Why this ride
From Stromness it runs 363 km to Stromness; allow about 7 h 58 of riding. It goes by way of Munsary & Shielton, Skinsdale and back through Munsary & Shielton. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Maes Howe and Skinsdale
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 363 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 7 h 58
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Maes Howe
Maeshowe is a grass-covered mound in a field beside Loch Harray, about thirty-five metres across and encircled by a ditch, and inside it is the finest chambered tomb in northern Europe. Built around 2800 BC, it is entered by a long, low passage of huge single slabs, aligned so that around midwinter the setting sun shines straight down it and lights the back wall. The chamber itself is high and square, with corbelled walls that narrow towards the roof and side cells where the bones of the dead were laid. The precision of the masonry, with no mortar, is astonishing, and the stone slabs in the passage weigh several tonnes.
Read the complete Maes Howe write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Maes Howe is where the day begins. Next is Munsary & Shielton.
2. Munsary & Shielton
Inland from Wick, in the far north-east of Scotland, the land flattens into a vast, rolling expanse of peat bog, brown and gold, dotted with pools and lochans that reflect the sky. Munsary and Shielton are areas of this blanket bog, part of the Flow Country, which was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2024 as the largest expanse of blanket bog in Europe. Here, sphagnum mosses have built up peat over thousands of years, storing vast amounts of carbon, and the bog teems with life: insect-eating sundews, cotton grass waving white in summer, and birds such as golden plover, greenshank and dunlin nesting among the hummocks.
Read the complete Munsary & Shielton write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Munsary & Shielton comes up 80 km in. Next is Skinsdale.
3. Skinsdale
Nobody lives in Skinsdale to speak of, which is more or less the point. The glen lies in the east of Sutherland, an empty fold of moorland and burn between the coast at Brora and Helmsdale and the great open bog country to the north-west, and the nearest towns of any size, Golspie, Brora and Dornoch, are all over twenty kilometres away. A road passes through this part of the country, but the glen itself is a place you look into rather than ride through.
Read the complete Skinsdale write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
161 km in you reach Skinsdale. Next is back through Munsary & Shielton.
4. back through Munsary & Shielton
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Munsary & Shielton write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Munsary & Shielton, late in the day. Next is Maes Howe.
5. Maes Howe
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Maes Howe write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Maes Howe. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Maes Howe to Munsary & Shielton
Maes Howe → Munsary & Shielton is 91 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Munsary & Shielton to Skinsdale
Munsary & Shielton → Skinsdale is 70 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Skinsdale to back through Munsary & Shielton
Skinsdale → back through Munsary & Shielton is 70 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Munsary & Shielton to Maes Howe
back through Munsary & Shielton → Maes Howe is 91 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Heart of Neolithic Orkney and Skinsdale · 363 km
- Stones of Stenness and Skinsdale · 367 km