Five of us set off from Larne on Sunday 18th May on the 7.30am boat. Alan on his VFR, Ern CBR 6, Bobby FJR1300,Colin ZZR 1200 and myself on the TRX (Sounding very subdued with its standard pipes back on for MOT) Whilst in the queue we were joined by three fellow bikers and we naturally assumed they too were headed for Knockhill. However, they informed us they were on the first leg of a trip to Spain. I was hugely impressed with the wind protection obviously enjoyed by one of these BMW riding bikers as he arrived into the waiting area with the Sunday Times (complete with the usual array of free magazines) spread across his handlebars!I suppose if you ride a bike like that you have to get your kicks somewhere.(sorry Kenny)

Light rain accompanied us up the coast road and once on the other side of Glasgow we made a tea stop. Seeing the "mini donuts" on the menu, Alan couldn`t resist so we decided we would help him with a large portion. On arrival the donuts turned out to be marginally larger than a wedding ring. That done we continued to Knockhill arriving with twenty minutes to spare before the first Superbike race which was run mostly in heavy rain.

We spectated from the hairpin which at Knockhill is the last turn before the finish. Those guys were amazing to watch with most of them full on sideways on the brakes in the pouring rain. (I hate it when that happens)(rain I mean). I`ll not bore you with a full race report as I`m sure you`ll see it on a rival, if not so interesting site. We did however witness Rutters Red Bull Ducati expiring in a very big way just in front of us. He was spared the embarrassment of having to walk back to pit lane when Leon Haslem picked him up on a scooter and so he escaped the affections of Ern and his autograph book.

Raced out and needing wrung out we headed for Edinburgh and our hotel. Bobby (or "Crocodile Dunfermline", see below) left us at this point and headed for the boat as he had not been granted an overnight pass. Better luck next time Bobby. After several laps of the Royal Mile and the surrounding area we arrived at Tailors Hall hotel on Cowgate where hot showers were the order of the day. We then went to a restaurant called "The Filling Station" where obscene amounts of food inexplicably went missing in the Bermuda triangle that was our table.

The night was rounded off with some "hot cocoa" , some great and some not so great music in a local hostelry. Monday morning dawned with a clear blue sky and none of us could face any more than the full Scottish breakfast set before us, indeed it would have been rude to refuse, so after cranking up the rear shock compressions we set off towards the east coast. After leaving behind the remains of the morning rush hour we found ourselves on some great deserted roads. The B6355 from Gifford to Duns is highly recommended. We raced the rain into Galashiels where we fueled up and put on the wet suits just in time for,yes you`ve guessed it, the rain to stop. From here it was just a quick blast down the A72 skirting the River Tweed towards Peebles and it was here that Alan accused me of making a "ropey" overtake !

Perish the thought, it looked fine from where I was and Ern seemed to think it was all right too as he was right on my pipe and followed me through. At Peebles we called on Peter & Pauline Crory (Formerly of Priesthill (Zion) Methodist). We were made really welcome. Pauline had tea and cake and biscuits ready for us and, well, it would have been rude to.............you know the rest.
The route from Peebles to Moffat via the strangely named village of Stobo is nothing short of superb and, as Colin commented, very similar to the mountain section on the Isle of Man. The scenery is awsome and the road flows from one open sweeper to the next.

At Moffat we doubled back up the B7076 to Abington which as any self respecting Trinity club member will know is where the road to Leadhills begins, or ends, depending which way you`re going. This has been a big favorite in the past and the scene of much tomfoolery. However on this occasion, for me anyway, it was slightly disappointing as the place was so full of sheep at times we were down to walking pace. Still, it was worth it for the scenery alone. Soon after Sanquhar the rain came on again and remained with us until just before Cairnryan.

A fairly calm sailing back finished an excellent trip and the food on board was surprisingly good. Well it wo............blah blah blah.

So, what about a Moto GP next year. Maybe we could try some paella. Many thanks to Kenny for the loan of his camera for the trip. Roll on September and more of those Scottish roads.

See y`all soon, Keith.

All photos in the Gallery