Bikes, beers and barbecue

I was out round the local trails again last weekend. I was joined by HB, Ben on my 456, Rick, Gary, Tom and Andy. Before we set off I put some pork that had been marinating overnight on the smoker.

After we tracked Rick down stocking up in the shop we set off round Saltoun and Kinchie. We stopped for a breather before we headed up to the top of Saltoun and Rick whipped out a bacon roll! Bastard! I wasn't jealous at all.

We had a good ride apart from HB and Andy ending up in the nettles, and then we hit the Winton for a few pints. There was a new barmaid in the pub too! When we got back to ours the pork on the barbie was done. This time it had turned out fucking grand. I done some rump stakes marinated in chilli, garlic, honey and soy sauce too. I was pretty happy with the lot and it all went down well, result! Bob, Faithir, Dave and Jamie turned up and more beer was drunk. Awesome night.

Ben was stoked on the 456.

Andy loved the sheep field.

Tom shredding the lines.

Gary. Too extreme for the camera.

Rick boosted by bacon.

Ben. Still stoked. Rad.

Sexy barmaid in the Winton.

Meat!

Braw.

Dave and I hit the trails again today. We done some epic geocatching, rode some trails around Saltoun and enjoyed the great weather.

Extreme geocacher.

Grand.

Get Fit Or Die Tryin'... 2 years on.

Its now two years since I got my pushbike. I think I can now say I'm relatively fit! I can now cycle up hills without feeling like I'm having a rectal prolapse, and I can go down them without feeling like I'm on a semi controlled mushroom trip.
These days I cycle the eight miles to work most days (there and back) and I've got my Surly Pugsley which I've been using exclusively for the past few weeks, so I figured it was about time to drag my 456 out the shed and kick its arse Yak style once more.

Kinchie. I've been riding trail this for over twenty years.

If you nail Kinchie fast enough you get Kinchie Arm. Don't worry, it washes off.

I'm really fucking glad I got back into push bikes. I've been doing the same ride as I done today for over twenty years. That's a fucking long time, but I love that my local woods are a big part of my life. I makes me appreciate what we've got around here. Its fucking quality.

I also took Faithir's new Harley for a spin down the coast to pick up some meat from Anderson's butchers in North Berwick. Its a Dyna Switchback. Unlike older Harley's the brakes and suspension seem to work. It even handles well once you get used to the way you need to ride it, using your shoulders more than anything else. 

Faithir has fitted a Vance and Hines pipe to the bike so it sounds the part, but it doesn't knock your cunt in when you ride it. Its pretty smooth and sort of works well, and to me that takes away from the whole Harley thing. My first experience of a Harley was a Sportster that tried to shake your organs out and I missed this on the newer bike. Don't get me wrong, it was still fucking great to take the bike for a spin. I went out in only my Bamboo lid and a T shirt and I remember riding along thinking riding this bike is like a holiday, Its that good, the sound when you open it up, it felt fucking great. Loads of other folk seemed to like it too, they were all waving and smiling but I still missed the good  vibrations of the older bikes trying to shake themselves apart.

Was still fucking good though, cheers Dad.

Oh, I made a cunt of cooking the meat, but more on that soon.

Back up north with Faithir

A couple of weekends back HB and I had planned to go to Applecross with Maw and Faithir. They had booked a static caravan, or chalet (depends how posh you are) for the weekend and there was plenty room for us.
Faithir and I had a couple of days off before we had to leave for Applecross so we decided to go the long way stopping to camp at Glencoe and Dunvegan on the Isle of Skye.
The road up to to Glencoe is brilliant. The first bit to Callander is a bit dull with a few motorway/dual carriageway miles but after that its great fun. There's a really nice twisty bit along the side of Loch Lubnaig, then on to Rannoch Moor, where it was windy as fuck. It must have been the strongest wind I've ridden in, which includes a run along Loch Eribol where the full loaded GS was nearly blown off its side stand. I found that accelerating was the best way to keep the bike in a relatively straight line.
Riding into Glencoe the scenery is stunning. I've tried to show it in the video below but the camera really doesn't do it justice.

Following Faithir along the nice twisty bit after Callander.

Riding through Glencoe.

The Red Squirrel Campsite

We were camping at the Red Squirrel campsite, a nice site where folk have been camping for years and years. You are allowed to have fires on site, which is quite rare here and the toilets and showers have recently been upgraded.  

After we got the tents up we nipped to the shop for a couple of beers and some supplies. We also bought some logs to go along with the planks I had strapped to the back of the GS. The Red Squirrel is a popular site so you'll rarely find any fallen wood on the site. Being quite close to Glasgow the Red Squirrel can occasionally be visited by a special brand of fuckwit who try to pull the branches off the trees for firewood. If they watched Ray Mears instead of Jeremy Kyle they know that green wood doesn't burn that great. Luckily it was midweek so the campsite was fuckwit free, apart from myself and Faithir of course.

Sitting round the fire was great crack. Usually you need a fire at Glencoe to keep the midgies at bay but there was quite still quite a strong wind blowing which gets rid of them too. After a while we headed along the road to the Clachaig Inn where we had some food and a few nice beers.



The next morning I opened my tent.

Bastard.

FUCKING MIDGIES.

There were millions of them. I'm usually not that bothered by midgies but these wee fuckers were unbearable. For those of you that don't know, midgies are tiny wee flying insect that bite and are really fucking annoying. We took the tents down as quick as we could then went to a cafe for breakfast. We were both covered in wee red dots like someone had drawn on us with a red felt tip pen, fucking midgies. Breafast at the Glencoe Cafe good though. No fucking midgies there.

Midgie bites on Faithis heid.

Fucking midgies



Braw, and nae midgies.

Our next destination was Dunvegan on Skye. We rode up the side of Loch Ness, not seeing any monsters, then along Glen Garry and the A87, passing the famous Eilean Donan Castle at Dornie. Eilean Donan was mobbed with tourists so I didn't stop for a photo, instead we pushed on into Skye, riding the fast, twisty road through the Cullin hills and over to Dunvegan.

Dunvegan Campsite.



Lens cap ya fud.


At Danny MacAskill's folks place.


Dunvegan Campsite



Dunvegan. Dunno how the sheep get off the wee island.


Nice spicy venison burger.

After a quiet night in Dunvegan we headed back over the Skye Bridge to the mainland and on to Applecross. The road to Applecross, the Bealach Na Ba, is the highest in Scotland at 2052 feet. its a really scenic, narrow twisty single track road, you can see lots of it in the video below and the GS is parked on it in the title picture of this blog.

Loch Ness to Applecross on a GS. from yodagoat on Vimeo.

From Loch Ness to Applecross.

Faithir on the Bealach Na Ba

At the top of the Bealach Na Ba

The caravan at Applecross campsite was great. It had a nice wee raised decking bit on it with a table and chairs with a view looking out over Applecross Bay. Faithir and I arrivesd a few hours before HB, Maw and Roli Dog so got a quick pint in at the Applecross Inn.

We had the caravan for three nights and spent most of out time chilling out. We had a meal in the Applecross Inn and got the crack with some of the staff locals and other visitors. It really is a great place to visit, the landlady, Judy Fish, keeps the place at a really high standard and no matter how busy they are you always get fed and watered. One night was the annual Applecross Raft Race. The RNLI had their lifeboats there doing a display and the Applecross Inn had a barbecue, music and other entertainment on.

We visited the Walled Garden and I had a good few spins on the bike. HB and I went for a spin round the coast road to Shards Stained Glass and I went down to the pier at Toscaig where a couple on a Bandit 600 and a Suzuki Intruder 250 were catching mackerel.

We also got the usual cracking sunsets.

The appropriately named Sand on the Applecross Coast Road. 

Chilling oot at the caravan.

HB and Roli at the Walled garden.

Shards Stained Glass.

We seen these Goldwings on the campsite....

This was their camp setup! looks cool but I wouldn't want to be in there if the weather turned bad, or if the bastard midgies came out!

Got speaking to this Polish guy. He came up to Applecross from a break working at the Edinburgh Festival on his MZ 250.

Applecross Inn menu. Its all really fucking good.

Plaice and squat lobster.

Mussels

Drambuie soaked haggis

Chowder.

The food is goooood.

So was the crack.

Barbecue

RNLI

HB, Roli and Maw outside the Applecross Inn.

There was this picture on the wall of when the Six Day Trials came to Applecross in 1930.

The Applecross Inn.

The Cullins of Skye from Applecross.

When the sun goes down the cameras come out.

If you've not been to Applecross go for a visit. Its gid.