V11 Rally Scotland 18th to 20th May 2007

[Guzzirider]

Do you reckon that's shorter than west via Fort William?

Yes I think so- plus I have done the Fort William route many times and fancy a change! The A9 goes on forever and even though it is scenic, it's nowhere as wild as some of the roads out west but it will get us up there quicker, then we can go play in the twisties!

 

Who is up for some dolphin watching on the Black Isle when we get up there? Really spectacular, and they come right to the shore. Only 40 mins ride from where we will be based.

[macguzzi]

Still room at the Inn, booked bunkhouse this morning

[belfastguzzi]

Yes I think so- plus I have done the Fort William route many times and fancy a change! The A9 goes on forever and even though it is scenic, it's nowhere as wild as some of the roads out west but it will get us up there quicker, then we can go play in the twisties!

Looks like it could be best to go to eastwards anyway:

 

"Friday:

Rain soon clearing to blustery showers, the showers possibly merging at times in the west. Some drier and brighter spells in the east. Strong to gale force southwesterly winds.

 

Outlook for Saturday to Monday:

Bright with sunny spells and blustery showers during the period. The showers most frequent in the west, possibly merging at times. The best of the sunshine in the east. Windy."

 

yes, hilarious

[V11UK]

The best laid plans....

 

We set off early this morning and got as far as North Yorkshire but had to turn back. For the past month or so I've had trouble with my eyes which developed into conjunctivitis. I had hoped the problem would have totally cleared up but my eyes were proving too painful for riding.

 

Please accept my sincere apologies for not attending an event which I originally organised.

[Guzzirider]

A memorable trip in many ways! Helen and I had a great trip up to Moffat on Thursday night and stayed dry despite the rainy forecast. Met Mal at the Annandale Arms hotel, and in the morning set off up to the Highlands in heavy rain and blustery winds. The weather cleared when we got to Glasgow, so we decided to take the scenic A82 up the side of Loch Lomond and through Fort William. Stayed dry for most of the way, with the occasional light shower and we got up to the Aultguish Inn late afternoon.

 

Well, I'll say no more about that place apart from the fact that I think the owner will go out of business very soon, because nobody will ever go back there.

 

Had a great ride East on the Saturday with Helen, Mal, Euan (Macguzzi), Jaap and David (BFG). That is until I went down the road on my arse! Euan led us on some great roads east of the A9, very scenic and largely empty. Just a few miles short of our destination, myself and my Jackal parted company when I braked a little too hard on a wet gravelly road. I guess I was doing about 20mph at the time which does not sound like much but I assure you it is when you go down. It all happened so fast- one second I was upright, the next I was bouncing on the asphalt, and my bike was sliding down the road about 25 feet in front of me.

 

I went down on my right hand side, whacking my head on the ground as I fell. I was quickly up on my feet, grateful to still be in one piece. I assumed the bike would be a write off as it had slid so far. Helen had seen me go down in her mirrors and had stopped, then some passing riders stopped to help and when we lifted the bike up, miraculously there was only some cosmetic damage and the bike was still straight and rideable.

 

The front crashbar and hard luggage had taken the impact and the slide, the pannier popping off eventually (but staying in one piece!). I had a cracked mirror, bent footrest and brake pedal, scuffed the silencer, pannier and screen- and that was basically it! If I had been on my V11 I believe the damage would have been much more. BFG kindly rode back to see where we had disappeared to, but unfortunately his bike blew over in the wind, breaking his front brake lever and also snapping his foot brake lever.

 

My last spill on a bike was in 1987 when I was 19, and I have ridden over 200k miles since then without falling off, so I guess a fall was due sometime, but I am still embarrassed about the circumstances and the silly mistake I made. My Roof helmet is going into the bin, as is my gore tex jacket. The back, shoulder and elbow armour saved me from more serious injury but the gore tex material wore down to the inside lining- it's warm and waterproof but does not protect as well as leather, and if I was going any faster I guess I would have got some serious road rash.

 

We limped to the Spittal Of Glenshee Inn for repairs (BFG did a fanstastic bodge on his footbrake) and booked ourselves into a bunkhouse. The hospitality, and standard of accomodation put the Aultguish Inn to shame and we all enjoyed a few drinks.

 

Had an uneventful ride home today- I was a wee bit sore, but the sun was shining and the route we took (through the borders and Northumberland) was great. We left David and Jaap who headed west together (hope you enjoyed your extra days in Scotland Jaap!), and Euan left us in Edinburgh.

 

Guy

 

Some piccies:

 

A good turnout- shame about the Inn:

Brian Johnson from AC/DC siging autographs

BFG destroying his power to weight ratio with a very large burger

Helen at the Annadale Arms

Saturday's ride

Euan's Scura

Mal's naked Le Mans

Helen's V11 Sport

Jaap's naked Le Mans (and nice lid!)

An hour lafter this was taken it had a few more scratches

Thank you for saving my head!

[belfastguzzi]

Well done getting the pics up so quickly. Sealer stopped the flow of oil, though not completely. Let us know how your collar bone is. Jaap probably in hotel overloooking the sea at Troon. It was nice and sunny when we arrived. I got home after 11pm. Pics and stuff later. Despite horrendously wet start and several 'incidents', it ended-up a thoroughly enjoyable long weekend,

Cheers to all.

[macguzzi]

Well that ride from the shit inn is one of the best of all time thanks to all that came with me on an adventure through the highlands hope you enjoyed, my pleasure from the stump king!

[Baldini]

Chris, sorry to hear re the eyes, hope it clears up for you.

 

Guy, shit happens! hope you're over it soon.

 

Sorry I missed you chaps, too much other commitments.

 

Best to all, Keith.

[V11UK]

Sorry to read about your damage Guy and David - what a disaster the whole weekend turned out to be .

 

The hotel was chosen from a current 'biker friendly' guide and my previous contacts with the landlord over the phone seemed OK. I can only apologise but I guess that's the drawback of choosing somewhere 400 miles from home....

[Guzzirider]

No worries Chris- I still had a great weekend despite the fall! Hope your eyes are better.

 

As for the Inn, the lady I booked with sounded very nice over the phone too!

 

A suggestion for next year is the Ken Bridge Hotel in New Galloway- a hotel / campsite set near alongside river Ken. The landlord is biker friendly and keen to host a bash, and the roads around there are superb.

 

Jaap may be staying there today!

 

Cheers

 

Guy

[belfastguzzi]

Sorry to read about your damage Guy and David - what a disaster the whole weekend turned out to be .

Not at all! Once again I say thanks for organising the opportunity for a get away. They are few and far between, so I wrote it into the diary when you first posted. With work demands, I then thought that it wasn't going to happen, however at last minute I decided to just go (moral support from Guy).

 

I must admit that on Friday morning, after getting up from two hours' sleep and then driving up the hateful road from Cairnryan / Stranraer in a storm, I was wondering... For the same cost, why didn't I just book into a luxury hotel at home and stand in the cold shower all weekend? The weather was so bad that the ferry couldn't dock at Troon so sailed down to Cairnryan instead. A bad start.

 

A main reason for going was – the company: and that was great. Just sorry that Antonio left early after having a very bad time at the 'inn' and that we only saw Gary and Bertie and others for the first night, before we headed off South. It turns out that Jaap is a real person: I thought that he's a computer programme (beta version). We were, of course, all disappointed that you weren't able to make it and that Martin had other duty to do.

 

Second reason was to get great riding on great roads with great scenery, in company. That was achieved handsomely on our Saturday ride through the hills (which ended cruelly only a mile or so from the day's destination!) and again on Sunday when Jaap and I went west by Lochs Tay and Lomond. We even got sunshine in the end.

 

I'm up for Guy's idea of Galloway next time. If folk would come to NI, we could have a good few days over here sometime too.

[Ballabio Bertie]

Had a good time too! Good to meet up with "cyberfriends"at last.Galloway sounds good to me, and a trip to BFG's homeland would be great! Hope that eyes,bruises,dents,scratches and breakages are all soon fixed and we meet again soon! :bier:My only misfortune was the loss of all the oil from my shock-most of it missed the tyre........

[Mal]

Hi to one and all of the brave folk who made it up to Scotland, it was a top weekend despite the "mishaps" .

 

It was great to meet up with all of you and I look forward to doing so again, Chris, thanks for organising this, I know the original destination wasn't good but that wasn't your fault and the weekend turned out to be superb, I hope you are recovering well.

 

In short, great company, roads and weather (most of the time), and no actual Guzzi breakdowns (just gravity related damage).

 

Cheers

 

Mal

[V11UK]

Thanks for your kind words - my eye problem is clearing up but trying to ride motorcycles hasn't helped the situation .

 

I've felt really guilty about the whole weekend but all of you seem to have made the most of it despite the problems. I just hope Antonio and Jaap will still speak to me after coming so far....

 

I/we will select somewhere like the Galloway suggestion for next year ....

[belfastguzzi]

In short, great company, roads and weather (most of the time), and no actual Guzzi breakdowns (just gravity related damage).

 

Cheers

 

Mal

Big thanks for the plug cap Mal: otherwise I would have been traveling home on a 500 single.