'Chunter in the Glens' as Harley's boycott Cairngorm Mountain
The thunder is back in the glens for a joyous silver anniversary – but 2023 could also be remembered for a "Chunter in the Glens" as hundreds of Harley-Davidson owners boycott Cairngorm Mountain in protest at new parking charges.
George 'Mad Dog' McGuire of the Dunedin Chapter is the lead organiser for the Harley Owners Group which for a quarter of a century has organised the massive motorbike rally reputed to annually inject a seven-figure sum into the local economy.
He said: "They tried this last year, right as we were preparing to ride up the hill.
"Suddenly there was a £300 charge for us to go up there, park and spend our money on them.
"Hundreds of us were scheduled to go up – and had been for months – when they announced the charge at the 11th hour which was far too late for us to change our plans and our route.
"And there wasn't even a discount offered for travelling on the funicular. We simply had to go along with it, under protest.
"This year they've not changed their policy but we were at least expecting it. We will ride up there on Sunday but this time we'll not stop.
"Everyone will simply keep their bikes running, turn round and come straight back down to our Aviemore base and spend our money there."
The Strathy asked resort operators CMSL – Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ltd – for clarity on the issue.
Chief executive Susan Smith said that a discount was available for the funicular but the parking charge remained in place.
"We very much welcome the bikers as part of ‘Thunder in the Glens’ event," she said.
"Our pricing policy is that we will discount to £17 per adult ticket for the funicular in groups of the size of this event.
"CMSL has just invested £750,000 in the upgrading of our car park and we are charging from April to October each year.
"We believe that this investment is right and proper – the modest parking charge will go back into the maintenance of the car park which is part of our conservation agenda."
Thousands of bikers are descending on the strath for the biggest event of its kind since the first Dunedin Chapter Rally in 1997.
Apart from the Covid pandemic years of 2020 and 2021 and one early event in Perth, it has always been staged in Aviemore on the last weekend in August, in partnership with Edinburgh Harley-Davidson, Dunedin's sponsoring dealership.
The rally, which includes various events aimed at raising thousands for local and wider-based charities, now attracts over 10,000 visitors to Aviemore and the wider area.
Saturday at noon will see thousands of bikers join the big ride-out to Grantown from their base at the Macdonald Aviemore Resort 'village'.
Mr McGuire confirmed: "We had to close the ticket sales a while ago when bookings reached 3000. It's phenomenal to be marking our 25th and we can't wait to get started."
On Tuesday he and the team were 'way ahead of schedule' organising a huge programme of events with headline acts including the Rick Parfitt Junior band blending with a wide range of local entertainers in venues around the area.
"The support from the community is fantastic as ever," he said.
"They all help to make the Glens the best Chapter-run HOG Rally in Europe."
Concern over the difficulties being faced by the local hospitality and catering trade regarding staffing levels is still a factor across the strath.
But Mr McGuire stressed: "We are all aware of the problems the trade has in finding enough staff generally, but we were aware of that last year when we all returned.
"I can assure local businesses again that we will go with the flow. It's understood that with these numbers of visitors suddenly arriving in the community, food and drink won't be served in seconds – there's a lot of leeway with us and, after all, we're here to enjoy ourselves not race around!"
Once again a special shuttle bus service is running to and from Aviemore this weekend for wristband-wearing Thunderers serving both Grantown and Newtonmore ends of Badenoch and Strathspey.
