RIDES 2017 — add yours here

[rualexander]

A few pics from the first few rides of 2017.

I like your photos rualexander, especially the second one http://thorncyclesforum.co.uk/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=12169.0;attach=13386  I really like that, where was it taken?

Second pic of those three was taken at eastern end of Loch Ard, should also be able to see Ben Lomond in distance but the cloud came down too low.

Same view in summertime :

[jags]

class 

[RST Scout]

That winter photo is really something. I remember the boat house from when I cycled along the loch. Is the Youth Hostel still there? It had a lovely smell of beeswax and loads of antique wood in it.

Janet

[rualexander]

That winter photo is really something. I remember the boat house from when I cycled along the loch. Is the Youth Hostel still there? It had a lovely smell of beeswax and loads of antique wood in it.

Janet

Loch Ard youth hostel is long gone, must be twenty years since it closed. The building is still there, private house now I think.
Article from 1995 on closure of several good hostels, they closed most of the good cycling hostels back in the 90s/early 2000s.

[JimK]

There is a Ben Lomond in Utah, too! Today I rode up toward it, north on US-89 maybe ten miles then back. Quite flat! Just trying to get out regularly to build some stamina!

[Matt2matt2002]

Just back from a three day Bus/bike/bus trip.
Uo north by bus from Inverurie to Inverness and then cycled along the A835 to Forest Way Bunkhouse at Auchindrean just short of Ullapool.
51 miles.
Wonderful weather - in fact one local told me that this dry spell was better than the whole of their last summer.
Road surface was good and the traffic light. This is part of the North500 route and I guess will be quite busy later in the year.

Raven performed well. Enjoying its new chain and rear tire.

I rode the B9006 from Inverness hostel to Nairn on my last day. A quiet flat road through pine forests with the birds singing and the smell of wood & coal fires burning in the villages.
I passed Culloden Battlefield but it's a very flat piece of land with not much to see. Looked like the exhibition center there was good.
Caught the bus home - but it broke down half an hour into the 2 hour ride. Had to wait 40 mins for a replacement.
It's not the kind of road to bike ride on - A96 and there aren't really any alternative roads South.

A great break - but I was lucky with the weather. Cold but dry and minimal wind.

[jags]

Class nice bit of planning I would never have thought of that

[Andre Jute]

Super photographs, Matt. I used to go up to Nairn (near Inverness) because a publisher I used to consult to moved his operations up there (from Devon, what a nutter!) and I recognized the countryside. Amazing how countrysides have a "style". I suppose a horticulturalist would be able to differentiate them by the plants.

[Matt2matt2002]

Thanks folks.
I stopped a few miles outside Nairn on a small back road to catch my breath and take in the views.
I was stood at a T junction when around the corner came a silver Range Rover at quite a nippy speed and it slowed down near me to take the bend.
The driver was a strikingly good looking lady with an unusual hair style.
Our eyes met for a second before she drove off the way I had come.
I thought nothing more of it ( honest) until this evening when the social media are full of speculation about the new Dr. Who.

It was the actress Imelda Swindon. 😀
Her Wikipedia info says that she lives near Nairn with her partner.

Well, a kind of claim to fame. Never know who you'll bump into on a Thorn.

Anyone else met a celebrity while out and about?

[rualexander]

Imelda Swindon?

Think you mean Tilda Swinton.

[Matt2matt2002]

Just testing.,..😊

[David Simpson]

I stopped a few miles outside Nairn on a small back road to catch my breath and take in the views.
I was stood at a T junction when around the corner came a silver Range Rover at quite a nippy speed and it slowed down near me to take the bend.
The driver was a strikingly good looking lady with an unusual hair style.
Our eyes met for a second before she drove off the way I had come.
I thought nothing more of it ( honest) until this evening when the social media are full of speculation about the new Dr. Who.

It was the actress Imelda Swindon. 😀
Her Wikipedia info says that she lives near Nairn with her partner.

Well, a kind of claim to fame. Never know who you'll bump into on a Thorn.

Meanwhile, in a Range Rover forum in some far corner of the Internet ...

   [Posted by NairnTilda on Today at 17:25:56]

   I was slowing down at a T junction when there at the corner was a black Thorn Raven.
   The driver was a strikingly good looking gentleman with an unusual hair style.
   Our eyes met for a second before he rode off the way I had come.
   I thought nothing more of it (honest) until this evening when I searched the Internet for touring bikes.

   It was Matt. 😀

   Well, a kind of claim to fame. Never know who you'll bump into in a Range Rover.


- DaveS

[Andre Jute]

Heh-heh!

[jags]

  very good.

[Matt2matt2002]

Very droll......
😂😂