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!! 🙂

Danny, Tucker and me decided to go over to Northern Ireland to watch the NW200 – sounded like a great idea, though with Gillys birthday, we’d actually have to come back BEFORE the racing!!!

anyhoo, we rode over to Stranraer on the Saturday morning – and -after coffee and brekkie sarnies for me and Danny whilst gay Tucker had a Latte and pancake – got ABSOLUTELY drenched in wild rain and winds. Luckily though, we got to the ferry port early and found ourselves on the EARLY ferry rather than the one we expected (our intended ferry ran almost 3 hours late we found out later!!)

we dried off and had coffee on the ferry and by the time we disembarked at Larne (Belfast) the rain was almost stopped. We navigated thru to Hannahstown to stay overnight at Col and Maureens house, where Maureen had cooked a fab beef dinner for us.  A shower each (with Danny using his Lacy Louffa and me finding out that Col has one too!!!)Then it was off to Belfast for a night on the lash!

all well in the morning, Maureen produced the most gorgeous brekkie for us all including poached eggs!!! …what a darling! then after taking an AGE to get ready, we set off to the Dundrod (UlsterGP) circuit for photos and a racing start, then back to Larne and a trip up the famous Coastal road to Bushmills where we had booked a room in the hostel.

as we arrived I asked a guy stood outside a pub, where the hostel was, to which he opened a set of double doors and we rode THRU the beer garden, thru more doors into the hostel courtyard!!!!! PERFECT!!!

we got sorted in our ensuite room

“and then headed out for a beer

and then a walk to the Giants Causeway…..which turned out to be further than we thought so we got as far as the Visitor centre, then stopped, had a beer and got the steam train back!

more beers that night and an expensive – but VERYgood meal at a local restaurant

next morning ans we were up and out for 10am after a brekkie at the copper kettle next door. We rode along the coast to Coleraine then hit the twisties all the way down to Omagh where we had a nice sarnie and more coffee. Then back up to Portrush for a looksee (and to collect the brake fluid we were using to keep Tuckers Aprilia clutch going!) Back on the road we stopped short of Bushmills to checkout the great looking Dunluce castle overlooking the sea (though it should be noted that Danny missed the first turning and Tucker missed BOTH! .,….despite me waving like a loon at the junction!!!

Back at Bushmills we had supper and ……yep, MORE beer. We also met a group from Yorkshire…or was it Lancashire 😉 and had a laugh with them (we’d seen them in another pub we’d gone to to watch the football …which wasnt actually ON the TV :$ )

another late night for me and an early night for the two ‘ladies’ then we were up and out to go to the Causeway proper (very nice) and then the rope bridge (which Danny bottled) and then lunch at BallyCastle. A quick ride to Ballymoney (losing Danny on the way and meeting EVERY tractor in the northern hemisphere on the way) we visited Joey’s (Dunlop
) garden memorial then returned to Portrush to the race paddock. We had a walk around the garages and met Les Shand who Danny used to sponsor via his ‘bike bits company Faster By Design, then we headed back to Bushmills to drop off the bikes, get the bus back and watch the racing practice. burgers, doughnuts and coffee later and the practice ended under a red flag (we later learned a rider had crashed heavily. We walked into the town looking for food and beer, but found neither, so got a taxi back to Bushmills and after the LONGEST wait for chips takeaway, ate them in the local pub <thanks> and had a few more beers

Next morning we packed and left the SMELLIEST room in the world (courtesy of Tucker) and headed back down the coast to Larne.

A great trip …but maybe we should stay for the actual racing next year???

just completed my first biking trip on the continent: I had just packed in a job and was looking for somewhere to take my mind of it - a guy I know was already booked for a trip over to ... [Continue reading this entry]