To Crieff and back….

Day off. Only 6 days until we head off on our adventure, so I needed to go and take advice from the professionals at Strathearn Tyres in Crieff. I didn’t want to be doing the best part of 4000 miles and end up having to replace a tyre in the middle of Europe. I had a new back tyre when I got a puncture in June, and as my readers will know, I have been doing ‘considerable’ mileage on wee Smoggy.

So, off Ed and I went this morning, off to Crieff and a very short debate took place outside the garage. In Jim’s opinion the front tyre was just fine; the back wouldn’t make it all the way home. So, in Smoggy went for new rubber on the rear. My ‘experienced’ tyre will be saved for me once I wear this one out.

Now I have to get rid of the chicken strips all over again!

It was a bonny morning. Ed had mentioned that he just wanted to go back home, we have lots to do before our holidays. Aye right, he wasn’t going to get away with that. I didn’t want to go right home. I wanted to ‘scrub’ in my back tyre. Even just a little bit, we’re heading for a rib-fest in Aberdeen on Saturday, so just in case we go across the mountains, I wanted it a little bit broken in.

We headed up the Sma’ Glen (again). I have ridden that road so much this year, love it. I was on it on Sunday, and rode it a tad ‘progressively’. Mind you, not as progressively as some that I won’t mention ;). That day out, with the lads was just ace. What a grin and a learning experience. Meanwhile, Ed was a bit miffed that he wasn’t ‘invited’ so he went to visit the lovely Lesley up in Farr Bay. Cripes. My 277 miles of smiles were awesome. He did over 500. Show off.

So, we went into Aberfeldy, through to Coshieville, then took the Schiehallion road. I knew where the road was, I just hadn’t ridden it. The last adventure I had in this area on my own, I stayed on the main routes. Boy, what a cracking wee road. Lovely. We then headed down the south side of Loch Rannoch. The only part that I wasn’t a happy camper about was a ‘quarry lorry’ not letting me pass. What a knob. Ed had breenged passed as he does, I am a little bit more restrained… Eventually after what seemed like miles, he turned off. Pfft. I gave him a really special ‘sarcastic’ Fi wave. He had the cheek to wave back. Tosser.

The roads were lovely and the sun was shining.

Loch Rannoch

We stopped off for a wee break and a chat on the phone with Craig. Cheryl, his partner had been discharged from hospital after a traumatic time in ICU at Edinburgh. I have to say, that made our day!

Onwards, back to Kinloch Rannoch and the Schiehallion road. Just had to be done.

The plan was to go home and do a ‘half day’ getting our ‘poop in a group’. Aye, right.

Once we got back to Coshieville and went down the glen, Ed couldn’t resist heading up the Glen Lyon road. Nice. Still no rain. All of a sudden, he pulled over. I wondered if he was stopping for a picture. No, he wasn’t. He had a bloody puncture. Bugger. Horseshoe nail by all accounts.

Middle of Glen Lyon, as you can imagine, nae signal on the phone. So Ed left me sitting at the roadside whilst he went off on Smoggy to get to a phone. I did say to him to get something to eat. I was getting a tad peckish. Never mind, he came back having made the important recovery phone call, my tummy was grumbling, I just had to get a picnic. We ate our sandwiches in the pissing rain.

Lix Toll recovery arrived, bike loaded, so I headed off. The plan was for me to call Strathearn Tyres ASAP. Bloody hell, it took me half an hour, via rush hour in the glen to get a signal.

Rush hour

There was a Dutch car before I took this photo that was thoroughly stuck behind a coo with two calves. Too many jokes spring to mind. Which one was on it’s holiday? The one with the wee calf. Which one came from the Middle East? Coo 8. Har har.

It was lashing, there was gravel and coo shit everywhere. Joy. When I got to Killin, I made my phone call, and thought that there was no way Ed could get there in time, so instead of coming all the way back home, I had a ‘sod it’ moment and headed to Crieff. Just in case. The team were still there, all waiting for Ed’s arrival, bless them. My bulb had blown, so I replaced that whilst I waited. Bang on 5:30, Ed arrived. Like this morning’s new tyre, it was like a GP pitstop. All done and dusted in record time, they must have been going off to the pub! Above and beyond the call of duty, and really that’s why we support a local business.

So, there you go; to Crieff and back, via some stunning roads. So much for being home to get ‘stuff’ done. That’ll have to wait until tomorrow night, however, Ed’s Garmin is now updated, and dinner is nearly ready, so it seems it’s wine o’clock. Hang on, wine o’clock started an hour ago.