My weekend away in the M3
Discussion
Claire and myself went away to the west coast at the weekend, both our birthdays were in january so instead of presents with christmas just being passed we treated each other to a weekend away!
It also gave me a good excuse to give the m3 a nice run for the 1st time!
We left Aberdeen around 12 on Friday and headed for pitlochry, via Genshee of course - bloody love that road and it was pretty quiet too... which is always nice :-) not a lot of snow around a few small patches but nothing major, managed to push on a bit and got some real confidence in the Wintrac extremes and BMW's M dynamic mode - traction control that allows a fair level of sideways before intervening.. which was fun!
had to stop and do the standard picture of that sheep sign :-)
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
we stayed at the Cragatin hotel and courtyard, lovely place, i would go back in a heartbeat - cracking breakfast too! we had a great super at mckay's 2 x steaks and a bottle of red for 20 quid :thumbsup
also.. glad i washed the car before i left.... :roll:
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
We left Pitlochry and headed for dunkeld and a lovely walk up to the hermitage, i have not been there since i was a little kid so it was great, the waterfalls were just as amazing as i had remembered!! after the hermitage we went quad biking with Scottish quads, it was great banter, Claire had never been on one before, totally owned it, drifting, donuts, rolling - she managed it all, the lad took us miles up a snowy hill, pretty challenging, we were out for near on 3 hours, shattered after tho!
After pitlochry we headed for lochcarron, via spean bridge,
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
I had booked the Lochcarron hotel for a couple of nights - really wanted to get the Applecross inn after my mates suggestion but it was fully booked, lochcarron was spot on tho, decent pub grub, good bar, open fire, 2 x pub black labs so it was a nice cosy night in, up early on sunday to this stunning view
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
And of course... full cooked breakfast, then fired over to sky with the hope of getting the ferry from Uig to Stornaway then ferry from there back to the mainland further north, but seeing as i had not actually checked it out there is only 1 ferry a day at this time of year, but it didn't matter, we drove all the way round sky, took heaps of pictures - below,
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
we headed to the Applecross inn for supper, absolutely fantastic, i honestly think is could be the best food in scotland!! i had fresh caught prawns (caught by the guy who served them!) then the steak - i asked for a whisky sauce and they made one up for me... it had a fair kick!!, bloody brilliant, totally stuffed after, would eat there every night if i could!
it was fairly snowing on the way home, made for some fun (video on Facebook) and good pictures!
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
We pretty much drank the bar dry when we got back to the hotel, which made for a wee bit of a sore head on monday morning - full cooked sorted that right out tho :lol:
from lochcarron we did eilan donna castle, fort bill, glencoe, kenmore, pitlochry, glenshee, home (which was bloody freezing!!!)
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
All in all, great weekend, just thought i would share :-)
its the 1st time i have done that kinda trip in the winter, loved it.. and the winter tyres did the job :thumbsup
think the car might need a wash now tho......
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
After the last few weekens of miserable weather, getting away for a long weekend with pretty good weather makes you appreciate how stunning Scotland is.
Bloody love this country.
:mrgreen:
It also gave me a good excuse to give the m3 a nice run for the 1st time!
We left Aberdeen around 12 on Friday and headed for pitlochry, via Genshee of course - bloody love that road and it was pretty quiet too... which is always nice :-) not a lot of snow around a few small patches but nothing major, managed to push on a bit and got some real confidence in the Wintrac extremes and BMW's M dynamic mode - traction control that allows a fair level of sideways before intervening.. which was fun!
had to stop and do the standard picture of that sheep sign :-)
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
we stayed at the Cragatin hotel and courtyard, lovely place, i would go back in a heartbeat - cracking breakfast too! we had a great super at mckay's 2 x steaks and a bottle of red for 20 quid :thumbsup
also.. glad i washed the car before i left.... :roll:
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
We left Pitlochry and headed for dunkeld and a lovely walk up to the hermitage, i have not been there since i was a little kid so it was great, the waterfalls were just as amazing as i had remembered!! after the hermitage we went quad biking with Scottish quads, it was great banter, Claire had never been on one before, totally owned it, drifting, donuts, rolling - she managed it all, the lad took us miles up a snowy hill, pretty challenging, we were out for near on 3 hours, shattered after tho!
After pitlochry we headed for lochcarron, via spean bridge,
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
I had booked the Lochcarron hotel for a couple of nights - really wanted to get the Applecross inn after my mates suggestion but it was fully booked, lochcarron was spot on tho, decent pub grub, good bar, open fire, 2 x pub black labs so it was a nice cosy night in, up early on sunday to this stunning view
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
And of course... full cooked breakfast, then fired over to sky with the hope of getting the ferry from Uig to Stornaway then ferry from there back to the mainland further north, but seeing as i had not actually checked it out there is only 1 ferry a day at this time of year, but it didn't matter, we drove all the way round sky, took heaps of pictures - below,
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
we headed to the Applecross inn for supper, absolutely fantastic, i honestly think is could be the best food in scotland!! i had fresh caught prawns (caught by the guy who served them!) then the steak - i asked for a whisky sauce and they made one up for me... it had a fair kick!!, bloody brilliant, totally stuffed after, would eat there every night if i could!
it was fairly snowing on the way home, made for some fun (video on Facebook) and good pictures!
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
We pretty much drank the bar dry when we got back to the hotel, which made for a wee bit of a sore head on monday morning - full cooked sorted that right out tho :lol:
from lochcarron we did eilan donna castle, fort bill, glencoe, kenmore, pitlochry, glenshee, home (which was bloody freezing!!!)
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
All in all, great weekend, just thought i would share :-)
its the 1st time i have done that kinda trip in the winter, loved it.. and the winter tyres did the job :thumbsup
think the car might need a wash now tho......
Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr
After the last few weekens of miserable weather, getting away for a long weekend with pretty good weather makes you appreciate how stunning Scotland is.
Bloody love this country.
:mrgreen:
I know exactly where that sheep sign is - the tarmac used to be really poor but they replaced it a few years back.
I have Pirelli SottoZeros on my GranTurismo. Amazing grip in winter, don't know why more people don't use winter tyres on RWD performance cars as they transform driving four months of the year.
I have Pirelli SottoZeros on my GranTurismo. Amazing grip in winter, don't know why more people don't use winter tyres on RWD performance cars as they transform driving four months of the year.
KB_S1 said:
Looks like a great trip.
How is the M3 for that kind of use?
Is yours a manual?
it was great thanks, How is the M3 for that kind of use?
Is yours a manual?
the M3 is quite possibly the best car i could think of doing that trip in its price range,
Previously i have had an M5, S5, Elise, Z4m, cooper S, and various others, but the M3 is by far the best all rounder, its got the performance, comfort and with the winter tyres it has the grip to handle all weathers.
yes mine is a manual - wouldnt have it any other way to be honest, i have driven both in a decent degree of anger and the DCT box just lacks driver involvment, also, not having a clutch doies not help at all when things get interesting - especially in poor conditions.
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