Rally on the Loch

A rally held on the island of Inchmurrin organised in March 2014 by the Loch Lomond MCC.

Heather and I were unable to go to the 2013 event due to all our local roads being blocked by heavy snowfall. Although in 2014 it was a bit of a wet journey we made it to the bottom end of Loch Lomond on my R100RT on Friday afternoon.

The rally control was in a sort of garage where they had storage facility for our helmets, this was just up from a jetty. All the bikes had to be left on the mainland in a large fenced compound. There was a 24 hour watch on all the valuables.

I think most people had accommodation in the various self catering units or rooms in the hotel/lodge on the island. However, if like us you were camping, all your gear had to be carried on and off the little ferry.

We camped behind the lodge along with a few of the Lockwood rally club. Our next problem was blowing up our double airbed. I usually use an electric pump but that is powered by the bike which is on the mainland. Lung power it is then!

Friday night at the bar it was the usual catch up with whatever everyone had been up to over winter but actually we had seen most of them the previous weekend at the Ides of March. I think festivities went on quite late but we had a reasonably early night and left the professionals to it. There looked to be a lot of flasks with different malt whiskies being passed about and on Saturday morning you could tell who had done the most testing.

A Wet Helensburgh

We went back over to the mainland and rode across to Helensburgh, its not the most inspiring place on a cold wet day in March but we warmed up in a cafe. By the time we came back out it had brightened up a bit so we went back to the island and did a bit of exploring. We climbed up the mountain - well ok then, the small hill behind the lodge, very scenic.

Mountain climbing

Saturday evening was a bit more subdued. It has to be now, as its easy to be over the Scottish drink drive limit on the following morning if you overdo it.

Full ferry

The ferry was quite busy on Sunday morning, getting us all back to the bikes. The weather was better and we had a steady ride back to Bradford on the RT.

- Ted Trett