Scottish Highlands and Isle of Man in August 2026
Today‘s ride migth have been the shortest one in Edelweiss Bike Travel‘s history as we just rode for 3 minutes from the hotel to the ferry terminal, to catch the ferry to the Isle of Man. We enjoyed our dinner on board and arrived at quarter past eleven in Douglas, the capital of the island. Our hotel right at the sea promenade already awaited us.
We started out in the morning with the famous Snaefel mountain course, which is part of the TT race and the Manx Grand Prix. As it was raining and foggy in the mountains, we had to take it slow, even though the island has no speed limit outside of towns. Back at the hotel some of us decided to take a walk into the city of Douglas, while the rest of the group continued to Murry‘s Motorcycle Museum. After a stop for fish and chips in Castletown the weather cleared up so we went to the southest by bike reachable point of the island and then continued northwards on the west island shore. Another stop at Peel castle provided nice views, before we headed back in to the hilly center of the island. What a great start of our tour.
Since Race days were canceled today and tomorrow, we enjoyed another loop on the Island. We went clockwise and had the best weather for riding: Zero rain, sunshine, and 68 degrees F (15 degrees Celsius). Our first and only coffee stop (we only rode half a day today) brought us within a few feet of a TT legend: Conor Cummings. The local Douglas native is a Manx race favorite. Brian recognized Conor and smiled while the rest of us did not even notice. Thank you, Brian, for bringing TT History closer to us. We gassed up in Ramsey and stopped at the TT legendary winner (26 x), Joey Dunlop’s shrine and statue. What a treat that was whilst we engaged in convos and photos with local riders. Then a quick exit through the mountains and back down to Douglas for lunch. Tata… great day for riding albeit shorter than usual.
Today we traveled early by speed ferry across the Irish Sea and back to Liverpool. From Liverpool we went up to Lancaster, the gateway to England's prettiest area: The Lake District. Here we stopped for coffee and lunch while overlooking beautiful Lake Windemere. Then the highlight of the day: Hardknott Pass with its awesome views of England's highest peak: Scafell Pike. Hardknot pass is also England's steepest with angles of 33%. Riders enjoyed themselves. The ride from Keswick to Cockermouth was also very pleasing as we went through what England's famous poet, William Wadsworth, described as "a national property for every man who has a heart to enjoy". Wadsworth went on to say: “The stillness of the mountains, and the solitude of the valleys, are calculated to soothe the mind.” We agreed as we rode through it.
What a day. Not a single rain drop - I know, unbelievable since we are in England/Scotland today. We left our lovely English Country Inn promptly at 9:00 AM to ride the lovely A686 from Penrith to Langley Castle. Lots of curves and across the Hartside Pass. Once we came down the other side we saw pheasants or ptarmigans scatter across our bikes only to be missed by a few feet by our GSs. A very, very lovely coffee stop at Langley Castle, yes, a castle coffee stop!, was a mini highlight already. Then lunch at a great place called Twice Brewed Inn before we took on Hadrians Wall in person. Some of us climbed the stepp walls of Steel Rigg to see firsthand what the Romans built to keep the wild and tattooed Scots off their backs some 2000 years ago. After seeing well preserved parts of this 73 mile stone barrier across Great Britain, we headed to the actual "political" border crossing between England and Scotland which you could miss if you blinked. However, we had a great time at Carter Bar as we were greeted by a bagpiping Scot in full kilt regalia. After many photos were were on our way to Jedburgh and Melrose. We stopped at Sir Walter Scott's favorite place to overlook the land, called ironically "Scotts View" and marveled at the pretty Scottish countryside. Another stop at William Wallace's statue near Scott's View made us realize how fortunate we are and were not having to fight for our country's independence and pay the ultimate price for "Freeeeeddooooooooommmm!"
Today a rainy ride from Edinburgh to Glencoe delivered a moody, atmospheric journey through Scotland's historic heartland. We visited the Falkirk wheel, a unique boat lift and Stirling Castle. And of course we finally entered the scottish highlands, an amazing landcape with many hills, endless meadows and countless sheep. After arriving in Glencoe we finished the day with a dinner in the hotel pub.
Movieland Scotland and Isle of Skye were our destinations today. We left Glencoe, Scotland's most famous Glen (valley) of lush moss covered hills with rivers running through them and steep mountains that are visited by elk and other deer-like creatures, and headed to the Glenfinnian Viaduct to watch the Jacobite Steam team a.k.a. the Hogwart Express, pass over it in awesome fashion. Harry Potter fans were represented strongly (with capes and dressed like wizards). After the steam train passed us leaving big balls of white smoke in the air, we rode to Scotland's most photographed and famous castle: Eilean Donan. What a beauty she is sitting right there on an island connected by a stone bridge. Purely majestic. 007 movies were filmed here as well as the series and movies Highlander... "there can only be one!" On we went to the Isle of Skye where we stopped at the Fairy Bridge to dip our heads for 7 seconds into the water to attain eternal beauty or so the legend goes. The the group split and some went to Dunvegan castle and the rest rode the Trotternish Peninsula while stopping at Kilt rock waterfall and An Corran Beach for its 150 million year old dinosaur footprints. We spent the night near Dunvegan while the hotel's chef dazzled us with local ingredients to our 3 course meal.
We started out in the rain and while leaving Isle of Sky strong winds made it difficult to ride in a straight line. Luckily the weather cleared up a bit, just before we went up the famous Applecross pass road, just to find fog, rain and strong sidewinds again on top. On the other side however, the sunny coastline awaited us. After some more single track roads we arrived in Inverness, the capital of the Scottish highlands.
On our rest day in Inverness the group split up. Some went so see and feed some highland cows, while others took a boat ride on Loch Ness or a ride to John o Groats the most northern point on mainland Scotland. There were also castles to visit and pubs to drink in. A nice day full of activities.
We started out on very small backcountry roads and into the Cairngorms national park. On empty roads we continued through beautiful landscapes and came by several castles and distilleries. We checked out the Glenfiddich visitor shop and had a drink in a typical Scottish bar (non alcoholic of course) before we reached our hotel in Aberdeen
Our last riding day had a few surprises and fun moments. We started out on a gorgeous morning leaving Mary Coulter House outside of Aberdeen after a hearty breakfast. We stopped once before we rode the A96 across the Cairnwell Pass, Britain's highest public road. As soon as we were on the descent through beautiful valleys in the Cairgorms National Park, we encountered heavy winds. Being bumped around while riding was not fun, but our riders were of high quality and managed to get through it. A stop over for a loverly photo at the Queen's View near Pitlochry send us on our way to Melville Castle our final "Downton Abbey" like Castle Hotel. On our way there we marveled at the Victorian engineering of the Firth of Forth Rail Bridge which was a massive undertaking in the late 19th century and across its 2.5 km (1.6 mile length). Comfortably home at Melville Castle we enjoyed our last evening together and celebrated the highlights we saw on this marvelous adventure through the Scottish Highlands and the Isle of Man.