Magic March

The UK has enjoyed a amazing spell of weather recently with unbroken sunshine and record high temperatures in Scotland. I've been out and about a bit and taken a few photos.

 Oban

Loch Fyne

 Newton Stewart

 The CBF at Girvan

 The FJ at Connel Bridge

Featured Bikes - Ducati 750 Sport & Super Sport

Feast your eyes on this pair of gorgeous '70s Ducatis.

Landmarks Update

I've been snapping some Landmarks on my travels. No. 1 - Castle is easy (I can see one from my upstairs window) Here's one I passed today - Crawford Castle in South Lanarkshire. A total ruin it's old - recorded in 1175 but probably a lot older than that. William Wallace ejected the English from it in 1297.    

Toulouse?

Today I took advantage of the lovely weather for a favourite run of mine to Kilmarnock, Dumfries and back via Lochmaben and Beattock. I took a photograph of a sculpture I've noticed before on the cycle path near Beattock consisting of cycle road signs and bearing the name "Toulouse". I can't find any explanation for it on the web.

Why? or should that be pourquoi?

The sign doesn't help.

Featured Bike - Kawasaki Avenger 350cc

I photographed this bike at the Pebbles bike show 10 years ago. The Avenger was a twin cylinder two stroke produced 1967-71. It had twin disc valves with the carbs located at the ends of the crank and behind the engine casings. The bike claimed 42bhp - more than most 500s of the time. The Avenger was replaced by the mad and bad triples.

Kawasakis of this era are very rare in the UK - I don't know if this model was ever sold here.

(Not) The Landmarks Challenge

Looking through photographs from a run on the CBF250 to the Cowal Peninsular last October I found a couple that could be used for the Landmarks Challenge link. I'll take new ones for the challenge but I think that these are worth posting.

Telephone box beside Loch Riddon, near Tighnabruaich.

Old Castle Lachlan on Loch Fyne.

Featured Bike - Suzuki RE5

The RE5 was one of the few bikes powered by a Wankel rotary engine. I snapped this one at the Stafford show last October. The bike is dominated by the massive lump of the engine. The rotary motor is simple in concept but complex in practice. The instruments are housed in a cylindrical unit with a cover that opens with the ignition key. The exhaust system has some unusual cooling features. A finned casting on the engine and intakes that funnel air into a twin skinned exhaust.  

The bike was only on sale from 1974-76 and wasn't a success because it didn't offer any advantages over the 750cc bikes it was up against.