The Obsession

I was told about this event by Dave Dowling in early 1996 and duly entered. My late wife and I had been going to Scotland for a number of years, and this rally was the extra excuse we needed to explore this Island of ours in greater depth. We had, over the years, unsuccessfully managed to navigate the road to Applecross in anything other than low cloud so the view always eluded us.

In the 1996 rally we got to Sheil Bridge and on the climb to the viewpoint of the 'Five Sisters' en-route to the 'Glenelg ferry' the head gasket on the old 'Wing' failed so we had to leave Skye and limp to Inverness, as this was the flattest route to any motorcycle shops, to get the parts and effect repairs, this took three and half days to get, and two hours to rectify, so Applecross and other landmarks on west coast got left as holiday was nearly over.

In 1997 we had to go to Locharron to photo 'Strome Castle' great we thought this is the year, no no no, wet and very low cloud, so aborted for another year sadly we were involved in an accident on the last weekend of our holiday, after completing all the landmarks that day, sadly Lynn lost her life.

1998 during this year still recovering I was assisted by my brother and most of the mileage was covered using Lynn's trusty Reliant, tried riding my old Z1000, but found it a bit of a handful, so I deemed Applecross was out this year, must be done on two wheels. For the 1999 rally I had purchased an 1100 Wing as my old 1000 was still in many bits in the garage and David had included the 'AA Cairn' at the summit of the pass to Applecross so this year it was on. Left Mick Thompson's B & B in Brora early, in gorgeous weather, not a cloud in the sky and a nice ride to Applecross in the making. Going via Ullapool, Achnasheen and Locharron to get receipts for the Scottish National.

On arrival at Locharron, lunchtime, food was called for, the sky was still blue and cloudless. Fed and watered the bike was pointed towards Applecross, on the climb up to the summit a cloud had appeared from the south west and the weather looked ominous, the gods were again conspiring to ruin my day, needless to say on arrival at

the summit it was difficult to even see the cairn, then the phone rang and the daughter's voice asked what's the view like then? I think I upset her!!!
On arrival in Applecross I decided to stay at the hotel and try in the morning, a good night was had with a couple of German bikers.

The morning dawned brightish but the summit was still shrouded in cloud so I decide to do the coastal run back, I'm glad I did as I saw the largest/prettiest Dragonflies I had ever seen in my life, an unexpected perk.

During the rallies of 2000 and 2001 conditions were again variable with low cloud so not attempted, in 2002 I am hoping to go earlier in the year instead of September, so hopefully it will be accomplished, this has now become an obsession.