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!
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| Photo stop on the road from Peebles to St Mary's Loch |
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| St Mary's Loch |
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| New helmets! |
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| Saying goodbye to our hosts at https://www.buccleucharmshotel.com/ |
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| Empty roads |
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| Guzzi's at rest |
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| No rush , we stopped here for at least 15 minutes and saw nobody else |
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| Lunch stop |
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| Still quiet |
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| Church in Keilder forest |
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| Most excellent tearoom in Simonburn |
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| Sunny day and nice surroundings, good food as well! |
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| Last picture in the sun |
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| Abingdon on the way home, colder but the rain stopped! |
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