Author: Steve Middleton

John Nicol posted this run less than a week ahead and the first thing I did was check the weather forecast – oooo yes – sunny, dry, OK temperature for the time of year – I’m in! Duncan Calder had already said he was up for a run together on Tuesdays so I got him to sign up too. Will the four then registered be the total, given the competition from Ian McI’s westbound run the same day? I decided to give the wee Cagiva 2-stroke a run to check its longer-than-local-runs ability and gave it a check-over. These Italians need a lot of TLC y’know! Come the morning and beautiful sunny weather, Duncan phoned to say Google was expecting a longer time from Linlithgow to Dreghorn than we had…

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…

As forecast the day shone bright and sunny, with dry roads. Just what you want for a SMC run, except I was running late grrrr! Last to arrive at Dobbies in Stirling, I had to apologise to Ian and the assembly that I needed fuel. I’d only managed half of the expected “Empty bladders, full tanks” © Bob Crawley. Ian McIntosh was leading us to Crinan via Inveraray, and back via Tyndrum. We were members Alan Graham, Kona Andrews Macphee, Gerti Mantler-Mitchell, Ian Ness, Rob Smith and me. Guest of Alan was former member Ian Muir, making eight in all. Ian Ness demonstrated his little camera drone (I expect he will include some footage in his video of the run) and put his hand up to do TEC, and I…