Cubbie's Homecoming

Well it has been a fun few days. I'm afraid you're going to have to listen to this drivel (or at least read it) before you get the story about Cubbie. I recently got the car back after 6 months of sourcing, and then having fixed, through friends of friends, a very rare (I mean the second hand version is rare, buying the new part would require a re-mortgage) exhaust manifold for it. Then after a couple days on the road, the next section of the zorst broke. No problem though, 'cos ignoring the money side of it, I can just use the van while the car is being mended. Well, I could do, if the alternator hadn't gone kerrpuutt. But that's no problem either, 'cos Ill just phone up the local scrappy and get a cheap second hand one and fit it myself. Er, no. These Fords, they're as rare as rare can be, at least, my one seems to be. First of all, I couldn't even get access to the alternator without taking the wheel off and half of the engine out. Then, when I finally found all 17 of my ring spanners, none of them fitted. So I gave up and took it to the garage. I picked up the 'new' alternator from the only scrappie in Scotland who thought they had one, but it didn't fit, so a few days later, when I was passing, I swapped it for another one, that didn't fit either! Ended up asking the garage to re-fit the old one so that I could drive to the scrappie and they could look at the fittings more closely. That was today, and on the way, I decided I just wanted it fixed, ASAP, in fact, I neeeeeed it fixed, as I can't be without a 4 wheeled vehicle, so I diverted to the local auto electrician. He had a look and declared on the spot, that he had a brand new one on the shelf, and that having the old one reconditioned would be nearly as costly as the new one. Don't you just hate it when you end up doing what you were trying all along, to avoid doing. However, I don't suppose you want to know about my car and van woes. But writing this has just reminded me, I must thank the sender of choc and pink things - parcel landed safely at a very good moment, and I hope you got the email. And thanks to Kawa for the DVDs that arrived.

Right, you'll be really upset to find out that I'm not about to do the Cubbie's Counties recap. Oh no, I've got a much better story for you for this week. You can have the recap later - I did start to write it but then it vanished, just like that.

So here we go, Cubbie's Homecoming - I had to nip over to Banchory on the weekend and due to my 4 wheeled vehicle hiccups, decided to go on Cubbie. It's not far, compared to my Easter weekend bonanza, only about 50 miles each way. The weather was up and down, sunny and still one minute and then cold, dull and raining the next, with a strong icy breeze. Brrr. Still, I'd made my decision so I togged up and set off. Down the hill into Fyvie, I love that bit, shutting off the throttle induces a raucous pop-pop-pop-BANG! Hehe, how childish, tsk tsk. Rather than taking the main road to Inverurie, I cut over the back way, through what used to be a small village, Rothienorman, but is now expanding rather too fast for my liking. The road took me past a turning on the left that I keep meaning to explore, but I couldn't be bothered, too cold for that malarkey. A quick peek in the tank at Drum of Wartle petrol station and I thought I could make it to Inverurie - I know I should support the local garages but it's hard when they're a few pence dearer than the big town ones. The were a couple of police cars attending the scene of an accident just outside town, but having only two wheels, I managed to pick my way through the scattered glass on the road. One car appeared to have a road sign growing out of it, but everyone looked ok, thank goodness. A quick petrol stop at Morrisons, a nod from a modern rocket rider, and then down the A96 and onto dual carriage way to the turning for Dunecht. It's quite a nice road, over hill and dale, passing through small hamlets and then whooshing you into the heart of huge estates, lined with towering stone walls and age old trees. Just out of Dunecht, and on the way to Echt, a farmer was busy on his tractor, kicking up a fine earthy dust that drifted across the road, very nice, all over my visor. Nearing Banchory the roads get bigger and straighter, and therefore, less interesting to a Cubbie rider, but we ploughed on. The rain kept threatening but held off long enough for me to make my destination. Funnily enough, I pulled up at the lights just a split second behind a sports bike rider who had blasted past me several miles ago. Business was taken care of, Cubbie started first kick and I set off for home. It was quite chilly by then so I stopped to put my waterproofs on, which made the sun come out and I was roasting. It occurred to me, as I approached the village of Lyne of Skene, that I ought to pop in and see Cubbie's previous owner. It was something I'd been meaning to do for ages, although each time, I'd put it off, feeling a tad nervous about how we would be received, for no other reason than the amount of cable ties and silicone sealer that is holding the bike together.

But I needn't have worried. I rode into the yard, and as luck would have it, a man was just carrying a load of logs into the house. He looked a bit confused at our arrival. I didn't recognise him, so I asked him if he was the guy from whom I had bought a Tiger Cub in several boxes, some six years ago, and it turned out he was. Indoors for a cuppa (mine was a cranberry juice, 'cos as you know, I don't drink cuppas) and a chat. We swapped a few stories and I told Nick and his wife all about the Cubbie's Counties charity challenge. Then he broached the subject of the electrics, and told me of the problem he had experienced during his ownership, where, after riding for about 25 miles, the bike would cease to charge. But if he left it a while, started it on 'emergency' and rode on again, it would be ok for another 25 miles. A weird one that, but due to his self confessed analytical nature, he worked out that it was all down to some dirt and gunk lurking in the bottom of the battery being swilled around. I told him of my charging woes from last year, when I undertook an unsuccessful search of the country to find a 3 wire alternator / round thingy that lives in the primary case. You may remember all the trouble that caused, and in the end Dr Jim fixed it by cleaning up some connections, and fitting one of his prized gel batteries. He also insisted on giving me a new tax disc holder, which looks very nice, but I don't think it helps the charging...or does it?

Amongst other things, Nick commented on the rather good handling of the Cub, but I had to update him on that one, with a seized swinging arm and leaky front forks the handling these days is a bit, erm, bendy? Bouncy? Bumpy? All of those really. Apparently the swinging arm had seized in his day too, I think he said he pressed it out and fitted new bushes, which helped. You should have seen him wince when I said I pressed it out with a lump of wood and a big hammer....hehe! That was when I didn't know any better. Which is implying that I DO know better now... The subject of the lime green undercoat on the rear number plate also cropped up, and I'm glad, because I've often wondered about it. It was like that when Nick bought it, and he was stopped by the cops for it, so painted it black. After an hour or so of reminiscing, I handed Nick The Key. I don't often give up The Key willingly, but this was different. I'd be delighted if someone I'd sold a bike-in-bits to, came back with it all done up and let me have a spin. The sun seemed to be out permanently now, and by the time Nick had run around the house looking for his helmet, boots and bike jacket which I don't think he had worn for about 30 years, it was positively warm. His wife seemed quite calm about the idea, but it was only after Nick had ridden off into the distance and she had captured the moment on her digital camera (video and pics to follow soon, I hope) that she said he hasn't ridden a bike since he'd last worn that jacket.... Oh. Right. Well. Gulp.

We could hear him coming well before we saw him. And as we did see him, he came tearing straight past us as if to head off around the circuit again. With a loud back fire and a bit of revving (he'd quickly got used to the fact that Cubbie won't tick over) he did an about turn and parked up in his yard, with a humongous Cubbie grin on his face.

All in all I think it was a most successful visit, I'm glad I popped in. Not only did Nick give me an old receipt (and some spark plugs found in the pocket of his bike jacket) from when he purchased Cubbie, but he's put me in touch with the guy who owned it before him, so look out for more Cubbie history tales.

You can have the Cubbie's Counties update next time. And some pics of Nick riding Cubbie just as soon as they land at Cubbie Towers.

Quiet.

Well well, it's affy quiet around here these days. Still, at least it means no one will notice that I haven't posted the planned recap of Cubbie's Counties yet. For the dedicated hoverers, I'm afraid it won't be up until Thursday evening...you know...things to do, places to go, cars and vans to fix...sidecars to source....

Sidecar wanted for hire.

Does anyone in Scotland have anything similar to the outfit in this pic? I've been contacted by a company who need one for a photo shoot on Skye, in June.

Let me know if you can help....

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Don't worry, I've found a suitable outfit now.

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Tell you what.

Tomorrow, or maybe Monday, or perhaps Tuesday, we'll have to do an update to Cubbie's Counties. How it started, Cubbie's rebuild and all the way through to where we are now. I'll tell you why. If I stumble upon a website with an interesting topic, very rarely can I be bothered to scroll back through the archives to see what's been going on before, so I have to assume some people might be a bit like me (at least in that respect), so to make life easier for them, that's what we'll do. 'We' being the Royal 'We'. It should be a good read even for those of you who have followed the whole thing since last May, not to mention a good memory jogger for The Book.

It worked.

Well I'm surprised. After the 'grungy' cable episode in the Lothians, I decided to make an effort to lube Cubbie's cables properly. I confess, up until today, all I've done is squirt some WD40 down them and hoped for the best. I carried out a little bitta research on http://www.cubsite.com/ and http://www.classicbike.net/ on the best way to oil one's cables, and decided that I wasn't going to buy a fancy hydraulic cable oiler for a tenner, I was going to do it the DIY way - make a wee funnel from a plastic bottle. It's a right fiddle trying to get the springy plastic a good tight fit around the cable but with help from Mrs BC, I finally got it taped to the clutch cable and filled it with oil. Asda / 3-in-1 oil. A few hours later and I'm surprised to find the oil has gone - and it hasn't been leaking 'cos there's no oil running down the outside of the cable, so I can only assume that it's worked. Will set it up on the throttle cable tomorrow.

Between us, we finished some weed removal and planted 3 rows of tatties today, some Jersey Royal and Vivaldi, killed my back and my knee, and there are hundreds more to go. Have to finish the digging the other bit of ground first though. Doesn't look like I'll be going to the Spring Surprise hosted by the Scottish Classic club on Sunday; things to do here, and work in the afternoon.

The gliding is off too. Heavy rain and a generally miserable forecast for Tuesday.

Gotta go, cats to worm. Sleep tight.

Here you go Kwak, my copyrighted / patented cable oiling system.

First lambies of the year.

Pear Drops (aka PD) is the first to pop - this is her ewe lamb born early this afternoon, a wee ram lamb joined the party a couple of hours later. Just been out and got them in to their nice snug pen in the steading - company for Blind Old Golly and Cubbie.

For those who think I just sit around every day painting my nails, you're wrong, I only do that every second day. Did a spot of digging today, Mrs BC will be planting the tatties very soon so I need to get this finished.

And my toe still hurts.

Shed News.

At last, I've made some progress on the Shed. I wouldn't say that it's anywhere near being built yet, but I've taken a step in the right direction. I've cut it in half. I know, I know, but what's a girl to do? Mrs BC and I can hardly lift the two end panels between us, let alone the 15ft long side ones (are they 15ft? I think so, or close to that measurement) so I took my saw and I cut the long one without doors and windows, in half. And what a fine job I made of it too, even though I do say so myself. This task, I completed today, and on Saturday I creosoted 3/4 of the panels and a few other bits and bobs. What a pong. Now I just need to find the bolts I bought several months ago and we're off.



Yesterday was the annual trip to Perth for the autojumble hosted by the Central Scotland section of the VMCC. Weather was cracking, Shorty reported a good turn out, and I missed all the Cubbie bits - although I was tempted by a whole Cubbie - very smart it was, black and silver, a snip at £1750. No racing 'bars on it though. Bumped into Harry - Glider Man, talked about plans for Fife so will keep you posted on that one. We came back over the Cairn O' Mount, lovely view from up top. No place for a car with a blown exhaust though.





Ooooh yers, it was like Christmas here the other day. I opened the "Cubbie seat sized parcel" of Cub bits from Bantam Cub. This is my next project - after I've built Mrs BC's sidecar and got the Bultaco running, oh and returned my MZ Skorp back to road going status... Anyway, what do you think was in the parcel? How about some heavy duty forks, shocks, lightweight mudguards, gaiters, levers, a couple of speedo-looking-clocks, a spare barrel and a couple of bits that I couldn't put a name to. No idea if they are part of a bike or perhaps a tool of some kind. Answers in a comment please.




PS are you fed up with the Coventry slide show yet?

Famous for another 5 seconds.

It would seem that Britain's Best Drives, previously shown on BBC4 will be shown in the next month on BBC2, so for anyone who missed Cubbie's star turn, you've got a second chance.

Counties 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, and 29.5

Oh yes. I hope you're sitting comfortably. Go get yourself a cuppa, pull up a pew and pencil a half hour break in your schedule. This is good. I mean, really good, what a weekend. I don't know where to start. Normally, in the title of the post, I'd number and name the counties ticked off, but as you can appreciate, I managed to do so many that there really isn't room to name them up there. So, the whole thing kicked off last week, when the alternator on the van had died and I'd managed to find a local scrap yard that said they had one. But I couldn't get the one on the van off, to take with me for matching purposes, so of course, I got the wrong one. That sort of scuppered my plans a little. But not to be scuppered, I thought seeing as the car is back on the road, and we have a nice little covered trailer for carting sheep around....you see my thinking? Naturally, I didn't bother to measure up and just assumed that Cubbie would fit. So on Friday afternoon, Mrs BC and I set the trailer up and lined Cubbie up next to it. Good job we did, 'cos it wasn't going to fit straight in. A sideways approach looked like it would work, so up the ramp and heave Cubbie around until the taillight just fitted inside the door. Screwed a couple of metal rings to the floor and got the ratchet straps. Bingo, ready to go. Saturday morning, bag is packed, tighten Cubbie's straps, and I've suddenly had a thought - yep, it happens sometimes. My original plan had been to drive down to Starry Towers (that's Star from http://www.bikeshite.com/, John's good lady, who had agreed to host GBC & Cubbie for a couple of days) quite early on Saturday, visit a local chap to test his very rare Bown, then hit East Lothian and Berwickshire on Sunday, then meet Bantam Cub on Monday to tick off West and Mid Lothian, then off to the VMCC Stirling Castle section meeting on Monday evening at Doune, near Stirling. Then the bike test fell through for various reasons, and another plan was born. Ping! What if....how about...maybe I could pop over to Argyll on the west coast on my way down to Starry's, park up, gallivant around for a while thus completing that rather awkwardly located county, before returning to Plan A for Sunday. So Cubbie and I set off, stopped for petrol in Aberdeen, thought I'd better have a quick peek at the straps and was shocked to see the blocks of wood that I'd put under the side stand were strewn all over the place, as was Cubbie. The straps were as loose as can be, and my box of tools / spares / petrol was jammed under the brake rod. Oh yes, and the zorst had worked itself into a nice little groove in the wall of the trailer, while the twist grip had done the same in the roof. Only 30 miles into the journey and things weren't looking good! Nothing for it but to continue with care, creeping round the million and one roundabouts in Aberdeen and wondering if it was wise to divert from the motorway over to Argyll. Probably not. So time to concoct Plan C...more on that later. I had to stop quite frequently to check Cubbie, and each time the same thing had happened, so I opted to leave it jammed into the side of the trailer and cross my fingers that nothing would get broken. Arrived at Starry Towers in good time, about 4ish. Tinkered about with Cubbie checking the zorst and twist grip carefully. Decided to go for a short spin to make sure all was as it should be. Heading out from Dechmont over the hills to Linlithgow Cubbie found a rather fantastic road, all twisty and uppy-downy. We stopped on the crest of a hill to admire the view and watched a ewe feeding her recently born triplets for a while, before she became agitated by the audience. We continued to pop pop pop our way along the winding road, such beautiful hazy vistas in every direction making it difficult to make quick progress, but then that's not what this ride was about. In Linlithgow, a Royal Burgh and a town that proudly proclaims it is a slow town. Or to put it officially, a town that was recently bidding to obtain 'Cittaslow' status, the idea behind which is to promote local producers and look after the environment, and generally encourage visitors that the area is a cool, calm and relaxed kind of place. Well it worked for me. I found the pond - or loch, complete with 17 or so swans, many ducks, coots and small white/grey birds with black heads and delicate white markings around their eyes. It was easy to sit on the wall and spend an hour or so just looking at the palace over on my right, and watching the sun set. Still, no rest for GBC. Back on Cubbie and off down the road, exploring a little twisty side road that took us out under a huge multi-arched railway bridge. I had just stopped for a photo and a guy on a Kawasaki whizzed by. Then he turned round and came back for a chat..."Ah, a Tiger Cub, I had one of them once..." I have a little inkling that he might know Kawa... Back at Starry Towers I discovered I'd just missed Gixer65, Star's brother, who has been trying to meet the famous Cubbie and get my autograph for some time now. Poor chap, have you ever considered seeking professional help for this affliction Gix? Hehe. A couple of bacon rolls later I was feeling ready to plan my route for the next day.

Up and away by 10.30am, Cubbie was pointed to the north and I did that thing again - you know, just following my nose and seeing where we end up - this time it was alongside the Union Canal, and conveniently, there was a wee barge / boaty thing that chugged into view as I was taking a couple of photos. Onwards towards Winchburgh, home of a multiple-Tiger-Cub-owner whom I've never actually met, and still haven't met, even though I made a lotta racket going through the town, and then it was up to the mighty Forth Road Bridge. Hmmm. Got a little lost looking for the back roads, wanted to avoid the M9 if at all possible, and found myself at a back entrance to Edinburgh Airport, where I met five nice plane spotters - thanks for he sponsorship guys. Made it over to the bridge, following their directions, and I can tell you there are 99 joins in the surface, and every single one of them is jolly uncomfortable when you're riding a rigid Cubbie. Opened just two years after Cubbie was built, (so that would be 1964) it is over 1.5 miles long (well I measured it at a mile I'm sure they're right), has a central span of 3300 ft between its two main towers and the side spans, are a mere 1340 ft long. Did you know that the supporting cables are 2 ft in diameter and were spun on site using 11618 parallel high tensile steel wires 5 mm in diameter. Cor blimey, I love these Forth Bridge Facts, wakey wakey back there! 39,000 tons of steel and 115,000 cubic metres of concrete were used to build it, and get this, the total cost of the bridge including the approach roads consisting of 13 kilometres of dual carriageway, 13 kilometres of minor access roads and 24 minor bridges was £19,500,000 - that's £250,000,000 today, give or take a few quid. Phew. Have to admit, it was a slightly scary feeling riding across it, not because of the 150 ft drop to the sea, or because little strands of cables keep snapping, but because there is nowhere to hide if a breakdown should occur.... I've no idea which county it's in either, but I'll look it up for you.

Once over the bridge, we took a sharp left and headed out on the A985 (a nasty fast and very busy main road) to Kincardine, turn right, then left, and it's into Clackmannanshire. Intrigued by a sign for the Tower Trail, I ended up at the Market Cross and Tolbooth in the centre of town. The bottom of the cross bears the marks of many a prisoner’s chain. Built in 1592, the Tolbooth used to comprise the court room, prison cells, jailer’s house, and the best bit - the instruments of punishment. Outside was a nice comfy bench that didn't wobble up and down, so I took time for a rest, a swig of water, some crisps and a breakfast bar. This is the life, eh, and all for charity too. I was supposed to be having lunch at the Clackmannan council canteen, but this being Easter Sunday, I didn't think it would be open - however, if I can get back there again before the end of the County Challenge, I would be delighted if that particular offer from Rod was still open. Following the Tower Trail signs took me to Alloa for a peek at the Tower, but the closest I could get was in the Tesco car pack next door. Onwards to Kinross-shire. Again, I have an offer of places to go and people to see there, but as I was in the area, I thought I might as well tick it off and if time permits, I can always go back. I've seen the signs for Saline before, and always wondered what was there.... so I went there...but apart from beautiful empty roads, daffodils o the verges, coos and sheeps in the fields...blue skies and bright sunshine, there was nothing much there at all. Just the way I like it. I tried to head to Dunfermline just for a lookie, could have popped into Luader College where I learnt the trade of Furniture Restoration and the rules of life, but ended up going up and down and round and round and back out on the man road towards the bridge. I didn't fancy that, so turned off into the historic village of Charlestown, followed by Limekilns, which I think, officially, are both in Fife. Now, I could claim to have ticked Fife off the list too, but I really do have some very attractive offers for that county, things like gliding and dungeons, so I'm going to make a doubly special effort to get back there before my time runs out at the end of May...or maybe the beginning of June... Limekilns is beautiful. The River Forth was sparkling and twinkling in the early afternoon sun, I could see the bridges, cranes, and wildlife. And two people sitting on a bench. I popped over and asked them for the best way to circumnavigate Edinburgh, so that I could get to Berwickshire. We got chatting and they asked all about Cubbie, saying it was a much nicer bike than all these modern status symbols people ride nowadays.... then the lady handed me a fiver and wished me all the best for completing the challenge. It's so nice to find some really genuine and trusting people out there.

On their advice, once I was back over the bridge, I kept on the A90 / A902 / A199 and followed the very few signs I could find to Leith. Keeping to the north of the city I avoided all the tram-related road works (odd that, they're installing trams in Edinburgh city 65 years after the last one was decommissioned) and wanted to head out on the coast road through Prestonpans and Cockenzie towards North Berwick, which isn't actually in Berwickshire, it's in East Lothian these days. But Cubbie's clutch was getting increasingly heavy and stiff to operate, and tiddling through the Easter weekend traffic wasn't helping, not to mention both of us were getting hot and stuffy. At 14:30 I found myself on a dual carriageway, the A1 as it happens. Turned off at Tranent, an old coal mining town 402 miles north of London. London? I'm sure I've heard that name before. It's quite a nice wee town (Tranent, not London), although the roads were horribly busy, and the people friendly and helpful. The accent is noticeably different out there, which is peculiar because it's only a handful from miles from Edinburgh. Unless these people I spoke to all happened to be from out with the area. I wanted to carry on heading south to Gifford and then up and over the Lammermuir Hills, where somewhere, I would stumble over the border between East Lothian and Berwickshire, but Cubbie had developed a rattle. One of those ones where you ride along varying the speed, gears, riding position, anything, just to try and work out where it's coming from. With no success in identifying the noise, and my left hand growing ever more sore from the heavy clutch, and time pressing on, I made another executive decision (I've made a lot of them during Cubbie's Counties) to turn back inland and make my way to Humbie, then cross the border there, somewhere near to Fala / Gilston. I've no idea how I ended up on that particular road, as the small junctions didn't seem to be marked on my map, but there I was, in Berwickshire, yay! Good, I could head back to Starry Towers now. Phew, I was hungry, cold, tired, aching, had a sore hand and Cubbie seemed to be going to be poorly, the rattley noise getting louder as we went faster, so rather than try to find the squiggly roads, I opted for the main route up to the Edinburgh City Bypass, the dreaded A720, but somehow diverted into Dalkeith. Oh me, it was going wrong. The sign posts didn't say anything I wanted them to say and there was a silly great big bus in my way blocking the junction I needed to cross, I couldn't hold the clutch lever in any longer, so popped it into neutral, kept the engine revving to let the driver know Cubbie was behind him, and waited patiently for my turn. Then when I finally got across, I realised I should have turned left and had to go back and do it all again! Sitting at just under an indicated 50mph on the bypass, lights a-blazing, Cubbie a-rattling, we held a steady course until Hermiston Gate, turned off just before there, 'cos that would have taken us onto the M8, and zoomed along there until we hit somewhere-or-other and into Dechmont at 17:40. What a day! Wow! FIVE counties achieved - Clackmannanshire, Kinross-shire, Mid and East Lothian and Berwickshire. Wow, wow, wow. No wonder I was tired. Still, no time like the present to check out that rattle and sort the heavy clutch. Well, that was aided somewhat by a liberal application of Star's 3-in-1 oil, although the cable action still felt a little 'grungy'. As for the rattle, Kawa suggested via a text that I should check the primary chain case for oil, so I undid the drain bolt and a few mins later, presented Star with a tub full of black scummy old oil. In case you're wondering where John had got to, he was away working, leaving Star to cope with a Cubbie visit all on her own! Poor quine, still, she did admirably, allowing me to park in the back yard behind locked gates. Refilled the case with fresh Q8 oil, then checked the gearbox, it only needed about 50ml of oil, so presume that wasn't the culprit. Glancing over the rest of the bike I noticed the chain guard, which I had tied up in the morning with a cable tie, had been rubbing on the spokes, so maybe that was it. All I know is I gave the whole bike the once over before settling down to a huge plate of Star's famous chicken-in-a-sauce-with-garlic-bread-tatties-and-carrots-yum-yum-followed-by-a-chocolate-ecclair-yum-yum-yum-again!

And a little temper for Part 2.

Deep breath, part 2. Star had to leave the house just before 7am on Bank Holiday Monday, so I had arranged Plan C with Bantam Cub, which was to meet me at 9am in a small village called Fauldhouse, just on the southern tip of West Lothian. He was coming in from Ayrshire to accompany Cubbie and me for a few hours. My alarm went tring-aling-ling at 6am, up like a rocket, packed my bag, did all the usual morning refreshing routine and was standing on the pavement, shivering in the early morning frost, at half past six. That’s 06:30. That’s a time of day I quite enjoy but don’t often see. Starry was away on the bus, and I gave Cubbie another check over, just for the sake of it, topped the petrol up from my can, lights, horn, toot-toot, tyres, brakes, everything still worked. I was a little anxious about the rattle, and the small hiccup that had developed on my way back last night. Sometimes, after a stop for a photo, I wouldn’t be able to kick the engine over. It wasn’t like it was seized (I hoped), it felt like the thing that happens when I do that thing to free the clutch off – well I don’t do it any more, as it sort of jams things up. It’s tricky to explain when one is not altogether familiar with the correct technical terms. I was told once, by a man who knows these things, if the bike has been standing a while, even overnight, always pull the clutch in and kick the engine over a few times to free the clutch plates, but with Cubbie, I’ve always found that rather than free anything up, it seems to cause a jam, a sticking, makes it impossible to kick it over, and I have to wheel the bike back and forth to free it up. So this was the symptom that I was getting after riding, then stopping, then trying to start it again. It was absolutely fine if I waited five minutes or so, or wheeled it about and then tried again, but rather wearing on the leg, and rather worrying. So those were the things on my mind when Bantam Cub texted to say he was on his way, so I saddled up and set off to meet him. Got about 2 miles along the road and turned back to get my padded waterproof trousers on – my legs were frozen! Set off again, joined the A89 that took us out west, before a sharp left and into Fauldhouse. One of the reasons I chose to meet BC there was because there is a street called Sheephousehill, which rather fascinated me. I arrived a tad early, and was just dithering around trying to find the aforementioned street, when I saw a little Bantam Cub coming towards me. He made good time, 45mins, Google said an hour and 17mins. Still, Google doesn’t measure ‘time by Cub’. I showed BC my intended route, but we agreed that if we saw a road that looked good, or a signpost that looked interesting, we would just divert. We started off by doing a double lap of the roundabout before heading up and over the hill towards the coast, but things didn’t go quite to plan as I must have taken a wrong turn and we found ourselves rapidly approaching Dechmont – home of Starry Towers and where my car was parked. Convenient really, as BC had brought with him a staggeringly heavy parcel of spare Cubbie bits – for my next project….oh yes…not telling you what it is yet…but as he’d already lost if off the back of his bike once, it was better off being dumped in the car. Back along that great road to Linlithgow, stopped at the canal for a few pics, grabbed a passer by so that we could both be in at least one photograph, just for posterity ya know, you lot aren’t getting that one on here. My stomach was rumbling well and truly, so we had bacon rolls and a cuppa in a nice little café on the main street, before riding boldly up to the front door of the Palace. It is assumed that there was a manor house of some sort on this site back in the 1100s, but when Edward I arrived in 1301, he built a huge fortress around the house and neighbouring church, taking it as his own by the sounds of it, but it only remained in English hands until the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. After that, the locals did the place up a bit, knocked the surrounding fortress down, and Kings David II and Robert III used it from time to time, until it was destroyed by fire in 1424 – when the whole town was raised to the ground. Good old James I started the rebuild in the following year, and over the decades, what you see now, was created, adapted, altered and generally tinkered with. Neither BC or I wanted to pay to go in, so we took the pics, and scooted. BC was taking a photo of me and his BC began to smoke rather dramatically, although he didn’t seem bothered.
Next stop, Bo’ness steam train, fantastic, we arrived just in time to see a train leaving the station, plumes of black and grey smoke choking the sun, the porters whistle followed by the peeep peeeep from the big funnel, and slowly it chuffed away, heading towards Birkhill Fireclay Mine. I quite fancied a ride on the choo-choo and a trip round the mine, but time was pushing on and we had counties to conquer. It was then time for the Big Moment. The Editor of Old Bike Mart had given me the go-ahead to test the Bantam Cub, so it was time to swap bikes. BC was a little concerned about riding Cubbie, and about me riding his bike, and I was a little concerned about him riding Cubbie and me riding his bike, so all’s fair and square in the worry stakes. It’s not often that anyone actually wants to ride Cubbie, but BC was up for it. Obviously I can’t go into detail about the test here as you’ll need to purchase OBM to read all about it….but I can say I really enjoyed it and feel privileged to have been allowed to ride BC’s bike. We covered a good few miles on each other’s machines, ending up on a single track, dead end road, with a fabulous view of the road and rail bridges. We had equal sized grins on our chops and swapped notes about the bikes, did the static and action shots and then my stomach began rumbling again. Lunch was in a quaint little pub in Queensferry, where I finally found out who won the Masters Golf – I tried watching it on Sunday night but as it looked like it was heading for a play off, and I had to get up at 6am, there was no way I could have stayed up for it, and actually, I had trouble keeping my eyes open after about 10pm, such were the rigours of the previous 194 Cubbie miles. Freshly cooked fish and chips with a nice side salad went down rather well, setting us up nicely for the return to Dechmont. Subsection 2 of Plan C was to load Cubbie in the trailer and drive to Doune, leave the car there and ride around Argyll, and be back in Doune for about 7pm for the VMCC Stirling Castle section meeting. BC decided he would like to tag along – absolutely fine by me, very nice to have company, but it would take him miles and miles out of his way, and his gear lever kept falling off. But a little thing like that does not deter a Cub rider, even if it is a BSA Bantam Cub…but we’ll not go there or I’ll be in trouble…so with Cubbie suitably strapped down, we set off. I got lost in Linlithgow and BC got to Doune before me. Arranged to meet McKwak in the car park of the Red Lion, but he had a job on so couldn’t make it, set off towards the bright blue sky and more sunshine…without my jumper, and without my padded / waterproof troos…oh dear…big mistake. The A84 to Callender was jam-packed with bank holiday tourists, fortunately all going the opposite way to us, although we did pick up a 30mph numpty, whom we hounded unashamedly until an opportunity arose for both Cubs to nip past. It was about 40 miles to Crianlarich, and even then we hadn’t crossed the border, but I was frozen. The sun had dipped behind the mountains and there was still a goodly amount of snow in the distance. Brrrrrr. What a gent, BC gave me his jumper. So we carried on to Inverarnan, which by my reckoning was the border for Argyllshire.

We could have turned around and gone back, but that would be boring, so we tootled on, riding along side Loch Lomond, to Tarbet, famous as the place that stopped BC in his tracks, literally. We had just left the village, and met with a long traffic jam, I gleefully started to filter-pop-pop-bang-filter, glanced over my shoulder, no BC. Hmmmm. Waited for a while, still no sign of him. Turned round and went to look for him. There he was, on the pavement, looking quite mournfully at his rear tyre, which was flat.

No worries, GBC to the rescue, Cubbie and I nipped to the local garage and purchased a can of tyre fixing gungee stuff, put it in the tyre, and then watched as it started to ooze straight back out. We set off, but within a few minutes it was clear that it was a job for the recovery service. Not wanting to make me any later for the VMCC meeting, BC insisted that I go on alone, so I did, filtering past 15 miles of traffic before I finally found the turning I was looking for. Arrived in Doune, a little chilled, a little dazed, with my head still buzzing and my legs numb from the cold at about 8.30, not bad, only an hour and a half behind schedule, but when I crept in to the meeting, it looked like they’d only just started. Maybe they were waiting for me?

Ah, the perfect end to a very nearly perfect weekend, even though I didn’t get home at 2am. 400 bottom numbing Cubbie miles, 7.5 more counties done (Fife counts as a half) and a few more pounds raised, which takes the total to £1827.80, and look at that - over 31,000 hits on this here little bloggy. No reoccurrence of either the rattle or the funny clutch/engine thing I described so well earlier on.

.a couple of Cubs in a couple of boxes.

Thanks to Chairman Ted for allowing me to gatecrash the meeting, and to Shorty for staying behind at the end and helping to load Cubbie, and leading me out of Doune to set me on the road north. In my befuddled state I could have easily driven to Portsmouth without realising. Thanks to Bantam Cub for joining me, so sorry you had to end the journey with a trip in a van, enjoyed your company and my ride on your bike. Thanks to Star for being a great hostess, and for the Easter Bunny, sorry to Gixer that I missed you (this is sounding like one of those Oscar speeches, sorry for that), thanks to the plane spotters and the couple in Limekilns for the cash – oh and also to the guys I met at the meeting whom I’d never met before but seemed to know about Cubbies Counties and insisted on pushing a few pounds into my shaking paws. Have I missed anyone? Thanks to everyone for reading. Thanks to Mrs BC, for I don’t know what in particular, but who, incidentally, is no relation to BC, I just thought I should clarify that. And goooooood night.