Scotland set to welcome bikers following in Ewan McGregor’s tracks
Long Way Down
Budding ‘Ewan McGregors’ and ‘Charley Boormans’ will be able to find motorbike friendly establishments in Scotland before they visit on their own trips, thanks to a new facility launched by VisitScotland on the VisitScotland.com website.
The move comes as national tourism organisation VisitScotland is named an official partner of ‘Long Way Down’, Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman’s latest biking travelogue.
The series, which kicked off in Scotland, recently began screening on BBC2. The first episode featured the Scottish Borders with Ewan and Charley shaking hands at the infamous Carter Bar and the region’s ‘Welcome to, Scottish Borders’ zoomed in on.
VisitScotland provided route suggestions and information for the Scottish leg of the journey which started in John o’ Groats. VisitScotland also funded a photo shoot to capture the journey and worked with them to create a special Long Way Down tartan.
Motorcycling is an increasingly popular activity and many responsible bikers enjoy the freedom of touring Scotland on a motorbike and the unique experience of seeing Scotland’s dramatic scenery by bike. Earlier this year, Crieff-born McGregor and his best friend and fellow motorbike enthusiast Charley Boorman started their latest motorcycling adventure, Long Way Down, in Scotland.
Ewan McGregor said: “It was lovely for me to start the trip in Scotland. It has some of the best roads in the world to ride a bike on and it is just spectacular - the scenery, the corners, the twisties - they’re absolutely magnificent. And it gave me an opportunity to be in my country again, to be in Scotland again, because I don’t get up there nearly as much as I’d like to.”
The new facility for bikers on visitscotland.com allows visitors to search the huge database of accommodation providers and visitor attractions in Scotland for those that are specifically geared up to cater for motorbike riders and their machines and are members of VisitScotland’s popular Bikers Welcome scheme.
VisitScotland created the Bikers Welcome scheme in 2005 to give recognition to tourism business in Scotland that offer a fine, warm welcome to bikers and to give guidance to bikers as to where to stay and what to see during their trip to Scotland. There are currently over 100 members of VisitScotland’s Bikers Welcome scheme.
Businesses have to meet a number of core criteria in order to be members of the scheme, including having a positive attitude towards bikers and a genuine desire to meet and anticipate their needs, providing a separate space for drying outdoor clothing and footwear, and visor and boot cleaning facilities, being able to recommend a number of tours including routes, viewpoints and visitor attractions for example and providing safe storage and hard standing for motorbikes.
For more information on the series, visit the official website www.longwaydown.com and visit the VisitScotland website on www.visitscotland.com/longwaydown.
For more information on Welcome Schemes visit www.visitscotland.org/qa_welcome_schemes.htm
|
