Here's my tuppenceworth,
Fiona and I left home in Elgin at 08.30, 1st stop was Asdas for petrol to fuel up the Mighty Varadero and the ickle Beemer, then off at 08.45 heading up Speyside for Aberlour. We had a few spits of rain while following the Spey but as we passed through Glenlivet and on to Tomintoul up Glen Avon it was dry but damn it was cold! Temperatures were just above freezing as we passed over the Lecht Ski centre! On from Strathdon over the hills to Royal Deeside where the police presence was quite high due to HRH attending Crathie church! We went on to Braemar to see Lowflyer fuelling up! We stopped for coffee and a bacon roll at the Hungry Highlander where we met with Lowflyer, Largewayround and Raymo. (Lowflyer's first words to the woman behind the counter of the Hungry Highlander "I'm a highlander and I'm hungry"!) LMAO!
Breakfast had, we headed off over Glenshee for our meeting at Pitlochry with Boris, Mr & Mrs Ben, Mike999 and Rickskye and Outrunner. Intro's over we headed off for our run across Tummel valley heading for Rannoch Station for a late lunch.
The road from Pitlochry along the lochsides up to Kinlochrannoch is absolutely stunning! Mostly single track and at times right next to the waterline, the sun shining off the water made it spectacular. The weather couldn't have been better with pure clear blue skies, not what you expect in Sept in the Scottish highlands! A photo stop at one of the dams made a nice break before we went to lunch.
Boris said he'd called the tea room earlier in the week to confirm soup on the menu so we were all disappointed to hear the soup was all gone, also burgers! A group of bikers from Aberdeen had been earlier and scoffed the lot! SteveT says it wasn't him but he was lurking in the area, I have photographic evidence!
After lunch, which was quite nice by the way, we headed off back along lochside where we all started to head our own ways back home, at Pitlochry we were down to Fiona, Raymo, LWR and myself to head back up over Glenshee to Braemar where we all had a quick coffee (which we bought, it's a highland thing!) before the long run home over the Lecht. Fiona and myself got home at 8.00p.m, cold and tired but a really enjoyable day was had!
Highlights of the day were as follows, meeting Ray, John and Craig, stars in their own rights and Highlanders them all, where men are men and sheep are scared!
Boris and Mr & Mrs Ben, characters for sure, Mrs Ben (Sarah) I found highly entertaining and a sweet looker too! Special thanks to Largewayround for leading the run from Braemar and back, well done mate, you're a hero,,,, ok,,, the kind you never hear oh! Ha Ha! Thanks Craig!
The scenery was second to none and just what you expect for the Scottish Highlands, Gods country, 300 miles of pure adventure riding.
Finally, to my Fiona, well done girl, you kept up with the big boys no problem and kept me amused with your squeals and hoots caused by corners and sharp rises! That and we didn't even have to bump start your Beemer! Tee hee!
- XRV_Rannoch.JPG (78.21 KiB) Viewed 2055 times
