Gino's Travels: First joint ride out in 2023

Monday, 9 January 2023

First joint ride out in 2023

So at last the first weekend into the new year we both got out for a wee ride in Perthshire, the snow has all but melted and the temperature stayed above 5 degrees C. To be honest and I have said it before, not getting out on the bike affects my health, I need the feeling of being out there and being part of nature to feel alive. This time of year it is cold but at times you can feel a slight warmth in the sun when it breaks through, Motorcycling is good for you!

We went through Glenalmond where we still had to watch for slippy parts and through the sma glen, the sun only touches the tops of the hills at this time of year at the bridge but in the wider open spaces it gets through to the road, up towards Aberfeldy, the road getting wintry at the climb to the "Norton" lay-by at the top. The lay-by was still covered in snow and ice so any impromptu meetings will have to be somewhere else for a while. We got into Aberfeldy and on route spotted two other bikes just below the log place, we gave them a cheery wave, some other people are as mad as us.

To Kenmore where we unexpectedly met up with Geoff Mumford who was in the van, we sheltered in the van for half an hour to get a heat up and then continued to Fearnan and Fortingall to Coshieville before heading back through Aberfeldy and repeating the run home. I stopped to speak to the guy who was still at the Logging place to make sure he was ok, transpired the valve had blown out of the back tyre of his ZZR1400 and the tyre was understandably flat,I reckon he had a lucky escape,I dread to think what would have happened if he had been pushing on, he was waiting for the AA to get him to a tyre place, he looked freezing, I reckon he must have been there at least 2 1/2 hours.

Luckily we had no excitement other than a braw run home, bikes recharged and brain recharged, ye canny whack it!