Ride with us as we take to the City Streets of Glasgow to do a Ride by for opening night of Bat Out of Hell the musical at the Kings, playing until the 19th April.
The ride out for Bat out Of HellBat Out of Hell cast member on Kennys Road King SpecialBurnsy and Shiela
I think it’s fair to say we woke the city up on a glorious Monday night. Video is a mix of Scott Sinclair‘s on bike footage and Kenny’s lead bike, and all Audio courtesy of Scott.
Get your tickets for the rally before it’s too late!
Read more of what we have been up to in the items below
This past weekend saw us do something a wee bit different for the Director’s Ride Out – rather than heading out into the hills, the… Read more: Director’s Ride Out
With the summer holidays in full swing and plenty of folk off on their travels, we still had 12 bikes heading out for Glentrool yesterday… Read more: Glentrool Ride Out
Great turnout on Saturday for the Wemyss Bay Fly By – a circular ride out from West Coast Harley-Davidson! With plenty of bikes on the… Read more: Wemyss Bay Fly By
On Saturday, we kicked off the riding season with an overnight trip to the Buccleuch Arms in Moffat, attracting nearly 40 Harleys and over 50 members. Despite changing weather, we arrived safely and enjoyed the hotel’s amenities. The night was filled with laughs and mischief, marking a successful start to the season. It was great too, to have both old and new members along for the fun.
The Gathering 2025 is approaching rapidly, make sure you have your tickets and accommodation booked soon, we don’t want anyone to be disappointed. It’s going to be epic!
For a wee preview of how we like to have a good time at Clyde Valley Hog see the wee taster video below!
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.
The Inappropriate hilarity before stepping out into another downpour can only be equated to gallows humour… you just know what’s coming.The Chapter Prayer, being taken quite literally by Davy….Eyes closed and everything.I guess fatalism pushes you to do things you might never get the chance to do again…Brian gets down on one knee in front of Janice.
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 weeksAfter a not unpleasant run up to Loch Katrine via the Dukes Pass the Ladies struggled with the wind. Fortunately smells don’t come across in photographs.Sons of Anarchy: Season 3 Ep 11 “Tea and Scones” Look it up….Do you put jam on first or cream? Not a lot of choice when there is only Jam…what had happened to the cream boat?Stevie explained that the Clotted Cream manufacturing facility was across the Loch and required a boat to go collect it.Willie seemed unimpressed. Nae cream, nae smiles.Janice uncharacteristically Prosecco free… it was noted she wasn’t sitting with Brian.. so all that kneeling in the car park in the rain was for naught.Karen and FrazRemarkably dry and smiling despite the lack of cream for those Scones.Stevie consulting the cream boat schedule“Told you it was late; I have the Creamboat Radar App you know and could see it was delayed by the high winds”.The clotted cream boat showed up just as we were about to leave.Sunny over the Dukes Pass.
Read more of what we have been up to in the items below
This past weekend saw us do something a wee bit different for the Director’s Ride Out – rather than heading out into the hills, the… Read more: Director’s Ride Out
With the summer holidays in full swing and plenty of folk off on their travels, we still had 12 bikes heading out for Glentrool yesterday… Read more: Glentrool Ride Out
Great turnout on Saturday for the Wemyss Bay Fly By – a circular ride out from West Coast Harley-Davidson! With plenty of bikes on the… Read more: Wemyss Bay Fly By
On Saturday, we kicked off the riding season with an overnight trip to the Buccleuch Arms in Moffat, attracting nearly 40 Harleys and over 50 members. Despite changing weather, we arrived safely and enjoyed the hotel’s amenities. The night was filled with laughs and mischief, marking a successful start to the season. It was great too, to have both old and new members along for the fun.
2022 it is fair to say, the Gathering was held ( a week late which was unfortunate weather wise as the “normal” week had been sunny) in biblically wet conditions. And while everyone had a good time, it curtailed a lot of the activities we could arrange. The ride out was cancelled on Police advice, and the outdoor events were a race to complete before the next deluge; surely the weather gods would take pity on us in 2023?
This could be practically anywhere on the Continent.
Burnsy got the Rally underway with the formal opening of the Dip Dab
And indeed they did, in epic style! Hunters Quay was bathed in warmth, sunshine and blue skies from dawn to dusk from Thursday when the Advanced party started arriving to set things up through to the end of the party on Sunday night. At any time, you might have been on the Continent, given the weather.
Friday was mostly a day of arrivals as you might expect with chapters and individual riders arriving at Hunters Quay throughout the day. Jigger having torn himself away from a quick 10 “ends” at Airdrie bowling club, (I was thinking of getting the Henselite Evo’s tuned and wanted to swing a few “woods” in a test before the rally) brought the Clyde Valley ride out from West Coast in at 2pm and the party started in earnest with Burnsy’s formal opening of the Dip Dab….if Guinness did Dip Dabs…..I dinnae even want to think about the mess….
Jigger leading the chapter ride out from West Coast HD
Waiting at The Rest and Be Thankful
The Cult of Lairdy
It started with Lairdy, Clyde Valley’s answer to Arnie “The Terminator” Schwarzenegger.
Hasta La Vista Baby
Not content with a strap-on, at Campbeltown he also decided he was to be strapped up. Deciding the night was yet young he spent many a happy hour (well into the wee small hours) in the company of the Argyll NHS’s finest having his arm relocated in the socket which it had decided to dispense with. It will never catch on…or so you may have thought
Fast forward now to the journey of The Gathering Advance Party and Shas travelling with your webmaster and photographer Kenny, she on her wee 125 and Kenny behind on his Road King Special, had a wee difference of opinion with a bend in the road between Drymen and Gartocharn. The road wanted to turn through about 90 degrees while Sharon tired of this turning malarky, decided to go straight on having only completed about 2/3rd of the required turning angle. Not content with merely learning to ride a motorcycle, she also decided to learn to fly, with no instructor in sight. It was never going to end well and after a rummage through the undergrowth, wee Sharon was found by Kenny and extracted with the assistance of an Ambulance crew, for a wee visit to Inverclyde NHS’s finest at Paisley where they discovered after nearly 12 hours…well into the wee small hours of Friday, that she had taken her first tentative steps into the Cult of Lairdy. She too had decided that her right shoulder had spent too long in this particular socket and would be much happier living free of the shackles of the tedium of tendons. muscles and joints. After much pulling and tugging Sharon’s upper arm was restored to its rightful place before she was sent on her way but not before she managed to give us all the first indication of Cult membership.
Are you seeing the similarity here?
Shas’s first recorded use of the Cult of Lairdy hand signal.
While a wee bit battered and bruised like he who she looks up to, Lairdy, she was determined to be back on a motorcycle ( this time as a pillion) for the ride to Dunoon on the Friday ( quite a remarkable feat given the aerial acrobatics and inevitable failure to resist gravity a mere day before).
Shas riding pillion not 12 hours after her arm being put back
The observant will notice the special hand signal on that right hand of the Cult of Lairdy while Shas enjoys a medicinal Prosecco.
We can only hope it doesn’t result in her wanting a girly trike…..like Lairdy.
Suits you sir
On a more serious note Lairdy is about to have a wee procedure this week (apparently to sort his shoulder out, though we have suspicions a “strap on” may be involved )… but everyone at CVH wishes Lairdy a speedy recovery and we all look forward to seeing him out on the Road King later this season. Shas hopefully will be back on the road soon as her wee learner bike gets patched up ( it was mainly all plastic damage) and once her bruises and bumps have sorted themselves out.
Let’s Get This Party Started
The Ladies of Harley got the main events underway with the LoH Prosecco Party.
Prosecco timeThe ladies having a swally
And after more drinks on the new (sun-drenched) patio the first night’s entertainment was underway with Eric on the Decks and Reischam City Rockers, a Bon Scott era AC/DC tribute band all the way from Germany.
Dancing to some AC/DC tunesReischam City RockersThe new barA packed house
Saturday: The Seven Lochs Ride Out
With Covid and then last years deluge it has been 4 years since Clyde Valley Chapter could run our Seven Lochs Ride Out and with the weather conditions being beyond perfect, this was the main event of Saturday and for many, we suspect, the jewel in the crown of a stunning weekend. We had dry, warm clear conditions, very quiet roads and great views on our grand tour of the Cowal Peninsula. We heard remarks from some Dunedin members that they rated it higher than the Thunder in the Glens Ride Out for roads and scenery, which we would modestly agree with.
Jigger led the ride out past the Seven Lochs with an escort from Police Scotland and a slick operation from the CVH Road Crew to get around 80 bikes safely to their destination of Lochgoilhead and back, after a BBQ.
The Seven Lochs are in order of us passing them:
Holy Loch
Loch Loskin
Loch Tarsan
Loch Striven
Loch Fyne
Loch Goil
Loch Eck
Most of the road crewScott tries to get a few tickets excusedReady for the offArrival at LochgoilheadEpic conditions for the BBQBurgers being cookedAmazing sceneryThe ride out through the Devils Glen
After the ride back along the final Loch of the ride out, Loch Eck in glorious weather, it was time for the traditional Loudest pipes competition won by the traditionally exceptionally loud Sportster of John Hamill. Heather was busy in the main hall sewing on all the patches being brought in, then it was time for Whisky Tasting. Those who don’t like a drop of the Uisge Beath were chilling at the patio bar where Gordon Reith was entertaining the troops.
Not remotely concernedLoud doesn’t come closeThe police were impressedHeather on the sewing machineGordon on the tunesWhisky tasting
Saturday night party
After the traditional piping in of the committee which held the rally spellbound…well, Kenny’s kilt was only partially buckled up and could have gone anywhere….
The CommitteeGetting piped inSome tense moments with the kilt
… it was on to the evening’s entertainment of John Beatties Ruckstars who played a mix of tunes that had everyone up dancing. Well done too, to the wee lass that got up and joined in with the band on a rendition of the Amy Winehouse classic “Valerie”. Her singing was infinitely better than big Sean’s it has to be said.
Lots of dancingSean…. whatever Sean was doing it was only loosely connected to singingThe wee lass gives us a songJohn Beatties Ruckstars
Sunday: Inverary Rideout and More Shenanigans
Sunday started with the Custom show, where some gleaming Harleys were exhibited in yet more brilliant sunshine. Then it was off to Inverary for Ice Cream, a pie or chips (or all three!) (depending on your particular level of hunger) with about forty odd bikes. Yet another stunning day to be on the road. On the return it was Chapter games ( all sort of silliness on motorcycles) and tug of war.
Best in show- an authentic ridden chopMartin McBride winner of Best in ShowThe road from InverarySlow ridersKicking up dustFlumpingWater baloonsTug of War
Finally on Sunday night the party wound up with the brilliant Overdrive playing in the main hall, which was epic in all sort of ways, not least from the sheer entertainment value of the arthritic bunch of old fogies who got up to head bang.
Al the photos from the Gathering 2023 can be seen on our Flickr Album
Flickr Album of The Gathering 2023
Read more of what we have been up to in the items below
This past weekend saw us do something a wee bit different for the Director’s Ride Out – rather than heading out into the hills, the… Read more: Director’s Ride Out
With the summer holidays in full swing and plenty of folk off on their travels, we still had 12 bikes heading out for Glentrool yesterday… Read more: Glentrool Ride Out
Great turnout on Saturday for the Wemyss Bay Fly By – a circular ride out from West Coast Harley-Davidson! With plenty of bikes on the… Read more: Wemyss Bay Fly By
On Saturday, we kicked off the riding season with an overnight trip to the Buccleuch Arms in Moffat, attracting nearly 40 Harleys and over 50 members. Despite changing weather, we arrived safely and enjoyed the hotel’s amenities. The night was filled with laughs and mischief, marking a successful start to the season. It was great too, to have both old and new members along for the fun.
This was a Clyde Valley “mates” run. A group of Road Crew and Clyde Valley regulars rode out to Newton Mearns to bring some V Twin joy to a “nonagenarian”…..(look it up, that’s someone in their 90’s), Gordon Bland, a lifelong biker and friend of Road Captain Jigger’s family. On the occasion of his 90th Birthday, Clyde Valley brought Gordon, his son in law and Grandson in to spend a few hours enjoying the Easter party atmosphere at West Coast. There was Birthday cake, live music, a charity BBQ in aid of CHAS being run by Clyde Valley HOG and lots and lots of Bikes.
Gordon rode Pillion on the back of California Highway Patrol’s latest recruit, Tommy Poncharello’s CVO Trike and was escorted by his family members on the back of Davie Fultons Sport Glide, and Connor Fitzsimmons Street Glide.
A noisy accompaniment was provided by the riders of CVH. Everyone made it out and made it back, though to be fair, one of the residents took a shine to Brians’s Street Glide and he nearly became a resident himself.
We made short video of the ride to collect Gordon, crank up the volume and enjoy Gordons entry to his 90th year….Wild and Free. You might find it easier to download the video to watch, any half-decent tablet or PC should be able to cope with it…..Can’t really share via YouTube for obvious reasons due to the audio.
If it won’t play for you in full 1080HD, download it and watch it directly on your device.
There are loads and loads of photos from the day, the prime selection are on Facebook with the usual (witty?) caption’s, a few have been reposted here along with some not seen on fB and ALL (many not so far seen) will be on Flickr at the Album linked below.
Easter Sunday Ride out
Clyde Valley joined with hundreds of other bikers from across the West of Scotland to take part in the Glasgow Childrens Hospital Charity Easter Egg Run through the city from Glasgow Green to Braehead.
We had about 15 riders out for this great cause and then the party continued at West Coast with more burgers and BBQ.
By days end the Chapter had raised a colossal £1400 for GCHC from the weekend. Well done everyone who came out and supported us and West Coast with this event, a brilliant result!
Our Flickr Album of all the images from this weekend.
Read more of what we have been up to in the items below
This past weekend saw us do something a wee bit different for the Director’s Ride Out – rather than heading out into the hills, the… Read more: Director’s Ride Out
With the summer holidays in full swing and plenty of folk off on their travels, we still had 12 bikes heading out for Glentrool yesterday… Read more: Glentrool Ride Out
Great turnout on Saturday for the Wemyss Bay Fly By – a circular ride out from West Coast Harley-Davidson! With plenty of bikes on the… Read more: Wemyss Bay Fly By
On Saturday, we kicked off the riding season with an overnight trip to the Buccleuch Arms in Moffat, attracting nearly 40 Harleys and over 50 members. Despite changing weather, we arrived safely and enjoyed the hotel’s amenities. The night was filled with laughs and mischief, marking a successful start to the season. It was great too, to have both old and new members along for the fun.
It’s August and it must be Thunder In The Glens, the biggest Harley rally in the UK hosted in Aviemore by our friends from across east, Dunedin HOG.
The Chapter had two official ride-outs to TiTG, on Friday the members who were going to the rally for the entire event, rode up with Jigger as Road Captain, Connor and Davie (accompanied by his co-pilot Cath) marshaling, and Tommy (with co-pilot Joanne) as sweeper.
Pre-ride briefing with the road crew
The forecast was supposed to be a little moist but clearing to a nice day as we headed north. In general this was the situation though you would have to say it was a bit more than “moist” as we finally left WCHD a little later than scheduled….Aidan!
A short stop at Stirling Services
Heading through Glasgow and up the M80 we stopped at Stirling Services as we were conscious of at least one ’48 Sportster in the pack with a peanut tank. Then it was onwards to Pitlochry for a lunch break, and the weather finally began to clear.
Most of the riders dispensed of the watties at this point as it was getting dare I say “hot” and looked set fair for the rest of the day.
The Chapter stopped on the A9 after a serious RTA
On again, and then we run into bother with a serious RTA on the dual carriageway section of the A9. The chapter were rerouted by Police and Roads Agency people onto the back road via Dalwhinnie, Crubenmore along General Wades Road and back onto the A9 South of Newtonmore…. while it sounds easy enough it was carnage! There were the two directions of traffic from the A9 on a Bank Holiday Weekend trying to squeeze up what is in effect a near single-track road, with several coaches, and smaller lorries to squeeze by. Even on a motorbike at times it was tight. It took ages.
We also had a small breakdown event with one of the bikes which meant Tommy and his partner Joanne were left behind to help Kenny and Shas with the bizarre non-starting Harley….that suddenly fired up of its own accord after 10 minutes of poking…..clearly a software glitch brought on by a rapid off/on as Kenny stopped to talk to Jigger the Head Road Captain. Kenny was able to filter through like the rest of the Chapter though quite a bit behind but poor old Tommy on his Tri-glide had to negotiate the ques on three wheels which would have been a pain for him.
…and did we say it was now quite warm and sunny….. well, it was right up until about 10 miles outside Aviemore. The majority of the Chapter got to Registration just in time, Kenny and Tommy alas were not to be so lucky. A huge black thundercloud formed over the town…and dumped its contents for a good hour as the stragglers travelled the last 10 miles……soaked doesn’t even come close.
But everyone arrived safe and once dried off it was time for the party to begin… the main street of Aviemore was bouncing on each night of the rally which was blessed by what can only be regarded as stunning weather. The ride out to Grantown on Spey was epic with a huge turn out of bikes- we have heard numbers from 1000-3000 bikes quoted.
The Saturday Ride Out was HUGE!
The chapter also had a ride out to TiTG from WCHD on the Saturday for those members that could not attend the full event.
You can see more of the weekend on this video
The whole weekend was brilliant, great weather, meeting friends old and new, great entertainment both inside and around the main rally and everyone had a great time. Well done Dunedin …until next year….
Thunder In The Glens Album 2022
Various Smartphone shots and video grabs from TiTG 2022
Read more of what we have been up to in the items below
This past weekend saw us do something a wee bit different for the Director’s Ride Out – rather than heading out into the hills, the… Read more: Director’s Ride Out
With the summer holidays in full swing and plenty of folk off on their travels, we still had 12 bikes heading out for Glentrool yesterday… Read more: Glentrool Ride Out
Great turnout on Saturday for the Wemyss Bay Fly By – a circular ride out from West Coast Harley-Davidson! With plenty of bikes on the… Read more: Wemyss Bay Fly By
On Saturday, we kicked off the riding season with an overnight trip to the Buccleuch Arms in Moffat, attracting nearly 40 Harleys and over 50 members. Despite changing weather, we arrived safely and enjoyed the hotel’s amenities. The night was filled with laughs and mischief, marking a successful start to the season. It was great too, to have both old and new members along for the fun.
The 6th of August and the shop ride out this weekend was being led by trainee Road Captain Davie Fulton ( ably assisted by the lovely Catherine).
Davy took 21 Harleys down a fantastic winding route through the countryside around Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire to visit the Custom Bike show being hosted at the Wanlockhead Inn by a local MCC.
Road Captain for the day
The bikes stopped off at Muirkirk for a stretch and a coffee for those that wanted to, before we upped stands and headed on the second leg of the trip along the A70, around by Crawfordjohn and across to Sanquar before heading up the Mennock Pass to Wanlockhead.
It wasn’t the sunniest day but nor was it cold and the roads were brilliant…one of the most enjoyable routes this year I would dare to say.
Great run Davie and look forward to doing this one again another time.
A short video of the day’s ride.
Our Flickr Album of images from the rideout to Wanlockhead
Read more of what we have been up to in the items below
This past weekend saw us do something a wee bit different for the Director’s Ride Out – rather than heading out into the hills, the… Read more: Director’s Ride Out
With the summer holidays in full swing and plenty of folk off on their travels, we still had 12 bikes heading out for Glentrool yesterday… Read more: Glentrool Ride Out
Great turnout on Saturday for the Wemyss Bay Fly By – a circular ride out from West Coast Harley-Davidson! With plenty of bikes on the… Read more: Wemyss Bay Fly By
On Saturday, we kicked off the riding season with an overnight trip to the Buccleuch Arms in Moffat, attracting nearly 40 Harleys and over 50 members. Despite changing weather, we arrived safely and enjoyed the hotel’s amenities. The night was filled with laughs and mischief, marking a successful start to the season. It was great too, to have both old and new members along for the fun.
This past weekend saw us do something a wee bit different for the Director’s Ride Out – rather than heading out into the hills, the… Read more: Director’s Ride Out
With the summer holidays in full swing and plenty of folk off on their travels, we still had 12 bikes heading out for Glentrool yesterday… Read more: Glentrool Ride Out
Great turnout on Saturday for the Wemyss Bay Fly By – a circular ride out from West Coast Harley-Davidson! With plenty of bikes on the… Read more: Wemyss Bay Fly By
On Saturday, we kicked off the riding season with an overnight trip to the Buccleuch Arms in Moffat, attracting nearly 40 Harleys and over 50 members. Despite changing weather, we arrived safely and enjoyed the hotel’s amenities. The night was filled with laughs and mischief, marking a successful start to the season. It was great too, to have both old and new members along for the fun.
This past weekend saw us do something a wee bit different for the Director’s Ride Out – rather than heading out into the hills, the… Read more: Director’s Ride Out
With the summer holidays in full swing and plenty of folk off on their travels, we still had 12 bikes heading out for Glentrool yesterday… Read more: Glentrool Ride Out
Great turnout on Saturday for the Wemyss Bay Fly By – a circular ride out from West Coast Harley-Davidson! With plenty of bikes on the… Read more: Wemyss Bay Fly By
On Saturday, we kicked off the riding season with an overnight trip to the Buccleuch Arms in Moffat, attracting nearly 40 Harleys and over 50 members. Despite changing weather, we arrived safely and enjoyed the hotel’s amenities. The night was filled with laughs and mischief, marking a successful start to the season. It was great too, to have both old and new members along for the fun.
This past weekend saw us do something a wee bit different for the Director’s Ride Out – rather than heading out into the hills, the… Read more: Director’s Ride Out
With the summer holidays in full swing and plenty of folk off on their travels, we still had 12 bikes heading out for Glentrool yesterday… Read more: Glentrool Ride Out
On Sunday the sun finally shone. It was definitely on the cool side but not cold, and we assembled 27 bikes at the Showcase near… Read more: Ask your Mum for money for Ice Cream…. we’re off to Porty!
On Saturday, we kicked off the riding season with an overnight trip to the Buccleuch Arms in Moffat, attracting nearly 40 Harleys and over 50 members. Despite changing weather, we arrived safely and enjoyed the hotel’s amenities. The night was filled with laughs and mischief, marking a successful start to the season. It was great too, to have both old and new members along for the fun.
