The Watermill Run

As I’m lucky enough to get my biking fill on the quieter weekdays I don’t tend to ride so much at the weekends. However, when Ian put his run up , I was tempted by the route, was familiar with the proposed cafe lunch stop, and – clearly he knew something we didn’t when he considered the run – Saturday was the only day of the weekend that the forecast was looking good!
As the weekend grew closer so did the length of attendees. Not always a good sign in my book as, with big groups of riders, things can become, let’s just say, difficult to manage.
However, come the day, The Crieff Visitor Centre car park / local motorcycle Mecca started to fill with many familiar and a few not so familiar, bikes and faces. I won’t for a minute try to recall everyone and match them to their bikes but, suffice to say, there were 17 riders and the usual mix of Triumph Tigers, BMW GS(A)s, SV650 V-Stroms, BMW 900XR variants, an NT1100 and a Multistrada (OK Norman, you get a mention as I definitely know that was yours). Some idiot even turned up on a Royal Enfield Shotgun and was seriously contemplating whether he had time to shoot home and choose something more suitable as he was feeling a little inadequate 🙂 However, his mind was changed and his choice vindicated when the earsplitting Triumph scrambler of David Syme shattered windscreens as he joined our masses. Someone else on probably not the most suitable bike – we could share the pain!
Prior to Ian’s ride briefing I took the chance to say hello to a couple of people I hadn’t previously met. Nice to meet Rudy and Tim. Also had a bit of a catchup with Gerti who was telling me about a forthcoming trip to the Himalayas this November. I think as a penance Gerti, when the time comes, you need to keep the group informed regularly while on your travels. Sounds exciting!
With everyone gathered Ian ran through our planned route for the day and included a summary of the drop off system (and incorporated buddy system today) that we would be using. Only two more things required before the off – a TEC (Ewan jumped straight in and picked up that task) and a storyteller. Usual SMC story, everyone takes one step backwards and, being slow on my feet, well……here we are.
Without going through the route step by step, mile by mile, I’ll summarise with a few highlights. The drop-off system worked a treat throughout the day, even at those points where some of our number peeled off for home at different points – David Jerome, Gerti, Ian Beedie (I forgot your Honda 650!) and finally David Syme – I didn’t hear anyone say they missed his exhaust. In fairness I wasn’t able to hear anything after riding in his general vicinity for close to five hours 🙂 Mind you, Mr Elvin comes a close second!!! Your penance should be that you bring your wife’s sidecar unit on one of our runs. Better still she brings it with you as passenger.
I digress (as usual) but fair to say that Ian managed the sizeable group very well. Even our proposed lunch stop, which gave its name to our run, was changed to Food in the Park which was much better able to handle 17 bikes and riders.
So, back to the ride itself. A really good mix of main roads and back roads but the common theme for the day was stunning scenery. Scotland, and particularly Highland Perthshire, at its finest. With the drop-off system working well it gave a great opportunity to move within the group as individuals were placed by Ian as markers. At one point I rode behind The Moss’s – Janet and John on their similarly plated KTMs (see, you thought I’d forgotten you and your KTMs…..) only for them to to have to endure a trial separation as Janet became our next marker and John was left to lead the pack (behind Ian). Fortunately their parting was brief, with John followed by myself, becoming the next markers. This allowing John to join with Janet again at the back of the pack and all was well again in the Moss household 🙂
It was around this point in the run that I encountered a new piece of road for me. The stretch from Trinafour to Struan and Calvine was lovely and I was doubly surprised to find we came out of that at The House of Bruar shopping complex. Wouldn’t have guessed we were in that neck of the woods.
One wee funny that happened at lunch which highlighted our observation skills as motorcyclists, was when one of our gang, who shall remain nameless (but for the sake of this story I’ll call him Kenny), asked if we’d seen at what point David Jerome had left the run as he had needed to get home a little early. None of us in our huddle were aware of that and I suggested he check with both run leader and TEC to make sure that he had departed safely and with their knowledge. At this point one our huddle pointed and said “That David Jerome there?” There he stood, back to us, not thirty yards away! 🙂
Our run continued through more backroads in glorious countryside and and, at one regrouping point, Ian got agreement from the group that we would skip our proposed afternoon coffee stop as we were making good time and it wasn’t that long until we would be back in Crieff. So with that we were on our way again and on route to Little Glenshee. I’d ridden this only once before on another of of Ian’s runs but in the opposite direction. Today’s direction was definitely the way to do it – amazing scenery and, in my opinion, friendlier on the eye than its bigger namesake. As we drew towards the ‘bottom’ of the Glen we all pulled up and, even from my position right at the back, it was clear Ian was organising something – no doubt a wee photoshoot as he mounted his bike and disappeared up the bends without the next in line following. Now I mentioned ‘bottom’ as I would have sworn I was pointing downhill but, as I had switched off my engine and released my brakes, I discovered Perthshire has its very own Electric Brae! Yep I was going backwards uphill. Back to the photoshoot…..no doubt already been seen on our Facebook page or run photos by now, The SMCs very own version of a wet T-shirt competition 🙂 (For any youngsters reading – its the SMC, there aren’t any – these were inappropriate poolside competitions from a bygone era). Ian had us ride through the ford where, I for one, had a real fear of the front washing out and it all being captured for posterity on camera. Fortunately we all made it through safely.
And from there it was a nice gentle ride back through the countryside to our finish back in Crieff (which I should mention was strangely quiet with not a sound to be heard. The reason being that David Syme had departed for home near to The Sma’ Glen and we were all as deaf as posts by then).
Back at the Visitor Centre we paid our thanks to Ian for organising and leading and to EWAN for his duties TEC for the day, Great job both. It struck me too how our run had been very international, drawing riders from all four corners of the globe. Well, from Germany, Italy, Greece, England not to mention far away outposts such as Paisley, East Kilbride, Edinburgh, Linlithgow, Falkirk, Stirling and Perth! Clearly a weekend run is a very attractive draw to club members particularly for those saddled with work during the week………

SO (throwing down the gauntlet), we, SMC club members, need to do more to fill our riding calendar. I’d encourage all reading this to consider putting on a run at some point. It’s very easy to put together – pick a route you like and are familiar with, ensure there’s a coffee stop or two on route, post on the website and Bob’s your uncle. You all know how informal they are on the day so there’s always plenty of assistance available if needed. Make it easier still and just pick a run from the calendar that’s been done at some point in the past and re-run it. The little amount of legwork required has already been done.
We’ve got at least another three months left for decent riding this year so let’s see if we can at put two or three more runs a month on! Ta.