Scottish Section News
First Weekend Event of 2020
January Lochearnhead Weekend
The BMW Club Invade Scotland
The Scottish Section May Bank Holiday
Hotel weekend.
For 9 years now we have been holding a
Hotel weekend the first weekend in May. We alternate between the Rob
Roy Hotel, Aberfolye and Gretna Hall Hotel, Gretna Green. This
year, 2019, we were at the Rob Roy Hotel on the edge of Aberfoyle.
As we have done for the last 9 years
Marjorie, Eric, Jim and I booked ourselves into the Hotel for the
Thursday night so that we could be in the car park to welcome Club
members and guests as they arrived on Friday.
154 Club members and guests from East Anglia, Mercia, Midland, Northern, North East, Scottish and definitely last but not least Yorkshire sections gathered at the Rob Roy Hotel on the edge of Aberfoyle. Around 90 bikes and 6 cars started arriving at mid day one of the last to arrive were Helen Beer and friends from the Exeter area making their annual pilgrimage to Scotland. At roughly the same time a couple of Scottish section members arrived from Stonehaven having had a very challenging journey during which they had ridden through a very heavy hail storm.
Within 30 minutes of arriving “Bed
Breakers” Gill & Nick set the tone of fun and laughter for the
weekend. Nick’s words “I only sat on it” yeah right and we believe
that they are Yorkshire section members after all.
Friday evening after dinner Club member
John Fergusson, author of The Motorcyclists Guide to Scotland gave a
very entertaining and interesting talk on how his book came into
being.
Ride outs: The plan was that there
would be 4 different routes 2 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday each ride
leader only leading one ride. We had 4 volunteers for ride leaders
Jim Lepley, Nigel MacDonald, Duncan Colburn and Billy Gregor which
was perfect. Tail enders Marjorie Burnett, Drew Nicholson, Piers
Kurrein and Billy’s tail ender. Everyone doing a grand job
with no losses reported.
Saturday Rides:
Trossachs and Campsie route led by Jim
Lepley with Marjorie Burnett as a very able back marker.
Jim had adapted The Campsie Fells and the Trossachs Tour from John
Fergusson’s book. Jim led a brilliant ride at the perfect pace
which enabled the 20 bikes following to enjoy the scenery. The
coffee, lunch and viewpoint stops worked perfectly. I think Jim has
earned himself a job for next year. As did back marker Marjorie
Burnett.
Tighnabruaich route devised by Drew
Nicholson led by Nigel MacDonald with Drew as back marker.
Saturday evening after dinner our
Lighthouse Bill gave an informative and interesting talk and slide
show on his European Capital Cities Tour.
Sunday Rides:
Billy Gregor led a ride to the Falkirk
Wheel and Kelpies. Billy led a very wet ride to the Kelpies last
time we were at the Rob Roy in 2017. So the dry weather this year
was very welcome.
Duncan Colburn with Piers Kurrein as back
marker led a ride to Faslane, Inverary,Dalmally, Tyndrum,
Lochearnhead and Dukes Pass. Duncan had adapted a Dave Foster route
to a shorter distance. Duncan reported “My ride went
well after people initially sorted themselves out, joined the
group they intended to (after following the wrong party) and finally
believed me that Piers WAS our back marker!” All good fun I am sure!
Sunday afternoon before dinner our
Lighthouse Bill hosted a “quick fire quiz”. Great fun and we
even managed to answer a lot of the questions. Participants
particularly liked the early musical section which offered the
chance for a bit of singing. Well done Bill your quizzes are
becoming legendary.
Sunday after dinner small prizes were
presented for:
Best Classic R75/5 owner Paul Wilkie
Best Modern K1600 owner Ali Johnston
Our judge was Mick Holmes who is a
Scottish Section member from Essex. Mick is very hard man to
please he has been riding and building bikes for over 50 years and
is very much a Norton man.
The Furthest travelled prize went to
Helen Beer this year. Distances are calculated by Jim using the
members post code and the most direct route to Aberfoyle.
The raffle draw followed and was well run
by Duncan Colburn and Billy Gregor. Prizes in no particular
order:
The Rob Roy Hotel donated a dinner, bed &
breakfast voucher along with 2 bottles of booze.
Motorworks, for the third year running,
donated vouchers worth £50 and £25.
Artist Jane Bayliss donated one of her
paintings.
Dave Foster donated a Haynes service and
repair manual for BMW R Series 2 valve twins 70 – 96.
Bill Gault donated at least 2 bottles of
booze.
John Fergusson donated a copy of The
Motorcyclist’s Guide to Scotland.
The Yorkshire Section donated 3 tee
shirts.
The Scottish section purchased an
Emergency Jump Starter/Charger Kit specifically for Motorcycles, a
Visor Cat and various BMW Regalia items.
The Rob Roy Hotel is just amazing value
it is a 2 star hotel which offers a 5 star service. The rooms
are clean and warm. The food is good. Plenty of
comfortable seating in the bar area and there are quiet areas to sit
in other parts of the hotel. There is plenty of excellent parking.
All the staff provide a first class and friendly service.
Thanks to the Scottish committee and to
everyone who helped to make the weekend fun and very enjoyable.
A folder of photos can be found in our Gallery.
A grand time was had by all with just
about everyone there making a point of coming to say goodbye and
tell us how much they had enjoyed themselves before they left on
Monday morning. A lot of people asking about next year.
We will be at the Gretna Hall Hotel details as follows and several
folk have already booked. So if you want to be sure of getting
a room I suggest you book it now.
1st – 4th May: Scottish
Section Hotel weekend Gretna
Hall Hotel, Gretna Green, DG74 5DY. The hotel is situated just off
the M74/M6 and is a perfect base from which to ride glorious quiet
roads in every direction. Many attractions to visit in the area.
Cost: £150.00 per person for 3 night’s dinner, bed breakfast based
on 2 sharing. Single supplement £15.00pppn. Deposit of £30 pp on
booking. Full payment required 28 days before event. To book
telephone: 01461 338257 please quote BMW Motorcycle Club 2020.
More information on
www.thebmwclub.org.uk/scottish/ Click Calendar or
contact Judy: tel.01592 874592
social@thebmwclubscottish.com.
Scottish Motorcycle Show 9 & 10 March
We would like to extend a warm welcome to
the new members who joined the Club and Scottish section at
Motorcycle Live and also those who joined on line after the show.
Jim and I spent 10 days working on the Club stand and thoroughly
enjoyed meeting up with new and existing members.
Bill Gault reports there were 10 members
at the Hopeville on 25 November a good time had by all. Gerry &
Cherry, Pete & Diane, Somersal, Norman & his wife, Bill, another
couple (apologies) whose name he’s forgotten.
All Section members welcome to join them
for a Christmas dinner with all the trimmings on Sunday 23rd
December at the usual time 12.30.
