This was our second Outer Hebrides tour again run by Roy and Alison. Once again they did an excellent job and I leave Alison to give you the details. We were really sorry to hear of Robin and Izzies accident. They have been friends and customers for many years and are well seasoned bikers with many tours with us and on their own, to places like Australia. Thankfully they are on the mend, and as Alison says we wish them both a speedy recovery.

"This was another brilliant tour to the Scottish Highlands and Islands.  Following the same format as the June tour, we all met up at our hotel in Carlisle.

The weather was very hit and miss with dark clouds and then sunshine but we only had to don our waterproofs on our trip up to Inveraray and the trip from Ullapool to Blairgowrie.  Textile clothing kept us dry enough for the rest of the tour!!

We stayed in Plockton for a couple of nights enabling us to tour Skye.  Skye was as beautiful as ever and the weather kept quite nice for our trip around the island.  Ian, on his Bonneville, ran out of fuel 2 miles from the petrol station.  The saving grace was he bought a full gallon can of fuel and strapped it to his bike for the rest of the tour!!

We had to give Applecross a miss this time as the cloud was very low over the bealach (pass) as, from previous experience, it’s no joke meeting on-coming vehicles when you can’t see your hand in front of your face!!  We arrived in Ullapool early for our ferry, so were able to chill out in the town.  Many sat down by the harbour and just relaxed with an ice-cream.

The weather stayed dry for us on Lewis and Harris and Jessie opened up the Bays Centre on the Golden Road early for us to get a bite to eat and a coffee.  No yellow irises on the roadside this time but we went to see the beautiful white sands of Luskentyre Beach.  Thankfully the Butt of Lewis wasn’t as windy as in June!!

One of the highlights was the ferry back to Ullapool … we were met by what seemed hundreds of dolphins/porpoises which were there to meet and greet us and put on a show.  The locals seemed to find it all very amusing when everyone rushed forward to try and get photos … they see them every day - most of us can only dream of seeing such a spectacular sight.  Chris got a puncture on the Golden Road.  He had it repaired in Stornoway (it was a slit rather than a hole so ended up with a tractor tyre repair!!) but it still had a slow leak.  No-one had a suitable tyre in stock so he and Pete decided to leave the tour early and nurse his bike home!

Our trip to the north, Durness, Smoo Cave, Kyle of Tongue was on the cards for the Sunday.  Unfortunately the PIE SHOP in Lochinver was closed … so I’ll have to get some by mail-order (£50 minimum order, so that will fill the freezer!!)  We stopped at Cocoa Mountain for lunch.  The petrol station (one pump) at Durness was closed but yes, you’ve guessed, Ian had his gallon can strapped to his back seat!!  He had to stop and put petrol in his tank just south of Kyle of Tongue and while we were waiting, we saw three what we think were Golden Eagles in the dark cloudy skies above!

On Monday we headed south.  Many of you know Robin and Izzy.  Unfortunately they had an ‘off’ just south of The Lecht and were taken by ambulance to Aberdeen Royal.  Izzy has suffered a swollen/bruised leg and a broken bone in her hand, but she travelled home the following day.  Robin’s scans showed he has a broken vertebrae and a few broken ribs.  He had an op on Friday to put a screw in his spine to stabilise it and hopefully, by the time you read this, he will have been transferred back to Essex.  His pride and joy is written off!  We have spoken to them both and they are in good spirits.  They want to thank everyone for their good wishes.  We wish them a speedy recovery … such a lovely couple!

On Tuesday, the gates were open at Knockhill, so we wandered in to have a look … don’t think we were supposed to!  We had hoped to ride across the new Queensferry Crossing, but it was closed to traffic.  The new bridge had just been officially opened by Her Majesty the Queen the day before, and on the Tuesday school children were allowed to walk over it.  It is now ‘motorway status’ so no pedestrians from now on!  Our last evening together was near Kendal at one of our favourite hotels … great accommodation and too much food!! "