Once again its been a busy old month starting with Bert and Laurens’s party pushed back to August in the hope of better weather and well, it worked, we visited in the sidecar, I rode as far as Gifford where we bumped into Andrew Wilson (former Classic Bike Guide scribe) and some Australian members of the BSA owners club having a wee run to get ready for their trip to the BSA International rally in Denmark the following week. After a cuppa and a wonderful sausage roll at the café Fiona took over and transported me in style to the party, lucky we were there early to get the tent up, space and invites are at a premium so later Bert and I were wondering what exactly was on the telly that kept some people from turning up, must have been good because the party as always was excellent, great food, great company and copious amounts of alcohol, how can it fail. Sunday arrived as it often does after Saturday night and also arrived with a bit of a hangover, funnily enough after lots of alcohol, it’s great we have these constants in life to keep us on the straight and narrow. I handed full responsibility to Fiona to pilot the outfit and me back home which she did in confident style. If you ever want to feel what it’s like to ride in a bobsleigh along the Edinburgh bypass at 70MPH, try a sidecar, after the initial worry its quite good fun, even helps to make you forget the hangover. Oh and if Andrew reads this sorry for not dropping in on the Sunday, I had to rush home to lie on the couch for a while!
The Classic club was next on the agenda, we have missed a couple of meetings and were surprised to see such a huge crowd, great to see so many motorcyclists but I fear the "classic" part of the meeting has been diluted to being non existent, there were a few tasty bike there though.
Martin Connachy , Mickey McEneaney from Ireland and Peter Allen from Colorado were doing a Scottish tour this week, Peter and Martin on their Vincents so at great personal sacrifice I rode up with Alex to Applecross to meet up, a spectacular run up although a fatality near Loch Carron meant we had a 130 mile detour to get there. As always well worth the effort and as well as a convivial night we were treated to a spectacular sunset and dare I say it but it was actually warm! Great to see the regulars up there and a surprise meeting with Geoff Mumford and Heather who were on their holidays, plenty V twins around and only one from Milwaukee. The pics tell the story better than I can, plenty motorcycle content!
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| A stop at Pentcaitland to pay homage to Scotlands sidecar hero |
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| BSA at Gifford |
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| Andrew trying the outfit for size |
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| Another BSA, this time Davie Clarks |
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| Bert explaining he wants to sell all his bikes and buy a Norton.... |
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| Gus and Barry discuss beard trimming |
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| Dave Clark, a late entry to the battle of the beards |
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| Now thats a topbox!!!!! |
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| My view from the bobsleigh |
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| Another BSA, really spotless at the Classic club |
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| Pretty pretty |
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| Nice to see Russell (Guzzi Scottish Rally supremo) just back from an extended European holiday |
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| Kinda busy |
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| Very nice square 4 and outfit |
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| George's V7, tasty |
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| At the viewpoint at Lochcarron just before the road was blocked |
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| First time this year I've had heat at the top of the Bealach |
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| Hmmm sunset |
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| Mist shrouded Raasay |
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| Stunning |
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| And again |
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| Party party |
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| Morning over the bay |
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| Vincent's posing at the pub |
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| Peters bike looking over Applecross Bay |
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| Quite common these Vincent things |
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| Martin with his Vincent grin |
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| Peter and his sister Annie |
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| Heading home, stop for a tea and a burger, not at all bad |
