Book Review – Lone Rider

In a time before GPS navigation, mobile phones, the internet, and Google translate, travelling the globe would have been so much more daunting and challenging. Lone Rider is Elspeth Beard’s two-year road the world motorcycle trip in the early 1980s.

Going on a Mural Hunt

I love it out here, open road, big sky, and just the road for company interrupted by the occasional car, truck, or road train. This isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and I’m not sure whether I can explain it. So, when the chance to take a four-day weekend came up to ride, I jumped at the chance.

Scotland 2023 – ride summary

The challenge with planning our Scotland ride was understanding the time and distance equation. That is, how many kilometres should you aim for each day that doesn’t make you feel like you are always chasing the clock, while giving you enough time to visit local sights without watching the clock. In this post I set out our ride plan and budget for our Scotland motorcycle tour.

Last day riding in the UK

It was hard to believe our time together was over as we said our goodbyes over breakfast. Our plan for the day was to do some final sightseeing before returning our hire bike tomorrow morning.

Then There Were Two

Even Scotland was sad we were leaving, as we rode out of Glasgow under grey skies and rain. The first time, we’ve had to pull out our wet weather gear. We only have a few days left before we have to give the bike back so from Glasgow we head to the Lakes District, then the Yorkshire Dales, before returning the bike on Wednesday.

Tales of the Glen

Today’s ride is to Stirlung. It struck me today at Glencoe just how big and connected the story of the Scott’s is. We have heard stories at all our stops but as we visit more places, more of the pieces are fitting into place. Even our time in Norway links in with this story.

Top of Scotland, then turn left.

I have to confess, I like the ‘Long Way …’ Round, Down, and Up series’ that Charlie and Ewan did all those years ago. I know the hard core adventure guys out there tisk tisk them, but what they did was open the eyes of many to the possibility. For me, they just fed my need for adventure, venturing out further, and going longer.

Around Inverness

Today we had an extra day in Inverness to be able to explore a few things further, such as the Cullodin battlefields and a ride around Loch Ness.

Hello Scotland

The plan was to continue up the A1, skirt around Edinburgh and onto Perth where we are meeting up with Alain and Monica who are joining us on our ride.

While the motorway is a great way to get from A to B but we devised an alternative plan with more country roads and small towns.

One Last Ride for 22

On Tuesday Deb said why don’t you go for a ride for a couple of days as I won’t be able to get away. With the statement still hanging in the air I was already planning where to go and like a cartoon all that remained of me was a dust outline, and I was outta here.

The plan was simple – drop in on a mate in Wagga who has recently just got out of hospital and then head west to check out a few more painted grain silos in west Victoria, find somewhere to camp overnight, and head home the next day.