I of the strom wrote:Looks like you had a good night.
Been snowing in the central belt - don't know how far west but hope you get out of the glen and off south ok. If going east - A84 and 85 may be a bit picturesque
Will this weekend be considered extreme and be seen as some sort of benchmark ?
Hi nothing extreme about a weekend camping in winter with some
like Minded people meeting up for some camping and bike riding
Good fun had by all
I was gutted to have to pull out. Assuming I dont pick up a virus next year, definately interested.
As for camping gear, its still in my panniers and top box. Simply removed them from the bike, still sitting on the kitchen table (much to the bosses annoyance).
Got a wee trip to NI and SW Scotland organised via another forum for end of May. Just three nights. Then its Midlands ABR Rally.
Sooooo far away though. Really disappointed to miss this wee run.
Some people are alive simply because its illegal to kill them....
Well what a great weekend that was, the ride up on Friday was beautiful but cold. Glencoe is plastered with snow and looks like a winter wonderland.
When we arrived on Friday, brendan lone tiger was in the campsite waiting for us, so myself and jim jmcl started putting up our tents. Then Eric, rederic and Mike, Barnman arrived about and hour later. With all the tents up we headed to the pub for some food and light refreshments while the wind blew hard and some light snow fell. In the early hours of Saturday morning the wind was blowing 60/70mph down the valley, giving the tents a bit if a hard time.
On Saturday we got up had some tea and coffee while we decided where to go on our ride out for that day. I decided to take the guys who were up for a little off roading up some local tracks, but while going down one of the tracks I found that under their snow was sheets of ice as I lost control of the bike and chucked it up the track. I stood up just in time to see Mike trying to stop his bike on the sheet of ice but with no luck and down he went. Jim stopped on the joining track so managed to stay upright. I walked towards Mike and slid on the ice and ended up flat on my back!
My XT suffered some damage but the biggest thing was a ruptured fuel tank, caused by a rock sticking up through the ice, so with some tools and some metal mix from Mike we managed to get it going again and decided that the tracks were just too icy, so we headed back down the steep rocky hills back to the rest of the guys that were waiting for us outside the cafe. After a quick chat we decided to head for Oban for some lunch.
After a pleasant ride to Oban and some fish/haggis/chicken and chips we started heading back to Glencoe.
We arrived back at the campsite and set about getting a fire going before heading to the pub for some food and live entertainment. Good night had by all in the Clachaig Inn, then back to the campsite where we got the fire going again, stood chatting till around 2 am before heading to bed. It was quite a cold night, tempatures around -2 for most of the night with some light snow fall, but the wind chill would cut you in half.
Up early this morning some tea and coffee, pack the bikes and head to Tyndrum for some breakfast. The ride through Glencoe and Rannoch Moore was absolutely beautiful, snow down to the roadside, Mountains covered, but freezing cold. I was the only one with no heated grips, and boy did I know it!!!
After a full Scottish breakfast at the Green Welly it was time to head for Crainlarich and Loch Lomond side, Brendan, lone tiger went his own way at Crainlarich, heading to Perth. We had a pleasant run down the loch side through Dumbarton then onto the M8 where Jim and I pulled off at Paisley while Mike and Eric carried on to Leicester and Liverpool.
Thanks to everyone who turned up making it a great weekend, especially Mike and Eric, who traveled the furthest. Eric left Liverpool on Friday morning in the snow heading to Manchester to get new tyres fitted, then Rode all the way to Glencoe meeting Mike on the way, so well done to Eric, a true adventurer, not letting some snow hold him back!
Great weekend well worth the effort, met some good guy's,
And for the time of the year had a stunning ride on the coast road to oban where the temperature at one
point reached +3c and we even had a drop of sunshine B)
Arrived back just before dark this afternoon the bike looked like it had been all winter with out a hose
down
Checked the sat nav and it was 723 miles round trip with only about 10 of them being above freezing
looking forward to the dragon rally next
Making camp
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This was the mountain from the camp, before the unfortunate accident