We had two trips away on the bike in 1999. The first, in Brittany, France for a fortnight in May. Then we followed that up with an autumnal jaunt up to our favourite place of all (so far) Scotland. I wrote this not long after we’d got back.  Some names have been changed to protect the innocent.

The Drifter is an 800cc motor-cycle, built for comfort, not speed.

Argyll drift…….

The merest hint of warmish air and some late autumn sunshine was enough for Wallet and I to be straining at the leash for an early get-away on the Friday afternoon. By four’oclock we had packed , mounted up and taken off for the high road to bonny Scotland. Mixing it with the busy Friday afternoon traffic on the M60 was fun slicing carefully through the lanes of clogged up cars. The M61 was much freer in comparison and soon we were cruising at seventy-five miles per hour with a gentle breeze at our backs.

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Fortunately, he did not have my number, but knowing that our mutually agreed-upon destination was the scenic, moderately easy 6-mile Shevlin Park Loop Trail, he decided to go ride mountain bikes anyway — without me even having to make up a lie... We wrestled my bike into the bed of his covered Toyota pickup, then drove the four miles from The Bulletin to the 650-acre park. It's a big old park, but it fades when compared to Bend, because Bend has many, many parks, and they're all great. ” Seems like someone so appreciative of Shevlin Park should be able to find his way there, especially with a nickname like Map Guy. He began enthusing again as we made the descent down Shevlin Park Road and started seeing aspens turning from green to golden. People in Bend are lucky to have Shevlin Park, Map Guy said as he shifted gears. “I need your number,” Map Guy said, looming like a mustached giant over my cubicle wall. Before long, though, Map Guy asked, “Am I going the wrong direction.

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