Clyde Valley HOG 9894

2023 was the 25th running of Thunder in the Glens and it would be rude for CVH not to be there. A sizable contingent of Clyde Valley began making their way to Aviemore on Thursday but we still had a good-sized group riding up on the Chapter ride to Thunder from West Coast HD.

Led by Jigger around 17 bikes left WCHD at 11:30 in what were pretty changeable conditions. It actually started quite dry, but was mostly wet with torrential rain around the Stepps bypass heading out on the M80 and, as ever past …what’s it called?…. Cumbernauld.

Cumbernauld folk have evolved to have webbed feet and lay their eggs in puddles and ponds each spring. Probably.

The group arrived safely at Stirling where we picked up around another 10 or so bikes for the next leg up to Pitlochry. This also provided an opportunity for one rider to lose their keys down the leg of their knickers.

Probably.

As always the sun was shining as we parked up at the Blair Atholl Distillery and grabbed a sandwich. Davie Fulton had nipped down from Thunder to meet us and join us for the ride back up. (maybe not the best move as the weather got progressively worse over the last 50 miles of the trip- but he don’t care… Probably).

Suitably checked in at Thunder we met up at the Winking Owl…supposedly for a photo but the weather (utterly persisting down) and later arrival of some meant others had drifted away and that kind of never happened. There were smurfs though.

After a wet Friday night it was pretty much raining stair rods again most of Saturday for the mass ride out to Grantown on Spey via Lochindorb. If you had done it before, in the conditions, many would have went….”nah, not this time”, but if you have never done the ride out then it was a case of why let rain spoil the fun. Around 900-1000 riders were of the latter view and it made for a spectacular sight leaving Aviemore. Quite a few CVH members joined the ride joined by some who rode up for the day as well. Then there was the Ladies of Harley event…staying classy as we knew you would . Probably.

As usual, there was plenty of entertainment both official and unofficial in the various venues that line the Aviemore “strip”.

Sunday started a bit more variable with showery conditions which did initially worsen but then by early afternoon it was actually quite bright and dare I say, sunny. The Sunday ride out to Cairngorm while a smaller affair than Saturday’s ride, was actually very well attended, I am tempted to suggest there were more bikes this year than last year, and someone needs to explain to me the bone-dry couple of miles at the head of Loch Morlich heading up to the hill ( which was merely moist as well). It got wetter the closer to Aviemore High Street you went ( official: scientifically proven study conducted by me) until early afternoon when it all cleared up.

Sunday night had some great entertainment with top British Rock band Massive Wagons leading the way, followed by the rally finale led by the Rick Parfitt Junior Band singing all the usual covers and getting the audience involved.

A final post script: Clyde Valley HOG wish to convey our best wishes to Dunedin Chapter Director Stewart Willox and his partner Kerry who were involved in a rather nasty RTA on the Flying Fortress on Monday while heading to Grantown to get fuel. Apparently, the car driver that hit them pulling out of a junction didn’t see them… how can you miss seeing a huge Harley painted like an American flag on a highland road….? Speedy recovery to you both!

….Until next year…