A River Tay long weekend 26 - 28/05/18

The bank holiday weekend started for us on Saturday morning with a run through the quiet roads of Fife on the Big Yam and the Street Triple, trying to stay away from an expected mega busy A9 and Perth traffic. Saturday nights plan was to have a our tea and few beers listening to the music at the Big Tay Out in the Taybank Dunkeld beer garden, it must have been more of a day thing as it had petered out by the time we arrived, never mind, a visit to the P.A ended up a much better night.
Sunday dinner time we headed back to Dunkeld for a walk along the river since the sun was still shining bright.

The River Tay

Beer garden

The River Tay

Dunkeld

Thomas Telford's Bridge Dunkeld

Fisher folk in a boat

Lesley and Sitka enjoying the sunshine

Dunkeld Monkey Puzzle Tree

River Tay canoeists

A Monday bank holiday off and the sun still shining, this time we headed to Errol for the Taybank circular 5 mile walk, starting in Errol, down the farm track, onto the paths through the trees giving views over the River Tay to the hills between Wormit and Newburgh, the sandbanks with the names Carthagena and Sure as Death banks and of the stunning reed beds, the largest continuous bed of reeds in the UK, 15km of them along to Port Allen, and then open paths alongside oil seed rape and wheat crops. What a cracking day in all, stunning scenery and lots of wildlife.

Beautiful oil seed rape colours

The reed beds

Old farm buildings

The reed beds going on for Miles

Ducks taking off

A curious swan

The times, they have changed Bob

Port Allen

A first 2 Munro's kind of a day 19/05/18

The weather forecast on Saturday was to be bright sunshine all day, so what better way to make the most of it than to do our first Munro walk .We decided to head up to the two Munro mountains of Ben Lawers 1214m high and Beinn Ghlas 1103m high, the route planned on Friday night on the OS map and the GPS for backup. When we got to the car park below the Lawers Dam, I was totally surprised by the amount of cars already parked there, by the time we got the boots on, cars were being abandoned all the way up the side of the single track road and in passing places.
We made our way up the well made path weaving around the Lawers Burn until it was time to head along the left shoulder of Beinn Ghlas to the Bealach then up Ben Lawers, Thankfully Lesley's friend Evelyn gave us this alternative route rather than following the hordes up the steep face of Beinn Ghlas.
The climb up the slope especially in the heat was not an easy walk but it is the tenth highest mountain in Scotland, loads of people in front and behind us all the way to the top. What a feeling of achievement to get to the top in 2 hours and 4 minutes, after the planning, heavy legs and some swears and plenty sweat.
We didn't dwell too long at the summit, some shelter from the increasing wind was needed to get some oatcakes and water down ready for the steep descent to the Bealach and the leg stretch up to the summit of Beinn Ghlas, getting windier and a definite chill, we headed straight down the steep slope, some pretty big rocks making the path easy to follow but not good for the knees.
What a great day in the sunshine, 7.1 miles in 4 hours 34 minutes in total, the guide books reckon 4 - 6 hours, not bad for 3 beginners.
I was treated to a birthday tea at  Uisge in Murthly, fish, chips and a few beers rounded of an excellent day and week.

Eric's Wee Smokie, Arbroath 29/04/18

Last Sunday Lesley and I headed up to Eric's Wee Smokie classic bike gathering in Arbroath, we took some very small back roads to make the most of the beautiful sunshine, the Street Triple and the now very responsive ( fast ) 124.43 HP Big Yam were on song all the way.
When we arrived there were already well over 100 bikes parked up and the owners milling around chatting about all things motorcycling. I had taken my Rolleicord along to finish of the remaining Kodak Portra 400 colour film exposures then put in a roll of Fujifilm Acros 100 pushed to 400 for the first time, the Portra is still to be developed which I will put up the photos when I get them back.
Once again it was great to meet up with loads of like minded folk all happy at the great turnout, probably 200 or so different bikes and seeing the sun burn bright for a change this year.
Thanks to Eric and all the organisers for putting in their precious time to make it a great meeting.
Some photos from the Fuji digital for now.
The following first nine photos were taken on the Rolleicord in Kodak Portra 400.

Alan's BSA Rocket 3

Cracking Ducati 900 SS

Some of the assembled masses

BSA Rocket Gold Star

Jake near and Gino in the distance in bike conversations I presume

Eric handing out he furthest travelled prize, an Arbroath Smokie

Lesley's Street Triple looking great in the sunshine

Lesley, Sandy and Norrie

Alan's BSA Rocket 3

Cracking Excelsior

Some of the assembled bikes

Panther at rest

Mac's Norton JPN bathing in the sunshine

Nice AJS

Some classic albeit customised Jap stuff too

Beautiful BSA Rocket Gold Star was getting a lot of attention, would be worth trading in the Big Yam for one :-)

Triumph Trident with the RGS looking on

Couldn't take my eyes off the RGS

Lesley in discussion

Eric of Eric's Wee Smokie

Jake taking the weight off

Lovely colourful 650 BSA