BootsnAll Travel Blogs

Just back from Israel and its time for the annual Scots Memorial ride in memory of Has2 – a fallen ninja rider.
Tucker and I rode down to Middleton in Teesdale for coffee and to meet up with the suthern softies riding up from doon sooth.
they eventually arrived after we’d feasted on bacon sarnies and fresh coffee…..JUST as the rain arrived too.
We had a fairly brisk ride thru to Alston and then up to Hartside. Unfortunately we were a couple of riders short when we got there!: Gaz (bless ‘im) had run out of fuel! ….and the exhaust on Emma’s (Shezza) bike had separated into its component parts! An easy fix for both and after another coffee and lunch, we set off North past Kielder, and Bonchester bridge, to Hawick for a petrol stop, then Selkirk and the dreaded A7 up to Edinburgh.
At Edinburgh we lost a couple of riders at traffic control lights etc. but eventually – in the rain – we all managed to meet up at Davy/Grumpy and Chyrel’s house in Leith.
A goodly old night out in town that night with a smashing meal (mmmm blackpudding starter) and a bizarre cross-dressing local and it was ime to fall asleep in a chair somewhere 😉
Next morning, Chyrel produced one of her amazing breakfasts and after watching – and waiting for – Big Al to clean his rear wheel….. we set off to Stirling services to meet everyone else.
The weather was perfect and was so good to meet up with Jarse, Glenmac, Alzo, Davy and to meet Gayle.
next we were all off to the Green Welly, where we parked up in a layby and waited for nothing in particular to happen……thats when I noticed my fork seal was leaking again! …2nd one this year!!! hey ho.
Off to Oban next, for chips and for Glenmac to feed the seagulls. Tucker and I set off fairly sharply from here and rode alone to the petrol station at Glencoe. Eventually everyone arrived and after saying farewell to the masses, some of the english contingent set off further north to Eilan Donan castle. A fab and very quick ride got us there in double quick time (that road is sooo grippy) and after a petrol stop and a gander at teh castle, we headed off again north to Ullapool – our destination for the night.
Some of us were a little later than others to Ullapool 😉 but we all got there safely…complete with broken luggage rail, destroyed tyre, lost bag cover etc. etc.
Me and Tucker were in a hotel whilst most others were in the hostel and a couple were in a B&B
We had a nice evening – though I had to cut it short to sleep again 🙁 then a good sleep and great brekkie and we all met up again. I decided to hang around for a day or so, whilst the majority were heading to Inverness and then down the Lecht road to Edinburgh to stay at Grumpy’s again …one fella had to ride straight home with the canvas showing thru his tyre!
I headed thru to Lochinver and then north again to Durness right on the north coast, before having to head back to Scoura for petrol. Then a slow almost walking pace ride down some single track thru awesome scenery back to the main road back into Ullapool – great day ….fab roads…and lush coffee!
Next day I as up with the larks and had a walk around the harbour, before waiting for the petrol station to open at 7:30 and heading down to Grantown on Spey, where I HAD to stop for coffee and a hot sandwich – I was sooo cold on the bike, I hadnt put my jacket on over my leathers and paid the price dearly …. shivering uncontrollably inside the cafe.
After warming up, it was south on the Lecht road past the ski resorts – incredible road…very fast and very scenic too. I stopped at Breamar for coffee and had a chat with a lady on an SV. Then further south till I turned off for Dunkeld, where I sat at teh side of the river after dining on chicken salad and coffee.
West from there, thru Milton, Aberfeldy adn then along Loch Tay to Killin, where I found a great hotel with B&B for £43 !! … a couple of beers and a chilli later and it was time to rest up till the morning.
I decided to ride thru Dunblane next day to see what I could remember from staying there in 1985 (?) ..not a lot was the answer! ..I was thru it before I recognised anywhere!, then thru Stirling and into Edinburgh for petrol, then down the A68 towards home.
AS I crossed into England at Carter Bar, I came up on a caravan and a couple of cars …one of which looked a little suspicious – an unmarked, white Volvo. yep, the Rozzers. End of ride…I thought.
But not quite! ..at a suitably clear point in the road, the Volvo sped off. hmmm I thought …if an unmarlked car displaying “driver under training” can do that, then so can I! ..so I followed…..for the next 60 miles or so to Ponteland, we travelled at a minimum of 95mph – with the copper occasionally going over the ton (I decided discretion was the better part of valour and stayed <100mph 😉 ) was a great ride! …never thought I would sit behind a copper at those speeds!! 🙂

Tags: alzo, chuggy, dunkeld, durness, edinburgh, eilan donan, glenmac, grumpy, hartside, has2, kielder, killin, lecht, loch, memorial, middleton, motorcycle, ninja, ninjas, scotland, scots, stirling, tay, Travel, tucker, ullapool

This entry was posted on Friday, June 24th, 2011 at 11:48 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.