Author: Tom Sutherland

An evening of CHiPs, chips, chips and more chips. It was a sunny summer evening as 8 of us gathered at Halbeath Park & Ride, bringing an interesting array of bikes with Ian-F900, Ewan-Tiger 900, Marcus-QJ600, TEC David-BMW400 Scooter, Peter-Himalayan 450, Mark Watson-1200GS, I was on the IronPig, and run leader Peter was on his BMW Mothership thingy. CHiPs (California Highway Patrol). I’m sure some of our more seasoned members will remember the series with motorcycle cops played by Erik Estrada and Larry Wilcox zooming all over sunny California with short sleeved shirts and shades. Well the weather ‘looked’ a bit Californian and I, and I suspect a few others, may have dressed a little too optimistically for a Scottish summer evening. However, I'm sure we all looked every bit…

We gathered at a warm and sunny Crieff Visitor Centre at 10am for a 10.15 start. Run leader Ian McIntosh on his shiny new Royal Enfield Shotgun, Ian Ness on his shiny new BMW F900X, Ed Mackey on his Yamaha XJ6 and myself on my Royal Enfield Interceptor 650. But wait! “Only two Ians?” I hear you cry. Luckily we were joined by prospective new member Iain Beedie on his Honda CBR650. So with a healthy compliment of Ian/Iains we set off for Hell’s Glen. We set off towards Crianlarich on dry roads, perfect for those with new bikes getting a feel for how they ride, then south alongside Loch Lomond, Arrochar before turning off at Rest and be thankful on to the B828 ‘rollercoaster’ road then turning NW on…

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…