Road Trip Photos
- Thread starter tp81
- Start date
A few photo's below (tweaked and enhanced by Tom Paterson, Cheers Tom!) of a recent road trip.
400 miles in all, started out fairly awful with the A82 closed due to an accident, which tied us up for an hour and diverted us to traffic hell via Helensburgh...The diversion took the A818 back to Arden, however we'd had enough of traffic jams by this point and the road ahead looked quiet by comparison, so we continued on to Garlochead, which was quiet but dull. Thankfully the A814 turned out to be a fabulous wake up after an hour of tedium. Twisted and turned on beautifully smooth tarmac along the side of loch long, beautiful scenery and felt that we were starting to get a taste of what we came for. The road was too undulating, and narrow, for any real speed - however it was the twisty stuff which made this such an interesting road, and required full concentration due to the drops/narrow road - but very exhilarating!
We picked up the A82, which was reasonably quiet at this point - presumably because of the earlier accident and headed up to Tyndrum for a spot of lunch, and as luck would have it, an ogle at some supercars. Link attached, unfortunately these are my shots from a camera phone and have not had the Paterson treatment. There is a lot of dross in here but if you go to the end you'll see some interesting cars...https://www.flickr.com/photos/126646902@N03/albums/72157667792807451 My passenger said he saw them starting in Hamilton in the morning, so not sure if they were part of another club/Tartan Tarmac?
At Tyndrum we opted to take the A85 towards Oban, which is a brilliant road, instead of continuing on through Glencoe. Glencoe was looking pretty busy by this time, however the A85 was completely empty, I don't think we saw another car for a good 40 minutes. The scenery is not quite as spectacular as Glencoe, but not far off, however the road is considerably more fun - and requires full attention to enjoy fully, with lots of straights, long winding bends, and even a few hairpins thrown in for good measure. I sometimes forget how lucky we are to have such amazing roads/scenery right on our doorstep...
We eventually joined the A82 again towards Fort William, which is normally a pretty drive, though a bit dull due to the traffic. The driving Gods were shining on us however, and (for the first time ever driving that road...) we had it to ourselves (more or less) for the entire trip to Fort William. When it's quiet, this stretch of the road is actually a really great drive, and the one or two cars we did encounter presented nothing more than fantastic opportunities for overtaking!
From Fort William we took the A830 out towards Glenfinnan and the Road to the Isles. If you have not driven this road before I would highly recommend you add it to your bucket list. The scenery really starts to make your jaw drop from about Glenfinnan, and the road is well tarred and spectacular to drive. Again long straights connected by a huge amount of long winding bends with fantastic visibility. There is only one set of traffic lights between Fort William and Arisaig, and the little traffic you do encounter again presents great, (safe) overtaking opportunities to really let the car open up. Got to be one of the best driving roads on the planet.
We could have kept going to Mallaig, however our stomachs were letting us know it was time to stop, and we enjoyed a great meal in comfortable rooms with amazing sea/harbour views in the Arisaig Hotel, http://www.arisaighotel.co.uk/.
After several hours in the car we stretched our legs walking round the harbour and encountered a few locals who were making the most of the good weather and working on their boats. They ended up in the pub later on and after a few jars one disappeared, only to return with a guitar. We enjoyed the meal and ambiance, and luckily the musical end to our evening seems to be a regular occurrence, as the guy was really good and had various patrons singing everything from the Rolling Stones to George Ezra - it was a fabulous end to a great day's driving.
The next day was more of the same, but I've rambled on enough! The sun is out as I sit at my desk and it's giving me a real desire to get out and do more of the same hence my longwinded note!
400 miles in all, started out fairly awful with the A82 closed due to an accident, which tied us up for an hour and diverted us to traffic hell via Helensburgh...The diversion took the A818 back to Arden, however we'd had enough of traffic jams by this point and the road ahead looked quiet by comparison, so we continued on to Garlochead, which was quiet but dull. Thankfully the A814 turned out to be a fabulous wake up after an hour of tedium. Twisted and turned on beautifully smooth tarmac along the side of loch long, beautiful scenery and felt that we were starting to get a taste of what we came for. The road was too undulating, and narrow, for any real speed - however it was the twisty stuff which made this such an interesting road, and required full concentration due to the drops/narrow road - but very exhilarating!
We picked up the A82, which was reasonably quiet at this point - presumably because of the earlier accident and headed up to Tyndrum for a spot of lunch, and as luck would have it, an ogle at some supercars. Link attached, unfortunately these are my shots from a camera phone and have not had the Paterson treatment. There is a lot of dross in here but if you go to the end you'll see some interesting cars...https://www.flickr.com/photos/126646902@N03/albums/72157667792807451 My passenger said he saw them starting in Hamilton in the morning, so not sure if they were part of another club/Tartan Tarmac?
At Tyndrum we opted to take the A85 towards Oban, which is a brilliant road, instead of continuing on through Glencoe. Glencoe was looking pretty busy by this time, however the A85 was completely empty, I don't think we saw another car for a good 40 minutes. The scenery is not quite as spectacular as Glencoe, but not far off, however the road is considerably more fun - and requires full attention to enjoy fully, with lots of straights, long winding bends, and even a few hairpins thrown in for good measure. I sometimes forget how lucky we are to have such amazing roads/scenery right on our doorstep...
We eventually joined the A82 again towards Fort William, which is normally a pretty drive, though a bit dull due to the traffic. The driving Gods were shining on us however, and (for the first time ever driving that road...) we had it to ourselves (more or less) for the entire trip to Fort William. When it's quiet, this stretch of the road is actually a really great drive, and the one or two cars we did encounter presented nothing more than fantastic opportunities for overtaking!
From Fort William we took the A830 out towards Glenfinnan and the Road to the Isles. If you have not driven this road before I would highly recommend you add it to your bucket list. The scenery really starts to make your jaw drop from about Glenfinnan, and the road is well tarred and spectacular to drive. Again long straights connected by a huge amount of long winding bends with fantastic visibility. There is only one set of traffic lights between Fort William and Arisaig, and the little traffic you do encounter again presents great, (safe) overtaking opportunities to really let the car open up. Got to be one of the best driving roads on the planet.
We could have kept going to Mallaig, however our stomachs were letting us know it was time to stop, and we enjoyed a great meal in comfortable rooms with amazing sea/harbour views in the Arisaig Hotel, http://www.arisaighotel.co.uk/.
After several hours in the car we stretched our legs walking round the harbour and encountered a few locals who were making the most of the good weather and working on their boats. They ended up in the pub later on and after a few jars one disappeared, only to return with a guitar. We enjoyed the meal and ambiance, and luckily the musical end to our evening seems to be a regular occurrence, as the guy was really good and had various patrons singing everything from the Rolling Stones to George Ezra - it was a fabulous end to a great day's driving.
The next day was more of the same, but I've rambled on enough! The sun is out as I sit at my desk and it's giving me a real desire to get out and do more of the same hence my longwinded note!
]
Very nice.
Might as well add a few from a road trip I did a couple of weeks ago up the far north/west, weather was very nice and hardly any cars so ideal really.
Mini was great on these roads, but it'll be the Spyder next time I think.
Seem to be having issues posting more than 1 pic, will investigate later.
[attachment=Cows.jpg]
Might as well add a few from a road trip I did a couple of weeks ago up the far north/west, weather was very nice and hardly any cars so ideal really.
Mini was great on these roads, but it'll be the Spyder next time I think.
Seem to be having issues posting more than 1 pic, will investigate later.
[attachment=Cows.jpg]
paulbarlow
Member
Looking at the weather Sandy, we might have been there around the same time as you
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