Thunder in the Glens = Motorbike heaven

This post comes with a warning - it's quite a long one with lots of pictures of motorbikes so you might want to make yourself a nice cup of something and put your feet up before you read it. Okay, are you sitting comfortably? Yes, then lets begin.

This weekend is the 20th anniversary of Thunder in the Glens, the largest Harley Davidson Rally in the UK and fast becoming one of the largest in Europe with people coming from all over the world to attend. It is held in Aviemore, a town in the Cairngorms and last year they had over two thousand bikes meet there. As you walk along the streets there is the constant deep rumble of the Harleys as there are always bikes going past - my oldest brother would love it.

This trike is fabulous and you will see more of it later.

Every car park in town had bikes lined up in them and as you can imagine, every hotel, bed and breakfast, and campsite was full.

There were stages set up in different spots around the town with live music going on, and during the night they have well known bands performing. Ken and I felt very inappropriately dressed as we were walking around as you've never seen so much leather in one place.

I loved the design on this helmet - very touching.

There were so many great bikes that I wanted to take pictures of them all - what I liked about this one is the fabulous bike stand which is shaped like an eagles claw.

Lots of the bikes had soft toys attached to them which always amuses me as it's a bit of a juxtaposition between the riders with their leathers and tatoos, and then there's a cuddly toy on their bike. Here's just a few we saw.

There were a lot of trikes around and there were a couple of companies selling them. I could cope being a passenger on one of these as there's no risk of the bike overbalancing and some of them look very comfy.

 Above is the trike from earlier and below is the rules for passengers which is written on the wheel guard - I love the no screaming one.

Now there is going to be lots of pictures of bikes, mainly Harley's but there are a few Indians in there as well. The Indian company actually started two years before Harley.

I was admiring the bike below as I love the colours on it, when the owner invited me to sit on it for a photo - I managed to get on and off without knocking it over.

I really liked this American Flag themed bike and the seats look very comfortable, especially the passenger one.

This bike was a thing of beauty with it's pinkness and artwork and it was for sale.

This bike looks a little out of place and reminds me of the power rangers - we think it might be a yamaha but not sure.

The artwork on some of the bikes is absolutely breathtaking, along with some of the custom design features on the bikes. I've picked out a few of our favourites to share with you and you'll see that skulls feature quite heavily

Customised skull speaker.

Very ornate footrest on the beautiful pink bike.

This one says, "Every man dies, not every man really lives".

This one was a ZZ Top bike and each of the band members was painted on a different part of the bike.

Customised carburetor air intake valve.

Another thing that I could have taken lots of pictures of was the helmets as there were so many different ones. Here's an arty shot with my reflection in this gold helmet.

I really liked this hog on someone's front mudguard.

  
One of the many trade stalls was selling stone garden ornaments, which seemed a bit strange to me as anyone on a bike wouldn't be buying one. Anyway, I thought these two bikers were very cute.

As we were leaving we went past the main campsite where there are just a few bikes parked up.

So that was our visit to Thunder in the Glens - we were there on the Friday and on the Saturday they have a mass rideout which must sound incredible.

Until next time, be good, stay safe, and take good care of you.

Pamela & Ken
xxxxxxxxxxxx