Oban 2002

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On Sunday 12th May, 2002, the Lothian & Central Section gathered at South Queensferry for one of our longest runs so far, destination OBAN. We set off at 10.30am with a couple of new members joining us. Poor Alan Stirling, he had arrived all the way from Cumbernauld on his nice CX 500 Custom, only to turn around and ride the same way back along the M8 Motorway to Stirling. Moral of this story, phone someone and arrange to meet us enroute as some others did at Stirling and Callander.

The weather was excellent, sunny and not a cloud in the sky. As usual the roads and scenery were at their best, only spoilt by all the cars on the roads and some of the suicide jockeys on their ballistic missiles ( If Mike Easton had got a hold of the twat on the gorgeous orange street fighter, who overtook him so close, that they nearly had friction burns on their elbows. I'm sure Mike would have shown him where he could have parked it !!) To help bring them back down from the speed of sound, the boys in blue were out taking piccies with a couple of unmarked speed cameras.

First pit stop was Callander. Then after a nice run up the A85 past Lochearnhead and Crianlarich, we stopped at the Green Welly Shop at Tyndrum, along with many other bikers. We also met up with David and Leslie Kinnear, who had come up from Glasgow on their trusty Z 750 to meet us. I liked the matching 'Dennis the Menace' helmets, yours too Petra! I should apologise again to David for parking so close and hitting your mirror, infront of an audience. What a pillock! Thankfully only my indicator lens smashed. Luckily I had a spare one at home, as you do.

We would like to meet other members from the west side of Scotland, we know you are there, so get in touch. I'll try and not run into you, physically that is.

As this is quite a long run, some of the group turned and headed back, some going home around Loch Lomond. The rest of us continued on the A85, passed Loch Awe, Taynuilt, Connell and into Beautiful Oban. Luckily we had a friendly native with us, so Neil Chisholm was able to direct us onto one of the piers to park up. Shame they haven't thought about some kind of barriers to stop you going off the pier and parking on top of the tied up fishing boats. The town itself was bustling with tourists and looked great in the sunshine. Neil didn't think his mother would appreciate a crowd of bikers turning up for tea, so we headed to his local hostelry for a small sherry!

We decided against jumping on one of the ferries and going across to the Outer Hebrides. Maybe another time. We then set off homewards, with 120 miles to go. As usual, a VJMC run wouldn't be complete without a drop of rain, so we had a couple of small showers to help wash the flies off the visors. Bill Bruce went well on his XJ Yam and Dave Cullen on his mint Z 1000 A2, showed that bikes like his can be ridden aswell as looking good in bike shows. I arrived home at 6pm, just in time for tea, fix the bike and to put the feet up after a great day out.

Jim Readman

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