On 2 April, 15 members of 4 different HOC branches met up at various points to start the journey to the annual East Midlands Long Easter Weekend Scotland holiday. First stop was Glasgow, where we met up with Dave & Mandy from the Scotland branch for an amazing dinner at Hot World Cuisine. They kindly shuttled people to & from the hotel and restaurant in their car while others enjoyed the walk.
April 3rd we packed up our belongings and headed to our next stop, Oban. A couple of us had decided to book B&B’s and others stayed at the Premier Inn. It was a cold wet and windy day and we all retired to our rooms to change, warm up and headed out for dinner and a wander around Oban. Thankfully the sun came out while we were there.
April 4th we once again packed up and as Storm Dave was moving his way towards us, we decided to head to Dundee instead of Inverness. It was a very good decision as there was snow in Inverness overnight and we just got heavy winds and rain in Dundee. We had travelled to Inverary after leaving Oban and made a stop for hot drinks before moving on to the Green Welly, as we wanted to reach Dundee before 3pm. We had made another stop for lunch & of course cake, and to dry off and warm up at a little café on the way. We all checked into the Invercarse Best Western as they had enough rooms to accommodate us all. It is a beautiful hotel and the food was very nice. We were able to secure a table for all of us for both dinner & breakfast. A couple of the guys whose rooms were within sight of the bikes kept checking to be sure they were still standing as we got pummelled with wind & rain overnight.
April 5th Started dry-ish, and it was at this point Dave & Mandy decided to go straight home. We got up and made our way to Edinburgh. Becky had decided to hop a bus to Edinburgh as her knees weren’t wanting to cooperate getting her on & off the bike. As she was heading into Edinburgh, she noticed the sky ahead was black and it suddenly opened to very heavy snowfall. She was concerned for everyone else on the bikes who had set off 30 minutes behind her. Thankfully they took a route that hugged the coast and missed the snow, but did get a bit hammered by the wind. By the time the bus pulled into the bus station, the snow had stopped and the sun came out. You certainly don’t go to Scotland for the weather! As she was an hour and a half early for check-in, she popped her boots off and curled up on the sofa in the hotel lobby waiting for the rest of the gang, who had arrived just before 3pm. We got our rooms sorted then met in the bar for 6pm for dinner. Bar games and laughter ensued after dinner, and plans were made for the next day.
April 6th was a free day. Sadly Marc & Tracey had to head home. The rest of us made our way into Edinburgh on the tram to have a wander. We met up at Wetherspoons by Waverley Station and had drinks then left for more shopping and a late lunch. Julie, Graham, Becky & Roger ended up skipping dinner in the restaurant that evening as we were still full from the fabulous food we had. In the evening, we met up in the bar for some drinks and to spend the last evening together.
April 7th saw everyone get up and packed and out of the hotel at 10am to head home. Thankfully everyone got home safe.
It was a fabulous holiday with such lovely people and certainly something we always look forward to every year. The feedback from everyone was the same – despite the weather, we had an amazing time, cracking roads and lots of laughter, enjoying the company of old friends and new.
