England & Scotland for a couple days after the TT

[Smurfslayer]

I'm headed to the Isle of Man June 1-8, and afterwards my wife wanted to spend some time in Scotland so we're taking the Douglas to Liverpool ferry and heading for Edinburgh.  We'll base there for a few days & head back to Belfast.  

Any suggestions for stuff along the way, or in and around Edinburgh?
   

[Orson]

The ferry to Heysham would probably be a better bet than Liverpool, as it would cut out about 100 miles of Motorway droning, and you'd avoid Liverpool traffic.

I can't help much with Scotland, but maybe notarian or FJR-UK will pipe in

Edit: I just remembered how busy the ferries are during the TT and that you probably already have a ticket for Liverpool.

[Smurfslayer]

Correct, I was lucky enough to get an early AM departure from Douglas...  They are busy.  

The thing is we were going to ride some in Ireland after departing the TT, but someone - not mentioning any names like my wife decided to change the itinerary on me ...  Not that I'm complaining mind you but I haven't had enough time to poke around and look for things to do, places to see etc.

Thanks.    

[Orson]

Oh well...going from Liverpool to Edinburgh sets you up to go thru the English Lake District, some of the best scenery in England  

The Yorkshire Dales are nice too

I do remember that the road on the north shore of Loch Ness made for some great curve strafing  

[notarian]

You mention that you will be riding, but really needed to know if you are riding part time or the whole time? IE; are you riding to and in Scotland (Edinburgh)?

If whole time and going to Belfast, will you be taking the ferry from Stranraer to N. Ireland or Troon to Larne?

As for visiting Edinburgh, its a very visual city with heaps to see and do = basically use a guide book and select your itinerary while in the city and get a copy of What's On when you get there for music venues.

Accommodations can be dear in Edinburgh and B&B's generally are a fair ways out of the city centre. I stayed at and recommend http://www.euro-hostels.co.uk/edinburgh/. It is listed as a hostel but is actually student apartments that come available for the public beginning 5 June. Very clean, prices are exceptionally good, quiet, secure and best of all, only one block off the Royal Mile. Check it out. If you decide to stay there, it can be difficult to find using a map because maps don't show elevations. Cowgate St is located at the bottom of Blair St. First locate Hunter Sq and Tron pub. Blair St leads down to Cowgate and the bottom, the apartments are to the right.

For a beautiful day outside Edinburgh in the countryside (weather permitting), take the bus and packed lunch to Rosslyn Chapel. The chapel is amazing and the grounds are huge - take a walk/wander down into the valley floor for a picnic.

If you are riding to Scotland and then onwards with the bike(s) to Belfast (Larne), Orson is correct about the Lake District and its stunning. However, the roads will be crowded so don't be in a hurry through the region.

As for riding into Edinburgh, forget it! It can be mental and a nightmare downtown. If you are taking the ferry from Stranraer, you will already be riding up the west of Britain (Edinburgh is on the east coast). I would ride up to Dumfries, Scotland or nearby in a day, spend the night in a B&B and arrange for the owners to keep the bike for a couple of days while you visit Edinburgh. Train from Dumfries to Edinburgh takes about 2.5 hours, run all day/night and you arrive at Waverley Station downtown and about a 10 min walk to the accommodations. http://www.thetrainline.com/

Alternatively, you can ferry from Troon, Scotland to Larne (Belfast) and the trains run all day/night to Glasgow to Edinburgh.

I've ridden Northern Ireland and Ireland, but always avoided Belfast as I was only interested in riding and not city sightseeing. The A2 along the coast is a mega road, but can be crowded and there are many villages (go slow) along the way to Portrush. The Northwest 200 roadrace is currently going on = like the Isle of Man. Check it out as these mental fuckers are travelling over 200mph on roads you will be riding soon. The NW200 is huge now and the riders are the same that do the Isle of Man.

All the roads west of the A2 coast road and the inland M2 are worth exploring and no trip to N. Ireland for a biker is complete without a ride to Ballymoney and Joey Dunlop's Memorial Garden followed by a stout at Joey's Pub.

If riding the inland roads, beware that this is farm country and there can be a lot of cow shit on the roads = slick when wet and don't get close behind anyone in the rain or you'll be covered in it.

The big shame about seeing Edinburgh is you'll miss out on riding one of the great motorcycle destinations of the world - west coast of Scotland and the Highlands north of Glasgow all the way to the top and over to the Isle of Skye.

For a couple of ride reports see

Ireland

http://www.sport-touring.net/forums/index.php/topic,28256.msg644811.html#msg644811

in case you change your mind on Edinburgh and decide to ride the Highlands or DO BOTH!

http://www.sport-touring.net/forums/index.php/topic,26208.msg601089.html#msg601089

http://www.sport-touring.net/forums/index.php/topic,28208.msg643695.html#msg643695

Whatever you decide, it will be a great trip. Enjoy the TT.

Note

[Orson]

If you can spare a day going in the opposite direction, Snowdonia National Park in North Wales is a few hours south of Liverpool.

but the Lake District is probably just as nice as Snowdonia in my opinion

My favorite Yorkshire Dales pic :

[Smurfslayer]

Thanks for the tips / suggestions.  to clarify the itinerary:

Belfast (rather Lisburn) to pick up the bike, South to the ferry below Dublin ( I know that I will absolutely massacre the spelling, as I will the pronunciation ).  Ferry ride to Douglas for the TT for 7 days on 1 June.  Depart 8 June Douglas to Liverpool.  Ride from there to Edinburgh where the wife has procured a hotel.  3 days there, and another left over after the hotel which we have not planned.  Back to Belfast from Stranraer.  

I am excited, I have been practicing my Fat Bastard imitation all week  

Seriously, The first thing my wife looked at was Loch Ness - looks like a 4 hour trip one way, and if it's anything like Ireland, make that 5.  I'm not a dawdling rider by any stretch but I've found making time over there to be challenging.      

All the roads west of the A2 coast road and the inland M2 are worth exploring and no trip to N. Ireland for a biker is complete without a ride to Ballymoney and Joey Dunlop's Memorial Garden followed by a stout at Joey's Pub.

Been there, done it, paid my respects, got pictures courtesy of a visiting Aussie, had a drink, and contributed to Joey's foundation.  back in '07

On the way back we were absolutely dumped on by some incredible rain, then as if there were never any clouds the sky just cleared out for some seriously bright sun.  That was on the way to Trim castle.  That was great fun.

The big shame about seeing Edinburgh is you'll miss out on riding one of the great motorcycle destinations of the world - west coast of Scotland and the Highlands north of Glasgow all the way to the top and over to the Isle of Skye.

I get the impression from the Tour Guide/Financial Advisor - AKA wife, that we may need to devote a separate trip to this particular venue.  

Thanks again for the tips I'll check out the links when  I get some time.

[chomy]

 I just got back from a week of touring Scotland so here is my 2 bits worth that I would do if riding.  Loch Ness is good but make sure to ride the B road on the East side of the lake, lots of curves and very scenic.

 A ride over to Stirling or Perthshire is nice with lots of scenery and castles and than A85 and A82 towards Fort William, nice roads, great scenery and what I think most of us think of when people speak of the highlands of Scotland.  

 Loch Ness and Perth, Fort William may be doable in a day depending on how much and how hard you want to ride. A little out of your way but the Isle of Skye is a must see for its beauty and roads.

 If you go up to Inverness a stop at Culloden is a must, a pivotal point in Scottish history and a piece of history I found very moving in a location that is stunning.

 Closer to Edinburgh I cant say as I was just there for a day but Edinburgh castle is worth a look. The one thing that You may notice is every where I went the scenery was great, the roads, at least out side of the city's were great, the people friendly and the beer and whisky at days end made it that much better. Oh and one final plus, the car drivers seem to understand bikes, riders and expediting the flow of traffic.

[FJR-UK]

Sorry to arrive late to this thread! I hope you enjoyed Edinburgh. Did you happen to stumble across Arthur's Seat/Duddinston Loch/Duddingston Village/The Sheep's Heid?

[Smurfslayer]

Thanks for the tips guys.  Apologies for the tardiness of my reply.  It has been extremely busy post vacation and a host of minor complications have reared their heads.

Highlights of the trip:

Smooth sailing... come to think of it, smooth flying, riding too.  Really stuff went so well it was atypical.  
My whole report is at www.bighammer.net/paris.html  

pictures & such of the IOM start on www.bighammer.net/iom.html

Paris?  Yes.  As it turns out the best fare was from Air France.  It also turns out that I have a coworker & friend (now) in France from our Paris office.  Coincidence?  I think not.  He took us on the best cage tour you could ask for around Paris - a very moto friendly city IMO.  From there we hopped to Dublin and bussed up to Lisburn to pick up our ride from Phil McCallen's then rode back down to Dublin for the ferry ride. We could not change our plane itinerary and by the time that got sorted out, there were no more Belfast to IoM seats.  

Spent a week on the IoM, did some touring, rode Mad Sunday, and generally had a great time.  Jockeyed over to Liverpool by Steam Packet ferry and rode up to Keswick, then over to Edinburgh.  We didn't do much riding about in Scotland unfortunately; the wife hurt her ankle in the latter days of the IoM and we needed to rest for a bit.  3 days in Edinburgh, got some good pics, visited some cool sights, etc.  Then we rode over to Stranraer.  That was fun, but we were hurried.  Our path took us through the arch-typical Scottish roads with sheep everywhere.

To paraphrase Col. Kilgore 'When you beep at the sheep, the sheep break both ways'    

Caravaners  Oh.  My.  God.  If you follow Top Gear, you know they don't like Caravaners and now I understand why.  These guys back up traffic for what seems like miles.  I was a bit cautious coming into Edinburgh because it was wet and the terrain did not offer very good sight distance.  I made a couple passes, but singular vehicles and the Caravaners really punked us on the way in.  On the way to Stranraer however it was dry and I passed them without mercy, sometimes several cages at a time.  The most was 12 or 13, I couldn't count them all because by the time we put down that particular caravaner, we were moving quite fast and I was more concerned with the on coming traffic.

From there we rode to a few castles around Belfast & dropped the bike back off.

http://www.bighammer.net/images/miscvideo/100_0016.MOV  short sidecar video
http://www.bighammer.net/images/miscvideo/100_0017.MOV  Another one
http://www.bighammer.net/images/miscvideo/100_0022.MOV  not quite as short Douglas practice video.

The IoM TT could be done a lot cheaper than we did it for sure.  The thing is if you want to watch the races, get a B&B within walking distance.  There are plenty to choose from.  If you wanted to spectate only, would probably be airfare to a variety of choices - mine the cheapest was Dublin, but Belfast would be another good choice (US East Coast).  Ferry to IoM.  If you stay in Douglas, walk to, taxi to your B&B - ours came and met us at the port.  B&B set us back about 380 GBP (Manx pounds aren't accepted at all places in the UK btw).  that was 8 days, our guy was 5 stars, top notch.  Ferry cost varies depending on whether you get lounge seats.  You can save by not getting lounge seats, but you could also get stuck standing up for the whole trip.  On the way over to IoM the Dublin ferry was sparsely populated.  On the way to Liverpool, whole different story, filled to the brim.  

If you've never been to IoM and even think you want to go, do it.  We sprung for hospitality tent for the Sbk race1 & sidecare r1.  That was cool, but you can get good vantages from a host of different places and they broadcast the race over the air so you can keep up by radio.  


 

[Orson]

Glad you enjoyed it  

You really should post a few pictures over in the Ride Reports Section. People would eat it up