LochCarron and the lost key

I took this picture on the 22nd of July 2011 at about three in the afternoon at LochCarron, a small Scottish village in the West Coast Highlands. Gil's bike had been running on fumes for the last 20 miles and we had just made it in time to the filling station. What you see in this picture:

• Gil's bike, a 1998 R1100R BMW Motorrad. Awesome bike. No sissy bar. Sissy bars are for sissies.
• Next to the bike: our backpack. One of my main responsibilities during our bike trip through Scotland (the other one was: not falling off the back of the bike).
• In the background: Loch Carron, a sea loch in the Scottish Highlands.
• At the petrol pump: a Google Streetview car.

The Streetview car proves that misery loves company. We had just lost the key to Gil's bike and were calling Touring Assistance to prepare for being towed home. With that Streetview car, the audience to watch us slumped over looking everywhere for a flat, black, tiny ignition key just became a lot bigger.

What you don't see in this picture:

• Norman, a local scotsman, who walked up just minutes after this picture with a simple "Are you the keyless ones?", dropped whatever he was doing and started looking for the key under every rock.
• Two other bikers who were on their way to the Highland Games in Applecross and without saying anything started searching too.

We had been searching for three hours - Touring was already on its way - when Norman lifted a piece of rock near the jerry and found the key.

This story proves two things to us: 1) Norman is a hero and a fine example of the Scottish down-to-earth, hands-on attitude. And 2) When a motorbike driver sees an other biker in trouble, he stops to help. No questions asked.

We're assembling a box of fine Belgian beers to send to a particular small Scottish village as we speak. It's the least we can do.