Strontian Norton weekend

This year the weekend has reverted back to May, mostly to try to avoid the Midges which have often been a complete damper on the weekend. Obviously when the earth was created the powers that were in charge (or indeed nature) figured you cant have all this scenery without a downside, that downside was the dreaded Midge. In Alaska they have proper mozzies the size of small bird which are also a right nuisance, in the west of Canada and America they have the black fly which as far as I could tell were a very close relative to the Midge, I also heard them called "Noseeum" which is the same as the Midge but when there's hundred of them you can SEE UM and FEEL UM!

Anyway a posse of five set of around 1 on Friday, Fi and I Norton mounted , Alex on his Guzzi ,Budge on his Airhead and Johny T on his Triumph Tiger. There is no point in moaning about the Motorhomes and Caravans and blind and ignorant tourists in Cars, just take it as a given, they were there as well as some BMW adventure riders who couldn't bear to see older bikes ahead of them and who had to overtake and who can't ride round corners, they were also there. Despite that we had a nice run through Crieff, Lochearn, Tyndrum and Glencoe  stopping at the petrol station at Onich where I'm glad to say they have E5.

There is not a mortgage advisor on site so you have to organise a bank loan to pay for it before you get there. Its funny (Not funny ha ha but funny strange) that the western world put an extract from grain grown in field into petrol which means grain prices go up worldwide, people starve (and potentially come to Europe as economic migrants) AND our petrol is now shite and very expensive, remember ethanol free petrol was the norm till quite recently but now we pay a premium for 5% ethanol, marketed as "super fuel"  

Anyhow we got the ferry and had a nice run to the campsite at Strontian where we set up tent, some Nortons were already there and some well kent faces so after a blether and a cuppa in the sun (at this point Midge free) we headed to the pub, the evening  consisted of nonsense being talked and strong drink been taken, the following morning we all agreed we had taken a bit too much. Everybody done their own thing on Saturday with some going out for a run, Budge had his bag to bag a few scotia points and some of us went for a walk. Saturday was much more restrained in the evening thankfully.

Sunday arrived with a welcoming ceremony from the previous dormant midges eager to show off their blood sucking skills, we were all packed up and eventually away by just after 8AM thanks to them really. Phil had left earlier but was still waiting in the queue for the ferry as the welders were fixing the gangplank before anybody could go anywhere. The welders were there all day waiting for a quiet bit in the queues so they could carry on fixing in between sailings, it was sunny and they were on double time so they seemed happy.

A good run down the road and breakfast at Tullybannocher before getting home at 12, time to dry out the gear and reflect on a braw weekend.

 

   

   

John and his Tiger, still has PTSD after his commando ownership in the 80s

Budge

and of course Alex

Fiona and me (Thanks to Budge the photographer) 

Ferry time, all present and correct

ferry time

Waiting

Still waiting

en route

en route to the pub

Tide oot

Bert and Laurenne arrived

happy girls

Serious talking

Happy couple, thanks to Phil the photographer

Serious faces

Looking braw

Sun setting

Budge and Richard

commando corner

Phil was doing some repairs

a local appeared on this for his papers, pedal driven

We moved to a quieter spot

old machinery

Ewan on his Guzzi

braw scenery

braw 

Robert from Inverness was on his Commando

Alan's nice mk3

David with Smokey Joe

nice

Saturday night meal

Sun setting

enjoying the last rays

waiting for the ferry

The welders

And back to the mainland

Moto Guzzi Scottish Rally

 So another year another Scottish Rally, always great fun with nice people, after losing a fair bit of money last year it was decided to cut it down to two nights for the first time. To be honest two nights is enough for me these days and if we stayed on the Friday we were always a bit jaded after the Friday and Saturday night. Unlike the NOC who think that its OK to charge a huge amount of cash for Rally's for not much, I am glad to see the Guzzi club are thinking straight and keep it good value for money, and more importantly have so far staying away from becoming a Limited Company which entails the hard working volunteers becoming "Directors", this then leads to some people getting above themselves and getting an elevated view of their worth.

The Scottish Guzzi club is an excellent example of how you can run a friendly club and annual rally and under the stewardship of Ian McKay in my mind it's going from strength to strength. Of course having a very saleable lineup of Bikes helps bring in new and younger members which in turn helps the thing along.

The other Volunteers did a grand job of keeping it on track over the weekend, Mo and Donald despite stepping down officially are still doing far more than their bit and I for one , ok Fiona and I for two thank them, Rogan and Dave Breeze were also seen working hard over the weekend behind the scenes. Jim Allen Motorcycles had an open day on Saturday and laid in free tea and coffee and food for the attendees as well as some nice raffle prizes. Fi and I visited the Korean War memorial which is nearby to pay our respect to Fiona's Great Uncle who lost his life in that conflict at the age of 19.

Saturday night was brilliant with the band Audiorayz playing a superb selection of covers which kept the dancefloor busy all night.

A great weekend motorcycling, meeting old pals and getting to know new ones,  Is that not what life is about?   ...... And it didnae rain (very much) Woo Hoo

Andy from Turriff on the bike that won best Patina award

Charles, my next door neighbour for the weekend

Look, late evening sunshine

Gavin, our North of Scotland organiser watching Andy's grass skills 

Tent's up, Mo keeping Fiona of her mattress blowing up duties

Not sure what was going on, 2 rear wheels?

Korean war memorial

The rally field, plenty tents

again

Guzzi talk?

V100

Seen this before, not everybody's cup of tea but quality Luggage nonetheless

An earlier V85

Cannae escape 

Tea time

Older Stelvio

a well used V7

V100 in Green

Cali's were numerous

Nicer older Cali

Jake and Ali, just down from the pre 65

another cali

Best Bike award goes to Nick

Alan's Saturday steed ( he brought his V100 Friday and then went hame to walk the dug

Much Cali chat

This outfit was interesting

Home made trailing fork

Very clever and works a treat

New Stelvio, don't like the Stelvio Graphics, reminds me of stick on letters you get from the hardware store

Gavins 1400 Audace (means Bold or spirited)

A regular attender

V85's, common as muck

Saturday night nonsense being talked