Road Run consideration?

[rossybee]

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topi ... on+runs%21+

[Sanjøy]

Link not working for me.

[tut]

OK for me.

tut

ps:- after organising and running six Tut Towers, I reckon we got it about right.

[steve_weegie]

OK for me.

tut

ps:- after organising and running six Tut Towers, I reckon we got it about right.

Aye, I don't remember stopping for much coffee following you, Brian and Craig down the road!

[Sanjøy]

OK for me.

tut

ps:- after organising and running six Tut Towers, I reckon we got it about right.

I agree Tut, after my first 2005 Scottish Road run I settled in to a suitable group and enjoyed myself at my own pace. These days if I ever do go for a run it is normally text messages/whatsapp organised. That said I cannot even remember the last SE one I was on

I do feel a Ski Centres run on the cairds though, better dig out that heated seat

[GBOBM]

It's interesting about the follow up comment on the "perception of speed".
Donkey, Woody and I got pulled coming back from the last tut towers (although they drove off) and how someone had rung in to say that we were driving too fast. The comments from the officers was about the perception of speed and how cars that are a bit louder and look faster draw a lot more attention and so can look like they are going faster.
I told them that we were making our way up a large queue of traffic and they said just to watch as a lot of people "switch off" when they are in a queue of traffic and get a fright when a car appears in front of them. They can see this as you driving dangerously and "cutting in".

Over all they were really nice about it and once they realised we weren't being dicks they let me on my way and asked me to pass the message onto the other blue car and the wee red mini.

Other than that, I don't think I've had a problem on road runs. Keep the speed down in towns and populated areas and you never draw attention to yourselves.

[campbell]

Bob, that's pretty impressive. There is still a voice of reason then.

Paul's assessment in the PH post is excellent and of much value.

We are close with our "convoy etiquette" guidelines, but are clearly exposed in other areas.

I think the glory days of monster road runs are now gone, so I'm just glad to have enjoyed them when we could.

I will never forget the tale of the "concerned crofter" from an SIDC Tour d'Ecosse or similar. Much respect

One day, enjoyment of the motorised vehicle will be officially eradicated. Enjoy what's left of it, folks. Your grand kids will not understand you ...


Tapatalk. Bringing forums into the Social Media age.

[Sanjøy]

Indeed if you have not road ran with Tut you ain't road ran.

[Rag_It]

Indeed if you have not road ran with Tut you ain't road ran.

Concur....

[tut]

Here you are Campbell, retrieved from my archives.

Concerned Crofter
Nov 8, 2000

To whom it may concern (apart from me)

Having spoken to the officers of the Northern Constabulary I am told that
this may be the place to find out who drives the wee purple roofless noisy
car that drove past me last weekend, at a great speed, and making a very
loud noise.

I think the registration was N1 TUT but if I had my way it would be N1KED
And as for the boy in the dark blue estate car... what exactly did you think
you were doing, on yer fancy mobile phone in one hand and some kind of
camera in the other?

And whoever it was that drenched my sheep, I'd like to talk to you too! Did
you know what a turn-off the smell of wet wool can be...?

yours

C Crofter

This was Jool’s speech in November after Dinner for my 60th birthday in 2000
on my second Tour d’Ecosse

Warning, This is very long, so do not read it unless you've got time to
spare! I have edited it to take in the part of “The Concerned Crofter”,
the full version is three times as long!! Also I think Jools took a bit of poetic licence.

Group 2, departure time of 08:30, was to be myself in the grass cuter, Paul
in the glorious sounding (and pirouetting) P1, Andy & Anne Marie in the film
crew car and our dear friend Tut, in the Roller skate. Now as we clearly
stated on the Friday night and bang on time we left the car park at 08:30
and headed off, taking Sandy & Duncan and Andy (from Group 1)

Shortly after we came across the Concerned Crofter. We could probably sell this to the
"Scotland the What?" team as a replacement for the "Toy Shop Ballater" sketch...

And then the thought of (what seemed like) most of the Scottish Police Service
(traffic division) on the hunt for a Tut and 4 Subarus (!)

As we headed out of Ullapool, we had to avoid Paul in his pirouetting P1 on
what was the first real corner we came across. I think this was a
culmination of a very bad corner, signs of fuel on the road, cold tires,
waiting on piss heads that never showed up and oh yes I nearly forgot, we
were going bloody fast as well!
And didn't we all do well to avoid you, considering it was a blind corner
and summit, even Tut managed to see us all and stop.

"Police car, where!" "Somebody spin, who, where?" "Never saw a thing?" No
surprise there, eh Tut!

Good job the Old bill pulled you over with the blue lights from the rear Tut!

Could you imagine if the T5 (You know the big white one, with the high
visibility yellow and blue stickers all over it, blue lights on the roof,
two very pissed off looking cops inside) tried to over take you and switch
on their little "Stop-Police" sign in the back window.
Jesus...The wee blue car would have dropped three gears, spat out flame in
defiance and they'd still be chasing you now...and the rest of the John
o'Groats gang would still be waiting in the Highland capital for you as you
conducted you own little tour of Dingwall. (With Northern Constabulary's
finest in pursuit)

Enter into Wick now seven-car strong. As Duncan reliably tells me Tut does
nothing at all to antagonize his new friends following closely behind… I
mean what is wrong with trying to overtake as you pass through the middle of
a busy wee town on a Saturday afternoon?.
“Oh look, set of traffic lights ahead, I’ll pass a few there, should be
nothing coming the other way...”
And then of coarse there was the young fillies standing at the side of the
road... Drop back a little, slip the clutch and give it hell in second gear,
that will impress the young things…as one does with the cops still on your
tail!

Therefore, no surprise next, blue lights on and the wee car is pulled over.
I see all this and as planned u-turn to offer some help to my roommate.
As I pull up on the opposite side of the road in line with Tut, the nice
looking lady officer comes over and asks “You guys together then?”
Jools; “Yes we are”
Lady PC “You know this man?”
Jools; “Yes, that’s Tut, he’s with us”
Lady PC “He says he does not know you guys in the Subaru’s and that you all
passed him on the last straight, before coming into town”
Jools: “Hmm, strange!”
Lady PC talks to Man PC (who’s body language is not good)
Man PC to Tut; “This guy over here says he knows you”
Tut; Looking towards me with a puzzled look, you know the look; thinking
hard & racking his brain; “No, no, no, I have never seen him in my life
before…”
Man PC; “But he knows your name?”
Tut; “Must have read the number plate!”
Man PC, Getting mad now! “Ok, this was going to be a friendly word of
warning, but if you p--- me off I’ll ...”
Tut;“OK” smiling through gritted teeth, “OK I guess I do know him then”

We both proceeded to get the lecture on farm tractors on the roads, mud, etc
and were soon sent on our way with out further ado.

Further back I could hear the distinctive rasp from the TUT mobile as he would
be powering out from the previous corner and harassing all in font of him with
his ferret like darting in and out, hoping to catch a glimpse of the next bend ahead.

At the end of the Struie, we again joined the A9, just south of Alness. As
we head towards the Black Isle, a constant stream of traffic meets us,
heading out of the Highland Capital of Inverness back towards the hills. A
check of the time, just before 5 o’clock, confirms this is rush hour
traffic. (Well kind off) Although traffic heading south was not so busy,
there was no point in trying to make headway by over taking. The unwritten
club rule of keeping the fast stuff for the quite roads proved as always to
be 100% correct. Unknown to us at this time, Northern Constabulary admitted
to us later that they were interested in any Group of Subar”s seen, due to
the complaints received earlier in the day from a “Concerned crofter” around
Ullapool. When they got the call from their colleges that we were heading
south through Brora, Bingo they must have thought! We will be waiting on
them, expecting some action no doubt...

Here’s the picture; We, in our six pack, travel towards the Black Isle and
onward to Inverness, staying on or below the 60 MPH speed limit. We enter
the roundabout on the North side of the Black Isle, which has two exits, the
first across the bridge onto the Black Isle and the second towards Dingwall.
Now I found out later the cops have both roads covered, several miles ahead.
One car sitting at Tore Roundabout, half way across the Black Isle and the
other at Dingwall. We picked up the T5 patrol car at the rear of the 6 pack
somewhere along the 4 miles we had just travelled on the road towards the
roundabout. (Obviously unknown to us at this time)

Now because we are going with the flow of traffic, some of us loose
concentration!
Unfortunately, Tut follows a local Subaru and heads off towards Dingwall on
his own.
Now bare with me here; the perception of the cops following in the T5 is
that we are trying to split up.
As I understand Sandy & Duncan drop off a little realizing they have lost Tut
I get a call from A&A (Andy & Anne Marie) explaining Tut is lost!
The T5 calls Dingwall and have Tut watched as he enters the town.
The T5 follow the pack of Subaru’s and pull over A&A, checking details and
asking them what we are up to.
I continue with what is now a group of three cars and drive through the Tore
Roundabout (1/2 way across the Black Isle) and see a cop in his car sitting
by the road speaking into his fist mike as we drive by. We continue towards
Inverness, cross the Kessock Bridge and pull into the lay by just before
Inverness to wait on the group.
Concurrently Tut arrives in Dingwall, gets out the cat in bare feet (pissing
rain) stands under a lamppost and attempts to use the mobile phone. Gets
through to A&A and gets the message from them that we are waiting on him by
the roadside and to head for Inverness.
Again Cops perception watching Tut; these buggers are messing around with
us…
The cop car that watched my small group pass through the Tore roundabout, a
Diesel Astra arrives and blocks our exit from the lay-by.
A&A are released by the T5 and call me. Now a cop is quizzing us so I tell
them to drive past and we all agree to meet up at the Esso garage in
Inverness.
Sandy & Duncan who have seen A&A pulled over are heading into Inverness to
the Esso garage.
Enter Tut; He is now back on the road heading towards the T5 patrol car,
which is lying in wait. Tut knows this and for the only time today actually
behaves a little!!! He trundles by; they follow him and pull him anyway!

Now I’m in the lay-by giving my details to the cop who has blocked our exit
and in his radio hear that the T5 have pulled over this Blue Lotus…
Listening intently, I hear the report going back to HQ...

“Yes Blue Lotus; Registration Number; November, One, Tango, Uniform,
Tango….” Then a silence… “Oh yes and the single occupant has just fallen
out the car...Standby HQ”

"Christ…" I am thinking who can I get to drive Tut’s car home!
At this point, the cop I am speaking to asks me if any one else is with us.
“Yes that Lotus you just pulled over,”I say.
He now turns off the radio.
Sandy & Duncan drive by, Cop pauses and checks them out.
Them A&A follow soon afterwards, again a pause.
Then a local P1 drives by. This guy slows right down as he catches a glimpse
of all this Impreza hardware pulled over by a Diesel Astra and has a good
look at us all.
Cop asks me "you know him?"
Answer; “No”

Now by this time, we are having a bit of crack with this cop. He keeps
checking his watch and I find out he should have finished shift ½ an hour
ago. Therefore, I take the opportunity to explain to him that he has 80K of
Impreza blocked in this lay-by... with a Diesel Astra. I explained that I am
finding this a bit embarrassing what with all the rush hour traffic slowing
down as they go by;
“At least get the big Jag or the T5 down here” I said to him. Well this
generated a wee smile as he stood shaking his head!

Meantime Tut is harassing the two traffic cops, I kid you not!
“Concerned Crofter, that’s a joke, Get HQ on the radio I want to know where
these complaints have come from. You guys are wasting your time...and mine,
Should be out there catching (wait for it) Drunks and Speeders”
What’s your hurry; “Need to catch up with my mates”says Tut
Now Tut has the bit of paper with all our phone numbers on it but cannot
read it, so what would you do?
He gives his phone and paper to the cop and asks him to call me?
Cop asks “What, you can’t work it?”
Tut, “No I can’t se the dam numbers...”
(I am sure this bad eyesight would have been justified in some way when he
produced his bus concession pass as official ID!)


Now I’m still waiting in the lay-by, our cop has gone away happy that he has
our details and I answer this call on my mobile from the other cop;
“Hold the line, got a call for you”
“What the F---,” I am thinking.
Tut; “Yes Jools its, me I’m still in the cop car”
Jools; “What!”
Tut; I’m still in the bloody cop car, where will we meet up?”
Jools; “Esso garage in Inverness”
Tut; “OK, see you there”

Tut leaves the cop car and soon realizes he has dropped the bit of paper
with our phone numbers on it and rushes back to get it. By this time the cop
is writing down the numbers in his wee black book, and Tut’s banging on his
window; “Hey what you doing? That’s mine and I’ll have it back, thank you!”

By this time, the five Scooby’s have all met and fuelled in the Esso garage,
ready for heading to the hotel. Now at this point you would be forgiven for
thinking that all this mess is over...not on your life!

I leave the others and head up onto the main road to wait for my roommate. I
get a call from A&A to confirm that the others have made a good judgement
call and decide to head of towards the hotel, which is still a couple of
hours away.

Meantime Tut is heading into Inverness with the T5 shadowing him. He cannot
get his headlights to stay on and so is driving on sidelights, enters the
first big roundabout just south of the Kessock Bridge in the outside lane.
Now this lane has the big white lines that one is not supposed to cross, but
young Tut sees a BP garage off to his right and while answering the mobile
phone, with the cops still on his tail, spots a gap in the roundabout
traffic...With out so much as a blink of his eye, he proceeds to dart across
three lanes of traffic and exit the roundabout, leaving a trail of confused
motorists behind him, least of all the bloody cops!

The mystified cops cannot even consider such a manoeuvre and have to go all
the way around the big roundabout before following Tut into the BP
garage...(You know the greens ones that are very similar to the big red
Esso one, where we agreed to meet up...)

(By the way it was I on the phone trying to find out where he is and I am
now on route to try to rescue the situation!)

They proceed to lecture Tut on his Roundabout driving skills; well by this
time, he has had enough and proceeds to lose the plot with the local law
enforcement officers.

“Either Charge me or let me go. I am getting fed up with this now. MY MATE
Jools is coming for me and we’re going home,” says Tut. (That will really
help you out Tut)

“Why did you show no regard for other road users at the roundabout?” asks
plod.

“What do you expect, I’m lost...looking for a garage that I can’t find...
trying to answer the mobile phone... got you guys harassing me from behind
and I can’t see where I’m going!”answers Tut.

“You can’t cross that solid white line in you car” says plod.
“Yes I can, my car crossed in no problems at all” says Tut.
“OK, OK, you can cross it, but you NOT supposed to” says plod.
After getting a good ear bending again...eventually Tut gets in his wee car
and waits for me to arrive.

The big T5 parks around the back of the garage under the trees waiting on me
to show up.

Enter Jools, I pull up behind the TUT mobile. The cops move out from below
their tree, like some animal preying on its next meal and block me in.

Tut jumps out and introduces me to his newfound friends and then takes off
into the garage.

Jools; "Not trying to be a smart arse but you guys already have my details”
Cop; “Where you in the Kessock bridge lay-by waiting on you buddies?”
Jools; “Yes I was one of the three there”
Cop; Why is this guy been so keen to contact you all afternoon, you related
or what?”
Jools (Thinking quickly); "Well you see he’s my step DAD!!!”
Cop; “Where do you live”
Jools; “15 Irvine place, Inverurie”
Cop; “Where does he live?”
Jools; “Old school house, Old Deer”
Cop; (Nodding his head as he checks his wee book); Why is a guy in a Lotus
with you guys in the Subaru’s”
Jools; "We are in the same car clubs"
Cop; "Who organised this event?"
Jools; “Myself and a friend called Paul Marshall”
Cop; “Have we spoken to him”
Jools; “Yes he was with me in the lay-by”
Now this continues for a few minutes and I rather got them eating out of my
hand. We even end up talking about my dad’s farm and the like. They tell me that
they have received a few complaints from the West coast and one in the
North. I accept responsibility for the one in the North, as I was leading
the group, but I seek some king of redemption by explaining we have now
passed five police cars, including them and ask;
“Did your colleges or you guys see anything wrong with our driving?”
“Well not till we followed your step Dad” they quickly answer!
“Look, I say, he was lost and normally follows me; so it’s kind of my fault
as I know my way round up here. I’ll take care of him”

ENTER TUT; Walking towards me, clapping his hands, who completing ignores
the conversation that was in place between the cops and I.

“Right then young Jools, I can think of better ways to spend my 60th
Birthday, than wasting time hanging around here with these guys, I’m fed up
with this lot, nothing to charge us with? “Time to get on the road I say”.

Well, by this time one of the cops is fixing to leave the ground!
“Take a seat in the car Tut, we’re just leaving, as I point towards the
wee TUT mobile with my eyes! (Thinking O f---, here we go again!)

As Tut get into the car the cop asks me; “What does he do?”
Jools; “He’s retired”
Cop; “What did he do?”
Jools; “He was a militarily & civilian heli-copter pilot”
Cop, now shaking his head in utter disbelief; "And he drives like a
lunatic!!!, you’d think at his age he’d know better. Hey, have a word with
him, from me, would you, tell him grow up...and make sure he follows you all
the way home or we’ll be after you as well!”

Jools, nodding like a China man; Yes Officer, no problems officer, thank
you officer, we will drive carefully officer”

“See that you bloody do” as they head toward their car. (Heads still
shaking)

As I move off with Tut following, the phone is ringing and it is Paul in the
P1 leading the group back down the north side of Loch Ness. I let him know
that all appears to be well and I am happy to report that N1 TUT is again
hooked up to the back of my car as we are headed South to the hotel.

Tut and I weave our way through Inverness amid the fire works and bon-fire
and eventually find our way onto the dark windy roads that will lead us to a
much needed beer and meal. I’m at last able to think at least I should be
able to get the Birthday boy back for his Cake and Champagne now!!! John
Stewart will not kill me after all!

With the P1 way down the road ahead giving frequent road reports back, Tut
and I were allowed to enjoy the windy roads down the North side of the Great
Glen towards Fort William and home to the hotel, returning just in time for
the 8 o clock meal and birthday surprise.

There was not a mile of that last stretch of road, without me looking in the
mirror and laughing at this volatile little car, which as always was
continuing to dart around behind me, almost as if waiting to be unleashed on
the world...

Remembering the cops last words, I thinking; “Just stay there you bugger, we
will soon be home...”And then onto tomorrow.........

Well that’s another story all together.... as was Tut's face when he saw his birthday cake.

Again, my thanks to all concerned, especially the John o’Groats gang.

What a special day we had, so until we do it all again next year...

Take care, ESPECIALLY YOU TUT.

Jools.

[Dark]

That was the first time I met you Tut! Was a truly great weekend!

[C7Steve]

I enjoyed reading that Tut.

Have you the full version, because I would love to read that too if possible.

Nice cake.


Steve.

[flyingscot68]

Hehe. Great story.

[greido]

lol, sounds like an unforgettable birthday.... Just hope you didn't make that post on your phone!