14 Day Wales, North England & Scotland *NEW*

Today is the first day of your 14 Day Wales, North England & Scotland experience. Arrive to Celtic Rider between 9.30am and 10am. It takes around half an hour to get to Celtic Rider from downtown Dublin city. Meet the team and enjoy tea/coffee. You’ll be introduced to your motorcycle or Can-Am Spyder.

Complimentary Celtic Rider merchandise is given on arrival, then you start packing. We furnish quality inner liner bags which will fit into your top box and side cases. You are welcome to a tank bag or waterproof dry roll-up bag also.

Sit through our award-winning Safety Orientation Video Course, this will fill you in on Irish, UK road laws and what to watch out for when riding. The new safety orientation video lasts for only 12 minutes, this is then followed by a one-hour ( roughly 50 kms) Safety Ride-out with a Celtic Rider team member, on the route you will ride today, meaning no time is wasted, this is a safety initiative we created back in 2007, to assist riders from North America and Canada.

Departing Celtic Rider, we will take in a nice mountain ride over the Wicklow National Park, known as the ‘Garden of Ireland’. From here we enjoy lunch in the Glendalough area, an ancient part of our country with a round tower and monastic sites. You make your way to your Dublin accommodation where you will stay for the evening. Enjoy our capital for the evening, its great atmosphere, restaurants of the highest quality, old pubs, museums and many more attractions.

Your hotel will be close by to the ferry port in Dublin City, by the River Liffy. Your ferry departs at 08.45am, therefore the motorcycle/s need to be picked up from Celtic Rider the day before. Please be at the ferry terminal no later than 8am, the ferry staff are very helpful with assistance whilst parking up and tying down your motorcycle.

The ferry is modern and fast, with the trip taking only 3 hour 30 minutes. Enjoy a tasty breakfast on board before arriving in Wales.

Arriving in Holyhead, Anglesey Island, the first stop today is Llanberis.

This is an amazingly well-preserved Welsh village that reflects great feats of engineering from the 18th and 19th century. Slate mining, huge water wheels, a hydroelectric power station and steam trains were all part of the great Industrial Revolution that happened and changed the face of hard labour for millions of workers.

The route continues through Snowdonia National Park, skirting around Snowdon, the tallest mountain in England and Wales.

On to your traditional Welsh accommodation provider as per the Garmin GPS and itinerary instructions.

Stunning roads out of Ambleside, really gorgeous area, multiple lakes, non-stop twisties, connect with the A66, continue to A6, then the A7, which is a historic road to Edinburgh from London

Hilly Edinburgh, Scotland’s capital city has a medieval old town and an elegant Georgian new town. Looming over the city’s hilltop is Edinburgh Castle, home to Scotland’s crown jewels and the Stone of Destiny, traditionally used in the coronation of Scottish rulers.

A great town to relax and enjoy, I suggest on your second day to take the Tour Bus of this lovely city, great museums and galleries, and the whisky tour located near the castle is quite popular.

Edinburgh, like Dublin, has become a busy, modern cosmopolitan city with good restaurants and pubs. It serves up some very interesting and varied architecture and well worth spending time exploring.

Stroll around for the day. Walk the Royal Mile. Venture into one of the many whiskey museums this city has to offer.

My favourites though are Edinburgh Castle itself, the history is amazing, and so poignant even in today’s world, especially when it comes to war, and the city bus tour is really something else, as there is so many places to stop off and experience, like the Dynamic Earth exhibition, or the Royal Holyrood park ( 750 Acres) really nice park with several lakes.

Departing Edinburgh for Pitlochry you initially ride over the great Forth Bridge. The construction of the newly built Forth Bridge is complete, and awesome to look over at. Today’s ride is brilliant.

First stop is Stirling and one of the most important castles in Scotland, Stirling Castle, built in the 12th century. Old cobble lock steep streets up the castle, with nice views over the town and countryside.

Onwards to Lough Lomond, hugging the Lough and then into the heart of Trossachs National Park, truly a beautiful place to ride through.

Lough Lomond, stunning twisty ride, with superb lake and mountain views.

Continue to Pitlochry town, which is in a most scenic, clean, fresh mountainous area. Good locally produced food is readily available in the pubs and restaurants in this quaint town.

Check into your accommodation, it’s been a long day’s ride, expect an early night.

Onwards through Cairngorm National Park, very impressive views of the Grampian and Cairngorm Mountains.

This is an awesome ride, stunning Grampian, and Cairngorm’s mountains. The Cairngorms is the largest national park in the UK.

Continue to Inverness and enjoy the hospitality of the capital city of the Scottish Highlands.

Heading north-east along the newly opened North Coast 500, voted as one of the world’s top coastal driving routes by multiple travel magazines and organisations, the NC500 offers a unique holiday experience for Can-Am Spyder and motorbike enthusiasts.

Today’s ride brings you to the town of Thurso or Wick. These are 5000-year-old Norse coastal towns on the northern tip of Scotland with a latitude 59.6 it is on the same line as Hudson Bay, only 30 degrees Celsius warmer in winter due to the influence of the Gulf Stream.

The coastline is stunning and offers up some spectacular ocean vistas. You’ll see ruined castles and sea stacks, and ride past quiet fishing villages. This is the wide-open windy county, and it can be a beautiful but lovely, spiritual desolate ride.

On the north-west tip of Scotland is the world-famous John O’Groats, just 11 miles from Dunnet head, the very most northerly part of England.

On arrival into the town, check into your accommodation provider and explore and savour the local cuisine, in particular the bounty fresh from the North Sea.

Today’s route takes you south-west towards the coastal town of Ullapool along the NC500 route, which offers both stunning ocean views and wild countryside.

The picturesque fishing town of Ullapool is located on the shore of Lock Broom.

This area is low is population, a very unspoilt natural environment, with nice walks in and around the town.

On arrival, check into your accommodation. Enjoy the fresh sea air and a nice meal in one of the local establishments.

Leaving Ullapool for Portree on the Isle of Skye, via the wonderful Skye Bridge, todays ride finishes with the NC 500 route.

Entering Portree, a small fishing village and note the towering mountains around you, I advise riding the A885 route north of the village, it’s a magical ride and brings you anti-clockwise around the peninsula.

The Isle of Skye forms part of the Hebrides Island off the west coast of Scotland.

Check into your accommodation and enjoy your evening in Portree.

Departing Portree, today’s first optional stop is at the ‘Eilean Donan Castle’ remembering ‘The Highlander’ film! It is a stunning place for photographs and wonderful when the tide is in.

Continue then along your route to the Five Sisters Mountain Range, you’ll see a line from an unbroken high mountain shoulder, five fine peaks raise their heads skywards, each connected by a ridge of swooping curve… a spectacular sight.

Onwards to the Glen Coe area, enjoy the lovely scenery through this mountain pass. Glen Coe is often considered one of the most beautiful places in Scotland and is a part of the designated National Scenic Area of Ben Nevis and Glen Coe area.

Onwards to the port town of Oban where you have a choice of some great seafood restaurants as the town has a long history of fishing.

Oban is a coastal town with a wide selection of cafes, restaurants, and optional boat trips. It also has an old single malt whisky distillery from the late 17th century. The walk along the promenade into the town is very impressive.

Departing Oban, the ride today takes you to the cosmopolitan city of Glasgow.

More wonderful scenery is in store today as the route cuts through Trossachs National Park and skirts along Loch Lomond.

Loch Lomond is huge, the largest inland body of water in the UK.

Arriving in the old city of Glasgow, which in relatively recent years has become a vibrant European city, you will notice straight away its stunning architecture. Red stone buildings, fantastic squares, massive statues honouring great Scottish inventors and writers, its really nice.

Check into accommodation and enjoy the diverse rich night life and bars of this Victorian city on your last evening.

Onwards to the 11.30am ferry in Cairnryan, as per the Garmin Route, circa 80 miles from Glasgow city, arriving in Belfast at around 2pm, Northern Ireland.

Skirting around the docklands of Belfast to the M1 back to Dublin. it takes around two and half to three hours to get to Celtic Rider.

After returning bikes to Celtic Rider, we will arrange transport to downtown Dublin City or Dublin Airport after discussing and listening to your stories and observations of this most impressive tour of our island of Ireland and the majestic highlands of Scotland. Since 2007 when Paul Rawlins, founder of Celtic Rider, pioneered motorcycle tourism in Ireland, we have been made aware over the years of the history of forced emigration that took place during several centuries from both Ireland and Scotland, and with this in mind at the outset of creating this great tour, we feel the routes will satisfy riders whose ancestral origins came from the lands of the Celts. This is a paramount philosophy we have in Celtic Rider; our tours deeply immerse overseas riders in the real countryside and traditional villages and towns of the land they pass through.