Dumfries 2002

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Dumfries Run 2002

On 15th September 2002, a run was arranged for the Lothian and Central crowd to meet up with Ade Pavey and the members of the Cumbria and Furness Sections. From north of the border, we started at several locations. The Group from the Central area, Alan Bett on his latest acquisition an RG500 Suzuki, headed off southwards down the A74 picking up Stan Smith on his XS850 custom Yam, Ian Vallentine on his CB550, Alan Stirling on his GPZ 900 and his pal Jim on a TDM 850, enroute. Duncan Staniland had a 60 odd mile ride on his trusty CB 750 F1 from his home in Balquidder, (which is in the middle of the Highlands), before he even got to the meeting point at Newbridge. By the end of the day he clocked up nearly 300 miles, not bad for a day out.

The other group consisting of 8 assorted new and old bikes, including Pans. ZRX and Kenny McLay's GS750 met up at Newbridge and set off around the Edinburgh City Bypass, before heading for the borders and some cracking roads. As we approached The Devils Beef Tub, which starts a superb section of road dropping down into Moffat, the weather closed in with heavy fog. The visibility dropping to about 25 yards, which meant it turned into a slow procession of follow my leader. It disappeared when we stopped in Moffat , thankfully. We were then joined by Alex Whyte and his pal Jim Douglas, who had ridden down from East Lothian on their lovely Kawa's. Jim on his 1978 Z1000 and Alex on his 1974 Z900. A quick phone call confirmed Alan Bett and the others were already at McDonald's in Dumfries and we soon joined them there.

After a short time some of the guys from south of the border arrived and told us that Ade and the main group would be along ASAP, as they were taking in the views along the M6. Thanks to one of Ade's spark plugs going on strike on his trusty yellow Yam. Everyone made it and it was nice watching the group arrive on a grand variety of bikes, from a nice Honda 250 Super Dream to Martin Crooks on his Suzuki (what else!!) GS 850 outfit, complete with family. After exchanging pleasantries we retired to a pub in the centre of town, to refresh the parts that needed refreshing.

After a "guid auld blether" (polite Scottish conversation) obviously about bikes, it was all too quickly time to set off home. Some of us had to get home quicker than anticipated, due to a family get together! So it meant following Alan Bett's RG500 for a quick high-speed blast up the M74. Following Alan's Suzuki was like a day at the races with the smell of the 2 stoke from the exhausts. We all got home safely after a good day meeting other like-minded people.

Thanks again to Ade and all the rest of the group who ventured north over the border.

NB After a trip down to the Teeside Classic show at Redcar in October, I met up with some of the North East Section Members. (Malcolm Linsley wasn't there; he was too busy running in the Great North Run in Newcastle, Well Done Malcolm.) I did meet Steve Robinson (loved your T500 J, get a picture in the mag for others to enjoy.) and it was suggested that the Lothian & Central, and the North East sections could have a ride out and meet up somewhere next year. Look forward to that already.

Thanks to Jim Readman for this article

Camping weekend 6 / 7 th September