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It's on.....off road in Galloway forest park 14/15th August
I will keep this post updated with the latest position and news - a single source of the truth about this event. Changes will be highlighted in italics and colour. Latest Edit 10/07/10 at 13.30
The Scottish forestry commission have just given me permission to lead a group of Adventure Motorcyclists along various forest roads in the Galloway Forest Park. At 300 square miles GFP is the largest forest in Britain and I have mapped over 80miles of off road routes across several areas of the forest all linked by metalled roads. Some of the detail of what SFC have agreed to is still to be clarified but I thought I would kick this off straightaway. The fee for this access is £5 per bike plus a one-off admin fee of £100. They also want to limit participants to 25. Get in early!!! The fee will initially be £10 per bike. If numbers drop below 20 I might want a small supplement of £1 or so as I don't want to be too much out of pocket. If there's a surplus I will pay to Help for heroes.
I have given certain undertakings about the format of this event, how we will conduct ourselves and so on, all specifically designed to show that we are a responsible group who will not abuse the privilige being given to us. If this goes well it could just be the start of something really good for XRV as it may open access to other off road areas for us to enjoy our bikes in the way they were designed.
Galloway is a real gem of an area - the countryside and scenery is spectacular, the roads are excellent for bikes and generally very quiet. I will try to ensure the meet up takes advantage of all this.
The general outline is to camp at loch Ken activity centre. Today, 16th June I have reserved camping pitches for around 20 people (I have paid for 2 nights for me which acts as the deposit for everyone else). The campsite also offers bunkhouse accommodation, lochside wooden cabins a Tipi and a Yurt. As at 17th June they had 2x2berth babins available; 1x4berth cabin, and the Yurt. If you want to reserve one of these for your own use do so directly with the activity centre but quote my name - "Austin Winckler" so they link the bookings. The camp site also has a secure room where we can leave luggage and stuff on Sunday morning. I will be arriving the the campsite at about 1-2pm on Friday 13th.
For the ride through the forest I plan to start later on Saturday morning to give people who don't camp Saturday time to arrive. Followed by a packed lunch in the forest, more riding in the afternoon and a return to the campsite. Sunday morning finish off a few trails, lunch in the forest, and then head home.
The forest trails are mostly reasonable quality fire/logging roads and any of our bikes should be fine on dual sport tyres (but bear in mind what I said about Piel Island and 5 people managed to drop their bikes there). The longest trail I have mapped is 16.5miles; the shortest 4mile; the majority 7-10miles and all go deep into forest, up and over hills, valleys, fords etc etc.One of the committments I gave was about speed - top speed 30mph - this is for the safety of other forest users and a risk management issue. I met the responsible forest ranger at the beginning of July to review some of the routes and have a drive round them as well as go over the rules.
I will pay the entry fees when I visit but will require prompt reimbursement - if you commit to taking part in this by putting your name down in the calendar and you are still in it at the beginning of August you will owe me some money at some point, even if you pull out. You can send me a tenner with you insurance (see next para) or give it to me at the event.
We need to be able to demonstrate that we have adequate third party liability insurance. Your normal bike insurance should cover this and the Scottish Forestry Commission have asked for sight of copies of all participants insurance certificates. Please post copies to Austin Winckler, 40, Croston Road, Garstang, PR3 1HR and I will forward to the SFC.If your forum name is loads different from your real name you had better help by giving me clue who you are. If you dont want to send a copy of your insurance to me for some reason then you will need to bring your insurance cert the SFC offices in Newton Stewart at 3-4pm on Friday 13th August (I should be there then too).
Will update / add as I firm up plans and ideas.
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Originally Posted by Austin
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