The 49-ERS  ...2003   

Well here it is! better late than never I suppose, Part one covered the trip up to Skye, Part two hopefully will describe the return journey. It was eventful believe me..

As I had mentioned in part one, our bikes had been impounded by the local police. I can imagine a lot of you will jump to all sorts of conclusions,  I bet they were all drunk  or probably done for speeding and dangerous driving  etc. etc...However, I can put your minds to rest. Our thanks to the local Constabulary who solved our overnight parking problems, when the hotel we booked into had barely room for one bicycle, and not wanting to leave our bikes out in the main square all night, it seemed the obvious solution...Well done Skye Police....

So it was Sunday morning 9:30 a.m.  +/-    all packed, mounted and on the road for home,,,  The boat was due to sail 20:00 pm so we had loads of time to meander back to Stranraer taking in the sights on the way...

Click on the photographs for the bigger picture

What a view, the Skye Toll Bridge breathtaking as it was, signified the leaving of Skye and a long haul ahead......

AGGGHHH!! Is this  the Loch Ness Monster ???    No its only me getting in the way of a great view from the Skye Bridge.

Off we went again, checked through the toll booth and away in the general direction of Fort William . Keeping up a good pace was easy enough as traffic was very light and the  roads were  in good condition. But we had loads of time, so we decided to do a bit of sight seeing along the way.

This is a nice shot of my Bandit, the decrepit ruin in the background  ( no farther back that's Mike) is   ????????? Eilean Doonan  castle...

Bruce and his Bandit enjoying the good weather, after the soaking we all got on Friday night no one was taking any chances with the weather, hence the full wet gear.

Back in the saddle again and  on with the long haul into Fort William...

This is where Dave keeps his cash, its a wealthy man than can use Tenners as knee sliders!

Yes!   okay ! So we had a few incidents along the way (which I wont elaborate on ) but all departed Fort William after staying at least an hour longer than we had anticipated... The camera was packed away at this stage, not to be fired in anger again that day!

Things didn't get much better! ............................................... Things didn't get any better!

Next stop was the Green Welly , from there ( we still had loads of time for a brisk ride to Stranraer) it was only 56 miles to Glasgow, so we had coffee and ice-creams, and generally sat in the sun and chatted for an hour or so with some of the hundreds of other bikers,  before we dragged ourselves back to our bikes.

 Traffic was starting to thicken up by now and Plod was setting up vehicle checks here and there so the pace was well reduced, ( almost to the speed limit at times ) The trip round Loch Lomond , beautiful as it is, was spoiled only by the hordes of twenty mph Sunday drivers who seem to materialise at every twist in the road.                            Eventually we hit Glasgow's multi lane stock car track, all signposts seem to contradict each other, so pulling off the main drag ( realising that we were heading in the wrong direction) we stopped at a convenient filling station to tank up for the final leisurely cruise down into Stranraer, well it was only just after three p.m. and only seventy three miles to the boat.

Famous last words.. It wont be long now.....................

Everybody filled up and just before we started up Mike C. noticed petrol dripping from underneath his bike, further investigation told us his petrol tank had sprung a leak,

Whatever happened to petrol stations that sold things of any use to a motorist?, you know what I mean, petrol cans, light bulbs, puncture repair kits, Isopon ,fibreglass, any sort of filler would have been handy, but had you needed a bottle of wine or a pound of bacon,or fish fingers, even condoms, you would have been in the right place.

Not knowing the area didn't help matters any. all the car component shops in the immediate vicinity were closed. Time was marching on, we had tried to seal the leak using various methods from chewing gum to self tapping screws, but unsuccessfully!

It was now about four thirty, what did I say about loads of time?????

Tommy and Dave decided to stay on with Mike C. and try to get some Isopon from B&Q or Budget, the rest of us (rather guiltily I can tell you )who had to be home for work the next day reluctantly pressed on, arriving rather wet in Stranraer just after six O'clock. only to be told the boat had been  delayed!

What a miserable end to a great ride-out, but to add insult to injury, Mike C. got the tank repaired okay, and along with Tommy and Dave arrived at the ferry terminal twenty minutes before the boat sailed, only to be turned away. ( booking in procedures you know, its more than my jobs worth mate! )

                                             WELL DONE STENNA LINE

                                                             NOT

While we are on the subject of running Stenna Line down,

You should take more care of motorcyclists travelling with you,

We were called from the relative warmth of the waiting area, to go to the boarding area, only to stand in the pouring rain for well over an hour, the boat hadn't even docked.

What about some sort of shelter in the motorcyclist departure area please?

Well that's all for now, it was a great trip, everyone  enjoyed it immensely and would do it again, but not all in the one weekend!