Free Motorcycle Touring Routes – Four Day Coast To Coast

Finding ourselves with four days free, my Africa Twin riding colleague Roger and I opted to ride coast to coast across the UK, from the west coast of Scotland to the east coast of England for no other reason than we hadn’t done it before.  

After several cups of tea and a lot of route planning on the excellent MyRouteApp, we ended up with a four-day motorcycle tour starting near the centre of the mainland UK at Harrowgate.

For the west coast of Scotland, we picked Oban as our destination. From there, our target would be Scarborough on England’s east coast. And naturally, we chose the scenic route where ever possible. It is about the journey, not the destination.

A supermarket car park in Harrowgate isn’t the most salubrious place to start a motorcycle tour, but there is an ample supply of tea, cake, and petrol.

Coast-to-Coast Day One

As normal, Day One is shorter than the other days to allow for the distance people travel to the assembly point.

Rather than use the A1 to get to Scotch Corner, the route takes the twisting roads, skimming the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park on the way to Barnard Castle. Leaving Barnard Castle on the B6278, it is a mixture of B-roads and quiet A-roads, north-west for 70 miles through the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, finally crossing the Scottish border at Gretna.

Day One ends on the A75 to the east side Dumfries 140 miles from Harrowgate, and close to a Premier Inn.

Coast-to-Coast Day Two

Motorcycle Tours of Scotland tend to focus on the NC500, all of which happens much further north. However, the South-West corner of Scotland has some truly stunning countryside and excellent roads well worth exploring. The planned route takes you through the Galloway National Park and along the coast road through Ayr, heading for the Gurock to Dunoon ferry.

The coast road around Ayr can get busy in summer, so the route turns inland before arriving at Gurock, attempting to avoid the worst of the traffic.

Once across the River Clyde, the route loops around Lock Eck, south to Castleton and Loch Fyne, before turning north to Oban. This is perhaps one of the finest 100-mile stretches of motorcycling roads in the UK. Stunning scenery, twists, turns and excellent road surfaces.  

Refuelling immediately before or after the ferry crossing is strongly advised. Petrol on the Dunoon side of the crossing is slightly off route in Dunoon town.

Two hundred and fifty excellent miles completed, you will arrive in Oban.

Coast-to-Coast Day Three

Day three has a dull section in the middle. If anyone knows of an engaging and invigorating route south through the Glasgow and Edinburgh choke point, please let me know.

Either side of the dull part, you get to ride through the Trossachs National Park in the morning and the Northumberland National Park in the afternoon. The dull part of the day consists of 50 minutes on the motorway between Stirling and Edinburgh before picking up the A7 at Dalkeith and then the A68 just north of Newton Saint Boswell.  Cross the border back into England on the A68 and then ride through the Northumberland National Park.

Day three ends after 215 miles in Corbridge west of Newcastle upon Tyne.

Coast-to-Coast Day Four

The objective of the morning is to avoid the built-up areas Gateshead, Durham and Middlesbrough by staying west and then riding across the North Yorkshire Moors starting at Northallerton. The target is Scarborough or, more specifically, Oliver’s Mount, the only road-based race circuit in the mainland UK.

The race track is situated on the high ground above Scarborough, on the land feature from which the track takes its name. Racing started in 1946 on what is essentially the service road around the land feature. It has remained mostly unchanged from the first racing meeting, with only the introduction of the Farm Bends being made in 1991 to reduce the speed of motorcycles on the start-finish straight.

When not used as a race track, the perimeter road is open t the public, and there is a cafe – Oliver’s – near the monument. Just remember to obey the speed limit.

After Scarborough, the planned route continues south through Yorkshire and across the Humber Bridge, a section of the country that comes with the normal caution about speeding.

At the end of the 220-mile day four, the route as planned will deposit you where the A1, A46 and A17 all meet at Newark on Trent.

Four days and around 1,000 miles coast to coast across the UK. What could possibly go wrong?

Clarity

The title image is based on an original work by Glenn Innes and is used under license.