McBeer Hunters VIII

[Mr K]

Apologies in advance for any photies you may have seen already...and thankyou to Brassmonkey001 for acting as Public Relations Manager

Day1 - Saturday 23rd August:

Not much for me to do other than prepare Team Ballistic's NEHQ for the arrival of "Wrong way" and "ballistic"....

Bikes stowed:

...and taxi'd to the pub.
Loads of ales on, but food has got a bit mean, portion-wise..

..I had the smallest and thinnest sirloin ever and ballistic and wrong way had tadpole and chips....
I hate it when places with a good rep' get stingy...

Back to TBNEHQ for bottled beverages and shouting at the TV.....

Day 2 - Sunday 24th:

Rolled out of bed in a reasonable state of repair and got out the bikes and fastened lots of rubbish onto them.
Snoopy arrived and we headed off for breakfast in Hawick.

"Bad news" said Snoopy, as I sat-down to my "Flying Start" breakfast - An unfaired 400cc, single-cylinder bike was proving a struggle .... yer maun's fingers were numb, he was developing a neck like Mike Tyson and an erse like a randy baboon. Wisely (in retrospect) the Snoop had to abandon...

....Ballistic, wrong way and me carried on north, taking a pretty ordinary route to Fort William....

We stopped at the Lochy, but rufty-tufty Sunday afternoon drinkers made us a we bit scared ........so we had a drink and left, without inquiring after the resident Tosser.....

Booked into our B&B... and went for a hike up Glen Nevis ...and then back down...and across a river until....

mmm..sweet-sweet beer...but the place was rammed....."Maxed-oot" I believe the young lady said, so we rang for a taxi.... What on earth could all these people be doing half-way up a frickin' mountain?

Some bastiges nicked our taxi, so we had to wait another 15 minutes for theirs to nick...

Into the Fort:


First pub was the Grog and Gruel - nice, warm & cosy and dry...as in no drizzle..

...had few in there...sorry I'm not the kind of real ale drinker that keeps notes........and wandered down the main street..

..until we found a wrong way approved chippy:

Everyone said the Nevisport Bar was crap.. but you could get a seat, there was weirdy music on (Sonique and possibly a Cold Play track or 2) and they had "Nimbus" on...

Beddy-byes....

 

[Mr K]

Day 3 - Monday 25th:

Wet start - heading for Inverness approximately....

...on the run into Inverness:

Wrong way:

Nice B&B:

....with possibly the most accomodating hostess I have ever had the pleasure to stay with - nothing was overlooked or too much trouble .... she even shook the tommy sauce bottle at brekky time....

Off to the boozer:

..and finally there:

Beer garden was closed.... barmaid tried to short-change ballistic's £20 and the Adnam's Broadside tasted of apple detergent and the manager said it was because I'd "tried different beers before it" yet still turned the pump-clip round signifying the beer was off ....after eating we went back to the B&B and subsequently to Lidl for some cans ad a bottle of rioja...

We were handy for Lidl:

Mmmmm...Grafenwalder

 

[alimey4u2]

she even shook the tommy sauce bottle at brekky time....

Now that's what I call service....

 

[Mr K]

Day 4 - Tuesday 26th:

Wrong way set off sharp, heading home to Southport.

We headed off from Inverness, pausing to get ballistic a new phone charger at out of town Tesco...lost ballistic...
Waited 15 minutes at Tesco and fecked-off.... up the A9

..before turnning off for Bonar Bridge, Lairg and Altnehara..though not neccesarily in that order...

Turned off to follow the north shore of Loch Naver.....

...before turning north for Melvich again....and Bettyhill:

....

..before stopping to whet me whistle

..got run off the road by a rented RV a few miles after, which slowed me down a smidge .... and allowed ballistic to catch-up..

Allthese were taken approaching Ullapool down the west coast:

and finally at our digs in Ulapool:

..and then:

Bee-boes...

 

[Ash]

Very good Ned
i expected no less
ps did i hear tell of a breakdown .

 

[Mr K]

Day 5 - Wednesday:

Left Ullapool after a hearty breakfast heading for Applecross...

...a wee snack for ballistic:

Had a wee neb at the campsite before carrying-on down to Plockton for a brief stop:

....and carried on toward Oonyakistan....onyack

Top digs:

..canny view...

....and not a bad "booze boutique".....

Day 6 Friday:

Made myself eat breakfast and went back to bed - I still felt pished. Ballistic went for a walk.
By midday we headed-out, had a look at a wee trail and then the Sligachan Hotel for a pint of Black Face to pick-me-up.
From there we loooped round, anti-clockwise through the Uig sticky-up bit and back to Waternish...

We had a couple of pints in the bar and a fish supper, but I was flagging...

Early night..

Day 7 - Friday 29th:

Got packed, had breakfast, payed, went to start the bike and after a couple of splutters, just the cranking of the starter.
Called the RAC, who called "something coachworks" in Porteree and through the Oonyaki grapevine HRH and Rob Mac got the fuel-pump bypass to the feller than came out and we got the bike sorted and were away by 1pm.

Filled-up with fuel in Broadford and didn't stop once until we reached Failford at 18:15...

Lovely B&B and fabulous pub...

Day 7 - Saturday - 30th August:

170 miles home despite comedy diversion and having to stop to allow Subaru owners club exit Lanark Showground......

Home 12:30...

 

[Mr K]

Map:

 

[snoopy]

Having to cancel was guttering.

 

[Mr K]

Having to cancel was guttering.

Don't feel bad: We've susssed some better boozers, so when you get your ******* we can have another go..

 

[snoopy]

The one day insurance on the DRZ cost £70 in fees and cancellation charges. I was not happy. Won't be using bikesure again.

Drowned my sorrows in the evening playing poker with mates. Was so glugged up they refused me dealing on turn. I still won a fiver.

Did someone break down?

 

[Mr K]

The one day insurance on the DRZ cost £70 in fees and cancellation charges. I was not happy. Won't be using bikesure again.

Drowned my sorrows in the evening playing poker with mates. Was so glugged up they refused me dealing on turn. I still won a fiver.

Did someone break down?

My 1200 did the fuel pump controller thing after 42,000+ miles. I blame the Oonyakistan ley line...

Easy to fix with a bit of 2 core..

It all worked okay and the sun came out once we got off Skye..

 

[Ash]

was Tabitha pleased to see you

 

[AlanAce1967]

Great report and photos.

 

[Wrong Way]

thanks for the report, shame i could only do 4 days away with you and Ballistic and 2 hours with Snoopy

 

[Mr K]

thanks for the report, shame i could only do 4 days away with you and Ballistic and 2 hours with Snoopy

....and forgot to bring your new 10 Mega-pixie camera...

Prolly just as well.....

 

[Mr K]

was Tabitha pleased to see you

She was: She failed to use the cat-flap, despite extensive training and resorted to murdering birds and mammals smaller than herself to survive...

She seems a bit mental now and will only sleep on the shed roof...or in the middle of the wet lawn...

 

[flatvee]

Good beer, good food, good scenery and of course riding motorbikes. Life just doesn't get any better. Nice trip report.

 

[Mzokk]

It all worked okay and the sun came out once we got off Skye..

It has a tendency to do that. Good report and Pics