Last week myself and several grey haired old bikers travelled up to Scotland to do an off-road day with Motoscotland in Inveraray and then on to Fort William to watch some of the pre 65 trial, which is the intro event to the Scottish 6 day trial.
All of us were on 800GSs - 3 standard and 2 GSAs.
Me and Harry the Cat met Mr. Smooth at Tankersley, Bilco at Wetherby and Long Tom at Longtown. We rode up through the Galloway Forest, stopping for a gentlemen's comfort break at Carsphairn.
My bike and Bilco:
Long Tom and Mr. Smooth:
Harry the cat was elsewhere:
We rode up to Hunter's Quay and got on the ferry:
This route avoids going anywhere near Glasgow
We arrived at Inveraray late afternoon:
The next day, all of us except Bilco rode the short distance up to the Motoscotland base, to do day 2 of their off-road training (we had done day 1 last year). They use the Duke of Argyll's estate and there are 50,000 acres to explore. Highly recommended:
http://www.motoscotland.com/
Anyway, we got togged up in off road kit (read not warm and, as it turned out, not waterproof). We sat on the bikes and had a familiarisation session, including how to get on and off from either side and how to walk round the bike without it falling over - useful if you need to get back on the bike on a piece of sloping ground. As we were doing this it started raining quite heavily and was about 2 degrees. We then set off to go up one of the nearby hills to practice on various surfaces and explore the area. The rain got heavier and colder and turned into sleet, then snow and then a full blown blizzard. My hands froze despite the heated grips on the bike and after about 15 minutes my sleeves had soaked water up to my armpits. A bit nippy to say the least! Just at the point where I was going to wimp out, Clive, the instructor, suggested that we return to base and discuss our options. Having thawed out with several cups of tea and chocolate
, we decided to take the offer of a voucher to come back another time. Very generous and typical of the service provided by Clive and Motoscotland.
No pics today, other than one which shows how the conditions had changed from the previous day:
The next day we rode from Inveraray to Fort William, stopping for lunch opposite Castle Stalker:
On our way through to Fort William, we stopped off at Kinlochleven to watch some of the pre 65 trial. I have never seen an event like this before - spectators all over the place, competitors walking the course and bikes being ridden through the middle of it all:
All kinds of spectators:
Bit of a pit stop:
Somehow Guy Martin had got an entry to the trial and took part in a piss-pot helmet and overalls. He eventually came last, although he did finish, which quite a few others didn't manage.
Some more pics from a different stage:
We went on to Fort William and settled in to our hotel - the Glentower Lower Observatory:
The next day I lead a ride from Fort William through Spean Bridge, stopping at Laggan Pottery:
Through Dalwhinnie, onto the A9 for a bit, then turning off towards Tummel Bridge and into Glen Lyon. We stopped at the Post Office for lunch. The dog next door was cadging from the customers
On to the end of Glen Lyon, through the deer gates and back into the main road at Killin:
Enough for now, the rest to follow later...
All of us were on 800GSs - 3 standard and 2 GSAs.
Me and Harry the Cat met Mr. Smooth at Tankersley, Bilco at Wetherby and Long Tom at Longtown. We rode up through the Galloway Forest, stopping for a gentlemen's comfort break at Carsphairn.
My bike and Bilco:
Long Tom and Mr. Smooth:
Harry the cat was elsewhere:
We rode up to Hunter's Quay and got on the ferry:
This route avoids going anywhere near Glasgow
We arrived at Inveraray late afternoon:
The next day, all of us except Bilco rode the short distance up to the Motoscotland base, to do day 2 of their off-road training (we had done day 1 last year). They use the Duke of Argyll's estate and there are 50,000 acres to explore. Highly recommended:
http://www.motoscotland.com/
Anyway, we got togged up in off road kit (read not warm and, as it turned out, not waterproof). We sat on the bikes and had a familiarisation session, including how to get on and off from either side and how to walk round the bike without it falling over - useful if you need to get back on the bike on a piece of sloping ground. As we were doing this it started raining quite heavily and was about 2 degrees. We then set off to go up one of the nearby hills to practice on various surfaces and explore the area. The rain got heavier and colder and turned into sleet, then snow and then a full blown blizzard. My hands froze despite the heated grips on the bike and after about 15 minutes my sleeves had soaked water up to my armpits. A bit nippy to say the least! Just at the point where I was going to wimp out, Clive, the instructor, suggested that we return to base and discuss our options. Having thawed out with several cups of tea and chocolate
, we decided to take the offer of a voucher to come back another time. Very generous and typical of the service provided by Clive and Motoscotland.No pics today, other than one which shows how the conditions had changed from the previous day:
The next day we rode from Inveraray to Fort William, stopping for lunch opposite Castle Stalker:
On our way through to Fort William, we stopped off at Kinlochleven to watch some of the pre 65 trial. I have never seen an event like this before - spectators all over the place, competitors walking the course and bikes being ridden through the middle of it all:
All kinds of spectators:
Bit of a pit stop:
Somehow Guy Martin had got an entry to the trial and took part in a piss-pot helmet and overalls. He eventually came last, although he did finish, which quite a few others didn't manage.
Some more pics from a different stage:
We went on to Fort William and settled in to our hotel - the Glentower Lower Observatory:
The next day I lead a ride from Fort William through Spean Bridge, stopping at Laggan Pottery:
Through Dalwhinnie, onto the A9 for a bit, then turning off towards Tummel Bridge and into Glen Lyon. We stopped at the Post Office for lunch. The dog next door was cadging from the customers
On to the end of Glen Lyon, through the deer gates and back into the main road at Killin:
Enough for now, the rest to follow later...
Maybe as a result of this, one of the lenses fell out of Long Tom's glasses and disappeared, eventually being found balanced on a piece of rock. Apparently he is blind without them so it was a good job we found it. Couldn't find the screw though and Tom spent the rest of the week with his glasses held together with tape, like Jack Duckworth 
. I claimed a table, just as a different set of grey haired old bikers came in. They had turned up on a collection of very nice classic Triumphs (and some others I didn't identify). We ended up sitting together and they curled their lips when I told them I ride a BMW. Just as they were leaving, my own set of grey hairs arrived and I had to have more coffee.
Thankfully it flew off without incident.
Just a couple at Fort Augustus:
You mustve just went by Ayr then ? carsphairn road is great 
great pics 
