My 2022 tour Ness Point to Ardnamurchan Point.
- Thread starter AndrewT
- Start date
AndrewT
Member
May 2nd. Our first stop was the Sandringham Estate where we visited the very pleasant gardens and a few rooms in Sandringham House, these are rooms that HRH Queen Elizabeth uses when she is in residence.
The journey didn’t go quite as smoothly as I’d hoped as somehow my TomTom satnav had not included Sandringham in my stops so we were some 20 or so miles beyond Kings Lynne on our way to an overnight stop at Kingston upon Hull before I realised and turned bach to Sandringham. That error not only added mileage but time and when we arrived back at Kings Lynne we we stuck in terrible traffic
. The frustration of this error was somewhat compensated for by a really enjoyable drive through the Lincolnshire Wolds. I noticed lots of modified cars around, some driving less carefully than they ought, it appears they’d been to the “Modified Live” event at Cadwell Park.
The journey didn’t go quite as smoothly as I’d hoped as somehow my TomTom satnav had not included Sandringham in my stops so we were some 20 or so miles beyond Kings Lynne on our way to an overnight stop at Kingston upon Hull before I realised and turned bach to Sandringham. That error not only added mileage but time and when we arrived back at Kings Lynne we we stuck in terrible traffic
. The frustration of this error was somewhat compensated for by a really enjoyable drive through the Lincolnshire Wolds. I noticed lots of modified cars around, some driving less carefully than they ought, it appears they’d been to the “Modified Live” event at Cadwell Park.
AndrewT
Member
May 3rd. After an overnight stop at the Premier Inn, Hessle, which is on the Kingston upon Hull side of The Humber Bridge we stopped for a photo opportunity near the bridge before heading north via the M62 and A1(M). Traffic was heavy and not much fun, several 50 mph sections due to roadworks, but that did at least enable our fuel consumption to approach 39mpg.
AndrewT
Member
May 3rd.
From the Humber Bridge we travelled to Craster in Northumberland to visit Dunstanburgh Castle. While in Craster we stopped for a scone and tea at the “Shoreline Cafe” which we would recommend to anyone else visiting this village, it’s nicer and bigger than it looks from the front, following this we travelled on to our overnight stop at The Craster Arms Hotel in nearby The Wynding.
Again there was no photo opportunity to photograph the Cayman at Dunstanburgh Castle which is about a mile from the nearest road.
From the Humber Bridge we travelled to Craster in Northumberland to visit Dunstanburgh Castle. While in Craster we stopped for a scone and tea at the “Shoreline Cafe” which we would recommend to anyone else visiting this village, it’s nicer and bigger than it looks from the front, following this we travelled on to our overnight stop at The Craster Arms Hotel in nearby The Wynding.
Again there was no photo opportunity to photograph the Cayman at Dunstanburgh Castle which is about a mile from the nearest road.
AndrewT
Member
Starting on May 4th 2019 my wife and I drove in our 987.2 Cayman S from Lands End to John’o’Groats as well as joining the Porsches On The Prom at Llandudno (I created a thread here https://www.porscheclubgb.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=1029014). Various Covid 19 lockdowns and restrictions prevented us from making another tour in 2020 and 2021 but….. on May 1st 2022 we set off again, I hope to post here a record of our journey as it unfolds.
1st May, made a moderately early start from home near Romsey in Hampshire and made a fairly uninspiring motorway and A road journey to visit Flatford Mill at East Bergholt near Colchester. Flatford Mill is famous for the John Constable painting of The Haywain. Unfortunately there was no opportunity to recreate the scene with my Cayman S as it turns out the Constable used a certain amount of artists imagination as the water at that point cannot be forded at all, not even by a cart let alone a Cayman S.
1st May, made a moderately early start from home near Romsey in Hampshire and made a fairly uninspiring motorway and A road journey to visit Flatford Mill at East Bergholt near Colchester. Flatford Mill is famous for the John Constable painting of The Haywain. Unfortunately there was no opportunity to recreate the scene with my Cayman S as it turns out the Constable used a certain amount of artists imagination as the water at that point cannot be forded at all, not even by a cart let alone a Cayman S.
Just love a road trip report!
our cars are made for this, thank you for the report and the pictures.
Hoping to do a mega Euro run later in the year.
our cars are made for this, thank you for the report and the pictures.
Hoping to do a mega Euro run later in the year.
AndrewT
Member
May 5th. Our shortest drive yet, just 63 miles from Inveraray to Oban. First stop after leaving the Inveraray Inn was to pop next door to the Inveraray Castle and Gardens. Then it was onwards via the A83 to Lochgilphead, en route stopping at the delightful Crarae Gardens and Tearoom. From Lochgilphead we initially took the A816 before turning off to follow the B841 and Bellanoch Canal which we crossed at Bellanoch taking the B8025 before rejoining the A816 which took us to Oban, but not without a stop at Carnasserie Castle.
Nice reading you adventure ,all kind of local to us up in the West Coast ,one of our members runs guest house in Inveraray. Nice place heading up the B841 to the Crinan Canal there is/was a old Clyde puffer up there called Vital Spark very famous in its days .
If you had time after leaving Lochgilphead on the A83 go to Tarbert heading south take left over the B 8001 to join the B842 heading south to Campbeltown then come up the other coast road A83 back to Inveraray . did that route last Sept with 20 of us from Tipec a highlight was a flat out run on the Airfield at Machrihanish .Enjoy you trip weather looks fine
If you had time after leaving Lochgilphead on the A83 go to Tarbert heading south take left over the B 8001 to join the B842 heading south to Campbeltown then come up the other coast road A83 back to Inveraray . did that route last Sept with 20 of us from Tipec a highlight was a flat out run on the Airfield at Machrihanish .Enjoy you trip weather looks fine
AndrewT
Member
May 6th.
Thank you for your comments and suggestions. Today we boarded the Calmac ferry to Craignure on Mull, no problems with ground clearance on my fully loaded and fuelled 987.2. We headed straight for our hotel, the Glenfosa, to check in then did a round tour of the southern part of the island on the A849, B8035, A849 to Fionnphort, then back along the A849 via Craignure to the Glenforsa hotel. Virtually all of the roads were single carriageway with passing places, traffic was very light and the Cayman was a pleasure to drive without the need for high speeds.
Although I’ve driven these types of roads before I’ve been wondering, do motorhomes have a reverse gear, can SUVs drive close to the edge of the road (let alone off the road), is my car invisible to the oncoming traffic so that they only see me after they’ve passed a passing space?
edited to add: The route I mentioned in this post was about 90 miles and took around 6 hours including several short photo stops and a couple of longer stops of 15 to 30 minutes. In Fionnphort the highland cows wandered through the car park looking for anything to scratch themselves on, one was having a great time scratching on the tow hitch of a caravan!
Thank you for your comments and suggestions. Today we boarded the Calmac ferry to Craignure on Mull, no problems with ground clearance on my fully loaded and fuelled 987.2. We headed straight for our hotel, the Glenfosa, to check in then did a round tour of the southern part of the island on the A849, B8035, A849 to Fionnphort, then back along the A849 via Craignure to the Glenforsa hotel. Virtually all of the roads were single carriageway with passing places, traffic was very light and the Cayman was a pleasure to drive without the need for high speeds.
Although I’ve driven these types of roads before I’ve been wondering, do motorhomes have a reverse gear, can SUVs drive close to the edge of the road (let alone off the road), is my car invisible to the oncoming traffic so that they only see me after they’ve passed a passing space?
edited to add: The route I mentioned in this post was about 90 miles and took around 6 hours including several short photo stops and a couple of longer stops of 15 to 30 minutes. In Fionnphort the highland cows wandered through the car park looking for anything to scratch themselves on, one was having a great time scratching on the tow hitch of a caravan!
AndrewT
Member
Note: When I toured in 2019 I often saw views which I’d like to have a snapshot of but where it was not possible or convenient to stop. This year I bought a Nextbase 622GW 4k dashcam, I’ve found the best way to use it to not record video footage (because that’s difficult to edit away from home) but with it’s touchscreen I can just tap it to capture a view. I’ve been very pleased with the results.
Hi Andrew,
Enjoying your travelogue.
Speaking from experience I know exactly what you mean regarding your comments on driving the Highland single-track roads. Being kind, I wouldn’t be surprised if a fair number of cars and motorhomes are hired vehicles and the challenging roads are a baptism of fire for drivers in unfamiliar vehicles! [
]
Enjoy the rest of your trip.
Jeff
Enjoying your travelogue.
Speaking from experience I know exactly what you mean regarding your comments on driving the Highland single-track roads. Being kind, I wouldn’t be surprised if a fair number of cars and motorhomes are hired vehicles and the challenging roads are a baptism of fire for drivers in unfamiliar vehicles! [
]Enjoy the rest of your trip.
Jeff
AndrewT
Member
Again, thank you all for your comments.
May 7th. Still on Mull, today we toured the north part of the island, probably covered about 80 miles. We were quite surprised how few places there were to park the car, or get a tea/coffee, because virtually all of the roads are single carriageway with passing places. The best road went from the B8073 near loch Carnain to the A848 near Aros Castle, there was little traffic on this road which initially started with a very rough surface but soon changed to a very smooth surface quite probably recently resurfaced. We parked in Tobermory for the obligatory photo then drove the 30 mins to a restaurant called Am Birlin for an excellent meal which we highly recommend.
May 7th. Still on Mull, today we toured the north part of the island, probably covered about 80 miles. We were quite surprised how few places there were to park the car, or get a tea/coffee, because virtually all of the roads are single carriageway with passing places. The best road went from the B8073 near loch Carnain to the A848 near Aros Castle, there was little traffic on this road which initially started with a very rough surface but soon changed to a very smooth surface quite probably recently resurfaced. We parked in Tobermory for the obligatory photo then drove the 30 mins to a restaurant called Am Birlin for an excellent meal which we highly recommend.
Very interesting to read of your adventures and see the photos, but just one thing; the pedant in me keeps being troubled by your use of “single carriageway“ when you mean single-track roads.
“A single carriageway (British English) is a road with one, two or more lanes arranged within a one carriageway with no central reservation to separate opposing flows of traffic. A single-track road has a single lane with passing places for traffic in both directions.”
Sorry for the pedantry.
“A single carriageway (British English) is a road with one, two or more lanes arranged within a one carriageway with no central reservation to separate opposing flows of traffic. A single-track road has a single lane with passing places for traffic in both directions.”
Sorry for the pedantry.
Brian_Innes
Member
Andrew,
I'm enjoying reading your tour progress. The interesting photos showing the nature of the terrain taken with your Nextbase car-cam have worked very well.
As both yourself and Jeff have pointed out, passing place etiquette on single track roads is sadly lacking for many drivers in the Highlands at this time of the year. It is very frustrating when oncoming traffic ignore a passing place on their side of the road, and expect you to do the reversing. Failure to look ahead and read the road is a common occurrence. I always assume the oncoming camper van will not pull in to a passing place, so if I see a passing place on my side of the road I pull in. Even more annoying is if this courteous action is not acknowledged by a wave.
Keep the reports and photos coming. The weather is improving too.
Brian
I'm enjoying reading your tour progress. The interesting photos showing the nature of the terrain taken with your Nextbase car-cam have worked very well.
As both yourself and Jeff have pointed out, passing place etiquette on single track roads is sadly lacking for many drivers in the Highlands at this time of the year. It is very frustrating when oncoming traffic ignore a passing place on their side of the road, and expect you to do the reversing. Failure to look ahead and read the road is a common occurrence. I always assume the oncoming camper van will not pull in to a passing place, so if I see a passing place on my side of the road I pull in. Even more annoying is if this courteous action is not acknowledged by a wave.
Keep the reports and photos coming. The weather is improving too.
Brian
AndrewT
Member
May 8th.
After a week ‘on the road’ we’ve only travelled a few more miles today, single track roads (thanks Graham
) again, to Tobermory then by ferry to Kilchoan. From Kilchoan we drove to Ardnamurchan Lighthouse which is about as close as we could get by road to Ardnamurchan Point which is the most westerly place on mainland Britain (despite what it says in this month’s Porsche Post. We drove Lizard Point (and Lands End) to Dunnet Head (John’o’Groats) in 2019, the most southerly to most northerly points and have now done the most easterly to westerly, just because we could.
After a week ‘on the road’ we’ve only travelled a few more miles today, single track roads (thanks Graham
) again, to Tobermory then by ferry to Kilchoan. From Kilchoan we drove to Ardnamurchan Lighthouse which is about as close as we could get by road to Ardnamurchan Point which is the most westerly place on mainland Britain (despite what it says in this month’s Porsche Post. We drove Lizard Point (and Lands End) to Dunnet Head (John’o’Groats) in 2019, the most southerly to most northerly points and have now done the most easterly to westerly, just because we could.
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