Early start for me on a Saturday to get to Bowness Services to join Ian’s run. As it happens, not as far as I thought as, even with a diversion in place for road closure through Braco, I ended up being first to arrive and in plenty of time.
Soon I was joined first by Alex on his new Tiger. On asking him how he was enjoying it he told me that this was the first bike he’s owned to have heated grips!! Not even any retro fitted ones on previous bikes. Top marks Alex for having resisted this long! (I had grips, seat and vest all on low throughout the ride). In no particular order the rest of our gang, rumoured to be 10 or 11, started to turn up – Ian on his Bonneville, Tom on his KTM, Brian on his Pan European, David on his GSA, Marcus on a Honda Blackbird, David and Kenny on another pair of Tigers and Bill on his latest Harley. I had a good chat with Bill as, last time we met up, he was looking to sell his previous Harley. That went, as did the Kawasaki small cruiser, followed by the subsequent Harley Sportster, to be replaced by…..a newer, excellent condition Harley, not too different from the first one.
Missing just one further rider form our list, Ali, we decided that we needed to go as we were running late. Having taken on TEC for the run, we hadn’t gone too far when I slowed for the chasing headlight and, sure enough, slowed to let Ali on his GS850 drop in at the back of the pack in front of me. We were now 11.
I can’t describe too much of Ian’s route as for the bulk of the time I didn’t have a clue where I was. How he managed to pick 80 miles of, mostly, back roads that were probably never more than about 25 miles from our start point, is beyond me. Being TEC was good fun as, inevitably, I ended up with with every rider in front of me at some point during the day. Bill had mentioned earlier that his Harley’s aftermarket pipes were quite loud but, at least when he was in the middle of the pack, they didn’t sound too fruity. Different story when he was directly in front of me! Nice but my ears are still bleeding this morning. Three of us, Marcus, Bill and myself, got slightly seperated at a roundabout then carried on along a nicley twisty A road. I could just sense something wasn’t right and that maybe we’d missed a junction. Sure enough, a few minutes later, a headlamp and familiar silouhette of Mr Ness on his Bonnie appeared in my mirrors. He gathered us up like three naughty schoolchildren and led us back to a side road where the rest of the crew were waiting patiently for us. What I did notice was just how far we’d gone though so, for Ian to have caught us up, well let’s just say he had a big cheesy grin on his face! “I know that road quite well” he said.
The route was without incident – we had got caught up early on some single track stuff behind a tractor which seemed to know our route as, every turn he made, we followed. I was actually surprised we didn’t all end up trailing him into the field he finally made his way into.
Other things I noticed on our way round were a couple of cemetries, one quite big, where every single grave had fresh flowers by it. Both stood out as quite unusual to see that? I think we all noted the other very big gravesite to our left in some trees as we passed. A Volvo cemetery!! Not sure what that was about but there had to be about at least a dozen rotting Volvos packed into the woodland.
Following behind Kenny at one point I saw something had caught his eye over a field to our left. Taking a look I could see a very graceful white swan in flight, probably about 60 yards away, matching our speed exactly as we rode along. 38mph if your interested – quite impressive, not for us but the swan.
Lunch was had at Beecraigs Country Park with the weather fair enough to allow us all to eat outside and take in the great views of the three bridges over The Forth in the middle distance. Quite busy but a nice place to take in both the views and a breather (and roll and square sausage). I conducted a wee straw poll here too. When down south I’d noticed that every biker acknowledged others with some kind of nod, rarely a wave. On coming up to Scotland I’d noticed it was mostly a wave but that, of late, less and less were doing anything. I wondered did our crew wave, nod or do nothing? And, if nothing, why? Naming no names or bike manaufacturers and their riders but clearly some aren’t liked 🙂 I don’t care either way, just an observation really, but I think it’s probably just a habit that’s dying out.
So with lunch out of the way both Bill and Ali departed for home while the rest of us continued along similar roads as prior to lunch. Just before our finish at the very grand Falkirk Football Ground, we passed through Redding where some large gathering or ceremony had taken place. It turns out it was to mark the centenary of a mining disater where 40 men lost their lives. I wonder if in some way that was related to freshened up graves we had passed earlier?
Thanks to Ian for putting the work in to the back roads route and to everyone else for the company and chat during the run. A good day out as always.
P.S. Did anyone else spot Rishi Sunak’s Scottish residence on our right? The Bin House 🙂
Run date 23.09.23
Ian McIntosh