Big, Last Part.

August was a busy month in its own right, what with the Scottish Double - which as you know will be the Triple this year, with the new addition of the Plus1. I think I might have mentioned before that if you're interested in coming along to that, you don't have to go to all three events, all you need to have is a bike (or sidecar or 3-wheeler) over 25 years old. You can get an entry form by emailing me at cubbiescounties AT aultan.com but remember to change the AT to @. By the time September arrived I was getting a little anxious. Five months in and only 13 counties done. Time to crack on then, so another mammoth trip south took me to Lanarkshire, where I visited a chocolate factory. Mmmmmmm. It rained though. And I also sped across country to Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles-shires, meaning that most of the borders counties were now off the list. During this trip, Cubbie suffered a bit of a hiccup and lost all signs of charge, something it had been working on doing since our breakdown at the National. We were off the road for ages. Months. In fact, no more counties were achieved until January. You maybe thought I had given up, lost the will to do it, couldn't be bothered. But no, I was searching up and down the country to find a new ****** for Cubbie. And all the time I was doing that, I was testing things on the bike, trying this, and that, and t'other - all under instruction from afar, by club members, and guys on the various forums I visit. Grampian Classic club member Dr Jim finally solved the problem, and I didn't need a new ****** after all, just a bit of TLC. January offered a nice frosty sunny day when I happened to be in the area of Perthshire, so I took the opportunity, as one must do, to tick it off, accompanied by Shorty. A touch of frost wasn't a problem, but getting to Orkney proved a little tricky, when the worst snow that this country has had for umpteen years (that's only 'cos it snowed in Englandshire....) hit. A two hour battle to get down our lane meant that once we were down, there was no going back. Splendid blue skies and glistening snowy tipped hills greeted us on the island, and a visit to **** **** was awesome, not to mention atmospheric. That was number 19, if only I could get into the twenties....bingo, Kincardineshire and Angus were to prove challenging for Cubbie's oil consumption, and I have to thank Smokey Child for his company and moral support, and his wife too for her cooking and accommodation. It looked like we would be off the road again, due to a leaky ****** but after transporting and collection Cubbie to and from the big bike show at Ingliston, Edinburgh, Kawa kindly fixed the leak for me, so it was all systems go for a trip over the Lecht in Banffshire - sunshine when I left home, snow drifts on the Lecht and one very cold GBC sitting atop the hill waiting for the copper to wave her and Cubbie onwards. And onwards it was to Easter Weekend...and an absolutely epic 7 county 400 mile adventure, some of which was shared with Mr Bantam Cub who unfortunately, suffered a *****. Down to stay with Star from bikeshite.com who lives near Edinburgh, and I think I've run out of words to describe that weekend. The post isn't that far back if you want to find it. Are you annoyed by the *****s? Hehe, call it a teaser, you can either scroll back through the archive to find the missing bits, or you'll have to wait for the Cubbie's Counties book, which admittedly, probably won't be out until 2010, by which time you'll have forgotten! But I'll remind you.

Right, well, I hope that's you all caught up. The final four counties are planned for the middle of May, just after I get back from Skye. Regular blog follower, Kawa, suffered a wee bit of an accident on the weekend, so hope you're on the mend now min. Good to see you back on the comments button Darrell....and you Linds, and thanks everyone for following Cubbie's Counties. I wanted to raise £1000 to start with, then because of your generous support, I was able to achieve that and raise the bar to £2000 - we're nearly there. The money will be split between the National Association for Bikers with a Disability, and the ME Association, two good causes that I think will do the right kind of things with the money. Try not to miss me too much while I'm away...Mrs BC will be in charge of the blog, she'll even be able to OK any comments for publishing...so I don't want this place going quiet while I'm gone. Back in 10 days. And counting.... STOP PRESS GBC RETURNS TOMORROW!!!!!!!!