Roll Up….Roll up for the Mystery Tour 2023

I always thought Beatles were pure rotten by the way….and those haircuts….

The CVH Beatles
The Beatles. Maybe.

What a day, what a turnout. The weather while pretty nippy first thing with the first frosts of Autumn and road salt on the ground didn’t deter over 30 bikes from congregating at WCHD for a briefing but where was the Road Captain for this magical mystery tour taking us?

RC briefing
Chris pointing to Peebles….can everyone see it?…it’s fine…just follow the signs…you can’t possibly go wrong.

As we had a bigger group of bikes for the Mystery Tour…that was no longer a mystery… (probably just as well in hindsight!) the core road crew for the day of Chris (RC) Kenny (sweeping) and Jigger bringing up the rear, was supplemented by almost all the rest of the CVH road crew who would help keep the group together and manage at least some of the earlier drop offs. One notable exception was Connor who was feeling a bit sore after 80 minutes of team crochet* the day before at the Womens Institute** and so he called in lame.

*He is crocheting a cake for the Strawberry tea in two weeks’ time I am told

**Jigger told me that as well so it must be true.

With everyone having donned blindfolds and been spun round in the car park to ensure we were thoroughly lost…off we headed onto the Scottish roads network in pursuit of soup and sandwiches.

And what a brilliant day for riding a motorcycle it was, dry roads ( the occasional wee splash of salt but nothing major…barely a dusting), bright sunshine and traffic much less now the tourist season is behind us. With such a large group and quite a “fiddly” route in places there were a fair number of drop-offs, some requiring two bikes to mark the route, but it was perhaps inevitable there would be the odd hiccup.

However, the Sweeper and Tail ender lived up to their job roles and collected in the lost and strays and everyone made it to Peebles in time for lunch.

…but not before the chapter photo…..

But Wait……where’s Burnsy….?

Just photoshop him in I was instructed….

So I did….

oh wait…here he comes now….

Then we all retired to the most civilised surroundings of the Tontine Hotel for Soup sandwiches and a cup of tea or coffee….but it was strictly BYOB…Bring your own Biscuits.

After our victuals and the usual milling about blethering, we all headed off for the last time (officially) this season.

Depending on the weather there might still be a few “mates” rides, and of course, don’t forget there is the Strawberry Tea event a week on Saturday when Connor can show us all his handiwork and will have had time to get his acrylics sorted we hope…thoughts and prayers lad…thoughts and prayers…

Mystery Ride 2023 Peebles
All our images from the day on Flickr

Read more of what we have been up to in the items below

Ride To The Wall 2023

A number of Clyde Valley members made the annual pilgrimage to the National Memorial Arboretum to attend the Ride to the Wall (RTTW) day.

The Group led by Head Road Captain, Jigger left from just outside Strathclyde Country Park ahead of what was to be one of Scotland’s wettest weekends on record, stopping in at Southwaite to pick up Paddy before continuing on to Lichfield for the night.

They report that it was a bit wet as far as Manchester, but then had warm sunshine beyond to the destination. Riders who went down the east of the country reported a dry run the whole way!

Jigger had already filled his nappy by the time he reached Strathy Park and that’s only 5 miles from home!

Some socialising was done before and after the event. Indian food and beer.

On the day 8 bikes representing Clyde Valley attended and they report that the route was lined with well-wishers. At the event, the members took part in the wreath laying ceremony, with Stevie laying the wreath on behalf of the chapter, attended by James Gould (Navy), Tommy (Army) and Jigger (RAF).

There was a Spitfire fly-past and plenty time to meet old comrades as well as friends from other chapters.

On Sunday the group were pretty lucky to be able to ride almost the entire way home in dry conditions until just 15 miles from home….quite a feat considering the amount of rain that fell in the Central Belt on Saturday and Sunday.

Read more of what we have been up to in the items below

EHD Ride Out for MacMillan Coffee Morning

On Saturday we took a ride east to see our friends at Dunedin HOG who, in conjunction with Edinburgh Harley Davidson were running a Coffee Morning in aid of MacMillan Cancer support.

We took a route that after negotiating the M8 through Glasgow headed along less busy roads through North Lanarkshire and into West Lothian.

It has to be said though that just getting to WCHD on Saturday ended up a bit of a Red Light Nightmare for your hapless correspondent when he admitted he had to ride like a bit of an ar**hole to get to WCHD in time despite leaving pretty early. Burnsy let it be known to all that would listen (fortunately no one does :-)) that he reckoned I always ride like an **sehole.

Team support in the Road Crew is strong even from the latest Paddawan. 🙂

“You ai-ways ride like an a*r*hole”….Louise at least thought it was funny… me? I’m taking legal advice…

So after the usual taking of pictures..

Frazer on the shutter

sniffing of fingers….where had that been?

Russ had a stinky finger- maybe

and donning of lids…we headed east in search of sunshine, dry roads and cake.

Lids on

…we were off….

But not for long as Frazer had an impromptu breakdown at the entry to the Anderston tunnel and had to be assisted by Road Crew Tail gunner Fitzy on his Rubber Johnny. ( it was always bound to happen with that name, wasn’t it?… juvenile but might as well get it out there now… over and done with say I. It even had the missing 5 gears that went astray a few weeks back…Hurray for gears!!

Fast (Rubber) Johnny)
Fast Johnny- six speed!
Tail gunner Fitzy to the rescue

There were a few missed and tricky drop-offs and traffic split us up a few times but in the end we all made it to EHD safely under the lead of Connor who was today’s Road Captain and we arrived in time for Hot Dogs, Cake and laughs. Even Frazer got his Fat Bob going and Fitzy showed how fast Johnny can be when he is playing catch up; and we all arrived together.

We also met friends from Geordie Chapter who had made the longer journey up the east coast from Newcastle to support Dunedin.

After all the shennanigans what was the final outflow of todays events. Well a grand total of £2000 was raised for MacMillan for which everyone involved can be proud of their contribution. WELL DONE Dunedin and EHD….WELL DONE ALL!

MacMillan Coffee Morning
Flickr Photo Album from Saturday at EHD

Read more of what we have been up to in the items below