Now I'm not talking Vivaldi or Crowded House here, rather our long standing tradition of heading to Scotland for a long weekend in May.

We had sun, we had rain, we had wind and a whole lotta fun, but aren't we all really blessed to have the health, be able to afford to do this, and see the wonders of God's world?

Psalm 19 (The Message) reads:

On what better basis could we set out to cover 800 miles on two wheels?

Day 1, Lisburn - Inverness

This year's crew consisted of the following

With an earlier start this year than usual, the boat sailed at 7.15am from Larne, so we'd agreed to meet up at Trinity at 5.50am, for a 6.00am depart. And on the whole, this worked, but Edward had a little drama with the VFR when it wouldn't start first thing that morning, and he ended up jump starting it from his wife's car - not something you can really do on tip-toe at that time of day!

Considering the winds that had battered Scotland the week before, the crossing to Troon was remarkably smooth even if there was a bit of a swell. Usual route north over the Erskine Bridge and along Loch Lomond, we were still dry up as far as the Green Welly at Tyndrum, where we'd an early lunch and refuel (for those with ridiculously small tanks...).

Rain wasn't far ahead though. The more sagacious old geezers put on the wet suits at Tyndrum, while this young whipper snapper thought "Nah, we'll be fine...". Well, just going over Rannoch Moor, the clues of dark cloud ahead and winds picking up should have made me stop and rethink, but too late - just as we hit Glencoe, passing Glen Etive, it got wet. Not too bad though through Glencoe village and on towards Fort William, but it was clearly on for the day.

Another short stop at Ronald McDonalds (who clearly was originally Scottish), before heading north again to Spean Bridge and right towards Aviemore and the Cairngorms National Park. Beautiful (wet) roads and scenery were only detracted from by a lot of Bank Holiday traffic. Too bad. From Aviemore, we picked up the A9 again, and another 30 miles brought us neatly into Inverness and the Premier Inn, home for the next 2 nights. Dry at this stage, we'd 275 miles under the belt from my reckoning, and not a single photograph taken. Must be a record :)

The hotel was busy so Murray had the foresight to prebook a table for dinner for 12. Whole lotta fresh air, good food, and a post prandial wander into Inverness - no problems sleeping tonight (except for the snoring!)

Day 2, Inverness - Inverness

As usual, Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau were up at the crack of dawn, kicking the tyres and chomping at the bit to get on the road. [If you recall the Eire trip write up last September, I made the same comment, but leopards and spots etc. You know what I mean! (and still no offense intended).]

On the road just after 9am, we headed north-west over the Beauly Firth towards Ullapool on the A835. Unfortunately, the liquid sunshine was never too far away and it was always going to be a day of sunshine and showers. Taking the A832 onto the Wester-Ross trail, it was very stormy and blustery, but at least it meant that after every downpour there was a little warming ray of sunshine - beautiful!

A gorgeous coastline too, traffic hadn't made it this far - nor was it likely to. We followed the A832 through Poolewe, Gairloch and along Loch Maree to Kinlochewe. Torrential rain at this stage, the sun shortly came out, followed by a Sea King rescue helicopter.

From here, we took the A896 to Shieldaig, and then the single track coast road to Applecross. Skye was just about visible between the rainclouds - not a place to be today. With the holiday traffic though, even Applecross was busy, so we stopped into the campsite cafe for a bite of lunch in the flower tunnel, well worth a visit of you're passing by!

From Applecross, the single track road leads over the sporting Bealach na Bà Pass (Pass of the Cattle) with some tricky gradients & bends made all the more hairy due to the gusting winds at 2,054 ft of altitude! There were more than a few of us glad to get over that hill. From Lochcarron, the A890 turned from single track lane with passing places to a lovely wide twisty road up through Achnasheen, towards Gorstan, and back in towards Inverness. It was around 5pm when we got back, I'd 17 miles left on reserve tank at this stage, so Inverness couldn't have come any later.

For grub, the Curry gang headed into Inverness town for an Indian, while the old hands stayed at the 'Auld Distillery' Restaurant next door. This fresh air sure takes it out of you, huh?

Day 3, Inverness - Lisburn

We were slightly later setting off this morning, due largely to trying to plan a route that would avoid most of the rain that seemed to be covering most of Scotland. In the end, we started back down the A9 to Aviemore in lovely sunshine, but sadly it didn't last any further than Aviemore itself.

We took the same road back through Newtonmore to Spean Bridge and Fort William, by which stage the rain had already penetrated. We went to see Ronnie McDonald again, as a nice cup of coffee always makes things seem better!

Heading south then into strong winds and squally showers, we took the A828 at North Ballachulish towards Oban, another old favourite route home, stopping off for lunch. There were a lot of ferries tied up along the quay, so I can only guess what it was like out at sea.

From here on we hit quite lucky with the weather; the rain had stopped, the winds had dried the roads and the route down to Lochgilphead and round to Inverary was spectacular as ever. One torrential shower at Inverary at this stage still couldn't dampen our spirits, with Aidy deciding to doze it out on his bike.

Another lovely stretch of road over the Rest and Be Thankful brought us down to Arrochar, Tarbet, and sadly back to the reality of weekend traffic heading home, down along Loch Lomond and through Dumbarton. Still, all good things must come to an end.

We made it back to Troon by around 6pm, got a bite to eat then joined the queue for the boat home. Sunny but windy at this stage, at least the ferry was still sailing. Two hours later got us back to Larne, and what always seems a long ride home from there.

So, another trip over for another year. Another great time had by all hopefully. What's more to say? Well, I've been reading a book lately called "Velvet Elvis" (well worth a read), but at the start of the book, albeit in a slightly different context, the author Rob Bell says a short prayer...

"God, I can't believe I get to live this life."

Amen to that.

Full photo gallery can be found here.