July 2023 – Clyde Valley HOG 9894

The group riding to Loch Doon minus Kenny

The Anointed… Loch Doon Ride Out July 2023

31/07/2023

The Met Office had been full of foreboding for Saturday’s outlook with some very heavy downpours predicted. Presumably, it was this that deterred many from turning out for what is a brilliant road winding down through the Ayrshire countryside. Captain Fulton certainly has a nose for sniffing out great bike roads in my experience and this one is no exception.

He also has a nose for the black stuff….no not Guinness… Tia Maria. The ritual presentation of the Bar and Shield for services to Coffee flavour liqueurs was conducted before the intrepid 7 ( 6 bikes and a pillion) departed WCHD…

…waved off by all those who couldn’t get their bikes wet or simply just forgot them…

A big turn out to shelter int he safety of the dealership — A big turn out to shelter in the safety of the dealership…some of the chapter evidently turned out more than once.

…it just goes to show… non-attendance doesn’t let you escape without some directed banter!

Enough of the japery…. there was a serious ride to conduct. With so few bikes and a group of seasoned ride-out vets, this was conducted as a mates ride and we steamed off into the wilds heading at times headlong towards huge black clouds. There were rain showers to the left and rain showers to the right and threatening skies ahead….but the anointed ones singularly failed to encounter as much as a spit of rain all the way down to Loch Doon.

Yes, we rounded a few bends and found the road ahead wet, yet half a mile further on…it was bone dry again. The rain gods smiled on Davie and his flock all the way there. It drizzled a wee bit admittedly while we chewed the fat in the car park at Loch Doon preparing to head for our respective homes ( is there anything worse than putting a wet head of hair into a crash helmet?), but even then, your humble scribe never encountered rain all the way back until literally passing Newton Mearns. He stopped in at WCHD to hopefully let it pass, and yes it came on in biblical fashion for about ten minutes, but then he rode all the way to Stirling in bright sunshine from WCHD to home, again on mostly dry roads with the odd river or loch where you might not normally expect…..the old A8 we are talking about you….

Nicole figured if she spread herself out it would make the group look bigger.

July 2023 Chapter Ride Out to Oban

25/07/2023

After what has been a shaky month weather wise and no end in sight to the unsettled conditions this months Chapter ride out was planned for a run to Oban. As the week developed it looked fortuitous that Sunday was the day for the run, it being a Chapter run, as Saturday looked to be a stinker. But in point of fact, Saturday ended up not bad and Sunday was actually a very nice day for a run into the near North West.

A few riders got a wee sprinkle of weather on the way home but a lot depended on where your final destination was and what route back was taken.

The group of about 16 ( 14 bikes and 1 trike) went up via Loch Lomondside and Tarbert taking the road to Crianlarich and then for a stop at the Green Welly to let Burnsy get a fag and petrol….preferably not all at the same time….

The Green Welly — Parked up well clear of the petrol pumps at the Green Welly….well, you would wouldn’t you?

As the carnage and mushroom cloud of the ensuing explosion faded in the riders mirrors it was on to Oban to stop and revive with Chips/Ice Cream/Coffee….again preferably not all at the same time.

The return trip was really up to each individual and where they were headed, but the majority took a run down the Kilmartin road to Lochgilphead ( another fuel stop) then back around Loch Fyne. Some headed back via Dunoon and the Ferry to the Clyde Coast, others took the more direct routes. It might have rained at Dunbarton….. and on the Clyde Coast, but a small price to pay for a nice day out.

Bikes on the Dunoon Ferry — A ferry home for a few

Photos from Pete Chisholm and Frazer Auld. As ever you can see all the images on our Flickr album below.

Dunbar RNLI Gala day and SFoM 2023

17/07/2023

A busy weekend for Clyde Valley HOG and first up was a ride out to Dunbar over on the East Coast to support the RNLI Gala day. A couple of bikes from Dunedin also attended and the weather stayed somewhat miraculously dry for the most part, with what appears to have been a small shower just as the bikes were departing for home. While the weather has been changeable this last month most of the ride outs have been able to dodge the weather and ended up with good conditions so sometimes its worth taking a chance and just coming along, more often than not we get away with it. Images here courtesy of Paul Stark and Pete Chisholm

Scottish Festival of Motoring 2023

Sunday we had another posse of bikes and members heading east once again, this time early on Sunday morning to show our bikes at Ingleston showground and the Scottish Festival of Motoring.

Again, it sounds that despite the outside pitch at the event, the weather stayed dry all day.

I know there were a lot more photos taken by members than these, if you have any you are happy to share please email them to webmaster@clydevalleyhog.com .

PXL_20230716_080208367 — Photos from Dunbar and Ingleston July 2023

The Fintry Loop** (did you see what we did there?)

10/07/2023

Saturday’s ride out was a fully circular route out the north side of Glasgow through Kirkintilloch and Kilsyth, Denny then out to Carron Bridge and along the Carron Valley to Fintry where we stopped at the Courtyard Cafe, at Knockraich Farm ( a wee gem of a find by Paul the Road Captain for the day, if I do say so myself*).

*this route is a regular route for your humble scribe as it’s all local to me and nice roads but never have I even noticed the cafe! Doh!

One wee mention too for the road from Fankerton out to Carron Bridge. If you have ridden it at all in the last three years at least you can’t be unaware that it was like the surface of the moon all potholes and craters and really quite dangerous… not now it is lovely billiard table smooth grippy tarmac!

The road down into Fintry as it exits the Carron Valley road however is still a bit of a pothole fest from about the Fintry Loup ( the waterfall) to the junction of the Campsies road ( Fintry- Lennoxtown) so be aware.

The weather had somewhat changeable ideas but by some miracle ( a miracle that eluded your humble scribe on the way down to Glasgow when we had to shelter from the torrent in Stirling Services with lots of other motorbikes), it stayed dry despite threatening for the entire ride out. In fact it was incredibly hot and sitting outside at the Courtyard was very pleasant indeed….and the scones were good too.

**PS for those that didn’t see what we did there… this is the Fintry Loup (notice the “u” not an “o”)- a waterfall between Fintry and Carron Valley Reservoir. Well worth a visit but be prepared for the midgies.

PXL_20230708_111138590.MP — The Fintry ride out on Flickr

Loch Katrine Ride out….. and the Clotted Cream Crisis

04/07/2023

This weeks shop ride-out was to Loch Katrine by way of Aberfoyle and the Dukes Pass, a legendary bikers road. The weather forecast was promising but a few of the riders did get caught in some heavy rain on the way into Hillington, made worse by it being driven on the gusty winds which made for a soggy start to the day for some. Some though managed to totally avoid the rain just by being on the road a few minutes either side of the rain fall….so it was just your luck.

As the group assembled to leave for the Trossachs the rain had one final tip down, hammering hard on the roof of WCHD and frankly that was it. After that it was dry, with even brilliant sunshine on the way out from Balloch to Aberfoyle on dry roads, and then a dry crossing of the Dukes pass. It was evident that there had been no rain up on the hill and in fact ( as happened during the road crew recce earlier in the week) even the gusty wind was absent on the hill.

The rain had a wee return while we were inside stuffing our faces with Scones but it was gone by the time we emerged to head back to our respective destinations via Callander.

An interim briefing to discuss the status of clotted cream deliveries to Loch Katrine…the boat had been delayed by the weather.

There was a short stop in at the car park at Aberfoyle while the ride leader Davy received updates from the cafe at Katrine letting us know that clotted cream was not going to be an option on the scones so that the group could decide whether to make the crossing with inevitable minor disappointment awaiting at the other end.

if You have never ridden the Dukes Pass, and we had a few DP virgins on this ride, you might want to check out this segment of video from the Road Crew recce, of a run up the Dukes Pass during the week in sunshine and devoid of traffic.

However, we decided that cream or no cream the Dukes Pass was ready and waiting for us and we made a steady crossing with relatively little traffic of note.

We successfully negotiated “Sharons Corner”…Looks like its been resurfaced in the last couple of weeks

Killearn and BudaWest

01/07/2023

A short ride out to Killearn to accommodate attendance at the BudaWest event at West Coast HD. It started a gloomy looking day but stayed dry and actually ended up pretty warm. Kenny was a newbie at leading under the supervision of Jigger and Stevie, nobody died so that has to rank as a success.

Kenny chose a route to get out into the country quickest via the Stockiemuir Road which worked quite well but perhaps the ride back in via the Clyde Tunnel and then picking up the old A8 wasn’t the best. It was a bit gridlocked at times…not helped I think by some road works on the westbound M8 which seemed to be bringing a lot of local traffic off the motorway onto the back roads.

Jiggers 117 Breakout sporting its new stylish ( his words) Man Bag…needs a splash of “new” Clyde Valley Tartan on that mate

Not to worry, we all made it back in time for the sun coming out and the entertainment at West Coast. Quite a few cases of temporary retinal burns were reported by the reflected light from Tommy’s incredibly polished helmet….has there ever been a helmet that had so much attention…all that buffing.