Motorcycling in Scotland – 3 towns and 1,000miles – Part 2.
In Part 1 I wrote about travelling from the North West, through the Yorkshire Dales and staying at The Buccleuch Arms Hotel in Moffat.
If you missed Part 1 – this link will take you back there. This second part of the 3 Towns and 1,000 miles post sees me leave Moffat and head for an overnight stop at Buckie on the Moray Firth.
A helmet hook, a map and invisible snow
Sometimes it’s the little things that make a difference.
Not only was my room at The Buccleuch comfortable it came complete with a crash helmet hanger! It’s the first time in the hundreds of hotels I have stayed in that I have ever had one provided, sometimes it really is about the little things.
But one of the best things of this trip was the map my four-year-old grandson made for me. According to him, the map indicated I was in for five days of snow. Not only did the map have this weather warning he even marked out all the petrol stations … see the nine dots on the right hand side.
When I got home, I thanked him again and gently broke the news that the five day snow hadn’t arrived. He didn’t bat an eyelid when he said, ‘that’s because the snow was invisible’ I made a mental note to use his map making skills again.
Leaving Moffat
Breakfast at The Buccleuch was excellent, the weather was set fair and I enjoyed a chat over breakfast with Paul and Barry a couple of bikers who had also managed to squeeze in a few days biking in Scotland (see a picture of Paul and Barry in the photo set below).
Heading for the north east
My plan for the end of the day was to arrive in the small town of Buckie. Buckie is in north-east Scotland and located on the Moray Firth.
I’ve stayed in Buckie a couple of times and it’s fair to say the town has seen better and more prosperous days. In previous times it was a major herring fishing port.
Buckies location can make for an ideal point to aim for with plenty of options to make a decent route to and from the town.
There’s information on the route I took further on in this post.
The picture set below has pictures from the beer garden/parking area of the The Buccleuch hotel including the ‘green cupboard’ with a decent choice of oils and cleaning products. All the contents of the cupboard are available as needed and at no additional charge.
As I said in Part 1 this really is a decent hotel and I can’t imagine any biker would be disappointed with a stay here. Dave and the team really do seem to have thought of everything.
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Stunning scenery and heading for Gourock
Dave the owner of the hotel had asked where I was heading and we chatted about the route. He helpfully provided me with a print out of one of his ‘core routes’ and also loaded the route into my Garmin XT sat nav. Dave also took the time to give me some helpful instructions and tips on using the routing function.
Given the very decent weather I wasn’t looking for the most direct route to Buckie and was looking foward to a long day on the bike.
My route took me out of Moffat, initially heading in the direction of the Devils Beef Tub before making a left turn to head for Wanlockhead the highest village in Scotland. Wanlockhead is actually a little over 1,500′ above sea level. The village is located in the Lowther Hills and is a former lead mining village near the head of the Mennock Pass.
Then it was a series of super scenic and quiet (almost empty) roads as I headed west before turning to head north along the A770 to take the short ferry crossing from Gourock to Dunoon.
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Short ferry crossing to Dunoon
The ferry crossing from Gourock to Dunoon was routine. There was hardly any waiting when I arrived at the departure point as the ferry was in and just about set to go.
The service operates every 20 minutes or so, and it wouldn’t have been a problem if I had needed to wait for the next sailing.
The small ferry ‘The Sound of Scarba’ is only 50 meters long and can carry around 45 cars. It’s named after Scarba Sound, the strait near the island of Scarba in Argyll. And just for info’ the price of a single crossing (one person and motorbike) was £12.60 @ May 2025.
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Heading for Buckie
After leaving the ferry in Dunoon I sort of headed in the general direction of Inverness but across to the east to finish the days riding in Buckie.
It had been a long day on the bike with a total trip distance for the day of 325 miles.
The weather had been pretty much perfect for biking. Temperatures were up around 25c and the scenery for the most part had been superb.
All in all it had been a fine day on the bike.
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Comfortable overnight stay at Struan House
My accommodation for the night was Struan House on Cluny Square in the middle of Buckie. It’s the third time I’ve stayed there and it really does make for a decent stopover.
Great service along with comfortable and well furnished rooms, lovely owners and superb breakfasts prepared to order made for a great stay.
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Heading for Loch Long
Click here to go to the third and final part – as I head for my third and final stop of this short trip and a stay at Arrochar at the head of Loch Long .
Another fine set of photo’s.