A Wee Ride to the Seaside

Portpatrick Chapter Ride Out

Probably like many, you would have watched the weather forecasts in dismay as what’s been a pretty good week, plenty of dry and sunny days if a wee bit nippy at times, was forecast to deteriorate into another Ice Age by the weekend. The good weather was to turn pretty nasty over Saturday and Sunday. Then it appeared to change a wee bit and Saturday was to be wet and miserable with Sunday looking showery but Baltic cold….and we had a Chapter ride out scheduled.

I don’t know about you but Saturday here was glorious, it rained late evening and by morning the sun was shining, though that quickly turned to rather leaden skies locally. The threat of a wee shower wasn’t enough to put off over 20 bikes and about 30 members for this month’s Chapter Ride out led by Road Captain Davie Fulton, ably assisted by First Officer Catherine.

Davie and Catherine lead off — The bikes all queued up ready for departure. A Volvo tried to sneak into the pack but Patrick’s and Nicole’s exhausts managed to shatter its windows leaving it stranded in “Pit Lane”

Remember and Sponsor our Ladies of Harley doing the Renfrew Fire Walk on the 5th May in aid of Brain Tumour Research!

For most of the day the worst it got was a very slight sprinkling of rain, barely enough to wet the bike, and some damp patches under trees and shady corners which seemed to suggest rain had fallen at some time recently, but not on Clyde Valley Chapter. The sun always shines on Clyde Valley HOG.

We rode down across North Ayrshire, skirting Irvine and Ayr and by Kilwinning, and had a stop to stretch the legs at Girvan. There were a few “challenges” on route to be fair but after a stop to stretch the legs and refuel some bikes we were off down a slightly modified route to Portpatrick and the sun shone.

About 21 or 22 bikes assembling for the ride to Portpatrick. I think the last time we looked at Davies bike in detail it looked like he took a short cut through a field. Looks like this time he went through a hay bale as well. Judging by the state of some of the roads we encountered yesterday, finding a hay bale at the bottom of a pot hole is maybe a new tactic being employed to save them money just repairing them.

To be fair though the temperature was noticeably lower down the coast road though probably most riders were kept warm by working hard to avoid some of the lovely potholes laid on by the Ayrshire (yeah I know there are a few take your pick they were all as bad as each other) and Dumfries and Galloway Councils. When you failed to avoid one it was a gamble whether you would still have a pillion on the back or a bike underneath you at times.

That said the sun shone and it was glorious as we finally arrived at Portpatrick. While a wee bit windy the sun shone and after a quick chapter snap, we headed for the Harbour House Hotel for a light lunch and a warm up. It is fair to say the Harleys created a bit of a stir around this wee sleepy fishing village and it definitely wasn’t as sleepy when we left as it was when we arrived. All the bikes were requested to be lined up outside the Hotel for more pics and the Government even seen fit to send us all a Public Emergency Warning at 3pm, probably due to Paddy’s exhaust note.

After that it was every man for himself and various routes home, good times, plenty of laughs and dry weather, can’t say fairer than that.

Burnsy never made it, probably not sunny enough….not like Egypt…