Loch Ness
Classic - 4 June 2022
After a
two year break due to the Covid pandemic, the popular Loch Ness Classic
Car Tour bounced back very successfully on June 4th, a day of perfect
weather and cloudless skies. Organised by the Rotary Club of
Inverness Loch Ness, this well supported Tour was
inaugurated in 2017 and has raised many thousands of pounds for charity
over the ensuing years and this year, despite entry numbers being
slightly lower than anticipated (due to a combination of the fuel cost
implications, Covid fears and the Queen’s Jubilee
Celebrations) over £5000 was raised by the entrants,
primarily supporting Prostate Scotland with the remainder going to the
Club’s Charity Account.
Registration
was conducted at the Inverness Ice Centre start/finish venue where the
public were able to view both cars of yesteryear and more
modern exotica.
1010’s District
Governor Heather Stuart flagged off the entrants as BBC
Alba’s television crew filmed the start for their Gaelic news
programme for that evening. Entries ranged from the
1950’s with an Austin A105 Westminster Vanden Plas and a racy
Triumph TR3 sports car, running through the ‘60’s
and ‘70’s with MG ‘B’s, a
Triumph TR6, an immaculate Rolls Royce Silver Shadow and a very rare
Bristol 412, one of only 98 ever produced. Among the more
modern entries were a Lotus Exige, a BMW i8, a
Porsche 911 Carrera, a Morgan 4/4 and a growling 6 litre Dodge
Challenger.
Ahead of the entrants was a 160 mile
route taking in the Beauly Firth before heading west through Garve to
Achnasheen and then along Strathcarron before soaring over the Skye
Bridge to the lunch venue in
Kyleakin.
Suitably
“re-fueled” the Tour returned over the Skye Bridge
with its spectacular views, to Kyle of Lochash and east along Loch Alsh
to Eilean Donan Castle before heading over the single track Carr Brae,
the original main road to Kyle, affording breathtaking views of the
mountains and glens of the west
coast.
The
entrants then headed down through both Glenshiel and Glenmoriston to
the village on Invermoriston where they turned northalong the iconic
Loch Ness to the finish of the Tour back in Inverness where both DG
Heather Stuart and Prostate Scotland’s Morag Idan handed out
the awards.
A
fitting conclusion to a day of driving one’s classic car in
glorious sunshine on Highland roads among some spectacular
scenery…….. and raising monies for charity at the
same time! |