June 2024 – Clyde Valley HOG 9894

Chapter Ride Out Musselburgh and Luca’s

27/06/2024

Last Sunday we had a successful chapter ride out which was rearranged at short notice due to a mix-up with dates. The original destination of Portavadie was therefore rearranged at short notice and instead of west we headed East by a more winding route. It being a Sunday there was no real point to gathering at WCHD and with an Eastward trajectory in mind, we assembled at the McDonalds at the Showcase Leisure area near Coatbridge before heading off at 10:30. It’s fair to say we had a bit of a Mickey D’s take over as we managed to fill one entire side of the car park with Harleys. In all we had 37 bikes ( one non-Harley due to an ongoing bike off-the-road situation).

The route settled upon avoided Motorways and took us first out on the old A8 then South East down the A73, through Lanark and then cutting across via Symington to join the A702 towards Edinburgh up what has to be one of the best motorcycle routes in the land. Finally, we picked up the dreaded A720 Edinburgh City Bypass where we tackled the Sherrifhall roundabout ( which wasn’t as bad as it can be ( or had been during the recce on Friday), then leaving the A720 on to the A68 to enter Musselburgh via the back roads in through Whitecraig and Inveresk. A nice wee 67 mile canter through nice scenery in mostly sunny and warm conditions for once!

After coffee and a bite to start the day we started engines and were off

As we progressed South and East down relatively quiet roads it grew brighter and warmer and it was pleasingly sunny and warm once we reached The Honest Toun and parked up our bikes opposite Luca’s in bright sunshine.

Of course there is always one… but it was his birthday. (93 today and looking great on it).

A great turnout in the sunshine for a Luca’s

We have another two Eastward facing events coming up soon, with the Festival Of Motoring Exhibition event and then our ride to Dunbar to support the RNLI Gala day so watch out for them.

Stirling Indian Cottage Lads Night

22/06/2024

The second of our monthly (ish) lads night and this time the Chapter lads came to Stirling ( yaay!) for an Indian meal at the Indian Cottage on Dunbarton Road. We had 13 bikes and riders with Pete who lives fairly locally joining us at the restaurant. The group included a few new faces which is always great to see. We were also joined by David Hackshall from WCHD who was in the mood for an Indian.

Dave was stylish in his Napkin head gear. ( HD napkins we are assured), probably true as Jigger was quick to join in. Sean was suitably disgusted.

The bikes made sure Stirling was awake by the time we arrived setting a few car alarms off on the way in….well, you have to eh?

11 September 2026

Ride Out 11 September

Ride Out to Newton Stewart

Free

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West Coast Harley Davidson, 8 Mossland Drive
Glasgow, G52 4FA United Kingdom

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Burnsy and a canape — Burnsy enjoying a Tandoori Canape

menu — Burnsy enjoying a Tandoori Canape

We settled for the set dinner which was excellent value and Michael the restaurant manager treated us to a few extras with our dinner as well which was very well received.

Lots of laughs, especially when Connor assured us that “real men can wear pink suits” He wouldn’t let us have the photo but it was probably the one shown.

Anyone who ate the very very hot chilli that was probably a garnish but was consumed by at least Kenny and Ian, had a small internal furnace keeping them company for the next 12 hours or so.

Great night, well executed, lets do it again some time!

Post Script: We understand big Robert suffered a bit of a bad bump to the head after getting home and spent the night in A&E. Everyone at Clyde Valley wishes you a speedy recovery mate and hope to see you again soon.

Ayr Classic Motorcycle Show Ride Out

17/06/2024

On Saturday 11 bikes and 12 members turned out for a backroads ride out to the Classic Motorcycle show at Ayr Racecourse led by Davie Fulton, with Lairdy and Fitzy taking up Sweeper and tailender duties.

It was a reasonable turn out given the full on experience of the Gathering the weekend prior…..have we mentioned how good it was? and the weather forecast which has returned to the norm for this summer, wet with periods of more wetness.

In the event but for some showers and some very slippery conditions in a few places….one road notably had been receiving a Diesel irrigation it appeared, we all arrived intact and bikes upright at Ayr racecourse, where a number of other chapter members were found having made the way there themselves.

Fitzy's Lowrider ST — Image courtesy of Connor Edenborough

Fraz behind the lens — Image courtesy of Connor Edenborough

Davie preps — Meetings greetings and briefings

Davie Fulton leading off — Davie Leading off ( Courtesy of Connor Edenborough)

Chris decking the boards — Davie Leading off ( Courtesy of Connor Edenborough)

Coming up next at Clyde Valley HOG

14 August 2026

Cirencester HOG Rally 2026

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The Royal Agricultural University, Tetbury Road
Cirencester, GL7 6JS United Kingdom

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It was a cool wee event with a great selection of vintage and modern day classics ( bikes over 15 years of age are I understand eligible for this status ) so there were many machines on show that triggered a few memories with our members.

Kenny's first big bike a VF750F — Kenny’s first big bike….this one has had a front wheel change though.

A CX 500- rare now- used to be so common — Kenny’s first big bike….this one has had a front wheel change though.

Even the bike parking area outside had a number of cool old “throwback” machines parked up.

Chris contemplates the dark side — West Coast Triumph wer eon site luring Chris to the dark side.

Old BSA — West Coast Triumph wer eon site luring Chris to the dark side.

drifting a bike — Look closely, it’s down to the canvas

smoking the rubber — Look closely, it’s down to the canvas

wheelie merchant — A bunch of stunts and a TZ starter!

Loving the helmet — A bunch of stunts and a TZ starter!

While there we also saw demonstrations of stunts and wheelies, a classic bike parade and were treated to a start up of a TZ750 Yamaha racer….be glad you don’t need to tow a rolling road with you to get your bike going day to day. This 4 cylinder 2 stroke racer was about as loud as the Road King that won the loudest pipes at The Gathering but in a different way!

The Gathering 2024 report

16/06/2024

It’s fair to say The Gathering 2024 was a great great success on many fronts. We hosted around 400 bikers at Hunters Quay from all over the UK, and 10 chapters were represented in those numbers, with big turn outs from Dunedin ( biggest chapter), Red Rose, Fenlanders and Great Western, as well as HOG members from Northern Ireland and Eire, Mancunium and others included the unaffiliated.

You can get details of The Gathering and links to tickets here.

Big thanks to you all for coming to celebrate our 20th rally and 25th year on the road…..and what a celebration it was! Also big thanks to the venue Hunters Quay and their parent company Cove Holidays for accommodating us, West Coast Harley Davidson our chapter sponsor and everyone that supported us to make the event what it was. Big shout out to Exceed Joinery for logistical support and sponsorship of entertainment.

Janice our Ladies of Harley Officer knocked it clean out the park with the LoH Prosecco Party and entertainment. It was meant to last 30 minutes, but the dancing went on for 2 hours and they and Edward Reid would still be there now were it not that the evening band Overdrive needed in to do their soundcheck!

Edward Reid went down a storm — Prepping the LOH party

Overdrive got the party started for everyone on the Friday evening before we blew off the cobwebs on Saturday morning with our unmatched 7 Lochs Ride Out.

And still they danced — Overdrive Rocked!

We normally ride this with a Police escort but they never turned up this year so this put more load on our Road Crew to get a record number of bikes to Lochgoilhead for the barbeque. We had a few showers on the ride but as with the whole weekend the sun shone much of the time with the occasional short cloud burst now and then that never came close to dampening spirits. On arrival at Lochgoilhead we counted 106 bikes with 104 verified out the gate at Hunters Quay.

Then we had the loudest pipes back at rally HQ in the afternoon and I reckon that broke a few records and a few eardrums with Keith Milne’s lovely Road King blowing the spectators back across the car park…..what a noise!

Committee march in — Loudest Pipes was loud!

Those who missed the ride out were entertained back at the patio bar by Gordon.

At night the show bar was packed for “Big Vern n the Shootahs” and what a party it was! Dancing room was extremely limited on the floor as everyone was up and we had groups dancing in any spare space they could find around the venue. And of course not forgetting Eric on the decks keeping the tunes coming when there were no bands on.

An epic selfie with a packed house — Big Vern N the Shootahs

Onto Sunday and we opened the day with the Custom bike show with Keith Milne again clearing up with Best in Show after his loudest pipes success on Saturday. We had some lovely bikes and well done to everyone who entered whether they won a trophy or not, all were lovely bikes. Then we took the Sunday riders to Inverary where again we broke all records with over 80 bikes heading around Loch Fyne and most returning with us to the park after the Chips and Ice cream.

A unique 99 — Keith won best of show as well

The fun continued in the afternoon with a packed programme, first Chapter Games, which were a lot of laughs with “caber tossing” ( Ok it was a 4 x 4 fence post), Haggis hurling ( a real live Haggis by the way we just clipped it wings off, but they grow back), and Limbo.

The ladies at the Tug of War — Jigger tossing the caber

Then the more sedate and cultured event that is the Whisky tasting, and then to burn off the alcohol intake we ended Sunday with a belting performance by Emily J Clark who rocked us to a selection of Power Ballads.

What a weekend, I dunno about you but I went home shattered but still buzzing from an epic weekend and we have had lots of messages congratulating us on a brilliant rally…..until 2025!

Belting out those power ballads — Emily J Clark

We have literally hundreds of photos and you can see them all on our Flickr.

The Gathering 2024 Day One — See all our images on Flickr

7 Lochs Ride Out Recce 2024

05/06/2024

Join the Road Crew as they recce the route for the 7 Lochs ride out.

The Road Crew headed out from West Coast Harley Davidson on Saturday, taking the ferry over to Hunters Quay then a meeting at the Rally site before hitting the 7 Lochs. A wee taster to whet your appetite. See you at The Gathering!