#Ride5000miles member plans to tour Scotland the alphabetic way round

A Scottish member of our #ride5000miles group plans to visit a different village, town or city in the country for every letter of the alphabet aboard his trusty Kawasaki ZZR1400.

“I’ve been on Wikipedia and found loads of places to visit, but I’m still struggling with X and V,” Gordon Alexander, 51, from Livingston, explained.

Gordon has set himself the challenge of riding to the town with the shortest name for each letter, with every stop situated on the Scottish mainland, or accessible by road.

If there are multiple towns for the same letter, of the same length, then the one that comes first alphabetically will be chosen. He starts his rides next month.

“Z is also a challenge,” Alexander continued, “but I’ve found the Zoar Inn, in Forfar, so I’ll plan on making this my last place to visit. If they do accommodation, I’ll have a few beers or whiskies and an overnight to celebrate!”

Gordon hopes to have all of the locations organised by between late July and early August – incorporating the challenge into his weekend riding.

Away from the more difficult letters, locations already planned for the adventure include: Ae, Banff, Caol, Keig, Mey, Uig and Weem. He reckons the mission will take him well on his way to the 5000-mile target for 2020.

“I’ve been riding for 35 years and had a range of bikes. I’ve always tended to do runs for pleasure, however work and life has always got in the way,” Gordon continued.

“I lost my brother and dad within a couple of years and it hit me really hard, so I’ve taken a year off work to do a few things I’ve been putting off for the last 20 years and to see if I can find my old self again.”

Alongside riding the alphabet, Gordon plans to ride from Land’s End to John O’ Groats on the longest day of the year, adding: “A few mates and I were due to attempt it a couple of years ago. It’s around 17.5 hours and 837 miles of riding, but due to a mate’s shoulder injury, we put it off.”

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