Thunder
Registered user
Early morning on the 5th of March saw me at the P&O ferry terminal at Larne heading off with a BBC NI journalist to do some filming for a piece on the Calum's Road to The Gambia 2010 project.
Heading down to the ferry it started to snow and as we sat on the boat looking at the snow swirling and discussing how Glencoe had been closed the previous day because of snow we wondered just what was in store.
Arrived in Cairnryan to rain but by the time we made it to Gourock for the ferry the sun had come out.
Really started to enjoy the trip at this point and stopped off at the George Hotel in Inverary for lunch.
Went with the special, pork loaf with cheese, mash and onion gravy, was delicious.
Pressing on and still not sure what was ahead of us we started to see signs of snow, stopped just before Glencoe for a few pictures.
As we got further on the temperature really started to drop so plans for filming and pictures went to the wall and we rode on to Skye and Waternish for our overnight stop next to Castle Oonyack apart from taking in the spectacular views over Glengarry.
Friday morning saw us riding with HRH down to yet another ferry for our first view of Rassay.
First stop was at the Island's Primary school to have a chat with the 17 pupils and their teachers about the trip next January and select the design for the official Calum's Road 2010 sticker. The kids had put in a lot of work on this and it was really hard to pick one, if we could we'd have used them all. Of course HRH in his typical style announced he wanted to do just that but I said no and picked one!
Nearly said a word not suitable for primary school kids or the BBC early evening news at that one I can tell you!
Here's the design in decal form ready for the printers.
From the school it was time for the ride North for my first ride on Calum's Road and some interviews for the telly. HRH went first and got his done on the first take, mine took more attempts thanks to someone of this parish who shall remain nameless forgetting what was going on and laughing like a lunatic in the background with one of the locals over a risque joke.
onyack
Road ridden, filming over we headed back for the ferry. Gordon (BBC's finest biking reporter) was heading off in an attempt to make the 8 o' clock sailing while I took a more leisurely approach deciding to stop off somewhere overnight.
Seeing the ferry arriving with a bit of a wind blowing made me wonder just how it would be with 20 bikes on board next January.
Temperature was dropping again but I stopped for the odd picture as I went.
Having made Fort William about five I called into The Lochy for a chat with GC over a cup of his excellent coffee. He kindly offered to find me a bed for the night and after a quick phone call lead the way up to the Ben Nevis Inn where he had found me a spot in the bunk house.
After the traditional exchange of alcoholic fluids he left me to settle in and peruse the menu in the restaurant.
Went with the excellent Garlic Mussels followed by the Thai chicken washed down with a few voddies and diet coke and bloody excellent it was to.
Retired at a decent hour for some Olympic standard snoring but got up for an early start and a bimble back to the ferry.
Glencoe was spectacular
By the time I got to Loch Lomand the snow had disappeared but the rain started and kept on going all the way back to the ferry with a few blasts of gale force winds thrown in for good measure.
For some reason I got a strong urge for a bar of toffee at this point.
Made the ferry in good time, cold wet and shivering but have to put this trip on my favorites list. If it were not for the commitment to do the filming I'd most likely have canceled it but having experienced the Highlands in the snow I'll definitely be back.
Heading down to the ferry it started to snow and as we sat on the boat looking at the snow swirling and discussing how Glencoe had been closed the previous day because of snow we wondered just what was in store.
Arrived in Cairnryan to rain but by the time we made it to Gourock for the ferry the sun had come out.
Really started to enjoy the trip at this point and stopped off at the George Hotel in Inverary for lunch.
Went with the special, pork loaf with cheese, mash and onion gravy, was delicious.
Pressing on and still not sure what was ahead of us we started to see signs of snow, stopped just before Glencoe for a few pictures.
As we got further on the temperature really started to drop so plans for filming and pictures went to the wall and we rode on to Skye and Waternish for our overnight stop next to Castle Oonyack apart from taking in the spectacular views over Glengarry.
Friday morning saw us riding with HRH down to yet another ferry for our first view of Rassay.
First stop was at the Island's Primary school to have a chat with the 17 pupils and their teachers about the trip next January and select the design for the official Calum's Road 2010 sticker. The kids had put in a lot of work on this and it was really hard to pick one, if we could we'd have used them all. Of course HRH in his typical style announced he wanted to do just that but I said no and picked one!
Nearly said a word not suitable for primary school kids or the BBC early evening news at that one I can tell you!
Here's the design in decal form ready for the printers.
From the school it was time for the ride North for my first ride on Calum's Road and some interviews for the telly. HRH went first and got his done on the first take, mine took more attempts thanks to someone of this parish who shall remain nameless forgetting what was going on and laughing like a lunatic in the background with one of the locals over a risque joke.
onyack
Road ridden, filming over we headed back for the ferry. Gordon (BBC's finest biking reporter) was heading off in an attempt to make the 8 o' clock sailing while I took a more leisurely approach deciding to stop off somewhere overnight.
Seeing the ferry arriving with a bit of a wind blowing made me wonder just how it would be with 20 bikes on board next January.
Temperature was dropping again but I stopped for the odd picture as I went.
Having made Fort William about five I called into The Lochy for a chat with GC over a cup of his excellent coffee. He kindly offered to find me a bed for the night and after a quick phone call lead the way up to the Ben Nevis Inn where he had found me a spot in the bunk house.
After the traditional exchange of alcoholic fluids he left me to settle in and peruse the menu in the restaurant.
Went with the excellent Garlic Mussels followed by the Thai chicken washed down with a few voddies and diet coke and bloody excellent it was to.
Retired at a decent hour for some Olympic standard snoring but got up for an early start and a bimble back to the ferry.
Glencoe was spectacular
By the time I got to Loch Lomand the snow had disappeared but the rain started and kept on going all the way back to the ferry with a few blasts of gale force winds thrown in for good measure.
For some reason I got a strong urge for a bar of toffee at this point.
Made the ferry in good time, cold wet and shivering but have to put this trip on my favorites list. If it were not for the commitment to do the filming I'd most likely have canceled it but having experienced the Highlands in the snow I'll definitely be back.
