24 August 2003

 Stirling Services

I always thought that with the better weather it would be easier to organise Runs during the summer months.  However, trying to find a date that suites everyone in between holidays and other events always proves difficult.  The result of this is that our outings seem to attract more cars during the winter.  Anyway, this is the first month that the Runs have been organised in conjunction with the MGCC F Register and I'm please to say that John Peacock from St Andrews and his friend Alan Barnes joined us.

We started as usual at Stirling and it was decided that we would try and limit the Run so that we could get back to the Callander Classic Car Show round about mid-afternoon.  It has been a while since we have been round the Trossachs so we set off along the motorway as far as Dunblane where we turned off for Doune and then along by Deanston heading for Aberfoyle.  Up over the Duke's Pass and dropping back down through the Queen Elizabeth Forrest Park to the first of the lochs that we were due to see - Loch Achray.  Just past Brig o' Turk was the second one; Loch Venachar.  At Kilmahog, we headed north past Loch Lubnaig (number three) on the way to Strathyre and Lochearnhead.  From there it was along the north side of Loch Earn (number four) passing through St Fillans, Comrie and Crieff before going up through the Sma' Glen to Amulree where we had lunch.  We've never stopped at the hotel here before and to be honest it doesn't look much from the outside, but the food was good and reasonably priced.

The last time that we had used Glen Quaich was way back in May when Gerry Hiorns got two punctures during the "Highlander" so we all felt that it deserved another visit.  Going along the glen, Loch Freuchie was chalked off as loch number five before be began to climb over the pass to Kenmore.  Near the top we came across a woman who had gone too far onto the verge to let someone pass and ended up in the ditch.  Luckily for her the road was quite busy and there were plenty of helping hands to get her out.  Once on our way again we dropped down to Kenmore and went along Loch Tay (number six) to Killin and from there back to Lochearnhead before retracing our steps to Kilmahog and to Callander a few miles further on.

Callander Classic Show is an annual event.  Originally, it used to be held at the motor museum and hill climb at Doune, but when they closed, it moved to its present site not far away.  It was about 3:30pm when we arrived and to we just managed to catch the tail end of the proceedings.  However, we did to see some of the autotests and the presentation of the prizes along with visiting the autojumble.

The weather had been lovely all day and everyone had gone topless from start to finish.  Yet again we were blessed with good weather.  Three Fs and a TF did about 130 miles from Stirling to Callander and while by our standards it wasn't a long run, it would have been difficult to travel much further because of the August Bank Holiday traffic.

Oh, and apart from bagging six lochs (seven if you count Loch Lubnaig twice), we passed Scotland's only lake - The Lake of Menteith.

The Trossachs

Loch Freuchie

Glen Quaich

Same view with the parked cars