Steve T
Well-Known Member
Well, seeing as they were bombing the beejezus out of the range up at Garvie / Cape Wrath this week, I thought I pay the place another visit, what with the sun being out an all!
Except that the sun didn’t really make it’s presence felt till I’d arrived up at the top, which led to my “enjoying” the freezing mist that you see in the first few photo’s. I spent 30 plus miles wiping drizzle off of my visor whilst struggling to make 30mph
.
Still once “up north”, the sun shone, the wind didn’t blow and I got a lift up to the range compound, which saved a nice 3+ mile walk (the beach was a bit too soft for this Welshmans liking, hence no bike across the beach ride).
Due to the days activities including mortar fire from beside the control tower, Civvies were not allowed into the compound, so I stayed the other side of the wire and enjoyed the pleasant sensation of 10’s & 10’s of High Explosive 51mm mortars flying over my head on their way to the targets on the other side of the bay.
As well as the mortars there were several ships lobbing shells onto various targets on shore as well as a poor defenceless bouy bobbing about in the oggin a couple of kilometres offshore from the range building.
Overhead a Typhoon pilot was busy spelling his name in the sky via the con trail from his jet. Due to my being “the other side of the wire” I didn’t get the shout about the “Show of Force”, and was happily bird spotting – Puffins are SO cute as they bob about on the sea – that I was only aware of the jets fly past as the roar of it’s engines “appeared” from behind the range building, with the Typhoon on it’s right wing tip belting past the towers windows as an accompaniment. I swear to you I could see the pilots face, he was THAT close as he blasted past the fence I was now cowering behind. Needless to say I didn’t get a photo of this fly-by.
After many happy hours of sitting in the sun, sipping coffee (brew kit is never far away
) and watching various chemical combinations being turned into smoke, heat and noise, I wandered back across the beach to the bike, kitted up and took a different route home, covering a total of over 300 miles
Misty Bonar Bridge
Misty Loch Shin
Kylesku Bridge and HI-Viz Man
Quinag
View to Unapool
Dornoch Firth
I had planned to over-night up at Durness, but I thought I’d better not, after a very fitful nights sleep due to my back being a right pain . . . . . in the back! Hence all the boxes on the bike – even though I wasn’t overnighting I thought I’d try the machine fully loaded as I’d never done so before. I did OK, handling the carriage of all my usual camping kit. Did get a bit “jiggy”
when trying to stretch the throttle cable, but now I know where the wobble point is, I’ll steer clear of it 
.
Steve T
Except that the sun didn’t really make it’s presence felt till I’d arrived up at the top, which led to my “enjoying” the freezing mist that you see in the first few photo’s. I spent 30 plus miles wiping drizzle off of my visor whilst struggling to make 30mph
.Still once “up north”, the sun shone, the wind didn’t blow and I got a lift up to the range compound, which saved a nice 3+ mile walk (the beach was a bit too soft for this Welshmans liking, hence no bike across the beach ride).
Due to the days activities including mortar fire from beside the control tower, Civvies were not allowed into the compound, so I stayed the other side of the wire and enjoyed the pleasant sensation of 10’s & 10’s of High Explosive 51mm mortars flying over my head on their way to the targets on the other side of the bay.
As well as the mortars there were several ships lobbing shells onto various targets on shore as well as a poor defenceless bouy bobbing about in the oggin a couple of kilometres offshore from the range building.
Overhead a Typhoon pilot was busy spelling his name in the sky via the con trail from his jet. Due to my being “the other side of the wire” I didn’t get the shout about the “Show of Force”, and was happily bird spotting – Puffins are SO cute as they bob about on the sea – that I was only aware of the jets fly past as the roar of it’s engines “appeared” from behind the range building, with the Typhoon on it’s right wing tip belting past the towers windows as an accompaniment. I swear to you I could see the pilots face, he was THAT close as he blasted past the fence I was now cowering behind. Needless to say I didn’t get a photo of this fly-by.
After many happy hours of sitting in the sun, sipping coffee (brew kit is never far away
) and watching various chemical combinations being turned into smoke, heat and noise, I wandered back across the beach to the bike, kitted up and took a different route home, covering a total of over 300 milesMisty Bonar Bridge
Misty Loch Shin
Kylesku Bridge and HI-Viz Man
Quinag
View to Unapool
Dornoch Firth
I had planned to over-night up at Durness, but I thought I’d better not, after a very fitful nights sleep due to my back being a right pain . . . . . in the back! Hence all the boxes on the bike – even though I wasn’t overnighting I thought I’d try the machine fully loaded as I’d never done so before. I did OK, handling the carriage of all my usual camping kit. Did get a bit “jiggy”
when trying to stretch the throttle cable, but now I know where the wobble point is, I’ll steer clear of it .Steve T
), so thought I'd try the F^%* version of the bike. The CBF is, even after more than a month, still in the garage 
