Fling Poll

[scooby222]

theres been a few suggestions of having another weekend away later on in the year which im in 2 minds about - on the one hand itd be great to do it again and im aware that theres people that cant make it in May but on the other if its done too much it wont get the numbers or be as special

so can either stick to one a year up north or have a second one perhaps more central/borders based if thats not treading on toes.

also a poll for the run that will definitely go ahead next May ish to see if people would be happy to use the same hotel with a slightly different route.

ive a few ideas for other get togethers that im working out at the moment, so watch out....

with that in mind who's region does dunfermline fall into?

Edited May 5, 2010 by scooby222

[gus the bus]

Dave,

Personally, I would say Highland Fling once a year and keep it as a top event . May is a great month to have it but being selfish , just a week or two later would be perfect.

I'm starting to think about a possible late summer into autumn weekend run and considering the Borders into Dumfries and Galloway with an overnight stop as an alternative venue. I'm on holiday in a week or so (not going away) so will spend a bit of time on a recce. Happy to work with you/others on this

Hopefully if we did organise something there would be a decent bit of interest

Cheers

Gus

PS Dunfermline is in Irish Al's patch

Edited May 5, 2010 by Gus the Bus

[badbaz]

Once a year for a biggy Dave, keeps it special - it's also a tad expensive for people who may be struggling in the current climate.

Going back to the same venue is risky if you ask me, voted to reflect this

[StrikE]

How about making the fling a day longer for the few who can? If planned well enough in advance why not?

Different location for accommodation though & more of the same roads.

Once a year as by far the best event on the sidc calendar!

[thefastone]

To be honest there Del, I think that 2 days is just right for a big run, I was half dead the next day as it was, never mind adding another to it...

I do think that a shorter run might be the way ahead... one big run, and a few shorter regional runs...

One thing that we did do a few years ago, was have a shorter day trip to balmoral, have a wee BBQ, and away again, all regions taking a different route in...

[thebigfelly]

if i could sudgest a possible driving day out , edinburgh to berwick-upon-tweed, but going via galashiels and otterburn (northumberland national park) ,

Total Distance: 126.17 mile(s), 203.05 km(s) one way or = 252.34miles round trip back to edinburgh unless you hop on the A1 back

Estimated journey time of: 3 hour(s) 10 minute(s) thats without stopping, but could always stop at galashiels for something to eat or lauder,

could start at hawes in south queens ferry , and on either the A68 great national speed limit road sometimes dual carrigway for a mile or 2 for over taking and quite a few long straights that are up to 5miles at points just outside lauder ,

or the alternative way would be to go the the A7 more remote but a far better road more of a drivers road, more challenging great country veiws, less places to over take though ,

just a sudgestion , and its a 6hour round trip back to edinburgh /south queens ferry , or slightly quicker if you go the A1, good mix of roads/scenery and places to stop,

cost = full tank and a bit of petrol , plus anything else for food, so be guesing no more than maybe £80

if you wanted to see the route yourself i used www.rac.co.uk/route-planner . and just typed in edinburgh to bewrick-upon-tweed via galashiels and via otterburn,

just a sudjestion for a day out , that has a mix of scenery,good roads, and a decent trip time and costs,

[johns]

I think a 3 day event (two overnight stays) would work well as it would be much less tiring on the Saturday for those who had to drive a long way to get to the starting point Although I couldn't attend this one, reading the reports brought back many happy memories of previous events and I'd love to go on another one

The Tour d'Ecosse events we ran from 1998 to 2002 used this format. Friday was arrival day, where people would take their time to arrive at the hotel from wherever they came from. People would meet up (many for the first time) over dinner in the hotel and get to know each other, and relax over a few beers before the main driving event on the Saturday. Some people were more ambitious than others in terms of pace and driving distance, and others wanted lots of stops to take in the beauty of the countryside, photo stops etc. so there were several routes available. Over the course of Friday evening, people would work out roughly which route they wanted to drive and sort themselves into smaller groups of 4 to 6 cars for the next day.

The more abmitious routes included extra loops, with the intention for everyone to meet up for lunch in the same place at roughly the same time (hotels and pubs cope much better with smaller groups arriving over the course of an hour or so, than a bigger group arriving at the same time).

Depending on the driving route chosen (and pace), people would get back to the hotel between about 4 and 7pm, before everyone got together for the big dinner and many more beers. Lots of great stories of the days events and driving were told.

Typically Sunday was a late and lazy start, with only a few hours driving to be done before lunch (normally somewhere around Perth so that those from further south had less distance to get home, and typically an hour to 90 minutes for mostly everyone else in Scotland).

Whilst most of us managed a few hundred miles driving on the Saturday, I'll always remember the November 2000 event where one group decided to go for Monster Route 7 . I can't remember the exact route, but I think it was Glencoe - Applecross, round the coastal road to Shieldaig, then up to Ullapool via Gairloch. From there they headed up the west coast to Cape Wrath and had lunch in the hotel at Tongue, before heading across to John O'Groats, then down via Wick to Inverness, back down the A82 to Fort William and back to the hotel in Glencoe for dinner in the evening. Needless to say they were rather tired by the time they got back to the hotel having covered over 600 miles, mostly on single track roads and with it being November it didn't really get properly light until 9am and was dark by 4. They had some great stories to tell involving crofters, sheep, whisky, spins, close encounters and lots of hilarity, and disbelief from everyone else that they were mad enough to attempt and complete that route in one day!

Reading all the reports from this Highland Fling, and seeing all the photos has brought back lots of happy memories for me, so count me in for sure for the next one

John

[tommo9375]

2 day event is fine for me ,i think a different location each year would be good to allow us to see different parts of our great countryside- just my opinion.

[micra_wrc]

one Highland fling once a year works for me,

it gives me something to look forward to after a bleak winter and brings in the summer season quite nicely.

I understand that the May date might not suit some folk and there's nothing to stop another 2 day event taking place later in the year,

but I doubt I'll be able to afford to go to 2 fuel-thirsty weekends.

although I'm such an event-addict I'll probably find some way to go to them

a 1-day run and BBQ during a weekend worked well in the past, our runs got a good turnout.

I really liked the hotel and the roads we did so voted for the same again.

Plus Applecross is such a renowned driving road, we should make use of the fact that its on our doorstep and make it an annual pilgrimmage

[the squiggle]

Once a year for a biggy Dave, keeps it special - it's also a tad expensive for people who may be struggling in the current climate.

Going back to the same venue is risky if you ask me, voted to reflect this

About £400 all in for fuel, food and accomadation for Imy and me, just over 1000kms

Once a year north and once a year borders (sept maybe)

Shell in Castle Douglas could be utilised to good effect as roads like the Devils Beeftub, Crawick rd, Gelston to Kirkcudbright and the road around the Machers are all within pissing distance of Castle Douglas.

Just mt £4.60 worth

[marko72]

Having not been to a Fling or on many runs im maybe not best qualified but....

I think one Fling up north a year and one 'Great Border Run' later in the year.

Edited May 6, 2010 by marko72

[BalliSTIc]

'Nuff said already about once a year...

Different venues each year is probably preferable too. It keeps it all fresh, and plus-the-fact we ain't exactly short of quality roads... although some with a bit less grit would be nice - saves us from the impromptu "the-chip-in-my-windscreen-is-bigger-than-yours" competition we had at Falls of Shin *lol*

[j40sub]

my first highland fling, certainly will not be the last-however will get the front end wrapped for next year once a year would be my choice, if you need any more runs you can do them localy at the monthly meets..... although i would do the applecross run tomorrow!!!!!! lol

[scooby222]

thanks for your suggestions everyone,after all the ideas to keep the same people coming back and bring some new faces in

ok so the poll seems to be pretty evenly split, so il use my deciding vote

my suggestion is keeping the fling as once a year in its time slot with a new route maybe incorparating some old bits then my plan is an all day saturday run in the borders/central area (Borders Raid?) with a dinner dance at night towards the end of the year.

this also leaves room for one or two days out with several regions meeting up for a bbq then dispersing afterwards

i commend my thoughts to the house.....

[badbaz]

thanks for your suggestions everyone,after all the ideas to keep the same people coming back and bring some new faces in

ok so the poll seems to be pretty evenly split, so il use my deciding vote

my suggestion is keeping the fling as once a year in its time slot with a new route maybe incorparating some old bits then my plan is an all day saturday run in the borders/central area (Borders Raid?) with a dinner dance at night towards the end of the year.

this also leaves room for one or two days out with several regions meeting up for a bbq then dispersing afterwards

i commend my thoughts to the house.....

Sounds about right Dave but keep your dinner dance well away from December, maybe even before November, end of October? Get your a$$ to a summer Lanarkshire Meet, you'll love the roads

[scooby222]

no fear Barry, sep/oct sounds about right - aftr the tourist season dies down but before xmas party time,mucho cheapness signor

love to make it to a lanark meet but you keep having them on thursdays at 7! finishing work in ullapool at 6 leaves me a bit short of time

seriously hopefully il make one this year,just got to see where work takes me!

[lewisscoob]

Im happy whatever choice, i just love a blast in the car!

What about a highland fling and a lowland toss later in the year?

[cruz104]

Im happy whatever choice, i just love a blast in the car!

What about a highland fling and a lowland toss later in the year?

Lol you heelanders are not coming doon here to toss yer cabers

"the caber toss is a traditional Scottish athletic event practised at the Scottish Highland Games involving the tossing of a large wooden pole called a -----" fill in the blanks

Anyhoo it sounds like a cracking idea

[BalliSTIc]

The Harley Davidsons run a yearly event called "Thunder in the Glens" - look it up, I'm not doing your homework for ya!

2 thoughts...

1. What about contacting them and doing a loud bike/ loud car combo-thingy (hopefully you can see where I'm trying to go with this!)

2. What about an equivalently named event for us alone called "Burble in the Borders" picking up on Dave's and John's above posts?

[scouk]

2. What about an equivalently named event for us alone called "Burble in the Borders" picking up on Dave's and John's above posts?

hahaaaa! I like the sound of that!

Anyone thought about joining up with the german scooby group which are coming over later this year?

[thefastone]

They are??? Didn't know about that, but I'm pretty certain that it would be nice to organise something with them...

[thefastone]

it was my thought to get something organised in a couple of months perhaps, just like what we did before, meeting in Balmoral for a wee BBQ/run...? Think Imy mentioned it back there...

[scooby222]

hahaaaa! I like the sound of that!

Anyone thought about joining up with the german scooby group which are coming over later this year?

Al when we said invade ullapool we didnt mean it literally.....

[scouk]

it was my thought to get something organised in a couple of months perhaps, just like what we did before, meeting in Balmoral for a wee BBQ/run...? Think Imy mentioned it back there...

Yeah I'd be up the that.. the BBQ run was a good un' Brought peopel from the corners of scotland (sort of) in their own wee runs to a central-ish location!

Here we go.. They updated the thread a couple months ago to mention they were planning coming over again in 2010!!!

http://forums.sidc.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=122663

Al when we said invade ullapool we didnt mean it literally.....

[BalliSTIc]

Anyone thought about joining up with the german scooby group which are coming over later this year?