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As this is my first run report you will have to forgive me for it's brevity. Nine of us met at the Asda parking lot in Dunbar for 09:30 to head out for 09:45. Surprisingly enough with nine riders everyone was there on time. It was a bit on the cool side at that time of the morning but a really nice day looked promising. That's exactly how it turned out. By 13:00 it was perfect riding weather. Around 14 degrees and little wind. Out of the Asda car park and then a few miles south on the A1 before turning off onto biking nirvana. Never ending twisties and sweeping bends with lots of ups and downs which with my bike's suspension left my stomach near my throat going over…

3 - 6 - 7 - 6 - 5 - 3 - 2 - 1 So before I’d even left home I had a WhatsApp from Grant saying he was stuck on a closed in both directions M9. With it likely that this would affect at least a couple of others coming up to Crieff, apart from the warm and sunny morning, things were not looking great for the start of the run. Sure enough, with only our leader and run organiser Kona, myself and run videographer, Ian Ness at the Visitor Centre start point we decided we would make a start after waiting a little while past start time. I left a further WhatsApp for Grant and Facebook message on the club page suggesting a meet up at Ballachulish…

Nice chilled start to a damp, cool but sunny Sunday morning with a quick bacon roll and a cuppa providing my fuel before hitting the road to fuel my Kawasaki Vulcan S and meet up with Peter Johnson on his BMW R1200 RT, Ali Lazizi on his BMW 750 GS and Ian McIntosh on his BWM R1250 RT at Dobbies in Stirling. We were joined at Dobbies by a prospective new member Niall Findlay on his Black Yamaha MT-10. Niall is based in Duns so hats off as this would turn out to be a long day in the saddle. With Peter leading the way and Ian playing TEC at the back, we left Dobbies and set off on the A9 north, leaving the motorway at Greenloaning heading towards Crief.…

It was rather cold at 5 degrees when I left Cumbernauld on my Tiger 900 at 8.15 to head up to Crieff Visitor Centre (with heated jacket and gloves on as well as heated grips, all of which were to remain switched on all day!) for what I anticipated would be an interesting run. Unusually for me I was first to arrive, closely followed by Ian Ness on his Tiger, Charlie Robertson on his RT 1200, Frank Dolan on his NT1100 and Kona on her newly serviced Yamaha Tracer. Finally, the person that lives closest to the start point rolled in on his Africa Twin. It just shows that if an unusual run is put on then it does draw people out, even although the forecast was cold with rain…

Up at the crack of a Saturday dawn to make my way to Ian Ness’ run start at Kinross services. Fortunately made the right decision in wearing another layer as the temperature had only just made it into the low teens on leaving Crieff. First stop was a fill up at Muthill to see me and the bike through today’s ride and the first highlight of the day. After paying and coming back out to my bike, a car had pulled in behind and, not being the biggest of forecourts and me being ever so courteous (!) I wheeled my bike to the side of the forecourt, about 30ft away. The guy was ever so grateful and, as well as the obvious thanks, he proceeded while getting out of his…

Only 3 hungry bikers attended probably the last chippy run of the season. From Dobbies Stirling to Balloch via Balafark, Killearn and Croftamie. Quite a few interesting road surfaces along this route, if we decide on this destination again, we might not take the same route. Thanks to Tom Sutherland & Ian Ness for joining me on the run, we then proceeded to consume our fish suppers next to the River Leven. Oh, and I think we all agreed, the food was quite good.

Eight of us met up early on a not so bright, wet morning at Dreghorn Services for our weekend trip taking in seven of the legendary passes in the North Pennines and Lake District. Marc was leading the run with Ian taking on the TEC duties with Norman, David, Euan, Ed, Janet and I in between. We headed off down the A68 through Jedburgh, then taking the B6357 to Bonchester Bridge, then taking a left at Saughtree to take the nice winding road through Kielder. From Kielder we headed to The Rocky Road Cafe in Bellingham for our morning coffee/scone/bacon roll stop. Janet and I have often ridden through Kielder, but never managed to get to this cafe, so it was a very pleasant surprise and one we will not…

Ian McIntosh organised this run and some good weather to go with it. This run attracted possibly the largest attendance so far this year, and little wonder given the route, promised good weather and Ian’s reputation for putting on a good run. I only signed up late on Friday, and the crew in order of registering were:- Ian McIntosh Honda Africa Twin DCT, Ian Ness Triumph 900 Tiger, Ewan Ritchie Kawasaki Vulcan, Grant Powrie Triumph 900 Tiger, Gordon Robertson BMW F800GT, Mark Watson BMW GSA1250, Kona Andrews Macphee Yamaha Tracer 900, Marcus Sharp Honda Blackbird, Alex Muir Triumph 900 Tiger, Steve Middleton Yamaha TDM900, David McWilliam Triumph 850 Tiger. So, Triumph wins the “most of one make” competition, again. We rounded up Mark from the wrong side of the carpark…

Email drops with the rarest of things - a run to the seldom visited south west corner of Scotland! Not only that but it’s a first time lead for our Troon based Ben Pointer. Too good to miss and with forecast for the day looking fair, I cancel swimming and set my alarm for the middle of the night (7am) as it will need an early start to make the rendezvous in Kilmarnock for a 10.15 kick-off. Being the beginning of August I dress appropriately in full textiles and puffa inner jacket and brave the 14C of the early morning. As I pushed my bike out of the garage I was surprised by just how light it was before 9am. Not quite as surprised as my dog walking neighbour though…

Good weather was promised by run leader Ian Ness and good weather was delivered. It was already shaping up nicely as 6 bikes and 7 adventurers gathered at the Crieff Visitor Centre. Special mention to Ben who travelled up from Troon. Ian Mackintosh volunteered to be TEC with Sue riding pillion as co-pilot/photographer, which left David, Ben, Kenny and myself to make up the numbers. Starting off up the Sma Glen there was very little traffic and we managed a comfortable and enjoyable pace. Turning up Glen Quaich, we only met one car (travelling in the opposite direction) and again made good progress. Ian stopped us at the cattle grid just before the 2 tight hairpins so he could go ahead and set up to film us. Perfect opportunity to…