Run to the Hills 2003
Run to the Hills 2003
When it was muted towards the tail end of last season that there was going to
be a reliability rod run to the Isle of Skye organised there was a bit of
disbelief amongst the ranks. This
was also followed by thoughts.. of errmm that’s quite a distance…
So when the official invites and pre entry’s fell through the door it was
time for a closer, more serious look. Now
a quick glance at the map book for those accustomed to countryside sliced
through by some good old blacktop in the form of Dual Carriageway and Motorway
would think, mm its not that far…. X miles at 60 mph equal
errm not a great deal of time….. Hey
we can handle that. I’m up for
that let’s do it. Accompanied by
the ‘why the hell not’ attitude and nothing else doing that weekend a number
of interested parties signed up.
Blessed by the unseasonably kind weather of late this turned out to be a most
beautiful drive through the Scottish countryside.
Coming off the motorways at Glasgow and driving the 26 mile length of
Loch Lomond, an interesting drive in a left hooker which is the same width as
the road lanes and wider in some places due to the natural geography.
That was just the start. Roads
were very clear as it was still a couple of weeks until the official tourist
season started , so not a caravan in site aahhh bliss .
Once past Loch Lomond and the roads opened up to a more hospitable format
allowing for more rapid progress.
Sunshine as it had been for some 3 weeks really made the drive wonderful,
roads snaking around lochs and between mountains resplendent in their
autumnal/spring colours. More cars meeting up along the road until an unofficial
gathering at Fort William, which seemed a natural rest and fuel break for most.
Only 130 miles left to go and they turned out to be the best so far.
The convoy set off on the final leg, made up of a host of rods and yanks.
With a couple of occasional unscheduled maintenance stops the tour made
progress through without doubt some of the most beautiful scenery of the
Scottish Highlands pressing ever onwards towards the Skye Bridge.
One final rest stop at the mystical Eilen Donan Castle, the backdrop for
many a Hollywood movie, probably best known for the opening scenes of
Highlander, and we were off over the Skye Bridge on a charge for the final
Destination, Duntulum Castle Hotel, on the northern most point of the Isle of
Skye. Fearing the worst with
regards to a perceived road situation… ‘these islands will have farm tracks
for roads’ it was pleasant
surprise to see that these were in fact some of the best roads to grace our
travel. No real traffic other than
ourselves. Sun shining through the
windshield, open roads, line of sight for miles driving through the hills and
along the coast. There was nothing
to do except roll the power on and enjoy the moment. Ahh Bliss, the sound of a V8 echoing through the countryside,
long sweeping bends, warmth of the sun. Thoughts
of ‘This is the life, this is what its all about.’
Then you come back to your senses, It’s April and it’s Scotland.
Wow, this IS unbelievable. Then,
it happened…. Following the
directions given by Charlie Walker, event organiser, it looked like we’d made
a wrong turn…. This wasn’t the road. This
is the road to someone’s farm It
had to be a mistake. No mistake at
all. The last 15 miles was over an undulating single track road
high around the hillsides of Skye. Every
corner thinking we must be close, until the enclosing hills opened up a little
and we saw a sign saying ‘Duntulum Castle Hotel 100 yds Left.’
We were there. What a wonderful days driving.
Parked up all the cars for the night.
Ponies in the corral it was time for sign in: A very well organised and welcoming affair, conducted with
the utmost of ease by Charlie’s team. With
their welcome packs in hand the masses congregated in the bar, where else?, to
regale their road trip and how much they had enjoyed it.
After an hour or so, with others joining as time passed, it was almost
the time to get washed up for the evening meal.
Now you may be thinking at the miniscule charge for the occasion that evening
meal would be burgers chips n beans. Oh
no, not at all, what greeted us was something special, a full 3 course affair
with options from the locale. All
beautifully prepared with waiter service, was this a hot rod run???
Due to the outstanding response the party had been split for dining and
sleeping on the Friday night. However
the alternative accommodation was Flodigarry Hotel with a free minibus service
to take us back and forth to Duntulum for the evening festivities.
Spoiled? Hell yes.
Friday night at the bar saw the masses congregate in the bar of the
Duntulum castle hotel to reflect on their sumptuous meal and great days driving,
with of course the par for the course benchracing and catching up of the winters
garage developments and general shenanigans.
As the night drew in with much merriment the group split up again
returning to their respective accommodations without a barbeque or tent in
sight. Tucked into beds, yes beds, it was time for sleep for what
was left of the night.
Saturday
Saturday dawned, so I unzipped the wet tent, splodged through the mud and
stood in a queue for an hour for a cold shower, relit the fire and burned some
bacon, oh no wait a
minute…..memories are made of this….. I
crawled out from under the eiderdown, had a look outside at the glorious
sunshine and stepped into the ensuite shower, oh yes this is true.
Breakfast was a choice of cereal or the full Scottish affair for those
south of the border that’s a full English with black pudding and potato scone.
About 10 am, yes 10 am no typo, the masses gathered at Duntulum in
anticipation of the billed run. As
the hills echoed to the sound of a host of V8’s awakening from their slumber,
the sun split through the clouds and we were off, one huge and I mean huge
convoy snaking along the hill passes back to UIG. There were rods as far
as the eye could see in back and up front, it was magnificent.
Passing the Japanese tourists with their Nikons and Cheesy smiles of
disbelief we pressed on.
The
cavalcade descended on the sleepy port town/ village of Uig.
First stop on the schedule, opportunity to gas up and also visit the
local brewery. Available was the
limited edition Run to the Hills 2003 brand Top Fuel, a special branding of the
local Ale made available for the weekend. Format
was either individual bottles or a nice commemorative pack of four.
‘Yeah a couple of cases will do it’ll not go down that well’’
they thought. Yeah? Enter the
rodders, almost everyone I saw had at least one case.
They were going so fast the guy was out back running off new labels and
they were boxing them at the checkout… We must have purchased their seasons
ale sales in about 45 minutes. So
with gift packs in hand we were off again.
Winding down through the countryside the cruise started proper.
The cruise was split into two with the first twenty cars going for a
small cruise n lunch, the next twenty going to
Dunrobbin Castle the plan being to meet up and swap later.
But as things go the first twenty like the lunch stop so much we got a
call, just come here, its great we’re not movin…... So the group met up
again for a lovely lunch of soup, sandwiches and of course the odd drink.
Basking in the midday sun. How
does that go again? Mad Dogs n Rodders? Magnificent
sight of nature and machine as the brave reversed their cars down the slip and
parked in a line (handbrake slippage equals next stop Atlantic), wonderful
photos were taken by most. Is this
the end of the run? Errrrr NO.
Hardly even started!!! When
Charlie Walker says Hot Rod Run he means it, Next trip was snaking through the
hills and glens across country to the town of Portree, the main settlement on
the island. Here the local bobbies
had closed off a car park for us, the RNLI (the official benefactors charity for
the run) watched our cars for us while we toodled off into town to do some
sightseeing and more souvenir shopping. At
around 4pm the car park in the middle of town surrounded by many onlookers, we
gathered quite a crowd, erupted to the voluminous roar of the Run to the Hills
V8 symphony Orchestra as the tour pulled out of town.
A great drive up the other coast of the north west side of the island to
park up once more at Duntulum … miles count?
I made it c.90 miles. Way to go Charlie, that’s what you call a
cruise…..
A
couple of beers and it was time to scrub up after a great day out.
Evening meal was in two sitting this time all at Duntulum… As the first
sitting rolled out holding their stomachs I
began thinking there is not much food left.
I also began thinking that some of the guys had joined the local fishing
club for the weekend and given up the rodding.
‘Theres a Salmon in there.. its this big’’ arms outstretched….
Yeah rite, £55 doesn’t get you two 3 course meals and two breakfasts and two
night accommodation. ‘They’re at it’ was my thought and that of those I was
with. Walked into the dining area
only to be met by a veritable banquet of great food, turkey, salmon, cold meat,
curries, you name it the choice was there, even burgers for the die hards!!
Just help yerself. Outstanding……..
With dinner out of the way, everyone had way too much to eat and were milling
about the bar desperately trying to fill in any spaces in their already bulging
stomachs with beer, waiting for the disco to begin.
Enter MC Charlie Walker in his SoCal dungies and a huge smile.
All he needed was a straw hat and he would look the picture.. If he said
‘you’ve got a pretty mouth boy’ I was outta there quickstyle.
Charlie whacked on the sounds with a CD mixing unit etc and did very well
for his first attempt. Only problem
was everyone was way too bagged up to dance.
As the drink flowed, raffle tickets started to pass round, yep a raffle
too no less. Many great prizes
given out including tools, car care items and beer donated from local
organisations and shops. Fantastic.
Prize giving went down a treat with specially made Run to The Hills
plaques for the lucky few. The Run
itself got the NSRA pick itself which almost had Charlie in tears.
Folks started dancing and low and behold, more food appeared!! As the
night progressed and as drink flowed all were in mighty high spirits, a great
atmosphere developed with many congregating to natter about how great the run
was, how much fun they’d had and how we all really must do this again…
Everyone was buzzing about what a great time they’d had.
Some locals, friends of Charlie and others who had aided the organisation
of this spectacular run had joined us for the evening in a bid to generate
growth in the pursuits of demonising, I mean keeping the roads of Skye safe and
see what the social aspect of rodding is all about.
Charlie has wanted to generate an interest in rodding on the island and
I’m sure his efforts will be rewarded in time.
This carried on until the bar ran out of bottled beer and I dare say ran
low on draft in the small hours of the morning as those who had the stamina
continued on. A superb night was
had by all, and it just goes to prove the exception to the rule, its not
considered a good night until Jim Fairbairn loses his clothes.
It was a terrific night one to be discussed for many a run to come no
doubt.
Sunday
Sunday
was a low key affair, starting off early in the morning after a lazy breakfast
all congregated again at Duntulum Castle Hotel. From there it was another drive out to Uig.
This was the farewell point. After
some milling about and general chat folks gassed up and everyone split up.
For those who were leaving this was the time to do so.
For those staying on another night as some had done it was time to follow
Charlie again on another impromptu cruise to see some other sites on the island.
A great time they had I’m sure too , as the weather held again for
another glorious day.
Good byes said it was time to head off down those snaking roads, absolutely
empty with the exception of the other rodders and the occasional local.
An unscheduled meeting over the bridge saw an unintentional congregation
again at Eilen Donan Castle, which seemed like a natural rest break for most.
The sun held out and it turned out to be another scorcher, so it was tops
off, that’s the T-tops not ours….. A
fantastic drive home, just sad that it had to all end so soon.
All I can say about the weekend was that it was a true reliability run, with
a cruise of almost 100 miles thrown in to boot.
It was very well organised, exceptional value for money and a great time
was had by all. We were blessed by
very kind weather for the time of year, in fact for any time of year.
Hats off to Charlie Walker and those who aided him in bringing this idea
to an astounding reality. This is
one rod run which will be talked about for years to come. Only unfortunate fact is that it was the first of the season,
a gentle break in, as all other facilities, food and accommodation will never be
at this level for the rest of the season. Total
mileage for the weekend was 770 miles by the time I put the car back in the
garage, not bad considering I was one of the closest living attendees.
Great weekend, great company. In
the words of The Beach Boys. ‘lets get together and do it again.’
Many thanks to Charlie and all the crew for putting on such a great
weekend.
Lee Nimmo.