Friday Evening, May 10, 9.15pmThe song title says “the sun will come out tomorrow” and it did for the fifth day of this year’s SSDT - and a good job too, for the riders had suffered a mighty hammering on Thursday in what was described by old hands as the toughest day of the Scottish in...
Thursday evening, 11.25pmThe rain could be heard on the caravan roof overnight of Wednesday/Thursday, but it didn’t seem much on Thursday morning in Fort William. It was heavy drizzle with the forecast for the day to dry up by late morning, which proved to be the case.The plan was to go to the second group of the...
Wednesday evening MayIn all the years I’ve been coming to Scotland for the SSDT, rarely have I done anything else other than watch the trial. Once I went to Mallaig on the train with Stephanie Wood and Norrie Whyte, once I went on a boat trip to Mull and then out to see Fingles Cave, once...
Early Wednesday morning about Tuesday.Perhaps I should have proof read part 6, there were some glaring spelling errors caused mostly by the hated spell checker on my I-pad, so apologies the typing was not up to scratch.Its Swedish rider Per Berggren with 36 rides including this week to answer my quiz question for yesterday.The trial started...
Monday, May 6, 10.15pmHeck, it’s been hot today and it’s not often one can say that about watching trials riding in Scotland, and whilst the riders undoubtedly prefer warm and dry conditions as an alternative to what they often have to face, rain and wind, for us spectators it can be tiring,standing on the Bankside, or...
Sunday afternoon, May 5I spent the first couple of hours this morning looking for the final results from the Pre 65 trial but was unable to find them, so wrote Scotland Part 4 with nothing to go on other than what I had picked up yesterday afternoon.Went down to the West End car park for about...
Saturday, May 4 8.10amEarly news here from Kinlochleven on Saturday morning, just an hour or so before the first rider is away.The results of day one were published and 13 riders went clean on Friday, Carl Batty amongst them and with Will Brockbank on a single dab which still leaves him in the reckoning.Many riders reported...
Friday, May 3, 8.10pmIt’s fairly late on Friday evening following the first full day of the Pre 65 trial, so my first impressions.The level of bike preparation is exemplary with very few old knackers being ridden and there is a very strong contingent off big four strokes, principally Triumph twins with far fewer AJS or Matchless...
THURSDAY, MAY 2, mid-eveningIt was when I reached Glen Coe that I realised that in all the years I’ve been travelling the A82 to Fort William, rarely have I seen the famous mountains in such clear, beautiful weather as they were on Thursday afternoon, and upon reaching Kinlochleven where the Scottish Pre 65 takes place, the...
TUESDAY, APRIL 30Well, I never expected to be writing something as early as this about Scotland, but here goes.I was having a Monday afternoon brew with my local Carnforth pal Neil Buckley, who was on the Reserve List for the two day trial, but a long way down, somewhere about the last 4 or 5 of...