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#Post#: 56--------------------------------------------------
SCMC Scotia Challenge
By: banquo Date: November 9, 2014, 5:32 am
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This isn't so much a Great Ride, as a series of small rides. Our
Scottish Classic Motorcycle Club started the Scotia a few years
back, as a carrot to get people out riding their bikes. The idea
is that a series of checkpoints is set at the beginning of the
year, and you get points for taking a pic of your bike at each
one. To achieve a coveted Gold award, you need to get all the
checkpoints on a classic bike. Silver is all the checkpoints on
a modern bike, plus you can get it for fewer checkpoints on a
classic. Bronze was for (IIRC) 15 checkpoints on a classic.
Maybe I'll manage a Gold after retirement, but not while I'm
working, because despite what people think, Scotland is a big
place, and when you have points as far afield as the Western
Isles, and as far South as the Borders, it's a real challenge to
find the time to do them all, and you can't get a Gold without
several ferry trips.
Anyhow, this is Banquo's Bronze:
First, Maggie Wells' stone, memorial to the last (?) witch
burned in Scotland:
[URL=
HTML http://s21.photobucket.com/user/bancquo/media/Classic%20Bikes/SCMC/scotia%20challenge%202007/maggiewells.jpg.html][IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b298/bancquo/Classic%20Bikes/SCMC/scotia%20challenge%202007/maggiewells.jpg[/img][/URL]
Next was Tullibardine (also home to an 18th century distillery!)
Church:
[URL=
HTML http://s21.photobucket.com/user/bancquo/media/Classic%20Bikes/SCMC/scotia%20challenge%202007/tullibardine.jpg.html][IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b298/bancquo/Classic%20Bikes/SCMC/scotia%20challenge%202007/tullibardine.jpg[/img][/URL]
Then Glendevon Parish Kirk:
[URL=
HTML http://s21.photobucket.com/user/bancquo/media/Classic%20Bikes/SCMC/scotia%20challenge%202007/glendevon.jpg.html][IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b298/bancquo/Classic%20Bikes/SCMC/scotia%20challenge%202007/glendevon.jpg[/img][/URL]
Then Castle Campbell in Dollar, my old home town:
[URL=
HTML http://s21.photobucket.com/user/bancquo/media/Classic%20Bikes/SCMC/scotia%20challenge%202007/castlecampbell.jpg.html][IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b298/bancquo/Classic%20Bikes/SCMC/scotia%20challenge%202007/castlecampbell.jpg[/img][/URL]
That's the old Scout Hut, not the Castle, which resisted all
attempts to get into shot with the bikes.
Next we headed South West, over the River Forth to Airth, where
we met the Pineapple, a Victorian Folly. This really was a
personal Scotia for me, as all the points so far are from my
youth, and this was no exception, the building having been
restored by my Grandfather's building firm back in the late 60s:
[URL=
HTML http://s21.photobucket.com/user/bancquo/media/Classic%20Bikes/SCMC/scotia%20challenge%202007/pineapple.jpg.html][IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b298/bancquo/Classic%20Bikes/SCMC/scotia%20challenge%202007/pineapple.jpg[/img][/URL]
And before restoration:
[URL=
HTML http://s21.photobucket.com/user/bancquo/media/Classic%20Bikes/SCMC/scotia%20challenge%202007/pineapple2.jpg.html][IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b298/bancquo/Classic%20Bikes/SCMC/scotia%20challenge%202007/pineapple2.jpg[/img][/URL]
That was it for the first day, although we had a rainy ride back
via Callander, where we stopped for lunch just as my clutch
cable popped. I had a spare 'universal' cable with me, and of
course it didn't fit, but we managed to get it working with the
purchase of a hose fitting from the traditional Ironmonger on
the Main Street, to act as a spacer.
The Angus checkpoints included this pub, on the East Coast of
Angus at Auchmithie:
[URL=
HTML http://s21.photobucket.com/user/bancquo/media/Classic%20Bikes/SCMC/scotia%20challenge%202007/auchmithie.jpg.html][IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b298/bancquo/Classic%20Bikes/SCMC/scotia%20challenge%202007/auchmithie.jpg[/img][/URL]
The Queen Elizabeth Bridge is just North of Perth near Caputh
(original washed away in a snow melt flood)
[URL=
HTML http://s21.photobucket.com/user/bancquo/media/Classic%20Bikes/SCMC/scotia%20challenge%202007/caputh.jpg.html][IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b298/bancquo/Classic%20Bikes/SCMC/scotia%20challenge%202007/caputh.jpg[/img][/URL]
and another Angus checkpoint, The Stone Arch at Edzell, home of
Edzell Blue tatties!
[URL=
HTML http://s21.photobucket.com/user/bancquo/media/Classic%20Bikes/SCMC/scotia%20challenge%202007/edzellscotia-1.jpg.html][IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b298/bancquo/Classic%20Bikes/SCMC/scotia%20challenge%202007/edzellscotia-1.jpg[/img][/URL]
This wee guy is The Provost, built into a stone wall in Ceres,
in Central Fife:
[URL=
HTML http://s21.photobucket.com/user/bancquo/media/Classic%20Bikes/SCMC/scotia%20challenge%202007/provost.jpg.html][IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b298/bancquo/Classic%20Bikes/SCMC/scotia%20challenge%202007/provost.jpg[/img][/URL]
and the Crusoe Memorial, to mark the birthplace of Alexander
Selkirk, in Lower Largo on the Fife coast:
[URL=
HTML http://s21.photobucket.com/user/bancquo/media/Classic%20Bikes/SCMC/scotia%20challenge%202007/crusoe.jpg.html][IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b298/bancquo/Classic%20Bikes/SCMC/scotia%20challenge%202007/crusoe.jpg[/img][/URL]
And another Kirk, Monimail this time:
[URL=
HTML http://s21.photobucket.com/user/bancquo/media/Classic%20Bikes/SCMC/scotia%20challenge%202007/monimail.jpg.html][IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b298/bancquo/Classic%20Bikes/SCMC/scotia%20challenge%202007/monimail.jpg[/img][/URL]
The final Fife checkpoint is Jimmy Shand, grandfather of
Scottish Country Dance Bands, accordionist extraordinaire, and a
very wild biker in his youth, despite his great height, and the
tini-ness of bikes of that era.
[URL=
HTML http://s21.photobucket.com/user/bancquo/media/Classic%20Bikes/SCMC/scotia%20challenge%202007/jimmyshand.jpg.html][IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b298/bancquo/Classic%20Bikes/SCMC/scotia%20challenge%202007/jimmyshand.jpg[/img][/URL]
Back to Angus, and we had the birthplace of J. M. Barrie of
Peter Pan fame (also the birthplace of Bon Scott of AC/DC fame)
in Kirriemuir:
[URL=
HTML http://s21.photobucket.com/user/bancquo/media/Classic%20Bikes/SCMC/scotia%20challenge%202007/thrums.jpg.html][IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b298/bancquo/Classic%20Bikes/SCMC/scotia%20challenge%202007/thrums.jpg[/img][/URL]
Heading North, we had the phone box at the back of Schiehallion
Road near Kinlochrannoch:
[URL=
HTML http://s21.photobucket.com/user/bancquo/media/Classic%20Bikes/SCMC/scotia%20challenge%202007/bridgeofgaur.jpg.html][IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b298/bancquo/Classic%20Bikes/SCMC/scotia%20challenge%202007/bridgeofgaur.jpg[/img][/URL]
Then way up to the Cairngorms, to take in Loch-an-Eilein:
[URL=
HTML http://s21.photobucket.com/user/bancquo/media/Classic%20Bikes/SCMC/scotia%20challenge%202007/lochaneilein.jpg.html][IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b298/bancquo/Classic%20Bikes/SCMC/scotia%20challenge%202007/lochaneilein.jpg[/img][/URL]
Then Loch Insch:
[URL=
HTML http://s21.photobucket.com/user/bancquo/media/Classic%20Bikes/SCMC/scotia%20challenge%202007/lochinsh.jpg.html][IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b298/bancquo/Classic%20Bikes/SCMC/scotia%20challenge%202007/lochinsh.jpg[/img][/URL]
and then the long haul up the Ski Road, to the Aviemore Ski
Lift, the highest the NF has ever been in its 40 year life:
[URL=
HTML http://s21.photobucket.com/user/bancquo/media/Classic%20Bikes/SCMC/scotia%20challenge%202007/cairngorm2.jpg.html][IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b298/bancquo/Classic%20Bikes/SCMC/scotia%20challenge%202007/cairngorm2.jpg[/img][/URL]
Then the very steep descent back into Aviemore, and North to
Lochindorb, for a final picture with Lochindorb Castle, on the
island in the background:
[URL=
HTML http://s21.photobucket.com/user/bancquo/media/Classic%20Bikes/SCMC/scotia%20challenge%202007/lochindorb2.jpg.html][IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b298/bancquo/Classic%20Bikes/SCMC/scotia%20challenge%202007/lochindorb2.jpg[/img][/URL]
The ride home was a struggle, on the infamous and lethal A9, the
'most dangerous road in Scotland' not helped by a strong head
wind that forced me to ride in 3rd gear at some parts.... :o
I think that's about it. We caused great puzzlement in the local
populace, who couldn't understand why all those oily old bikes
kept on stopping outside throughout the year, cameras at the
ready. Some of the pix aren't as scenic as they might be, as you
need to take a pic that shows you were there, so signs are more
important than scenery.
Great way of getting out and about though.
#Post#: 57--------------------------------------------------
Re: SCMC Scotia Challenge
By: nick949 Date: November 9, 2014, 6:37 am
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Most excellent Jake, and great pictures. It's like seeing my
own bike out and about in Scotland - something to be greatly
wished for. Are the checkpoints changed each year?
Nick
#Post#: 59--------------------------------------------------
Re: SCMC Scotia Challenge
By: banquo Date: November 9, 2014, 8:33 am
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Indeed they are Nick, otherwise it wouldn't be such a challenge.
You get 'clues' rather than a location, so you need also to work
out where they are. Plenty of overnighters for a Gold too...
#Post#: 61--------------------------------------------------
Re: SCMC Scotia Challenge
By: nick949 Date: November 9, 2014, 8:51 am
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Aghhhh! I hate quizzes and puzzles. You'll just have to work
out all the clues for me in advance, then give me a nicely
marked up map, a set of GPS points and the keys to your Cali. I
don't mind doing the riding and the pictures and am pretty good
at finding a hedge to stealth camp under.
I particularly like the look of the But 'an' Ben pub, although I
see on line, it's a seafood place - not my fave........ Nice
building though. About 17thC?
Nick
#Post#: 62--------------------------------------------------
Re: SCMC Scotia Challenge
By: banquo Date: November 10, 2014, 3:21 am
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Could be as old as that, but I suspect 18th or even 19th
century. That style of building survived many centuries.
You need to develop a taste for seafood, given that Auchmithie
is the place where Arbroath Smokies were first produced....
HTML http://www.ifimages.com/photos/eGPVhsS2PmMT7M60A1TIApKsag/author-622/Traditional-Arbroath-smokie-smoked-haddock.jpg
#Post#: 63--------------------------------------------------
Re: SCMC Scotia Challenge
By: nick949 Date: November 10, 2014, 6:23 am
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Having grown up in Great Yarmouth, with a dad who worked as a
refrigeration engineer for one of the fish plants, and with a
shrimp fisherman next door, who laid out the shrimps on tables
in the back yard, I have developed a healthy dislike for the
smell of seafood. Oh well, I'm sure there are other pubs. Nice
building though.
#Post#: 118--------------------------------------------------
Re: SCMC Scotia Challenge
By: mhsilverw Date: November 17, 2014, 12:47 pm
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Sadly my time with the NF meant I got to go round Wales on my
East-to-West whilst I was still capable of starting the beast;
and had visions of heading to Scotland. Sadly that wont happen
on the NF; but it's grandson may make the trip and this glorious
post gives me some landmarks to head for....thank you.
Does the SCMC Scotia have any lists or recommended places 'to
visit before you go....' and any accommodation recommendations
for those from way-down-souf?
Brilliant post and just the thing for a foggy/wet/miserable
Lincs night to plot and make plans.
M
#Post#: 121--------------------------------------------------
Re: SCMC Scotia Challenge
By: banquo Date: November 18, 2014, 3:15 am
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No lists as such; what tends to emerge is that people pass on
their experiences, good or bad, for places to stay, roads good
or bad, as the challenge progresses. Given that it's different
every year, it's relevant only to that year's challenge. Where
to go in Scotland would take several volumes, and is highly
dependent on what kind of roads and places the individual person
likes. Most people follow the tried and tested tourist routes
which are.................... full of tourists. My personal
preference is to pick the roads that the tourist buses haven't
discovered yet. If there's a plan to head up here, let me know,
and I'll be happy to point in the right direction.
#Post#: 284--------------------------------------------------
Re: SCMC Scotia Challenge
By: KenJ Date: December 9, 2014, 4:57 am
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Well done on the ride Jake. It's good to have a purpose to head
out, although a cup of tea and a cake by the sea, always seems
to work for me. With reference to your grandpa, any connection
with the Beatson building supply chain?
#Post#: 286--------------------------------------------------
Re: SCMC Scotia Challenge
By: banquo Date: December 12, 2014, 8:43 am
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Hi Ken, Surely they haven't made it down your way?
Yes, the name is all that remains of Robert Beatson & Son,
Builders and Public Works Contractors, the firm created by my
grandparents.
The son, as is so often the case, wasn't up to par, and the firm
folded in the mid-seventies. In a somewhat Quixotic move, the
remains were sold to our biggest competitors, on the premise
that the name would remain.
Rags to riches to rags in 3 generations!
Here's a slightly out of focus photo of our old yard at
Whiteyetts in Sauchie, complete with brand new Karrier tipper.
[URL=
HTML http://s21.photobucket.com/user/bancquo/media/postings/karrier2.jpg.html][IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b298/bancquo/postings/karrier2.jpg[/img][/URL]
And one of our Commer crew vans
[URL=
HTML http://s21.photobucket.com/user/bancquo/media/postings/commer.jpg.html][IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b298/bancquo/postings/commer.jpg[/img][/URL]
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