Spean Bridge and Garve Circuit - Approx 381 miles: A96 Inverness, Garve, Achnasheen, Stromeferry, Glensheil, Invergarry, Spean Bridge, Aviemore, Grantown, Aberlour, Cabrach.. This route is on excellent roads, great views with only short bits of single track just past Garve and Stromeferry. Starting in Inverurie or Huntly.
If you fancy joining us then please indicate your interest by posting up below.


***Do please check this thread for updates. ****

At te moment I'm up for this and will meet at Morrisons car park in Inverurie at 0830
Chance to get the tyres warmed up, hopefully not worn out.

Run Starting from Morrisons in Inverurie.
Map here.

Meet in the car park at morrisons, not at the mark on that map....

I've been looking at the route as planned and here are my suggestions for stops/comfort breaks so far. If anyone with better local knowledge than me (that'll be everybody else then) knows of any other places we might be able to schedule a stop please let me know before Sunday so I can plan it in.

Inverurie to Inverness (95 miles) Planned stop at the Tesco - Cafe (Bacon Sarnie) and Petrol top up opportunity

Inverness to Dornie - Eilean Donan Castle (120 miles) - Cafe

Dornie to Invergarry - (40 miles) - Petrol Station? PH35 4HL

From Invergarry to Inverurie is about 130 miles if we miss out Cabrach on the return. I'll see how we're doing for time at Aberlour and make a call then.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

Oh Don wants to stop somewhere en-route for a picture but I'm damned if I can remember where

Long range forecast for Sunday is So it's all systems go.

OK phil will E-mail you a couple of suggestions

That's me included, James still not sure as yet.
Couple of points: Tesco at Inverness are REALLY stroppy about you buying petrol with your helmet on so I try to vote with my feet and avoid them. However the cafe is fine and handy. (Maybe we could start a new thread blacklisting petrol stations not biker friendly). Morrisons always let me in with my helmet on so good starting point.
My bike probably has one of the smaller tanks. I can get 185 miles out of it before it grinds to a halt so 140 is OK, but if that one is closed I will be getting increasingly distressed! Unless Grahame is going of course. He rescued me last time! Thank you.
Personally I prefer an hour and a half between tea breaks but cope fine with 2 hours. Any more than that and I start to lose concentration aparrt from focusing on how numb my bum is!! But then it wouldn't be half as much fun if you didn't have me moaning about the lack of tea.
You're not alone about not knowing where everything / cafes etc are.

Bring a bit of tubing Diane, you could always suck a gallon out of one of us touring tankers if you get critical.
As for you moaning, no probs as I will have the ear plugs in like I do at home whenever there's a woman around.
Keep the rubber on the road. Dan

I'm planning on coming but detest the A96 so will meet up at Inverness Tesco's hopefully (say around 10 am) going via the Lecht/A9. If anyone else fancies it I will stop (briefly) by the Kingswells P&R at 0730.

I agree with Diane regarding Tesco's petrol and will try to avoid using them.

What's with the BSA Bantan?? I used to have a BSA Bantam with an M not N. It was a big one (175cc!) and a Honda CB90 would have left it trailing in the dust, both for speed and reliability as well as not leaving a cloud of blue smoke behind it. The CB90 would also outperform a Triumph Cub as their big end would disintegrate after 100 yards.

Chaps (and chappesses),
I sacrificed the Bandit (minus the hole in the exhaust) for a brand new Fazer FZ1, which I picked up at Ecosse yesterday - wow! I know you've all done it before and its old hat, but do you remember the first time you bought a new bike - wasn't it great? Well, I'm still enjoying it and the idea of getting it run in over this weekend does have some appeal, but I'm a little concerned over the length of this run.
If I turn up at Morrisons on Sunday morning it'll be because I'd like to join the outing and give it a shot. It'll be the longest trip and the longest time I'll have been on a bike, but I'm sure I'll cope if you're prepared to take a relatively inexperienced member on the trip.
Don't worry about the average speed thing, as 80 70 feels like 60 on this thing!

Maybe see you Sunday.

Mike P

Well the weather looks like it will be great. So far I've 8 people indicated they want to join the run:

Me
Don Jack
Dan Archer
Diane and James Duguid
Derek Brown
Mark Macauley
Mike Topter
Ian Maclean - will meet us at Tesco Inverness.
(Gary Holland may turn up so that makes 9)

The plan is to run up the A96 to Inverness - top up the tanks if necessary - and grab a bacon sarnie. Then on as follows:

ROUTE MAP

What a good idea adding a google route map to your post. You certainly picked the good weather and I hope you guys and gal had a great day out.

Glad it worked out for you. It is not easy being the leader, but does it really matter and it is only when you wing it that you find those previously undiscovered places.

Shame about Diane's bag, I hope she has a good insurer. Mine refused to pay up when my OH lost her's. Said she had not taked due care and attention! Nor did they pay up when my glasses were run over in Germany - don't ask, it is a long story!