The weather forecast for the day looked reasonable, although disappointing for what was supposed to be the height of summer. When I arrived at the Crieff Visitor Centre carpark I could only see Ian Ness, the Run leader and organiser. Before long, John Cairney and Alex Muir arrived, as well as Ian and Sue McIntosh. Unfortunately, Ian and Sue were unable to Join us on the run, but had kindly come along to have a chat and wish us well as we set off.
Our 10:00 hr departure time arrived and we headed off along the A85 Perth Road as far as Methven. At this point, our group took an unplanned detour for a few miles towards Glenalmond. Ian organised a swift about-turn that saw us back on track. Three miles further on we exited the A85 again, this time heading through Almondbank and Luncarty to Stanley, where we were joined by Gerti Mantler on her Triumph 900 GT Pro. Fortunately, the four Triumph 900 GTs in our little band were of three different colours, helping to avoid too much confusion. John was probably feeling like a free-thinking individual as he rode his new Suzuki!
We crossed the Tay at Kinclaven Bridge, then the River Isla at the predictively named Isla Bridge, then in a sweeping loop on some lovely twisty roads through the beautiful Angus and Aberdeenshire countryside, we reached our first pit-stop of the day at Clatterin’ Brig Restaurant.
After much shuffling about at the full parking bay outside the restaurant, we left our bikes at the bottom of the hill the restaurant was perched on. As we started the climb back up to the restaurant, we were told by a couple coming down that there were no tables available unless we’d already booked. We retraced our steps to a café in Fettercairn, where we found, yet again, no availability!
We decided to push on to Ballater (where we’d planned to have our lunch stop) to have our refreshment break. About six miles from Fettercairn, we made a stop at the view point at Cairn o’Mount and took in the spectacular panorama. Our route continued northward until we reached beautiful Deeside, where we followed the river westward towards its source in the Cairngorms. At last, we reached Ballater for our much needed food stop. No problem finding a table this time!
Refreshed, we continued along the amazingly scenic road that followed the River Dee westward, through Balmoral with its castle to Braemar with its castle. At this point we left lovely Deeside behind, following the Old Military Road pointing due south, giving us a ride along some of the most biker perfect tarmac in Scotland.
The temperature fell as we climbed up and past Glenshee, although it did stay in double figures. Fortunately, the cloud that was cloaking the mountain hadn’t sunk so low that we had to ride through it. The road became more twisty as we got down through Bridge of Cally to Blairgowrie. Passing the Meikleour Beech Hedge closed the loop of our long day’s ride and we decided not to finish at Bankfoot as had been planned, but to follow the A9 down past Perth and disperse as appropriate.
The total milage for me, from Stirling, was 253 miles and involved a little over 6 hours in the saddle. It was a fantastic day out, with truly some of the best scenery and biking roads in Scotland. Big thanks to Ian for planning and leading a memorable run and to everyone for their great company.