Rogue Runners 2017 Day 3 - Western Loop

"Can't park that there mate"

Today we werr joined by the “other” SKCC the Scottish Kit Car Club. We’ve been meeting up with one or two of them for joint blatting over the last few years & their local knowledge has given us some excellent roads to sample.

So after breakfast 10 cars set out on a loop out to the west, returning to Selkirk. The roads were AMAZING, free of traffic & constantly winding, with mostly good surfaces & good scenery. Lunch (by which I mean cake / ice cream) was taken in a small café overlooking the Clyde estuary with Ailsa Craig in the distance (it’s an island, not a swimmer)

The throttle was holding together, though I was being careful not to go over about 50% or kick it too hard.

By this time we’d heard that two of our No. had returned to the hotel, Matt had split the sidewall of a tyre on a particularly vicious pot-hole & Linda had escorted him as he tried to repair the split with a puncture repair & then found somewhere with a tyre the right size. They did get out later for a mini blatt, so thier day wasn’t entirely lost.

 

The thing I remember most about the afternoon, was a Cow Pat. I was following GB at a reasonably low speed when his car passed over something & some chunks were thrown up. I watched in increasing horror as the largest of these chunks – about the size of a jam doughnut - arced through the air towards my car, landing with a sound that can only be described as “SPLUG” on the screen about 6 inches from the top. Equally impressive was its consistency, any drier & it would’ve bounced off, any wetter & it would’ve been easy for the wipers to get rid of.

But this lump landed with just enough force to weld itself to the screen, but not enough to deform it such that it could be wiped away.
The other thing that stands out was some wonderful accidental choreography. We were making “good progress” along a timber road (a road for moving timber, not made from timber). There was nothing in sight ahead or behind – a good thing as the road was very single track. However, as the scenery opened up a little a very large, very laden timber lorry (a lorry for moving …… you guessed?) hoved into view. There would be no easy way round it, but just before the lead car reached it, it turned left & the lead car hardly had to slow down. It was worthy of Wallace & Grommit.

Tired from almost 300 miles of back-roads, the hotel – more specifically its bar – was a very welcome sight. A shower, a meal, some re-telling of stories of the day’s events & we were set up ready to do it all again tomorrow.