July Holiday Week Part 2

The weather for Skye looked better towards the end of the week, and with a wee breeze forecast to hopefully keep the midges away. We had a quiet morning run up the A9, then turned off at Dalwhinnie for our first café stop at The Apiary. It was a fine run to our next café stop at Harrapool. The roads were pretty quiet considering it's peak holiday time. Our destination was Glenbrittle campsite which meant riding past the carpark for the Fairypools, where we encountered a flock of suicidal tourists blindingly stepping in front of us on a tricky downhill section. We didn't have a pitch booked as they don't take pre bookings for tents if you don't want electrical hook-ups. There were plenty spaces and we soon got the bikes unloaded and the tent put up. Our plan was to have our tea off the stove and have a couple of drinks beside the tent. The midges weren't a problem till next morning, which meant no lazing around having breakfast at the tent, instead we chose to use the excellent facilities. We were starting to pack up the camping stuff when I was commandeered by another motorcyclist standing in front of me with a set of jump leads, I suppose you know what I'm going to ask was his opener, oh and I've got a tour of the Talisker Distillery this morning! His Triumph adventure bike's battery was flat so it wouldn't start. I duly obliged, hopefully earning good Karma for a dry and trouble free run home. I did ask him to take a photo of the Big Yam rescuing his triumph, I'm still waiting on the photo which he did take. We had a good run home, apart from the Invergarry petrol station being out of fuel, thankfully we had fuelled up in Broadford which got us to Dalwhinnie. 400 miles of motorcycling in stunning scenery, and lots of café stops. We are busy planning our next holiday back in the beautiful Orkney Islands, sans bikes, but hopefully lots of coastal walks on islands we haven't been to yet.

Ready for the road

Tank bag for Wattie

Parked up at The Coffee Bothy in Harrapool

Bikes parked up at the foot of the Black Cuillins

Cuillin Munro's

Beach walk

Paragliding kit practise

Black and white version

Beer time

Friendly Chaffinch

Loch Brittle

Campsite reception and café

The Yam packed up for the journey home

July Holiday Week Part 1

We had a good start to our holidays this morning with two Mot passes, the plan was to ride through Crieff and down the side of Loch Lomond via Luss. The weather looked to be an improving forecast so we carried on with our bike run. As we approached Comrie it started to chuck it down, making it an easy decision for a detour to Camp 21for some food, and wait for a break in the rain. It wasn’t too bad along Loch Earn, but it came on heavy again up Glen Ogle and stayed pretty wet all the way down Loch Lomond, the mist blurring the hills opposite, the only views we had were of the spray on our visors. Thankfully it did get better the further north we got through Balloch and Stirling. Our bike gear started to get a bit drier by the time we got to Perth, which looked like we had missed a recent downpour. Even though the rain was lashing down for big stretches of the journey and wet for most of the day, it still felt great to be out on the bikes.

Roll on the summer.

Cultybraggan Camp

Clorty bikes at The Woodhouse by Kippen

Glamis Extravaganza 13/07/25

We ventured out in the blazing sunshine, to have a look at the classic bikes and cars on show at the Strathmore Vintage Vehicle Club Glamis Extravaganza. The displays all looked to be well attended, and we managed a few blethers with folk on the way round. We stayed for a couple of hours wandering around in the heat before I'd had enough, we did manage an ice cream to cool down for a minute. As always the organisers did a great job of the marshalling.

The Vintage Motorcycle Club stand

A special Guzzi

A Sunbeam also with a fishtail exhaust

I don't know what the engine is, but it's certainly an eye catching build

Ford Zodiac and owner

A stunning Vauxhall Velox

A lot of chrome to polish

Rickman Kawasaki

A nice Honda 400 Four

Very nice Honda 750 Four

Triumph Thunderbird

Stunning BSA just asking me to take it for a run

The showground

A sunny Glamis

Beautiful Aston Martin DB6

The Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club stand

Good looking Kawasaki Z900

Honda SP1, one owner from new

A very clean Kawasaki Z650 which does get used

Glamis Castle

TVNOC Weekend in Strontian. 10/05/25

It was an early start on the Saturday morning to get the bikes and gear ready for our first camping weekend in Strontian for two years. The glorious sunshine forecast made it a bit easier to bear though. The run along the side of  Loch Earn and through Glencoe was superb, not much traffic and both bikes in their element. We didn't have to wait too long on the ferry, and pretty soon we were back on the bikes again, enjoying the quiet roads and stunning scenery of the Ardnamurchan Peninsula. We arrived at the Sunart Campsite and got on with pitching the tent first, then some of the Norton folk started to appear, it had been a late night on the drink by all accounts. A few photos were taken and some good blethers before it was time to head to the pub for some beer and our tea. All of the Friday night folk started to drift off early leaving me and Lesley at the bar, an early night made for a better morning, and soon it was time to pack the bikes and head home. The ride back was just as good, and all too soon we were home wishing that it had been the start of a bigger trip. Roll on the next bike run, but the next holiday is very soon in the Cairngorm hills, hopefully with some great days at a slower pace out and photos to come.

Heading to Ardnamurchan on the Corran Ferry

Robert's Commando getting some respite from the sun

Alex's Guzzi V7

The Rondelli Commandos

John's Triumph and Budge's BMW

Alan's Guzzi T3

Big Yam and Street Triple parked up for the day

Phil back from his run

Gino's portrait of John using my camera when I wasn't looking

Gino's portrait of Budge

Gino's self portrait

Loch Sunart

SCMC Spring Gathering, Fife Airport 27/04/25

Due to holidays and other commitments in 2024, this was the first time in a year that we managed to attend an SCMC gathering. It was a pretty cold and damp run to the airport, but after a while standing around blethering, it started to warm up as the sun peeked out. It was great to catch up with Stevie and Dave, talking about old times and the bikes. It looked to be a good turnout of folks on their bikes, all happy to be out of winter probably. Hopefully we will manage to catch a few more SCMC meets this year. Thanks to the club and the airport cafe staff for organising the day.

A later Kawasaki GPz 900R in original B model colours, just like my old one

17 inch front wheel, different forks and higher bars than the original model

A good collection of bikes

Sans sidestand

I do like a GPz

A nice Triumph Tiger 650

Non original Ducati Mike Hailwood replica

Triumph tools to fix Phil's Commando's loose mirror

Dave and Stevie's bikes

Phil having a look at the Ducati

Fraser's BSA 650 Lightning

Gino's BMW R100 alongside the Big Yam and Street Triple

Touring Vincent

Tidy Honda 400-4

Triumph Hurricane alongside a stunning Ducati

Phil heading off for a hurl

Seggie heading off

John heading off

John and Budge getting ready for the off

Budge heading home

Martin's BSA

George's great looking Guzzi V7 Sport