3ma 2008 Driving Routes
On Saturday 15th March 2008 two thirds of the 3ma organising team got
together to plot the driving routes for the 4 days of the 3ma-2008.
The weekend of 26/27 April has been marked as the recce weekend when
we'll fly to Scotland to drive and finalise the routes.
So the still provisional itinerary and driving is
now like this:
Friday 16th May: The 3ma08 will start at
10:00am at the
Gretna Green Services on the M74
(between Junctions 21 and 22). From there we'll
head north on the A74(M) towards Glasgow. We'll
cross the river Clyde by the
Erskine Bridge which is the most
downstream of all the Clyde bridges, and is the last
point at which the estuary can be crossed by road.
The bridge diverts traffic away from Glasgow and
while it used to be a toll bridge, the tolls were
abolished last year to reduce congestion. Once we
cross the river Clyde, we'll pick up the A82 and
then onto the A83 heading to Inveraray across the
watershed between Loch Lomond and Loch Long to
Arrochar near the head of Loch Long. We'll then go
round the head of the loch, down the western shore
for a short distance, before going westwards, up
Glen Croe into the section of road known as the Rest
and be Thankful, which is the hillclimb pass through
the Arrochar Alps from the shore of Loch Long to
that of Loch Fyne. The driving distance from our 3ma
start point to our hotel in Inverary is
approximately 150miles (240Km) and we expect to
arrive at our hotel in mid-afternoon.

Saturday 17th May: This is going to be a long drive! At
just over 280miles (450Km) it may turn out to be too long for a
single day and we may have to modify this after we try out the route
on the recce. We'll leave Inveraray early in the morning (9:00am)
heading north for the highlands on the A82 towards Fort William.
We'll stop at Loch Ness for a bit of monster spotting before
heading to the Inverfarigaig Corkscrew on the B852. Then we'll head
towards Torness for the tightest and steepest set of hairpins in the
country before heading further north towards Inverness to pick up
the A9 going south and then the A86 to Inveraray.
Sunday 18th May: This is the day of our static show and
for that we'll head east to Falkirk where we've arranged with the
management of Falkirk Wheel to hold our display show in their
grounds. Total driving for Sunday will be approximately 150miles
(240Km)

Monday 19th May: We'll head east again this time to
Stirling Castle taking in some spectacular drives as well as
picturesque drives through the Queen Elizabeth Forest Park. Total
driving distance on Monday will be approximately 155miles (250Km).
