Scotland at 45mph

Very nice....

I have always wanted to travel to Scotland and do a bike tour... Now I am inspired like never before.
So very inspired

Good luck with the test.

Keep up the good work with the photos.

You are lucky to be able to ride in such a beautiful part of the world

Go get 'em Matt!

Thats the ticket!

Haha, good to hear.

Yeah, I'm thinking of doing an RR. I need to put a bit more thought and planning into exactly what it will be; I'm flat out busy with work & getting everything ready for months away, that I'm shelving that whole thought process until I've got time to think through it properly. But there's definitely going to be a Go Pro in there somewhere ;-)

G'luck with the test mate, where are you sitting it?

Cheers guys.

Thanks. I sat on one today at the MCN Bike Show. Seemed straight forward enough and pretty comfy.

Thank you. Got no-one to blame but myself should I fail. I know what I need to know.

And my test is in Bathgate. There's no chance I'll be stopping to take photos!

Yeah weather took a hefty downturn the last couple of days. There's always a market for 125s. She's done me well.

Yeah I can do it in small trips because I'll be back out a few days or a week later. Not so easy when you get one shot at it. I'd like to do Wales. My first non-Scotland RR will likely be Wales (and a bit of England obviously).

I hope you get up here too.

Thanks!

Come on over. You've missed February but some of the other months are okay too. Our best weather tends to be in May if that helps.

Thank you. You are right. There are plenty of places in the world I want to go with a bike and often find myself day dreaming about them. However there's plenty of Scotland that I've yet to see so no rush to be looking out the metal panniers and Carnet.

Thanks dude. I need you to stand at the side of the road and cheerlead. I'm got the pom poms but you'll need to bring your own skirt.

Goodstuff. I chose an improved DLSR camera over a compact video camera earlier this year. It wouldn't have been a GoPro mind you. Out of my financial league. Some of the videos people get off them are amazing though. I'll definitely get a video camera at some point.

Bathgate dude. Never been so I'll try get through if the weather clears a bit. Maybe even follow someone about while they're on test! I have an hour before hand so the instructor is going to show me some of the bits that tend to trip folk up.

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A few days ago my sister asked me to take my bike in to her school (she's a primary school teacher) to let the kids see it and maybe sit on it as the subject they're doing just now is transport. The kids she teaches have a variety of learning and physical disabilities including autism. I've never met any of them before so wasn't sure what to expect but it went really well. They loved it! Beeping the horn got the biggest reaction of the day and while one or two were a bit scared of it, you could hardly keep the rest of them away. Very cool.

No photos though I'm afraid but you can have this one from Killin that I forgot to post last week.




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Today was the first day of the MCN Scottish Mototcycle Show. Weather was awful so nowhere near as many bikes in the car park as there has been in the past but the show was still pretty mobbed so I'm guessing that like me, they just took the car.

No BMW again and the Victory stand was very subdued compared to last year but the rest of them were just as big and loud as they've been recently. I got to sit on a few bikes, get a wee chat with some folk I knew and see some pretty cool stunt riding. And Nick Sanders was there. I would have gone over to talk to him but he was selling books and DVDs and I didn't have any money on me.

Nick Sanders:



Apologies for the quality of these videos. I would've put music over the first one but Youtube don't like that.

Videos:

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I sat mine in Bathgate too. The test centre is basically just a converted bungalow, blink and you'll miss it . When I done my test my examiner was being tested also, so he was under as much pressure as me

I did my driving test in Bathgate many many moons ago. You'll be fine mate. No worries as they say down this way!

From one Bairn to another, all the best with the test!

(Nae photies o' Bathgate required )

Thanks again lads. Took a wee run through to Bathgate today to check it out. Seemed straight forward enough. Didn't see anything particularly weird anyway. Well, apart from the locals.

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Wee update today:


Decided against coming back on the main road as it was boring. The back road I took was far from boring. I was aiming for something called Cairnpapple Hill but decided against it as the entrance to the road was steep and gravely. I have no experience with any sort of off road riding and even if I'd made it up the hill, coming back down would have been a nightmare. Another time.

So I continued along the road I was on. However it had apparently flooded and was closed so I was diverted off to some smaller road. This one was pretty dodgy. It was a forest road and fairly high up as well so the sun hadn't gone in to thaw out the snow. I was coming down a hill that would have been fine any other time of year but today it was covered in snow (I was actually riding on snow) and all the gravel and dirt that had washed onto the road from the forest that surrounded it. I sat in first gear the whole time. I was maybe more cautious than strictly necessary but the conditions were a lot worse than on the road I came off on a few years back. I was about to stop and take a few pictures of the state of the road when a lorry appeared in my mirrors. Since the snow was piled up at the sides of the road I had nowhere to stop that would allow him to pass so I pressed on.

Since I don't have any photos of the road, a screengrab from Google street view will need to do. Just imagine a load of snow and dirt on the road.

Imagine:



Half a mile further down the road I found a car park so ducked in there to avoid holding up and frustrating the trucker. There were a few folk there taking their kids sledging so I got a few funny looks when I appeared on the bike.

Snow:





I was only just out the car park when I was back on the main road. It was odd how quickly things went from snow and mud to sunny and bone dry. I noticed that from up on high I got a good view of the Grangemouth Refinery so pulled in and grabbed a few pics.

This isn't a great photo by any standard but I feel it's a good representation of Scotland as in it you'll see:

- Industry in the Refinery
- Natural beauty in the mountains
- History as if your eyesight is up to scratch you'll see the Wallace Monument in the centre of the photo
- Shit weather

If there was a drunk guy passed out in the field they could put this up in the airports to tell tourists everything they need to know about the country.




There wasn't much happening on the way home so that's all the photos I have. Getting a new choke cable tomorrow and once that's in she'll be advertised for sale. Need to wash her again though as she's covered in crap from today.

Just started following along here.
Wife and I are coming to Scotland in May for 2 weeks of driving through the country and hopefully see some of the great scenery you've been showing!
Thanks!!!

And how about the fried mars bar?


Good luck on the test. See you on another motorcycle soon.

The new bike will be the Deauville won't it? I feel like I missed something. It appeared in two frames and vanished. Waiting for your test I thought...

Excellent! Normally we get our best weather in May so you should get some nice days. It hasn't stayed dry for 2 weeks in a row for millions of years though so you'll get some crap ones too!

You'll see loads (maybe everything) in 2 weeks if you're travelling about. Should be good.

Never tried them! Deep fried Mars Bars are like shamrocks on a Guinness or 'I NY' t-shirts. For the tourists.

Now I feel like I've missed something. :) Not sure what you mean by 'two frames' but to re-cap in case I've told folk the wrong thing: Yes the Deauville is my new bike. I bought it late last year before I had sat my test as it was a bargain that couldn't be ignored. I passed the first half of my test but still have to sit the second part and that'll happen on the 28th of this month. I cannot ride it til then, though I can sit on it and make 'broom broom' noises. I don't do that though.

The Suzuki mini-cruiser is my current bike that is now good to be sold. I'm hoping for a dry day (it's been rain and snow the last week) to take better photos of it for the advert.

Good luck tomorrow mate

In 12 hours time I'll be setting off with an examiner behind me

Had butterflies all day and tonight's sleep will be restless. I was surprisingly calm during the Mod 1 test so I'm hoping once I've been out for an our (we ride to the test centre) I'll like cool like Fonzie.

And the Marauder has been sold. The guy paid his deposit so after my test I'm taking it through to his house to get paid and hand it over.

It will be an emotional day, regardless.

close your eyes and think of Scotland

Best of luck

All the best.



JM.