Well, just got back chaps... decided to take the cossie for a pure driving break and basically followed this route:

M74 up to M8 then A82 to Loch Lomond, then headed further up the A82 past Crainlarich and through black mount past Ben Nevis etc...
This takes you into possibly the most humbling area of the world you are likely to see... Its called "Glen Coe" and is simply breathtaking

From Glen Coe you come to Loch Linnie and progress north up the A82 to Fort william where its easy to stop, refuel your car and eat, so we did. Then its north and past Loch Lochy and onto Fort Augusta at the foot of the famous Loch Ness. Loch ness was my aim for the days driving as we set off from Manchester and had been in the cossie for neigh on 9hrs solid so we stayed and ate at a place called Urquart... dissapointing food and room for the price (£150 the night) the whole place seemed to be existing purely from the legend of nessie and even had a rather silly plastic monster in the car park

Awoke next day and headed further North to Inverness at the very top of Loch ness to do some shopping. Ended up buying a bloody laptop to keep me amused in the hotels

From there we made the decision not to do the A9 (Sorry Rudey) as we were told it was littered with speed traps So we went across the A835 westerly and then down the west coast... so far this rates as possibly the best road ive ever driven on.. it was like being on a foreighn island

Headed across the A832 down the coast road to a place called Gairloch to see if there was any whale/seal boat trips available but all were fully booked so jumped in the car and drove further down the west coast using the A896 through Beinn Eighe and down to Balmachara at Loch Alsh where we decided it was wise to eat as we hadnt seen any humans or buildings for about 2hrs

Took the A87 through Five sisters and joined back up with the A82 at Fort William again... now headed back south..

Stayed in the Loch Leven Hotel, great room, nice beer and outsanding bedroom view and then awoke to make the final drive home... pretty much recounting the first portion of this story backwards.. starting with "Glen Coe"

As driving breaks go.. if your serious about your driving and your sure your motors up to it, then i dont believe there is ANYWHERE on this island we live upon that can even come close to a tour of Scotland.... the car was on both its own and my own limits for a lot of the way when the mood took me and the scenery changes so often and is so impressive, that 5hours in the driving seat is honestly and genuinely comparable to around 1.5 hours of the M6. I truly was shocked at how time could fly by without any boredom at all. I was happy to get back in and do another few hours A decent cossie is a good way to do this trip but id like to try something a bit more stable in wet sharp bends, like a lancer for example.. in fact, one day i will.

A few pics:
Anyone recognise this chap? The only Cossie i saw!!


Loch Lommond Sign:


Loch Lommond as we cruise by:


And its cruise boat:


Ben Nevis area:


Loch Ness silly monster:


The road across to teh west coast: Just asking for 32psi and a case of fresh underwear...








The West Coast:






WTF??!!?? Military perhaps???


Stopped to eat.. this is the restaurant view:


Hotel room and view:






Our Trusty Steed for the journey:





Roll on the next roadtrip... The nurburgring:
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Wanted to asses closed loop on these new injectors too so a few figures were calculated. Maybe usefull for anyone considering the drive:
Total Miles covered: 1256
Fuel consumed: £205 (46.24gals)
MPG Average: 27.1mpg. (total journey)
MPG Best: 34.7mpg (Cruising M6 home at 70mph)
MPG worst: N/A
Oil consumed: 0.2litres. (Max to 2mm below max)


BIG UP Scotland and all the fine fine people i met there

 

Looks & sounds cool mate
I'd be up for a driving holiday

 

sounds like an awesome trip stu

glad you chose to sample scotlands finest roads

i need to drag my own ass over there sometime


chop

 

I reckon it would be on another level if there was a few of you in convoy

As long as they were grown up types who dont stuff it 5 miles into the Journey acting like tw@'s

 

roadtips RULE

done 2 sofar... 1 in scotland (scottish roads ROCK )

and one in the lake district

 

Glad you enjoyed bonny Scotland Stu, its a good drive and very scenic, makes you appreciate the country you live in when you see it

 

Parents did a similar trip a few years ago(old man had a 24v probe at the time),satyed up there for a month,been enthusing about it ever since! Must do it myself ,when i get a reliable car.
Nice pics fella.

 

What a picture!

 

you dont need a reliable car, breaking down is half the fun!

 

fair play, seems a cool idea, and a group convoy 1 weekend would be the tits

now remove the closed loop to comparewhat it could havbe been like

 

Jim, to be brutally honest, id have been quite scared if i broke down out in the Highlands... its dessolate mate... and to even TRY and describe where you are.. well "Im near a mountain and some trees pal" "HELP"

 

2 hours from the nearest human/civilisation? I'll take reliable mate. Seen too many films.

 

Some pics there Love the scenery.

Stu, forgive me being an anorak, but what exactly is that arrangement on top of your IC? (I have my suspsicions, lol, sorry to post off topic )

Stu, TOMTOM just give 'em your co-ordinates

 

stu thats why ya get gps and say the exact location where ya are

but would be a class idea for a load to do it, as tbh i find the fun in car shows and meets is the drive there and back ( shame the last show menand the lads went too 1 melted a piston and i went back on a low loader , but its part of the fun

 

Damn you Bal, you typed that as I edited

 

Lovely pics Stu - the pine trees and the mountain roads look like alpine ranges in canada

I absolutely LOVE scotland for its scenery, but hate it for the distance it is from me

We'll have to sort something out for a long weekend road trip upto Scotland sometime in the future - only been 3 times, but hell i want to go back, and if i could relocate and be garanteed a job on the railways up there, i'd move there tomorrow


Roll on the Nurburgring - i can't flocking wait

 

did u only go into the nessie exhibition u pictured ?my pal owns the proper one a few doors up (loch ness 2000)which is much better,runs nessie boat tours too

 

Looks just like a ad photo.



Driving into the sky.

 

Its the HKS boost controller solenoid pal.


Is it available for laptops?


I saw Loch Ness 2000 pal, and almost went in but didnt
That picture of nessie was from my hotel room....

 

A few more pics i took:

























Quite sad to be home in Rossall TBH.

 

Georgeus scenery - makes me want to jump in the car and go there now

 

why is there no other cars in the photos

seriously is it that dead there, if so whats the speed cameras like, perfect road for mapping dont ya think

 

sounds like the heart of wales,, just bigger

stunning stu,,, something i fancy doing myself one day! italy next year i think

 

btw ive only been wales 5 times and all then times it was raining and cold

once was for a weekend and thats all it done

 

Ohhhh, the memories, mrsFrog and I went up to scotland and did a similar thing, but starting from glasgow (we flew there), we spent a day driving up to loch lomond but didn't get as far up as loch ness unfortunately.

Know exactly what you mean about the scenery, it's truly awsome, one of my best memories was a lone piper (yes, they do exist), playing near a lake, truly awesome.

Glad you enjoyed it and the ol' girl made it ok (I mean the cossie )

 

actually thinking about it all the times ive been scotland its been sunny but fooking freezing cold, ill stay in london me thinks

 

 

looks awesome! I reckon though by the time I got to scotland and did all that driving on those roads which you'd have to open it up a bit on it would cost me the same as 3 weeks in the carribean for the whole family

 

glad you enjoyed scotland stu
those pics make me want to go out now and drive
you never actually thought of moving up here
and we are crying out for good tuners

 

We do some of that route when we go upto Mull, unfortunatly its with the trailer on the back towing so its a little spoilt. But all hell lets loose when we unload on the island.

Those type of roads you were on would be classed as motorways over there

Some fantastic roads, and gods heaven scenery up in Scotland.

So bet you stopped at the odd placed name of the Green Welly Shop then for fuel / food.

 

Stu, you can get USB GPS units that plug into a laptop and s/w like autoroute to see where you are on the map

They cost anything between £50 and £100 from what I have seen, but getting cheaper by the day.

 

makes you wonder why 10 million cram to get into cornwall when theres the whole of scotland to explore.

glen coe, is that sort of north west scotland, near (ish) fort william? if so im sure
i was there two years ago and it is a stunning place

 

Looked like you and Nicole had a good time Stu

Nice to see the car ran faultless after the little set back.

See you both soon mate

Oh and you have PM

 

cracking pictures Stu, love going up that neck of the woods.
The missus' parents have a boat on Loch Lomond moored at Cameron House , superb taking a sail up the loch on a nice day.

Rs Cat, yep Glencoe is about 30ish miles south of Fort William , one of my favorite bits of Scotland!

 

Nice T34! Wonder where you got that from!

 

fair play, nice pics That cossie truly is the ultimate test mule isn't it

 

Stunning. Truley stunning

Its something I'm gonna have to soon.

Could have a nice rave up in them mountains!

 

Fook me I know you guys said the views were stunning BUT WOW



Glad you had a good time

 

try about 30 elises stu!

used to go "runs" with the scottish elsie club and some of the drving was amazing!

we should arrange a passion ford tour of scotland??

 

Glad you had a great trip

Crainlarich - Fort William is a great drive, agree with you on Glencoe, beautiful yet somewhat eary.