Sunday morning, December the 5th and its cold but sunny. I "walked" the section outside the house and it was icy and slippery so a longer walk to the shop was required to suss out the conditions, this revealed all puddles were iced over. Now I'd woken up a bit grumpy due to thinking about a parcel thats gone missing (expect a full scale rant in future) and I wasn't sure if we should venture out on the bikes in icy conditions but lets face it a Sunny Sunday in December , what else would you do? Fiona convinced me to go for it so after a bacon roll and a cup of tea the road had defrosted a bit, the sun was as high as its ever going to be just two weeks roughly short of the Winter Equinox so off we set without a plan in mind really. I decided to stay on the main roads as there was more chance of avoiding the black ice and ended up having a very nice run through Crieff and Comrie to St Fillans to look at the majestic Loch Earn. George Martin and I had recently been reminiscing about some of the "Drum ups" that used to happen years ago so I thought it would be good to take a photo at the Loch Earn "Drum up" for old times sake.
The Drum up normally consisted of a group of motorcyclists huddled around a fire in a cut down 45 gallon drum or just an open fire and the attendees would brew up tea over the fire in a "billy can" whilst putting the world to rights and talking bikes, great memories and I was fortunate to meet some great characters who inspired my motorcycling. Sadly the "fishermen" and "wild campers" slowly forced us out plus some of the older stalwarts died off and so did the Drum up. Nowadays in the Summer the place is full of people you wouldn't want to share breathing space with so we will need to look for somewhere else to start our impromptu brew ups but at least its a plan.
Great day out, wee B'emm's going well and quiet and almost clean roads, what a way to lift your spirits, motorcycling, ye canny beat it, we even spotted Bill and Kat heading back in , Bill enjoying his 450 Ducati and Kat (at least I think it was Kat ) waving enthusiastically from the saddle of her bike.
 |
| Dry roads and sunshine, braw |
 |
| BMW's overlooking the Loch |
 |
| Too cold to take the helmet off |
 |
| Snow and sun, nice! |
 |
| As long as it stays at the top of the hill, I don't mind the snow |
 |
| The old Drum up spot |
 |
Its nice without the myriad of litter leavers
 | | And one from Decades ago |
|
Aye Gino and Fiona, good to see you out past the house and coming home on the road. Grand afternoon for a wee canter. Kat wasn't with me, she was beachcombing in Fife! The machine behind me was a Ducati scrambler, modern type with an unknown rider, who tagged behind me after turning onto the A85 at West Huntingtower; he left me in Crieff. I too went up to Loch Earn for a coffee and chocolate eclair, before returning and giving the old bird a wash down and blow dry with the leaf blower, before putting it away. Have to say the old Drum up was good craic. Good health, Myreside
ReplyDeleteAye Bill, apologies to Kat, I did do a second take but just assumed it was her, oh well your new pal with the Scrambler got a treat following the 450! Funnily enough the bikes weren't too bad despite Fiona doing a wee bit off roading in the layby, they were worse on Friday for a much shorter run at Lunchtime, looked like we'd ridden through a field or two!
ReplyDeleteGreat to get out anyway, sanity restored.