a11y's Skye & Applecross Roadtrip - June 2010

[a11y]

I was away on a roadtrip last week - had the week off work and a mate and me had planned a longer roadtrip up the west cost of Scotland, but had to cut it short to 2-nights only due to my mate getting a job interview on the Tuesday. So, we left Falkirk last Wednesday for a quick 3-day/2-night roadtrip in my Z4 - we'd initially planned to bring both our cars but my mate had just driven a 500-mile round trip to Doncaster and back, so became my passenger instead. Route as follows:

Wednesday:
Falkirk - Fort William via Callendar and Crianlarach (A84/A85/A82)
Fort William - Mallaig (A830 aka Road To The Isles)
Mallaig - Armadale (ferry)
Armadale - Slighachan (camped opposite the Inn)
Spent the evening BBQ'ing then retreated to the pub to escape the midges!

Thursday:
Slighachan - mainland via the Skye Bridge (Kyle of Lochalsch)
Skye Bridge - Plockton
Plockton - Tornapress (start of the Bealach na Ba pass) via A890/A896
Bealach na Ba pass to Applecross
Camped in Applecross and sat in the beer garden of the Applecross Inn for a while...

Friday:
Applecross - Tornapress via the Bealach na Ba pass again
Tornapress - Invergarry via A87
A82 south to Spean Bridge
A86 to Dalwhinnie, then home to Falkirk using the A9 via Perth

Cracking couple of days. My first proper roadtrip in the Z4 as I'm usually driving my camper van when we do these, but it was the ideal car. Roof was down almost all the time although my passenger wasn't the biggest fan of that , and boot was big enough for all our camping gear and food for a few days. Certainly the most impractical car on both campsites, apart from the nutter in the Caterham in the Applecross campsite (although he wasn't "tenting" and was in a cabin). It would've been nice to have done a couple more days but I had to be home to collect the van and drive back up to Fort William for the MTB World Cup at the weekend

Lots of photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/a11y_m/sets/72157624236164660/

mmmmmmmmmmm5!

Sligachan campsite:

Skye:

View from our tent:

Walk on water??? (Loch Carron):

Start of the Bealach na Ba (Pass Of The Cattle):

Applecross campsite:

View from the beer garden:

Gained a friend for dinner:

Cheers
Ally

 

[Rudd]

awesome trip and photos!

some of those roads and views look great!

 

[Beancounter1980]

Ally, nice pics.
Is your car lowered? looks pretty mean..

 

[ZermattV]

the road to applecross.......... pretty neat road that a11y......

Second to last photo going in the photo comp this month ?

 

[gannet]

stunning pics a11y, I gotta get me to skye sometime

car looks great

 

[a11y]

Cheers folks . The scenery on Skye is something you've got to see, unlike anything else. And I'm sure anyone else who's been will agree that although there's great roads all over Scotland, the best ones are really all north of Fort William. Long journey but worth it.

Beancounter1980, I'm on Eibach springs after both my rear BMW original springs snapped. So effectively 15mm lower than a standard sport-equipped 3.0i, or 30mm than a non-sport suspensioned Z4. There's nothing wrong with the standard sport-equipped height IMO, but I'd never go back to snap-prone BMW OEMs. Boot was also rammed full too though!

Rob, not decided on entering a photo yet but I should do perhaps

 

[Anonymous]

Stunning shots Ally, gonna pick your brains on thursday as planning a similar idea but doindg a bit of fishing as well.

And anyone who doubts that Scotland is Gods country check out photo number 9. :rofl:

 

[Breaker]

Nice trip and photos. I think photo No 6 would be good for the photo comp!

 

[srhutch]

Beancounter1980, I'm on Eibach springs after both my rear BMW original springs snapped. So effectively 15mm lower than a standard sport-equipped 3.0i, or 30mm than a non-sport suspensioned Z4. There's nothing wrong with the standard sport-equipped height IMO, but I'd never go back to snap-prone BMW OEMs. Boot was also rammed full too though!

Third pic down just doenst look right, looks like your on the stops at the rear, must be your mate :fuelfire:

 

[pvr]

You had better weather then we had up there on the bank holiday weekend ! The roads are superb though.

 

[johnsh123]

Nice photo's and scenery, you've inspired me a11y, I haven't been to Sky for many years but am already working on a cunning plan to rectify that.

 

[a11y]

Third pic down just doenst look right, looks like your on the stops at the rear, must be your mate :fuelfire:

Probably right :wink:. He's even taller than me and claims he's 110kgs - I think that combined with a 5-man tent, sleeping bags, airbeds, folding chairs, camping stove, all the camping stuff, plus our clothes and the food and alcohol ( :!: ) probably gave it that arse down look.

Actually, I'm purely blaming my mate: it looks more level in the on-ferry pic (4th down) and the only difference is that he's not in the car oke:

 

[sammyz]

Fantastic pics, roads look awesome.

 

[shambolic]

Im off on the 21st to Skye for a week but as I'm taking a 2 man canoe, 2 bikes a tent, climbing gear, fishing gear and enough food and drink to feed the 5,000, the Zed is staying at home and the vivaro is doing the trip instead.
Cannae wait though

 

[paddy wright]

love it- next trip sorted- applecross!

 

[RichardG]

Superb photos as usual a11y, looking at doing something similar with the good lady when I get home at the end of the month. We may just have to use some of your route. :driving:

I've even talked her into camping, ther'es first time for everything. :lol:

 

[a11y]

the vivaro is doing the trip instead.

I feel your pain - my usual vehicle for trips like these is my VW Transporter. Made a nice change having the Z4 for once.

Superb photos as usual a11y, looking at doing something similar with the good lady when I get home at the end of the month. We may just have to use some of your route. :driving:

I've even talked her into camping, ther'es first time for everything. :lol:

Cheers. Those two campsites - Sligachan on Skye, and the Applecross one - were chosen by me purely for their proximity to pubs . Both are approx 2mins walk to a pub/restaurant, so are ideal should the midges or weather get too much for hanging around the campsite. The Applecross campsite even has a pub/restaurant onsite

 

[pvr]

Midges, the biggest draw back in Scotland. They drove me insane couple of weeks back.

Did you not suffer them last weekend?

 

[a11y]

Midges - kill 'em all! They weren't actually too bad on Skye or at Applecross due to a slight wind keeping them away, apart from when we returned from the pub on Skye (wind had died down). They were pretty horrific in Fort William at the weekend though.

 

[pvr]

Were they still doing the roadworks in Fort William? Was stuck there for-ever ...