can on the road to Fort William when I misjudged how much I had left. The Road to the Isles wasn't very romantic in the rain, but things began to brighten up as I rode on the long single track route to Ardnamurchan Point (furthest West). Had to wait for about 20 minutes on the way while they were relaying a stretch of the road, so some very smooth European funded tarmac to compensate for the very rough bits they hadn't yet got to. At the lighthouse it was dry but very windy, which accounts for the shaky photo. I was greeted by a border collie which bit my front tyre as I came to a halt. He was biting the tyres of everything that moved, though had learned to mostly go for the back ones.

Ardnamurchan Point Lighthouse - furthest West

Spectacular scenery again, you can see how the road has been cut into the side of the hill:

Between Kolchoan and the Point

... with the sea down below:

The Sound of Mull with Mull in the distance

I refilled my can at the most westerly petrol pump in Kilchoan, £1.55 a litre plus £1 surcharge for spending less than £25 (but not for bikes), but I was worried about running out again. Finished up by taking the Corran ferry to get to Glencoe village for the night.

Corran Ferry across Loch Leven

163.2 miles today taking 6hr 54 mins, 900.8 miles in total.

Day 4 - 22nd September

A good day - a great run, I didn't get too wet, my packed clothes stayed dry, and I was able to watch Eagles beat Leigh 20-10 and get into the Grand Final at a pub in Fort Augustus.

Distance covered 173.2 miles in 5 hr 51 min, including a break for lunch in Lairg and two fuel stops. Total distance covered now 737.6 miles.

I got to Fort Augustus by going along the coast from Dunnet almost to Tongue and then followed the A836 down to Lairg. That bit is an old Thomas Telford single track road with passing places running along the edge of the Flow Country, the first bit runs along the shore of Loch Loyal for about 5 miles. There was no-one about, and a green-roofed boat house was the only building in sight, except for a glimpse of the main house through a clump of trees. The scenery is wild and watery, with wide open views through which you can swoop with your bike, encountering only a few other vehicles - though you do need to remember that the odd one can be an HGV. I passed a couple of 4x4 pickups with an empty trailer with ramps running down to the ground. The puzzle was revealed when I saw a full trailer - it held a small off-roader with eight big ballon tyres for trekking across the wet stuff, perhaps for luxury deer stalking.

Lairg is a small village but is the cross-roads for most of the Highlands. It sits beside Loch Shin, which looks very pretty when the sun shines.

Loch Shin from Lairg Pier

I'll try and add some pictures and a bit of video tomorrow.

Day 3 - 21st September

Day 3 a bit delayed because I couldn't get the internet in my hotel room, which was otherwise fine though I was the only guest. I eventually found a phone signal on the beach, so I was able to ring home while watching the kite surfers, but it was a bit cold for blog posting. 3's signal seems to be pretty limited up here, so the 'where am I' thing only works some of the time.

Started out with a great run over the hills from Braemar to Grantown on Spey, passing Balmoral (Police Notice - No Stopping). Even had to drop into first on one hill, and passed couple of ski lifts, but the downhill bits and scenery were superb with hardly any other traffic. As I reached Nairn and headed west to Inverness into the teeth of the gale the rains came down, and I was able to ask the question how good are my waterproof jacket, overtrousers and gloves? The answer is not good enough, I got soaked to the skin and very cold. By the time it had stopped, and I filled up with petrol north of Inverness I found that my fingers wouldn't work properly and I couldn't stop shivering. Fortunately the garage had a cafe (though the fuel was £1.43 a litre). I had egg and chips, a coffee, and a sit in the warm - the only thing wrong was that the hand-drier didn't work so my hands took a long time to warm up.

Managed to stay dry for the long run up the A9 to Dunnet, it follows the coast most of the way so isn't so spectacular, but it is still a very attractive route. Getting close to Dunnet Caithness becomes very flat and windswept (wide open views the lady in the hotel called it), and there are amazing sand dunes towering above the road at Dunnet Beach. I made it out to Dunnet Head (furthest North) for the obligatory photo. It's a great place with views all along the Pentland Firth and across to Orkney, but the wind was howling round my head and I could see a heavy shower rolling in from the west. Before I set off for the hotel two groups of people asked me about the charity (it was worth getting my reflective jacket printed) and one gave me a £2.50 donation - thanks.

Dunnet Head lighthouse - furthest North, looking across to Orkney

One down, three to go

At the hotel I made the unwelcome discovery that the lack of waterproofness also extended to the rubberised bags I had used to pack my clothes in before putting them in the panniers. I spent most of the evening moving gloves, socks and underwear on and off the radiator in my room, but eventually managed to dry everything.

Dunnet Beach, and kite surfer

Distance covered 217.0 miles, the 212.3 miles to Dunnet Head took 6 hr 20 min, including fuel stops and that restorative lunch.

I'll update Day 4 later, I'm off into Fort Augustus to see if I can find anywhere to watch Leigh v Eagles in the play-off semi-final this evening.