NOT the 3 Peaks Tour - June 2010

My original plan was to spend the week travelling between Snowdon, Skafell Pike and Ben Nevis. Ride one day, then walk the next. But plans changed and this become the NOT the 3 Peaks Tour.

First stop was Ambleside in the Lake District. Not wanting to give up on the "walking" part of the trip altogether we decided to climb Jack's Rake.

This is just over 2,000 feet, took almost 5 hours, and was a lot more difficult than the walk in the hills that we had planned.

I am not great with heights, and scared myself silly a few times. Having to haul yourself up the rocks is exhausting, and my leg muscles hurt for the next 2 days!

Some great roads, and some great signs ... makes you think there should be more signs like this to prevent the numpties following their TomTom's blindly and driving along railway lines, into rivers or over cliffs ...

... then again, some people like driving into rivers ...

Next stop was Inchree, near Fort William. Next morning we caught the Corran Ferry, rode to Mallaig, then caught a second ferry to Skye.

We returned to Inchree via the Skye Bridge and the A87 - possibly the best section of road of the week. A quick stop to look at the Commando memorial and Ben Nevis.

Loch Lochy, breakfast at the Thistle Stop Cafe (highly recommended), then Loch Ness, across a picturesque "Bridge near Farr" and then onto the Cairngorms...

...via Balmoral and the Linn of Dee and our stop at Grantully.

The Grantully is an old hunting lodge that has been converted into a hostel. We were the only people staying here and we got the keys from a couple who run the bar next door. The guy in the bar wished us goodnight and then said the place is haunted and that they did not stay overnight themselves. We were to leave the keys in our rooms and the front door unlocked when we left!

Heading south now, across the Forth Road Bridge, through Kielder Forest, stopping at Housesteads Roman Fort for a look at Hadrians Wall and again to see the Angel of the North near Newcastle.

Yorkshire, and the back road between Rosedale Abbey and the village of Hutton-le-Hole is Chimney Bank, Britain's steepest motorable road at 1 in 3, or 33%. Plenty of roads have 1 in 3 signs, but apparently this is the only genuine article.

Just under 2,000 miles in 9 days, avoiding the motorways and enjoying the back roads as much as possible.