Last April Tim and Lynn who run Sunart Camping teamed up with my wee tour company, Passing Places Tours to put on a the Sunart Wildcat Rally, a charity motorcycle rally. It was a great success, everyone enjoyed themselves and we ended up raising £1730 for the Scottish Charity Air Ambulance.
On the 13th of April we did it again, Sunart Wildcat Rally 2019! The plan was to have a treasure hunt style ride on the Saturday followed by a barbecue hog roast in the evening. Folk were welcome to come up early or stay late. I got a webpage built to advertise the rally and we were open for bookings. We picked Spinal Injuries Scotland as our chosen charity.
It’s always a nervous time. What if nobody comes? Will anyone book up? Luckily some of the folk who had been the year before were quick to sign up. We hold a raffle on the Saturday night so Tim and I began scrounging prizes of whoever we could while Lynn arranged to give away some of her art work. Lynn had also designed the logo for the Rally T shirts. With a couple of months to go we had sold out. It was great to see so many people from last year’s rally once again on the list and plenty folk were planning on heading up on the Friday to properly join in the treasure hunt, or just have an extra night partying in some cases.
The weekend of the rally I set off with around 10 folk from the Winton Massif. We had a great run up through Glen Devon and Sma Glen, stopping for lunch and meeting another couple of people at Glen Lyon before heading up over the hill to Killin. A surprisingly traffic free run over Rannoch Moor and through beautiful Glencoe saw us to the Corran Ferry, a short blast from Strontian where we were having the rally.
It was great to see so many folk already at the campsite when we arrived. Some folk had maps out, already planning the following days ride; others were chilling out with a beer (or cheese and wine) in the sun. We had a great evening in the Strontian Hotel where we got a preview of the Michael Mannering, the excellent musician who would be keeping us entertained come the night of the rally.
Rally day! While most folk headed out on the bikes to do the treasure hunt I waited around the campsite for the Saturday arrivals while Tim got everything prepared for the hog roast. The sun was shining on a perfect day for the event. I went for a short spin around the Morvern coast via Lochaline and Clach na Criche with Andrea, who took his bike down onto the beach for some nice photos, getting a wee bit stuck on the way back up. Back at Sunart Camping I dished out T shirts to folk who had arrived, Tim and Lynn carried on with the cooking and we all were selling raffle tickets. Just as the food was ready another bike turned up, a Kawasaki Versys 300 with a German number plate. I knew there were no German folk booked on for the Rally so I was pretty surprised to see him. Helge, the rider, had been heading south with the aim to get to Oban for the ferry to Mull but his sat nav had taken him to Oban via Mull! While he was on the Corran Ferry someone told him about our Rally and here he was. Helge got stuck right in, buying a t shirt and some raffle tickets and giving a donation to the charity pot. With everyone fed we had our charity raffle and auction where we raised a substantial amount of money. I can't thank everyone enough for their generosity. A couple of locals were drafted in to pick Bike of the Rally which was won by David from Wick. Michael Mannering started his set, beer flowed exceptionally well and everyone had a good time.
Photo by David Eastwood
Photo by William Walker
Photo by William Walker
Photo by Rebecca Robertson
Photo by Rebecca Robertson
Photo by Mike Blain
Photo by Mike Blain
Photo by Ritchie Salt
Photo by Ritchie Salt
Photo by Ritchie Salt
Photo by Ritchie Salt
Sunday we said goodbye to most folk. A few of us stayed an extra night, recovering from the rally night or going for a spin on the bikes. We totalled up everything in the Strontian Hotel that evening. The grand total raised for Spinal Injuries Scotland was an amazing £2050!!
Photo by David Eastwood
Photo by William Walker
Photo by William Walker
Photo by Rebecca Robertson
Photo by Rebecca Robertson
Photo by Mike Blain
Photo by Mike Blain
Photo by Ritchie Salt
Photo by Ritchie Salt
Photo by Ritchie Salt
Photo by Ritchie Salt
Big thanks to the following companies and people who donated raffle prizes.
Callum Colquhon
Another big thanks to The Strontian Hotel, Michael Mannering and, of course, everyone who came attended the rally and donated raffle prizes. We couldn't do it without you.
Who's up for it again next year?
Mike
Photo by Iain Kitson
Nice Sunrise shot. Looks like it was fun rally for all involved.
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