Mair heat

 Still hot at the moment and since we have been tent lazy this year (is that a thing?) we decided on a nights camping at Elgin at the wonderful https://riversidecaravanparkelgin.co.uk/ I can thoroughly recommend this friendly site, they will accept tents from well behaved and sensible campers but space is limited so best to book in advance.

Excellent run up with a stop at Glenshee ski centre (also well recommended for a stop ) and we met up with Wilson Malloch who is part of the team there (and fellow Guzzi owner) , a couple of hours passed quickly and thanks to Wilson for the tea and cake!

Outstanding run over the Lecht, I was enjoying myself so much I forgot to take photos, we did have an incident when a local near Aberdour pulled out of his drive without looking, totally unaware that he could have caused an accident. We were luckily only doing about 40mph, any more and we would have struggled to stop. Be careful out there, its a bloody scary place.

We met up with Norrie Milton for a beer and then had a meal before heading back to the campground where my air bed decided not to be which left me spending most of the night not sleeping lying on the ground, oops, the joys of camping. 

Great run back on the Sunday which as they say in the Haynes manuals "is a reversal of the previous"

Great weekend, nice people, still not normal but it feels like it might be getting there, keep motorcycling and watch out for the loonies.

Sunshine at Glenshee

Looks like Summer!

Hump back bridge

Camping site

Austin 7's

Cool cars

Nice but glad I wasn't driving it

Tea stop, still hot hot hot

A wee run out

 The weather has been outstanding lately, everyone is saying "its too hot" but its not, in my opinion its fine. Last Sunday was cooler, so much so we had to resort to Scottish riding gear rather than our Mesh jackets normally used for sunnier climes.

The Pandemic continues to affect our lives, we are now meant to be in level zero whatever that means but its by no means normal, we still can't get abroad without quarantine and jumping through expensive hoops, Scotland is rammed full with "staycationers" who seem to be everywhere in Motorhomes and vans, some campsites are still not accepting tents. In my opinion Campsites should by law provide facilities for tents or lose their licence to run a campsite. Even Applecross was on the news saying they cannot cope with the numbers of tourists, what they probably mean is the roads can't! 

Meanwhile everyone has their heads in the sand,

Just thought of a song;

"Meanwhile everyone has their heads in the sand

Scotland has become mighty bland

The roads are full, the toilets closed

The rubbish everywhere forces you to hold your nose"

Ach well its a start, need to get back on the road to see new stuff, sometimes I feel without the adventure we are just burning tyres and petrol. 

  

A road somewhere

The same somewhere road

And again, not telling you or everyone will be here

Lunch stop, somewhere else, facilities provided by the estate, massive thanks!

Look , no rubbish, because there are buckets and toilets, funny that!

Wee Smokey, first Classic meeting in a while

 So the drama goes on, thousands, tens of thousands can go and watch Football, Horse Racing, Rugby and Tennis but no more than 1000 spectators at Knockhill race circuit to watch BSB last weekend. Knockhill is set in acres of ground at the top of a hill, 1000 people could have 50 metre separation and still not fill the place, its a bloody disgrace, rules for the idiot hordes but different rules for everyone else, this is tyranny of the highest degree make no mistake about that. There is now no science at all in the enforcement or setting of these rules and I defy anyone else to convince me otherwise. Most people have been vaccinated now, the youths that haven't have probably caught it. We cannot still travel freely and yet we have been poisoned with vaccines twice (I say poisoned because that is what it is) Why do we not have our freedom back? 

Anyhoo, I had a trip up to Arbroath to the first Wee Smokey for a while, what a crowd , incredible but everyone was being careful as almost all attendee's had a brain in their head, a bit of a sad note in that it was in honour of a recently departed Committee member from the Classic club Derek Horne, a former Senior Policeman, wonder what he thought about this nonsense from our leaders? anyway a short video of the Event, and remember Nil Illigitimi Carborundum! 

Weekend away (Guzzi content)

 Our friends Martin & Sure from Oxford were holidaying in Scotland last week with some of the Scottish Guzzisti so it would have been rude not to join them for a night at their planned stop at Kinlochleven. A nice run up the A82 and not too crazy busy, long lines of traffic following unconsiderate Motorhome drivers were the norm though but in general easy enough to pass on a motorcycle. The weather forecast wasn't good but it was pleasant and dry all the way however, after booking into our wooden shed the rain started and it meant the rest of the crew arrived pretty wet.

I thought we were meant to be back to some kind of normality but thanks to some of the staff at the McDonald Hotel they are still determined to make it abnormal, we got thrown off the table we sat at as it was needed for food service (there were other spare tables) then we were told we couldn't get a beer until we were sat down for food, staff making up their own rules again, we were all pretty pissed off with their attitude but we were stuck, luckily the travelling Guzzisti had copious beer supplies so we stood in the campsite and had a beer whilst enjoying the hordes of midges. The midges were beyond a joke, as I write this a couple of days after I have at least 100 midge bites, not funny. 

Anyhoo when we did get inside we had a fine night but the 10pm last orders thing caught us out as usual, unfortunately Sue and Martin provided us with a nightcap so we felt sufficiently rough in the morning. Goodbyes said, waterproofs on and a reasonable run home with a rainstorm of biblical proportions as we neared home. Great weekend, could have done without the rain and the midges but hey ho, what would have been the fun in that? 

Tea stop in Rannoch Moor

Bleak but warm and dry at this point

Usually a strong wind here but not today

View from the campsite isn't bad at all

Arrival of the touring Guzzisti

Wet

Wet

Wet

Wet

Ians Griso

Wet

Fi's bike developed a misfire on the way home, pretty sure its to do with the rain

Donalds Breva gets a rare outing

Yong Deer

Inside away from the midges

Stopped for adjustments

Group photo

Short trip in the Sunshine

 So just after midsummer we decided to have a few days away before the Guzzi rally at Skipton, the rally was cancelled due to ongoing Coronavirus restrictions which meant 100 of us couldn't get together camping in a field, meanwhile 6000 football fans were ok to make merry together in Glasgow, 20,000 idiots were ok to travel to London to cause chaos and bring back at least 2000 extra cases of the virus, 45,000 idiots could watch a game in Wembley because we all know the virus is ok if its about football or Rugby or Royal Ascot but not if it involves Motorcycles! Now the Indian variant (so called because its a mutation which occured in India and was brought back from India and Pakistan by  people, thousands of them, who had to go "home " for important life events like weddings and funerals which we here have all missed out on) its running rife but now it seems thats OK. What a fecking mess we have made of this. 

Anyhoo, rant over, we rode via Peebles to visit George and Margaret Martin for a nice cuppa and a cake, thanks George! down by St Mary's Loch and to Moffat to stay at the Buccleuch Arms Hotel, a wonderful place under the patronage of Dave Smith and his family who are keen motorcyclists and who look after their guests like no other establishment I've stayed in, garages are available to rent to keep your bike secure (although in the yard its pretty secure anyway) the rooms are nice and the food great. Dave also knows all the roads around so is happy to give guests suggestions for their ride outs even to the extent of providing print outs of maps and loading GPS's with the routes, now that's service. I'd highly recommend staying here for a few days to enjoy the wonderful border routes   https://www.buccleucharmshotel.com/

Dave gave us a suggestion for our ride to Penrith, around 160 miles of mainly empty roads some of which I have never been on but now glad we took him up on his route planning advice, empty roads, nice views and it helped that the sun was shining, a fantastic day meandering along and then over the border, even Keilder forest wasn't busy, a pleasant stay in our Hotel in Penrith that night but we were the odd ones out, the poor motorcyclists in the corner. 

The plan was then to camp in South Dumfrieshire but Friday arrived with a bang, wet and at least 12 degrees colder, a breakfast conference and we decided to head home as the weather in Perthshire was to be sunny, so that's what we did. Brilliant couple of days away from the homestead and back with recharged batteries.

Normally we might have just gone and camped anyway but the restrictions mean you cant "hang around" in a cafe or bar watching the rain, sitting in your tent in the pissing rain can at times be therapeutic but knowing there is no alternative takes the fun away somewhat . Roll on normality, whatever that means! 

 

Photo stop on the road from Peebles to St Mary's Loch

St Mary's Loch

New helmets!

Saying goodbye to our hosts at https://www.buccleucharmshotel.com/

Empty roads

Guzzi's at rest

No rush , we stopped here for at least 15 minutes and saw nobody else

Lunch stop

Still quiet

Church in Keilder forest

Most excellent tearoom in Simonburn

Sunny day and nice surroundings, good food as well!

Last picture in the sun

Abingdon on the way home, colder but the rain stopped!