I thought I would do a quick report of my day today. I left Arnold Clark at 9:30am with my rental and arrived at my lodging at 7:30pm. Why did it take so long? Because I stopped and stopped and stopped.
I took the northern route and went to Torridon. Not totally on the way, but, I wanted some scenery. Yes, the last 10 or so miles were single track. It wasn’t so bad. The motorcycles not wanting to use the passing places on their left was annoying or the campervans overshooting the passing places on my left, when they could clearly see me coming, thereby not leaving me enough room to get into them, also annoying, but I survived.
The scenery around Torridon was incredible. I stopped at a parking area and there was a stag and Beinn Eighe in the background. I took a short hike in the same area near what looked like a bothy and again, incredible scenery.
I stopped for lunch at the Torridon hotel and then had a walk around there. More views.
Then I took a route that was mostly single track to Locharron and finally went off route a bit to Eilean Donan.
Then headed over the sea to Skye, stopping at a viewpoint of multiple peaks, at the highland cattle viewpoint and finally at the Sligachan old bridge. Then I arrived at my accommodation.
So, a very full day, but very rewarding. So I post this as an alternative to the southern route and for those looking for scenery and those who have the time. Of course, you could do this in less time, I just wasn’t in a rush.