never a dull moment riding the highlands

I’m normally the one behind schedule.

But it was Adam who was late last Saturday, because, he said, James told him we were meeting at 10:30 am, not 10. The miscommunication meant we headed out a half-hour later than planned. The delay proved both auspicious and disappointing, as you will learn.

That said, with the exception of James having a bee fly up his nose, it was mostly all good.

We were seven riders on six bikes (two FJR 1300s; a Triumph Trophy, a Harley Road King, a Honda Shadow Spirit 750 and a Kawasaki naked sport 600); three women and four men ranging in age from twenty-seven to sixty-nine. I rode two up with Jacques on his FJR. And while we are all now Canadians, we originally came from different corners of the country and the world: New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan Brazil and Sri Lanka. Also noteworthy is the range of riding experience of the members of our motley crew – from less than two seasons to fifty years and more than a million kilometres.

Together we co-created a memorable ride based on a loop I had mapped out a few days earlier.

The highlights included rescuing two turtles (see vid of the first rescue below), which we would have missed had we left on time.

We also collected Ride the Highlands patches in Perth; visited Linda at the Quartermaster’s Quirky Café in Tamworth; missed a visit with Nuala at The Shamrock in Plevna because it was closed (we might have got there when it was open had we left on time); stopped at Rosie’s just outside of Denbigh shortly after a bee collided with James’ face and subsequently found its way up his nostril; and ended with a snack at the Antrim Truck Stop in Arnprior.

Great day, great group, awesome loop.

Here’s the Relive vid:

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