Well it was such a nice forecast today and with the family having other things organised I decided to head south and ride with my usual fellow retrorider, randonneur, co pilot and great friend, Brian.
A nice if delayed drive south seen us heading out of Brians in Dingwall planning to go out towards Maryburgh and then over the dirt roads into the hills out of Easter Oury, over the back roads and drop down into Marybank and then back to Dingwall via one of two ways. The plan was going well even after a nice coffee and cake stop paused proceedings for a bit. The weather was lovely, some high cloud, some sun, quite cool but no rain forecast made for some really nice autumn riding.We also made a quick stop at the bust of the fallen motorcyclist on one of the railway crossings. I have mentioned this in other posts on the blog if I remember right. The story goes that a young man back in the 1920's or '30s crashed his motorcycle into the bridge when it was under construction. The stonemasons put a bust of him, which even I can remember when I first seen it many years back, was a head with a leather style motorcycle helmet. Brian, who is slightly older than myself ;) was told this as common knowledge even when he was a young man riding these local roads. When the new bridge was built in the 70's, the engineers put the sandstone bust, as it was, into the new brick wall. It has now worn away and is looking more and more like a skull. With us both being motorcyclists ourselves, we always stop and pay our respects. Today we pondered whether anyone who knew him would still be with us?
But I digress, the small backroads were still wet from yesterdays rain and also covered in leaves. It made the clear sections of dirt and even the dirt climb up to the back of Marybank a bit more predictable than some of the wet slippy tarmac bends.
We were also delayed slightly at Marybank as Brian needed to stop in and see a friend who then plied us with mugs of tea and cake which meant we had to really race the darkness back to Dingwall. As per usual, we didn't bring lights as we weren't going to be out long.
We made it back just on darkness by sticking to mainly the dirt tracks through the estates and then the cycle path into Dingwall. A long section that runs parallel to a very fast and busy section of road leading into Dingwall. We often make use of this when we get caught out without lights. This happens mostly when the clocks change at the end of autumn, from then on we make sure to carry them.
Another great ride and always made better by being on the Mercian.
Jamie
About to race the darkness
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