Scotland part 2
THURSDAY, MAY 2, mid-evening
It 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 weather was still just as good despite a fierce but warm wind.
Anyway, enough of the weather, there was plenty of smart bikes to see and loads of folks to speak with. Scrutineering had begun over an hour before I landed, so many riders had left for their accommodation, but even so there was plenty of Northern Centre riders and indeed supporters to chat with.
Chris Myers and Alan Crayk Last Year’s first day joint leader Darren Wasley
Andrew Bingley was there with a 350 Ariel for sale – the bike Nick Shield rode to a First Class Award last year (got 15k anyone?) together with some of his special parts for sale. Robert Dobson was queued up to have his brother Edward’s Ariel scrutineered; Neil Buckley had arrived early to pay his entry fee and get the Bantam looked over, Colin Benson and Spud Tatham had their 350 Beezas unloaded to ride out to the roadside sections, Chris Myers had his 250Triumph twin engined Jonathan Myers built special raring to go and was chatting with his Scots friend Alan Crayk whilst some of the chat was the disappearance of the Garth Bheinn hill which has suffered a huge flood which took out the road bridge with the section rocks washed down into the loch. The road works there are putting it all to rights and a brief look at what is left looks like a decent hazard for future trials. Time will tell.