Lyon Lunch Run Thursday 01/10/26
Five of us met up at Debbie’s Stirling for this run, Ian McIntosh, Kenny Anderson, Allan Jones, Janet and myself. The weather forecast promised to be good and apart from a couple of brief light showers it was. We headed off on the M9/A9 North briefly, then off at Kinbuck and along the back country roads to Braco, up to Muthill, then more of the less travelled roads to join the Sma’ Glen up to Aberfeldy. We then crossed the Tay at Wades Bridge and headed through Weem and Dull before passing The Fortingall Yew Tree (Allegedly aged somewhere between 2000 and 5000 years!). We then headed up Glen Lyon where we encountered our first obstacle, a large HGV. Good job he didn’t meet anyone coming the other way. After a while he turned off left at Glen Lyon Church, I’m not sure where he was going as that road is just a rough track and a dead end. We then carried on to our lunch stop at the Bridge of Balgie. The roads had been pretty quiet all morning, but the cafe was extremely busy. Food and drinks ordered we sat down at the last remaining table outside. The lunch was excellent comprising soups, paninis, cake and scones. Whilst sitting there we were told by two different people that the road over Ben Lawers was in very poor condition with much loose gravel down the centre. Undaunted we headed off in that direction and, actually it wasn’t so bad. We did get held up for 10 minutes or so by a digger being loaded onto a low loader on this single track road. The folks doing the loading were very obliging and moved out of the way before strapping the digger down so we could continue. New obstacle was a road closure on the road down to Killin, again this was only for a few minutes as we luckily hit the closure just as an hourly 15 minute amnesty had begun. The final obstacle was a logging lorry trying to cross the small bridge at The Falls of Dochart. Fortunately for us he reversed back up the road to allow us and some other vehicles to pass. We had a final stop at the car park at Lochearnhead where we said our goodbyes to Kenny and Allan who would head back towards Callander, while Ian, Janet and I followed the Loch Earn road to Comrie, where Janet and I parted company with Ian and headed past Cultybraggan and over the moors to Braco and home. Thanks to Ian for organising such a great day, Janet and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
Thanks for kindly taking on the run report John – excellent (though I’ve been having some trouble trying to explain away to my wife just who this ‘Debbie’ is 😂).
Considering those trucks and road closures I think we were really lucky in that none of them really hindered us.
A nice, early autumn ride in some lovely scenery and fairly mild temperatures (heated grips and seat on low).
Thanks to all for your company on the ride and the chat over lunch.
Ian – I echo everything that John wrote. Many, many thanks for organising this thoroughly enjoyable run enhanced by great company and Perthshire who, as usual, just can’t help showing off!
Really glad you enjoyed the day out Allan and thanks again for joining us. Not exactly on your doorstep so much appreciated.
Nice to relive the highlights of Ian’s Lyon Lunch Run through your report, John. We were lucky to have a lovely autumnal day to experience the ride through some exceptional Scottish countryside. Lunch at the Bridge of Balgie was a very enjoyable stop. It is a place that takes a bit of effort to reach, but the number of customers enjoying their refuelling stop there emphasized how worthwhile it was!