The Top2Toe Journey

Day 1  -  John O’Groats to Glencoe  208.1 miles

It was a glorious sunny morning as feeling both excited and apprehensive I rode out of the campsite at John O’Groats on to the A99 and headed south towards Wick.  However, it didn’t take me long to relax and just enjoy the ride; the bike felt great, the road was good with very little traffic and the views were stunning.  About 70 miles down the road, just as I was approaching the very beautiful Dornoch Firth, I met up with Dick Boyd a member of the BMW Owners Club who’d heard about my trip and had ridden out from Inverness to join me for a while.  It was good to meet him and we continued together as far as Fort Augustus at the southern end of Loch Ness.

The plan for the day had been to get as far as Fort William before we camped up for the night but both me and the bike were both feeling so good I decided to carry on as far as Glencoe where we camped up on the banks of Loch Leven.  It was a spectacular spot but oh those pesky midgies!  It was here that I had one of those moments that could have put an end to the whole trip.  In an artistic mood I parked the bike alongside the Loch, which was bathed in the glow of the late evening sun, put the camera on a tripod and began taking a few pictures.  As I looked though the viewfinder I watched the bike very slowly fall over as the stand sank into the ground.  Thankfully it had a fairly soft landing on the banking and nothing was damaged.

Day 2  -  Glencoe to Longtown  221 miles

Day two proved to be more challenging.  It started off well enough with the ride through Glen Coe, which looked fabulous in the early morning sunshine.  However, near Crainlarich there had been a large diesel spillage and the road ahead was closed.  Fortunately there was a single track road through Glen Orchy that eventually took me back on to the A82.  It turned out to be a superb ride, the road twisting and turning as it followed the course of the river.  I thoroughly enjoyed it but did wonder how my backup crew was managing in the campervan.

One thing you quickly learn when riding a motorbike with girder forks and a solid rear end is to avoid potholes.  One lapse of concentration to admire the view and I hit a big one and the front forks bottomed out and stuck down.  For a while I felt like I was riding a pogo stick and it wasn’t until I stopped that I realised what the problem was.  However, with my ‘mechanic’ sitting on the back to get the front wheel off the ground, a strategic bash with a mallet, a squirt of grease and the problem was soon solved.

We had arranged to meet up by the Forth Road Bridge but the best laid plans..  Trying to avoid motorways on our route was not always easy and somehow we both took the wrong road to Edinburgh, fortunately it was just a blip and we eventually met up south of the city.   We stopped for the night at a site just outside Longtown.

Day 3  -  Longtown to Ludlow  250.1 miles

This morning I continued along the A7 to Penrith then on to the A6 towards Kendal.  From the small village of Shap the road climbs up into the hills, following the eastern edge of the Lake District.  The views across the hills are spectacular and I thoroghly enjoyed the ride.

From the delights of the countryside the route became more urbanised as I skirted Preston and Liverpool heading towards the docks.  I managed to arrive at the Ferry Head in Liverpool just as the world and his mother were visiting the Liverpool ONE shopping and leisure complex.  What with the amount of traffic and crowds of pedestrians trying to cross the road it became quite a slog.  Eventually though I was through and on to the A49 travelling south once again.  The picturesque town of Ludlow was my destination were we’d arranged to meet up with our sons who were riding out from London.  A tough day, 250 miles and I knew I’d done everyone of them!

Day 4  -  Ludlow to Porlock  146.6 Miles

Our sons rode with us as far as Monmouth and this provided an opportunity for some ‘on the road’ shots.  Fun as it was this took quite a bit of time out of the day and I only managed 146 miles, the shortest day so far.  However, I was now only about 170 miles from Land’s End so hoping I wasn’t tempting fate, bought a bottle of bubbly in readiness for our celebration in Land’s End.

Day 5  -  Porlock to Land’s End

The final push began with the ascent of Porlock Hill which the Rudge laughed at.  I continued south through Barnstaple, Launceston, Bodmin and Penzance finally reaching Land’s End around 3.30 in the afternoon.  Of course with just the two of us on the trip, our arrival was a quiet affair but we were both delighted that we’d done the whole journey in just the five days we’d planned.  It had been a great experience and along the way we’d met some really generous and interesting people.