Wednesday 15th December 2021

A scooter run over Glen Loth (151 miles).

The weather forecast was amazing with temperatures to reach 11°C. I couldn’t resist the call of the scooter. I decided to do this almost same trip I did on 15th December last year.




There was no ice this year, even so I didn’t go by the Scotsburn Road but headed down the Corkscrew Road, over the roundabout and down onto the A9. I went in to Tain to ASDA to get petrol.


Petrol is very expensive but has recently gone down in price to 141.7p per litre.


I am not happy with this new E10 fuel. I keep a record of all my fuel purchases and the consumption of the bike. You can see my fuel consumption has dropped quite a bit recently, I believe due to this E10 fuel. A very small proportion of this may be due to the colder weather.

dateodometerlitrescostmileagegallonsmpg
20/09/2131584.13.94£5.3980.30.8792.64
28/09/2131701.75.64£7.66117.61.2494.78
08/10/2131816.45.81£7.77114.71.2889.74
25/10/2131957.47.44£10.471411.6486.14
05/11/2132138.49.77£14.061812.1584.21
15/11/2132264.66.45£9.41126.21.4288.94
15/11/2132427.49.76£14.34162.82.1575.82
15/12/2132478.03.01£4.2750.60.6676.41

I then went to Home Bargains at the other end of Tain to purchase a wee picnic for the day.






I stopped at Loch Fleet to eat some of my picnic goodies.








And then pushed on through Golspie and Brora to get to the Glen Loth Road. I had to keep stopping to take pictures as the winter colours were so nice.






At the top of the pass. The hills of Caithness.










I took this picture with the wee church in Kildonan in it.


I had a quick stop in Kinbrace.




Kinbrace Cemetery.




Loch Badanloch.




I didn’t take a picture of the hotel but it doesn’t look the bonniest of buildings.




Ben Loyal is showing.












Looking down to Syre. You can make out the white red roofed church.


At Syre I headed to Altnahara through Strath Naver. This is the start of Loch Naver.


I stopped by Loch Naver to have my picnic.












And reached the junction at Alnahara about 1.10.




It was a bit disconcerting to see this sign. 


Just before Crask the road was closed. I had to wait maybe 20 minutes for it to open not at 1.30 but 1.40. The reason? Road widening to transport in wind turbines. I could scream. I have travelled this lovely wee road for years and it is wild. They are de-wilding our Highlands of Scotland. I’ve said it before on my web-pages, it’s a con. The energy to widen the roads, to create the roads, to extract the metals, to build the turbines and so on; that will never be recouped. Then one day they will have to be de-commissioned. I detest the supposed green policies. It’s jobs for the boys, money for the boys.

I’ll have a rant about the E10 fuel I mentioned earlier. That 10% alcohol mixed with the fuel does not make it “green”. It still produces CO2 as it combusts. You have to use valuable farmland to grow crops for fuel rather than food when part of the world’s population is starving. If you do away with the fossil fuels where is the bitumen to come from to tar the roads. I presume even in the greenest world electric cars or hydrogen powered cars will need roads. I’ve also noticed on my old BSA there is corrosion in my carburettor which was not there before. The alcohol is hygroscopic and that water absorbed is playing havoc with the alloys the carb is made from. This is going to trash old vehicles and force you to change. Someone is making money out of the cons.




Eventually we got through led in convoy. I went on to Lairg and then branched out to Rosehall and Inveroykel. I always stop at the Bailey Bridge. Earlier in the year I had a puncture here! Or I should say I found it here.










Carbisdale Castle.


The Kyle of Sutherland.




The roads are very mucky just now.


The lovely old bridge above Ardgay.




The top of the Dornoch Firth.


I always stop at the Struie Viewpoint. I had a bit more to eat spilling most of my Pringles Crisps on the ground. Wah! 




I arrived home at about 3.30 and immediately washed the scooter! It’s just great to get out at this time of year when there is so little light but we are nearly at the Winter Solstice. Spring will come.

I have tried putting my photos and map at a larger sized format. I hope it doesn’t slow web-page loading too much.