Discussion
Blown2CV said:
how can anyone think 30+ hours in a car, or even 20+ hours in a car is going to be enjoyable? That's without any stops at all. I did 13 hours but there was a 1.5hr ferry and a couple of stops in there too, 500 miles of actual driving, and that was about the limit. That was after the 'sightseeing' part of the trip where we just needed to get home. Surely part of the point of a full road trip is that you stop fairly regularly and actually see things? To each their own and that, but I don't get it.
It's difficult to fathom, I agree. At the moment I'm plotting a route from Chesterfield to Ullapool with an overnight stop a little over half way as we'll be in our Riley. We could do it non-stop (O/H permitting), either in the Riley or our A8, but it would take around 12 hours and would be far less enjoyable in either car.
There's far more to visiting the Highlands than time at the wheel.
- Riley Blue said:
I mean, I like the A1 as an interesting road but it's not a 'driving' road... lol
Likewise that Motorway south of Glasgae - it's fecking quick and empty at night but IIRC it felt like I was doing 100 (km/h, obvs...) for about an hour straight and still had further to go to actually get off it.
Two years ago we did Kettering to Garve. Best thing we did was set off at 5am to get past Birmingham, Manchester and the Lakes on the M6 on the bank holiday weekend morning. The rest was also easy. We stopped three times, first at Tebay, then at Stirling up the A9 and stopped for fuel at Inverness to get there by 3pm.
On the way back we stayed at the Hilton at North Queensferry. Choosing to get there via the A82 was a big mistake. Tag teams of dawdlers were in force - as soon as one turned off another emerged from the same junction. Pass one, another pulls out in front at the next junction. That’s how it went. My patience was wearing a bit thin when I got stuck behind a Civic bending time at 30 mph on the A84 between Callander and Stirling. That and roadworks at Tyndrum added well over to Google’s ETA. I regretted not taking the A9! A train trip over the Forth Bridge into Edinburgh for a couple of beers at Cafe Royal made up for it.
On the way back we stayed at the Hilton at North Queensferry. Choosing to get there via the A82 was a big mistake. Tag teams of dawdlers were in force - as soon as one turned off another emerged from the same junction. Pass one, another pulls out in front at the next junction. That’s how it went. My patience was wearing a bit thin when I got stuck behind a Civic bending time at 30 mph on the A84 between Callander and Stirling. That and roadworks at Tyndrum added well over to Google’s ETA. I regretted not taking the A9! A train trip over the Forth Bridge into Edinburgh for a couple of beers at Cafe Royal made up for it.
May I suggest people plan a route to enjoy the Southern parts of Scotland on their way up. The Highlands are excellent for all the obvious reasons but from a driving point of view I’d argue the roads around Dumfries - Moffat - Hawick that have a B in front of them are possibly some of the very best roads you’ll do. I also really enjoyed the Yorkshire parts and the A686 over Hartside was absolutely awesome...no cats eyes, smooth tarmac and bend after bend of loveliness.
Just to add from a driving point of view Bealach Na Ba is crap...it’s obviously a “must do” road but it’s busy....it’s rough as hell with bad tarmac and was quite possibly the worse part of the drive.it does get you high and if you’ve never walked up a big hill before the views will amaze you but don’t drive it unless you actually plan to stop and look around.
Just to add from a driving point of view Bealach Na Ba is crap...it’s obviously a “must do” road but it’s busy....it’s rough as hell with bad tarmac and was quite possibly the worse part of the drive.it does get you high and if you’ve never walked up a big hill before the views will amaze you but don’t drive it unless you actually plan to stop and look around.
stogbandard said:
On the way back we stayed at the Hilton at North Queensferry. Choosing to get there via the A82 was a big mistake. Tag teams of dawdlers were in force - as soon as one turned off another emerged from the same junction. Pass one, another pulls out in front at the next junction. That’s how it went. My patience was wearing a bit thin when I got stuck behind a Civic bending time at 30 mph on the A84 between Callander and Stirling. That and roadworks at Tyndrum added well over to Google’s ETA. I regretted not taking the A9! A train trip over the Forth Bridge into Edinburgh for a couple of beers at Cafe Royal made up for it.
What on earth possessed you to take that route (A82/A84) when you could have taken the A939/B976/A93 then cut across to the B9099 via Stanley to the A9 and M90?Crippo said:
Just to add from a driving point of view Bealach Na Ba is crap...it’s obviously a “must do” road but it’s busy....it’s rough as hell with bad tarmac and was quite possibly the worse part of the drive.it does get you high and if you’ve never walked up a big hill before the views will amaze you but don’t drive it unless you actually plan to stop and look around.
Whether it's busy depends on what time of the year you go. April or October normally means far fewer mobile roadblocks. Plus Applecross is a destination in itself. If you're coming from the south it's a very long way round to get there via Kinlochewe and the coast road from Shieldaig.
Crippo said:
Just to add from a driving point of view Bealach Na Ba is crap...it’s obviously a “must do” road but it’s busy..
Not busy if you time it right. This taken in August:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idSuotx4HsY
..and I did the 42 mile loop on Saturday and didn't see a single car or camper (moving).
Do it at 11 am on a Sunday in Summer, it'll be a right pain.
mjlloyd500 said:
Seen it all today, motor home off road between bettyhill and tongue, plus man driving maserati convertible about 70 years old with a oxygen mask on, what the hell is going on in Britain.alsohow many motor homes are there up here nc500, what a lot of tosh, spoilt the area
The NC500 experience has become a very large, slow ring road frequented by rented motor homes being driven by people with little or no idea what they’re doing. A Porsche passed us in the works van near Strathy last week, by the time we arrived in Bettyhill we were one car behind him. 
Empty fast roads my fat hairy arse I might not bother visiting my parents at Bettyhill this year then, judging by the amount of reported traffic. They both say the amount of camper vans this year is off the scale. They're coming south to visit me in a few weeks' time so I wonder if they'll not mind the busy Kent roads as much this time?!
leggly said:
mjlloyd500 said:
Seen it all today, motor home off road between bettyhill and tongue, plus man driving maserati convertible about 70 years old with a oxygen mask on, what the hell is going on in Britain.alsohow many motor homes are there up here nc500, what a lot of tosh, spoilt the area
The NC500 experience has become a very large, slow ring road frequented by rented motor homes being driven by people with little or no idea what they’re doing. A Porsche passed us in the works van near Strathy last week, by the time we arrived in Bettyhill we were one car behind him. Empty fast roads my fat hairy arse Oh no, he comes lumbering merrily onwards, no doubt expecting me to dive off the tarmac onto that rough-as-a-badgers arse verge.
.
Two more cars are following me and there we are facing each other at the very narrowest part. All he has to do is reverse about 30ft and we can all go on our respective ways.
I'm not sure he even knew where that gear was on his behemoth (he didn't even need it: it's uphill for him and he could have just put it in neutral and rolled back).
Once he managed to find it, he suddenly seemed to forget how to steer. I wish I had been able to film it (didn't have a dash cam in that car).
It would have been quite amusing speeded up with Yakety Sax as the sound track.
The trick with the NC500 route is to pick the right time of year. Going in mid/late April or late September/earIy October I don't usually encounter very many of these mobile road blocks.
With staycations likely to be a thing for some time I expect it may well get worse though. I don't know how one solves the problem of renting out motor homes to those with little or no experience of driving them.
Red Devil said:
With staycations likely to be a thing for some time I expect it may well get worse though. I don't know how one solves the problem of renting out motor homes to those with little or no experience of driving them.
Only real way would be to make them a separate class on a driving license and put people through a separate test. The rental companies are unlikely to try in any way to make it appear any more difficult than driving a car.Mezzanine said:
Only real way would be to make them a separate class on a driving license and put people through a separate test. The rental companies are unlikely to try in any way to make it appear any more difficult than driving a car.
Indeed. And I think there are separate classes here. The (rented) small vans with rear view mirrors are pretty much like cars. It's the big sods with only wing mirrors that generally cause the problems. Anyone with a licence can rent and pick up a 6 birth monster motorhome and attempt to drive the 42 mile Applecross single track road, not knowing that they may have to reverse 200 yards (with a sheer drop on one side of the road), using only wing mirrors.And many just panic and refuse. Then all hell brakes loose. We had a road blockage of three hours last summer due to two inexperienced motorhome renters creating a Mexican Standoff - neither prepared, nor able, to reverse.
Then there are the fights that break out... no, really.
The very minimum that should happen is that the plethora of new motorhome companies that have sprung up in Inverness, should at least give a 20 minute demonstration of how to reverse.
But it won't happen. So I'll get stuck for another 3 hours this August! ;(
..I generally turn the engine off, put on music and chill out. My local postie is a different matter - 'ears and steam' spring to mind. Several Tesco drivers and my regular delivery driver of 10 years have all recently resigned rather than try to survive another summer like last year.
Skye isn't any better. We were over staying with a friend last week and had to tow a rented motorhome out of the ditch. From what I could work out they'd just reversed straight off the road when faced with oncoming traffic. Completely clueless with no idea even where the toolkit was for the towing eye.
In saying that, there was a surprisingly large number of American and Chinese tourists in normal hire cars who were also causing chaos and seemed equally unable to drive. Who knows what the answer is!
In saying that, there was a surprisingly large number of American and Chinese tourists in normal hire cars who were also causing chaos and seemed equally unable to drive. Who knows what the answer is!
There are some very helpful people up here managed to get a puncture today, took the wheel to bettyhill garage dropped wheel off, came back around 3pm,puncture fixed wheel put on for me 15quid,had a nice chat about the traffic. Also the ambulance from the area was there and the paramedic drivers was telling me about the idiot drivers in recent years.
GetCarter said:
Anyone with a licence can rent and pick up a 6 birth monster motorhome and attempt to drive the 42 mile Applecross single track road, not knowing that they may have to reverse 200 yards (with a sheer drop on one side of the road), using only wing mirrors.
My encounter wasn't a million miles from your gaff. 
The drop off, complete with rickety fence, was on my side, not his! 
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