Post by An X-Member on Jun 29, 2009 21:11:01 GMT
Well What a weekend. Weather was fantastic, roads were superb and a good time was had by all, well apart from two anyway.
The run up to Newcastle on Thursday was enjoyable, passing through the lakes and taking in the Alston road. Traffic wasn't that bad either, surprising quiet actually.
Received a call later off one of the lads who was meeting us later on in town that one of the bikes had seized about 10 mile out of Newcastle.
They eventually made it about 9 ish, but due to bike problems their plan to join us for part of Friday's run was scuppered.
Fridays run up to Inverness was an eventful one, low cloud over the border meant the speed was down for a while, but once it cleared we started to make up some time. Stopped off at the Wallace Monument to meet up with an old mate of Kevs after a chat and a coffee we headed north only to get as far as Strathyre where Daz's bike had a terminal engine failure. Waited around a while, and once we knew he was OK with respect to a truck being on its way the remaining 3 of us carried on heading north.
By time we had rounded Loch Tay it was getting late so we blasted it up to Inverness.
Arrived around 7:15 only to find that the hotel booking had been cocked up.
Managed to get in somewhere else but it was way out of town, at least we got a bed for the night. Had a call later off Daz to say he was home, that was 10:30. Think the breakdown truck was rocket propelled or something.
Sorry we missed you Adbru, but we were running late and there was no way we were going to get to your house before you left for work.
Saturday we decided to have an easier day than planned, so as much as a dissapointment that it was we decided to give Applecross a miss,
We met up with another old mate Dave, from the Isle of Lewis at Urqhart Castle and headed down to Oban calling in at the Commando Memorial, Fort William and Connel before meeting up with Gordy, Chaliebird and n4naked at Oban.
Kev had a speedo problem so he had no Idea what speed he was doing, so he had to follow me to make sure he didn't go over 60 mph (well I may have strayed over 60 a couple of times but never more tha 61 ish).
On entering Oban Ziggy got pulled by the fuzz for his number plate, but they let him off because he stayed calm and polite.
The guys then joined us for the trip down to Glasgow.
Nice to meet up with you guys, not very often we get to meet up. Enjoyed the Glasgow night time scenery, very nice.
Thanks for the phone charge by the way, just about lasted until I got home.
The run down from Glasgow to Gretna on Sunday was a bit wet at times but not enough to stop and put the waterproofs on. Dave took us down without using the M-way which wasn't that much slower actually, but a lot more enjoyable. there we said our goodbyes and all parted company.
Dave headed back north to his Island retreat.
Kev and Ziggy headed off down the M-way as they needed to get back early.
So I tootled off on my own and had a great run back down to Stoke via Alston, Teesdale, Devils Bridge and Lythe Fell.
Arrived back home around tea time, tired and aching all over but I really enjoyed the whole weekend.
May even do it again next year but take more time with more stop overs so as to enjoy the touristy bits a bit more instead of just going up for the blast around the Scottish Roads.
The only real downer to visiting Scotland is the roads in the rest of the country seem a bit bland now.
The run up to Newcastle on Thursday was enjoyable, passing through the lakes and taking in the Alston road. Traffic wasn't that bad either, surprising quiet actually.
Received a call later off one of the lads who was meeting us later on in town that one of the bikes had seized about 10 mile out of Newcastle.
They eventually made it about 9 ish, but due to bike problems their plan to join us for part of Friday's run was scuppered.
Fridays run up to Inverness was an eventful one, low cloud over the border meant the speed was down for a while, but once it cleared we started to make up some time. Stopped off at the Wallace Monument to meet up with an old mate of Kevs after a chat and a coffee we headed north only to get as far as Strathyre where Daz's bike had a terminal engine failure. Waited around a while, and once we knew he was OK with respect to a truck being on its way the remaining 3 of us carried on heading north.
By time we had rounded Loch Tay it was getting late so we blasted it up to Inverness.
Arrived around 7:15 only to find that the hotel booking had been cocked up.
Managed to get in somewhere else but it was way out of town, at least we got a bed for the night. Had a call later off Daz to say he was home, that was 10:30. Think the breakdown truck was rocket propelled or something.
Sorry we missed you Adbru, but we were running late and there was no way we were going to get to your house before you left for work.
Saturday we decided to have an easier day than planned, so as much as a dissapointment that it was we decided to give Applecross a miss,
We met up with another old mate Dave, from the Isle of Lewis at Urqhart Castle and headed down to Oban calling in at the Commando Memorial, Fort William and Connel before meeting up with Gordy, Chaliebird and n4naked at Oban.
Kev had a speedo problem so he had no Idea what speed he was doing, so he had to follow me to make sure he didn't go over 60 mph (well I may have strayed over 60 a couple of times but never more tha 61 ish).
On entering Oban Ziggy got pulled by the fuzz for his number plate, but they let him off because he stayed calm and polite.
The guys then joined us for the trip down to Glasgow.
Nice to meet up with you guys, not very often we get to meet up. Enjoyed the Glasgow night time scenery, very nice.
Thanks for the phone charge by the way, just about lasted until I got home.
The run down from Glasgow to Gretna on Sunday was a bit wet at times but not enough to stop and put the waterproofs on. Dave took us down without using the M-way which wasn't that much slower actually, but a lot more enjoyable. there we said our goodbyes and all parted company.
Dave headed back north to his Island retreat.
Kev and Ziggy headed off down the M-way as they needed to get back early.
So I tootled off on my own and had a great run back down to Stoke via Alston, Teesdale, Devils Bridge and Lythe Fell.
Arrived back home around tea time, tired and aching all over but I really enjoyed the whole weekend.
May even do it again next year but take more time with more stop overs so as to enjoy the touristy bits a bit more instead of just going up for the blast around the Scottish Roads.
The only real downer to visiting Scotland is the roads in the rest of the country seem a bit bland now.