Riding the North Coast 500 in Scotland - Day 1

Bikes:- Triumph Tiger 800 XCX, Honda CB650 R, Royal Enfield Classic 350
Tech: 2 x DJI Osmo Action 4’s, Rode Lavalier GO Pro mic, Chin Mount for DJI Osmo Action 4 and my Shoei helmet. Cardo Packtalk Edge for comms.
Having done a lot of the NC500 by car over the years, I decided it was a must do trip on the bike. Invited a couple of friends and we managed to get a date of late September in the diary.
Well, we definitely lucked out with the weather, never have I seen Scotland look so beautiful! 3.5 of the 4 days were in brilliant blue sunshine, the bikes all behaved faultlessly and the riding was incredible!
There will likely be Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3&4 together, with Day 2 being the biggie as we start with the famous Applecross pass (Bealach na Bà) and meander up the stunning West coast.
I had withdrawals all of last week, not being on my bike, stuck in an office, then editing hours of footage into something manageable (30 mins!) just made me wish we were back and on our bikes!
There’s definitely something magical about being away from home, with your bike and some good friends, touring round the beautiful country we live in.

[@fuglbird]

I guess I was lucky visiting Scotland back in 1981 before the roads got congested. The same with the Alps in 1979 and 1984. I'm 66 now and still love motorcycle camping in Europe on my SV650. Some of the beautiful passes my girlfriend and I used back then are very crowded now and some are not. The key to happy motorcycling in my age is never to share your best routes on KZbin if you want to keep the magic of the routes and maybe return later yourself.

[@scotlandontheroad]

@@fuglbird great point re not sharing favourite routes on YT, sadly the NC500 now widely known, I believe brings quite a bit of money to the local economy, despite it not being something the locals mostly love!

[@AliG-iq4gd]

Enjoyable. One point on comms "The overtaking channel" - if you are advising the riders behind that the road is clear to overtake - keep transmitting regular "clear, clear, clear clear.........." until they get by or the road opens up. It caters for comms dropouts in the middle of it. other riders - tell the lead rider when you are through.

[@scotlandontheroad]

Great shout!! It’s something we’ve done on Lotus runs for years and something we did this trip, I think with the editing, admittedly poor editing, that doesn’t always come through, but we were doing as you suggest and covering each other and trying to keep comms clear. 👍

[@scotlandontheroad]

Cheers Ryan, amazing few days and the excitement of weeks of planning and getting blue skies for 3 days made it totally worthwhile!

[@edp190]

Fantastic video, day one was great fun! Drone shot’s stunning, proper job!

[@scotlandontheroad]

@@edp190 thanks Ed!! Day 2 I think will be even better!

[@thestrongholdprojekt]

Great video mate, what a day you had and that drone footage was a nice touch 👌

[@MatthewTaylor-b8h]

Hello. Would it be possible to get hold of your Calimoto routing. You followed some amazing roads!!!

[@scotlandontheroad]

@@MatthewTaylor-b8h let me see if I can easily export it for you Matthew. Heading up to Skye tomorrow for NY, so will have some time on my hands! I will say, the route was good for Day 1 and 2 west coast but added in some strange loops when coming down the east coast!

[@MatthewTaylor-b8h]

Thanks for your help. We are planning on adding two days on for Sky during our journey. Like you say that west coast appears to rock! Matt

[@SolitaryBear]

Such an incredible journey. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Keep it up brother 👍

[@scotlandontheroad]

@@SolitaryBear thanks dude, fun was had, still learning the art of decent editing, but sure it will come! Just spotted your channel and looking forward to seeing how you managed it in a day! 😂

[@SolitaryBear]

@@scotlandontheroad you've done a stellar job buddy, looks good. Keep it up 👍

[@fuglbird]

I'm not a Royal Enfield fan in general but the Classic 350 seems to be perfect for the NC500.

[@scotlandontheroad]

@@fuglbird it was great in general and you’ll see on Day 2 video we had great fun bike swapping. A little under powered for overtakes but we worked together to make safe passage for Alex on the 350, when required!

[@Rhinosgymsuggitt]

Can I ask what time of year this was done plz amazing footage thanx planning for next year 😊

[@scotlandontheroad]

@@Rhinosgymsuggitt I think the date should be on the video, but third weekend in September. Started planning in June and decided to wait until nearer end of September when roads quieter! Roads were still pretty busy on the main routes, plenty of motorhomes still about. The weather, well as you probably heard me say in Day 1 and Day 2 video say ‘What a day!’ Far too often!! I’ve spent a lot of time on the West Coast of Scotland and we totally lucked out with 3 days of amazing weather!!!

[@tartanblackcountrytourist]

Liked and subd my friend. 💯 🤓🎬📽️

[@scotlandontheroad]

Thanks and will check your channel out once back from Copenhagen!

[@tartanblackcountrytourist]

@@scotlandontheroad thank you.. I particularly like your sound scape a skill I have much to learn :))🎤🎧🤔

[@williamcoulter5462]

Just a quick warning the police can use your own video as evidence for your speeding in 20mph zones, your speedo showed you were doing over 50% over the limit which in some cases will mean a license loss as you did it more than once in the vid, you need to learn to edit out your speedo before they get you.

[@scotlandontheroad]

@@williamcoulter5462 thanks William, appreciate that heads up. Need to pay more attention to speed limits for sure.