Had a wee drive out

[Johnny 99]

WARNING NO CLIOS HERE!!!

Okay so I didn't take the Clio, but had a great afternoon/evening's drive.

Headed north from Inverness up the A9 & joined the B9176 Struie road just south of Alness. This is a great road for a hoon & for scenery. Joined the A836 west through Bonar Bridge to Invershin then the A837 to Ledmore Junction where we picked up the A894 northbound. This will be familiar to those who have done the North Coast 500. Diverted onto the A837 to Lochinver for a pie from the Lochinver pie shop. Has to be done as they won "Pie shop of the year" without knowing they'd been entered. Over 30 fillings & they do pies by post throughout the UK. Diet? What diet?! Headed back to join NC 500 route at A894 north, & then A838 to Durness at top left hand corner of Scotland. Carried on easterly along the top of mainland Britain to Tongue & turned south on to A836. This is single tracked, but has open views so yo can trot on a bit. We only met 2 oncoming cars in 35 miles. Bloody bank holiday traffic jams! From Lairg we headed south to re-join our northbound route, but now heading south back to Inverness. Over 280 miles in around 8 hours, but Wow! So scenic & great "driving" roads. Have done this run many times in the Clio, but today my wife was with me so we took the Merc & enjoyed the sun with the roof down.

 

[sevenfourate]

My word buddy.

Those 7 pictures are all absolutely stunning. My particular favourites are 1,2,3,4,5,6 and 7

Meeting 2 cars in 35 miles is something we can mostly all only dream off. Truly 'man and machine' and nothing else !

**Now off to Google the pie shop :excited:

 

[Gordini]

Wow stunning scenery mate!

 

[Big Ben]

Hope you took your budgie smugglers mate!

That beach looks amazing.

Stunning scenery. Lovely photos

 

[sevenfourate]

Seeing as you were out with the wife for 8 hours solid Jon......did you get a chance to mention Red wheels in the conversation

 

[Johnny 99]

Seeing as you were out with the wife for 8 hours solid Jon......did you get a chance to mention Red wheels in the conversation

Shhhhh!!!

 

[Johnny 99]

Hope you took your budgie smugglers mate!

That beach looks amazing.

Stunning scenery. Lovely photos

Get real mate! This is Scotland the water's blooming freezing! The "budgie" would shrivel up & hide! Highly embarrassing!

 

[LOCKE]

Scotland looking its best. Great pics Jon and nice Merc mate.

 

[nutnutwelshman]

Very nice John great pictures just like Home

 

[Big Ben]

Get real mate! This is Scotland the water's blooming freezing! The "budgie" would shrivel up & hide! Highly embarrassing!

Spoken like a true southern softie

 

[///M]

Wonderful pics John. SO jealous of where you live!

 

[Jimmy]

Fantastic scenery, you live in a beautiful part of the world Johnny! Can't wait to get up there and do the NC500 again!

 

[Alan Stewart]

Love this area John, the Struie was my daily haunt every day after work as a 17 year old in my 1985 mini i would go for a blast up this road as its just out the back of the town. Im back at work otherwise i would have been doing the very same with the weather the way its been recently. Cracking pics of what i think is heaven. Another road i love to go for a blast is the cattle pass to applecross "Bealach na ba" we did this last year with the highland MG owners club some of the most amazing views. well worth a jaunt.

 

[Chris]

Bloody superb johnny, brings back some memories of last year for me!

 

[Johnny 99]

@Alan Stewart, I agree with you about Applecross. We did that run last month, going the long way round, stopping at the Applecross Inn for lunch, & then over the top & down to Lochcarron. We're so lucky to have these roads. I'm heading down to Perth later on my way to Knockhill for the racing tomorrow so I'm planning on going the long way via the Tomintoul, Cockbridge road & the Lecht. Another brilliant run! Still take the Clio over the Struie when I have some time to spare. It's a real blast.

 

[Alan Stewart]

@Johny 99 yeah its lovely down that way. We have a caravan down that way for the season love Perthshire beautiful area.

 

[Johnny 99]

@Johny 99 yeah its lovely down that way. We have a caravan down that way for the season love Perthshire beautiful area.

What MG do you have Alan? I had a couple of MGB GTs back in the '80s. One was terrible! Drank 5 litres of oil every 800 miles & that was after rebuilding the top end. The 2nd was lovely.

 

[Foxspeed]

i shall be up there in july exercising the megane

 

[Alan Stewart]

@Johnny 99 I have an MG TF 80th Anniversary one of the last to be built by MG before the collapse and I recently had a 1970 MGB GT but have recently sold that. I love my MG's but with a family now the they aren't so useable. Think the TF will be going soon too but so far its flying under the wife's radar!! haha. A wee pic of MG bellow.

 

[Johnny 99]

@Johnny 99 I have an MG TF 80th Anniversary one of the last to be built by MG before the collapse and I recently had a 1970 MGB GT but have recently sold that. I love my MG's but with a family now the they aren't so useable. Think the TF will be going soon too but so far its flying under the wife's radar!! haha. AView attachment 18918 wee pic of MG bellow.

I like your taste in cars Alan! Yeah, MGs are lovely (pre Chinese ownership anyway)! Have great memories of mine. Even my MG Metro, which was my car after having bought my first house in my late 20s. Maybe some say it's not a proper MG but let's be honest, MG always built versions of more mundane cars - Magnette etc. Metro was a hoot. Stuck to the road like bubble gum to a blanket. Don't slow down for corners and let the chassis get you through. In fact, don't slow down for anything once you have built up speed!
There's a guy in Inverness I came across through work who has a couple of TFs. One with the original suspension set up & the other with more conventional suspension. Both lovely cars. I couldn't bring myself to go with the Chinese owned products. Glad you're still under the wife's radar with the TF! Long may that continue.