Ballater holiday

E

edshift

Member
I just spent 3 days based at Ballater.
The road up from Fife was fun after we got to Perth and joined the road to Kirriemuir.
It was fun road but very much a road that was policed.
60 and 50 and 30 was the route through a few wee villages.
After Blairgowrie the road becomes a bit more interesting.
It's quite windy and you get to bridge of Cally.
20mph through bridge of Cally.
It takes ten minutes and it's just a total power move but once you exit Bridger of Cally the road opens it's heart and you're in the best road in Scotland.
It goes up always up and is wide enough to handle two lanes of traffic but at the same time completely sighted to overtake and go fast safely.
I want to shout out to a Land rover tdv6S Today that was driving like an F1 guy and consistently making 60 through all the corners taking racing lines and hustling 2 tons of truck through tight bends at 60.
All my respect goes out to him.
He even got out my way once voluntarily.
He overtook me later on along with three other vehicles including an artic in one overtake. (Hardcore)
I was happy to sit behind him at 60 on almost every corner. Crazy following a Land Rover TDV6 S as a BMW Z4 2.5si. We did handle better and could have gone ahead but he was so good and we appreciated his driving so much we hung back and just appreciated it.
All the racing lines when he could and just constant breaking and acceleration.
I suspect he was a biker or a track day guy.
Ended up following him from Aviemore down to the Perth bypass.
Legendary driver.
Anyhow. Luv the Highlands for driving.
Luv and Peace.
 
Ballater is a great little town nestled in the hills..

You do get quite a bit of ‘heavy metal’ but the roads are open enough to get past most traffic soon enough…

A fab part of Scotland…but then there are so many fab parts of Scotland :driving:

Glad you enjoyed your trip :thumbsup:
 
edshift said:
I just spent 3 days based at Ballater.
The road up from Fife was fun after we got to Perth and joined the road to Kirriemuir.
It was fun road but very much a road that was policed.
60 and 50 and 30 was the route through a few wee villages.
After Blairgowrie the road becomes a bit more interesting.
It's quite windy and you get to bridge of Cally.
20mph through bridge of Cally.
It takes ten minutes and it's just a total power move but once you exit Bridger of Cally the road opens it's heart and you're in the best road in Scotland.
It goes up always up and is wide enough to handle two lanes of traffic but at the same time completely sighted to overtake and go fast safely.
I want to shout out to a Land rover tdv6S Today that was driving like an F1 guy and consistently making 60 through all the corners taking racing lines and hustling 2 tons of truck through tight bends at 60.
All my respect goes out to him.
He even got out my way once voluntarily.
He overtook me later on along with three other vehicles including an artic in one overtake. (Hardcore)
I was happy to sit behind him at 60 on almost every corner. Crazy following a Land Rover TDV6 S as a BMW Z4 2.5si. We did handle better and could have gone ahead but he was so good and we appreciated his driving so much we hung back and just appreciated it.
All the racing lines when he could and just constant breaking and acceleration.
I suspect he was a biker or a track day guy.
Ended up following him from Aviemore down to the Perth bypass.
Legendary driver.
Anyhow. Luv the Highlands for driving.
Luv and Peace.
Click to expand...


Yes,lots of great roads in Scotland.
It's a good bit up there,driven it many times over the past 30+ years since I passed my test,and living not too far away

Makes it fun following someone who knows the roads inside out, clearly,as opposed to those who are only visiting,or who have only lived in Scotland fir a few years, relatively speaking.
I often do the same in my Transit van on roads I travel regularly,and for many years.

Keeps my drive to work fun,lol
 
Glad you enjoyed it, you’ll have done the Spittal of Glenshee I’d imagine and that’s a fantastic road. We had a wee play with a Merc SL coming down there from the NC500 last year :driving:

As been said there many fantastic roads up here and the West Coast is similar (but better, home bias :wink:)

You had me laughing about your comments about the LR driver, my immediate first thought was only one thing “ah, a local, the best person to be behind” racing lines etc become second nature if you’re driving these roads every day. We see it all the time, quicker/fancier cars struggling to keep up with vans and people carriers :lol: being an ex biker probably helps me too.

On the NC500 we had an M40i/35iS/30i/3.0/300 hp 20i and we were following a 1.5 Golf driven by a 20 yo girl. She was moving, she pulled over and asked if we wanted past, we declined and tried to keep up with her, it wasn’t easy, she was local and late for work :rofl: we’d never have covered that ground as quickly as a group on our own, boy she could drive :driving: :evil:
 
Yes, the Old Military Road in the Cairngorms is the best driving road in the UK. Catchpole's video captures it well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkAT82-R0S8

And you've got to love the locals' willingness to make progress (and to allow faster traffic to come past). Coming from SE Englandshire where overtaking is considered anti-social behaviour and you're never far from a long train of vehicles doing 35 in an NSL, it's a another world.
 
That was kinda my whole point.
The 40MPH club that drive at 40 regardless of the speed limit are my absolute most hated motorists.
They only speed up to 60 on a long straight where there might be the chance of passing them.
They will continue to drive at 40 through little villages where the limit is 30 or even 20 in places but they are so situational oblivious they will continue at 40mph throughout.
These people need to lose their license on the first offense.
The less motorists in the 40MPH club on B-roads the safer they will be.
Luv and Peace.
 
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