Well that was a long two days just to sample a Scottish Breakfast!
We left yesterday morning at 4am hoping to get in a ride at Ae forest before heading to Aberfoyle. Just across the Scottish boarder is when the world turned white and pulling up into Ae's carkpark the thought of getting out of a warm van and into the wet, slushy sleet was not a popular one!
We carried on North with the motorway reduced to one lane, briefly held up by an Artic that had jack-knifed into the central barrier. Pulling into Aberfoyle was a bit of a surprise. There wasn't that much snow about and I thought we'd got away with it and the event could go ahead. That was until we tried to drive up Dukes Pass. Just after the David Marshal Lodge, the event venue, is a sign that states the road is not gritted or cleared in bad weather which, as it turned out, is correct. Within about 200mtrs the road was white and impassable especially in a long wheel base Mercedes van! We met a Police 4x4 coming the other way and were informed that they had just closed the Pass from the other side and were going down to close it from Aberfoyle. As the road was pretty treacherous at this point we had no choice but to reverse down to the DML.
So the decision was made to see what Thursday held. Waking up this morning to an inch of snow on the van wasn't a good omen! The weather forecast was for snow all day and even more for Friday with temperatures not going above 0 degC until next week and therefore no chance of a thaw. The Dukes Pass features twice on the road ride and is instrumental for getting emergency access to the routes and drink station for the off road ride. It was therefore decided to call it a day.
Everyone who entered the ride will get a full refund, but due to the volume of people this might take a week or so.
Really sorry about this but your safety is always our first concerned.
Next year we'll be back in the Summer :-)
Dean
We left yesterday morning at 4am hoping to get in a ride at Ae forest before heading to Aberfoyle. Just across the Scottish boarder is when the world turned white and pulling up into Ae's carkpark the thought of getting out of a warm van and into the wet, slushy sleet was not a popular one!
We carried on North with the motorway reduced to one lane, briefly held up by an Artic that had jack-knifed into the central barrier. Pulling into Aberfoyle was a bit of a surprise. There wasn't that much snow about and I thought we'd got away with it and the event could go ahead. That was until we tried to drive up Dukes Pass. Just after the David Marshal Lodge, the event venue, is a sign that states the road is not gritted or cleared in bad weather which, as it turned out, is correct. Within about 200mtrs the road was white and impassable especially in a long wheel base Mercedes van! We met a Police 4x4 coming the other way and were informed that they had just closed the Pass from the other side and were going down to close it from Aberfoyle. As the road was pretty treacherous at this point we had no choice but to reverse down to the DML.
So the decision was made to see what Thursday held. Waking up this morning to an inch of snow on the van wasn't a good omen! The weather forecast was for snow all day and even more for Friday with temperatures not going above 0 degC until next week and therefore no chance of a thaw. The Dukes Pass features twice on the road ride and is instrumental for getting emergency access to the routes and drink station for the off road ride. It was therefore decided to call it a day.
Everyone who entered the ride will get a full refund, but due to the volume of people this might take a week or so.
Really sorry about this but your safety is always our first concerned.
Next year we'll be back in the Summer :-)
Dean
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