Scotland Trip Day 1

Marc! Your Bedroom's On Fire!!!!!!

And so to the annual OMP tour.

This time Scotland was our chosen destination.

Initially we had the idea of sticking to central and eastern Scotland, based around Inverness. But things soon changed after Zippy and myself were decamped to Campbelltown in Argyll for a work project. The roads and scenery around the area were nothing short of stunning. This was it, this was to be our new base.

After a brief search on the internet, and a very scary late night conversation with a psycho hotel owner, we opted for an apartment in Lochgoilhead (booked through the lovely people at Argyll Holidays).

Now for the personnel. A few of the regulars couldn't make it this year but we still had a healthy list of willing participants. Myself, Zippy, Papa Phallus and Fruit'n'Barley should be familiar to

regular readers, but we also had a couple of newbies. First off, my son, "Nippage" (snigger) was to be pillion on my bike for his first OMP trip. and also Scotch Broth, who's intro can be found just prior to this post.

Scotch Broth and I had been chatting on the "Bikegreatescape" website for a few months leading up to our trip, and he had expressed an interested in joining us for the duration of our little escapade. We were more than happy to have Scotch Broth on board, especially as he knows the roads in the area really well, I was just a little nervous that we would all make arses of ourselves with our limited skills and spectacularly unpredictable bikes.

Which leads us nicely to our departure day. Papa Phallus wheeled his trusty steed out of the garage only to be greeted by the dreaded flat tyre, a quick look around the tyre soon found the offending nail. Nothing else for it, a new tyre it was to be.

Zippy was also getting a new hoop fitted that morning so he now had 2 wheels

in the back of his car and a bulging back pocket (£240) to pay for the tyres and get our tour back on track.

Finally under way, we decided to stick to decent A-roads and avoid (as much as possible) motorways and dual carriageways. A68 first, up to Hexham then the A69 to Carlisle to meet up up with Scotch Broth.

It was on the A69 that we had our first little drama. Zippy and F'n'B disappeared from our mirrors so we pulled in to wait for them, F'n'B's number plate holder had come loose and was flapping about in the wind, a few zip ties soon had it sorted and Zippy was so relieved he decided to have a brief lie down with his bike. His voluminous soft panniers saved his blushes and we were soon on our way again.

We met up with Scotch Broth in the services at the top of the M6. A few handshakes and introductions later and we were on our way again. Scotch Broth's idea was to head for Dumfries then across to Ayr on the A76 before heading up the coast to Gourock where we would catch a ferry to Dunoon. Sounded great to us and the roads around Dumfries and Ayr were superb, despite being a little wet. Before we knew it, we were parked up at the ferry terminal for our short but enjoyable ferry crossing to Dunoon. One of the Dunoon residents on the ferry warned us about unmarked Police bikes patrolling Argyll which was very considerate of him.

Dunoon to Lochgoilhead was despatched in a flash on lovely flowing, very grippy, roads which really gave us a feel of what we could expect for the rest of our trip.

One thing we had all noticed on the journey up was the willingness of Scottish drivers to move across to the inside and give us more room, although this isn't is really necessary, I suppose at least it shows that they are using their mirrors and had seen us approaching, very commendable.

We picked up our Apartment key from the super posh Drimsynie House Estate and checked out our accommodation. It was first come first served as far as sleeping arrangements

were concerned, but I had the key and therefore the advantage. I was first through the door and noticed the sign to remove shoes before entering, "right, I will block the door to the bedrooms while taking my boots off" was my thinking but Papa Phallus had other ideas. As I was bent down un-buckling my boots, PP flicked his boots off then dived over my back and sprinted straight into the room with the huge Queen size bed. Bollocks. Never mind, my little single bed looked nice and comfy. It just goes to show that "Old and Wise" was, on this occasion no substitute for "Young and Fit".

We met up a little later with Scotch Broth, who had booked himself into the Hotel just along the road, for a few drinks and a bite to eat (or some nice warming soup in Scotch Broth's case) and to recap the days events.

Day 2 was gonna be a cracker......

"beautiful Lochgoihead"

Bungle