GM there and back

[Bibio]

i made it there and i made it back, battle scars included

i neeeeed ladyboots

thanks for such a wonderful time, it was bloooody fantastic

[dizzyblonde]

I made it there, not quite as expected, in another form of transport.
Had a 'smashing' time. Feeling very sore in the hips. Lots of photos. Drank too much beer!

But it's now time for tea, coz we were late home after sitting on the M6. I've not parked up on a motorway before with people waddling around with no place to go

Thankyou everyone for a fabulous weekend. Dean, you must do another, I have to

[TamSV]

Got home about 3. Bike is now running like a pile of poop.

Brill weekend though.

[littleoldman2]

Home safe and sound at around 8:30, after another great day. Wow what a weekend.

[JamesMio]

Oh FFS!! Just spent ages typing a story out and hit the wrong button on the damn ipad.

I'll retype later, but short version is went left at Crianlarich, witnessed a blue Civic go airborne off into a 20 foot gulley just past Lix Toll (crawled out with cuts and scrapes - no idea how he wasn't dead!). 2 hours there, giving statements etc, Dukes Pass and home about 5 ish.

Great weekend guys, cheers!

The English three are in Preston. I'll get to Brizzle tomora afternoon. great 1st GM for me. Thank you to everyone who made it happen and thanks to everyone else for an awesome weekend

[andrewsmith]

Home
I'm ruined

sent with the power of thought, through the medium of magic marker

[Bibio]

Originally Posted by JamesMio

Oh FFS!! Just spent ages typing a story out and hit the wrong button on the damn ipad.

I'll retype later, but short version is went left at Crianlarich, witnessed a blue Civic go airborne off into a 20 foot gulley just past Lix Toll (crawled out with cuts and scrapes - no idea how he wasn't dead!). 2 hours there, giving statements etc, Dukes Pass and home about 5 ish.

Great weekend guys, cheers!

thought it was you when i went zipping past but i wasn't sure. had a good look and seen no bikes involved so carried on.

[JamesMio]

Aye, so - that.

That was a lovely run down through Glencoe, it got proper busy with some pretty wacky maneuvering happening ("he's not, no - he IS!!") around the Green Welly.

Got to Crianlarich and was forced to make my first decision of the day since the coffee or orange juice conundrum of breakfast (I stuck to my 'in Scotland there is no OR' rule and opted for both, along with a full fry up). Busy, busy but flowing along nicely enough, then a few miles past Lix Toll, on the twisty bits I saw this blue flash flying, quite literally, off the road and into the massive gulley below.



Slamming on the anchors and assuming the worst I called 999 for "certainly Police, almost definitely ambulance and very possibly a funeral director" - 10 mins later I'd finally managed to convince the poor girl at the control room that I wasn't IN Killin, nor Lochearnhead (*side note this mass centralisation of emergency service call centres is almost certainly going to kill someone - these guys NEED local knowledge), and I spotted a youngish lad climbing up over the fence, covered in cuts and scrapes, but walking.

Anyway, a cyclist stopped and produced some basic first aid stuff from his seat pack, and set about patching the dude up, while I took note of the, still remarkably car-shaped Civic lying in the ditch - that's some advert for Honda's safety record.

15 mins or so later a couple of bike coppers arrived and welcomely 'took over', shooing away the hoard of morons who'd stopped for a selfie with the car and/or driver. No, seriously.

Statement given to the plod, I was sent on my way complete with a fistful of BikeSafe branded goodies - (earplugs, visor wipes, buff, keyrings etc).

Quick pie stop in Callander (note to self, Mhor bakery serve a damn fine Scotch Pie) and I doubled back for a mile to Kilmahog and a zip up the Dukes Pass.

5 miles into that I stopped to see if the guy pushing his Hornet needed any help (he didn't - clutch lever had fallen off and his mate was en-route), a quick splash-n-dash at Aberfoyle and down the A81, eventually into the west end of Glasgow.

Down the (boring, tedious, hateful etc) M74 to Abington where I grabbed a cuppa and waited for the Mrs, who joined me in a quick attack on the Dalveen Pass (that's not a euphemism btw), and eventually rolled up the drive at home about 5pm.

All in all, I had a cracking weekend - huge thanks again to Dean & Andy for their sterling work in organising everything. Weather aside, I'd say that was about as smooth an 'Org event as I've seen in my 7 odd years here. Nice one chaps!

Great to catch up with everyone, it's pretty appalling how long it's been in some cases (I don't think I'd seen Murdo in 5 years...) but the craic was as good as always.

HUUGE Favour time...
Would you all be so kind as to write up a wee short review of the venue, please..?

I know Helen & Mark at the hotel will be hugely appreciative of a few words (as would I, cos it's a bit less content for me to come up with for MotoGoLoco!) - and it really just needs to be a paragraph or two.

Fling it via a PM and I'll do the rest!

Cheers all, hopefully it'll not be too long till the next one.

JM

We were back by 3 o'clock yesterday, a straight run down the A82 at exactly half the speed I rode up it behind Bikenut's hell raising Fazer the day before. Both brilliant in their own ways. Good fun this biking lark, isn't it?

Said to Careless on Saturday night I thought it was the best GM ever and then said it again on Sunday morning in case he thought it was davepreston's potcheen talking. Location, location, location, routes, timing, banter, everything, brilliant. Well, everything except the group photo...

My own personal highlight was littleoldman2 winning the Mexican standoff with white van man by telling him he didn't have to be anywhere until Tuesday. Checkmate!



Next year we have to get to the pumps at Ballachulish and get our towels down before the Germans though.



And even Essex Dave let his hair down, this picture from midnight on Saturday...



If anybody wants their jukebox money back just let me know by the way. *ashamed*

See you all at the Christmas do!