Fingers crossed...plus Glamis show

Yay, thats the sheeps caught for shearing.....hopefully this time it'll be the real thing....5th or 6th time lucky...man it's HOT HOT HOT out there...

....well....that's it, Sheep Pup and I caught them all up in record time, Tony the Shearer did a good job and we can forget about it all for another year now. Only one casualty, and that was me, slicing my finger open on the barbed wire fence. But I'll be ok, no need to send chocs or flowers or owt. Makes typing a tad difficult though.

So what other news do we have for you? Erm, not a lot of Cubbie stuff going on - was supposed to be saddling up and going for a sprint to a local guy who might have some box profile sheets for my *NEW* shed, but then the shearer turned up and put a stop to that plan. Mind you, we're off to the Indian rally on the weekend so that'll be a Cubbie story.

Some might say that a 350mile round trip just for a burger or two, is a bit over the top, but I look upon it as my duty - Area Rep duty I mean. Ian - he of the many badges on his hat (which he thinks he might have lost, so if you see a baseball cap festooned with biker badges, it's his and no, you can't keep it cos he'd like it back) kindly invited me to his VMCC sections BBQ last Sunday. The tool for the job was Shorty's Suzuki, which I'm getting quite used to now, so it was pulled from its slumber and coaxed into life, while Cubbie continued to doze - resting, in preparation for this weekend. According to Google, the most direct route to Ian's house was out to Huntly, Strathdon, then Braemar, before climbing high and conquering Glenshee, and then swinging down into Pitlochry and on to the small Perthshire town where Ian lives. So I set off, heading towards Aberdeen, luckily I realised this small error early on and made a corrective turn off towards Huntly. Then, as I was considering my new route, I wondered why on earth I needed to go to Huntly, when I could cut across to Alford, and go to Strathdon that way. Keen to test the waterproofness of that new product I'm trialling on my gloves, leathers and boots, I didn't bother stopping to don my waterproofs when it began to rain. It didn't last long and I stayed dry. After the pleasure of following a numpty who was completely unaware of the bright red motorcycle following him (decided to turn right, no, hang on, left, ah no, I'll just sit in the middle of the road and look at my map 'cos it's Scotland on Sunday and there's no one else around) I had a clear run for a while. I then decided to head towards Torphins as I had been working around there recently and knew the roads, and from there I ended up on the main A93 from Aberdeen to Braemar, thus bypassing Strathdon altogether, but it was a pleasant route, with only a car or two to chase and some occasional sunshine. But what did I see when I rounded the corner into Braemar? RAIN. A big grey wall of it, covering the mountains I was about to cross. No matter how dedicated I am to testing the new waterproofing product, there was no way I was going through there without my over trousers on. Besides, the temperate had plummeted and the wind was howling. Progress was slow, but I eventually caught up with a Peugeot who was travelling at a nice pace. Slow enough to be able to keep up easily, but fast enough to make the journey interesting. I think I followed it all the way to Kirkmichael, which was handy, as I don't know the roads in that part of the country too well. I finally rolled up at Ian's house an hour and a half after Google had estimated that I should have been there. But d'you know what, it was just in time for the burgers. It's all down to timing.

So we had a great feast and good chat, many thanks to Ian and his wife - that was some spread you set out - and apologies to the Stirling Castle VMCCers if I snaffled all the food...well...c'mon....getting lost, wet and cold is hungry work!

On the way home I opted for the alternative route, up to Blairgowrie and then over to the A90, a nice bit of dual carriageway, where the VMCC eligible Suzi is quite at home, nipping along at fully legal speeds. Another short, sharp shower at Stonehaven tempted me to get the waterproofs on again but I couldn't be bothered to stop. But when I saw the rain over the hill at Oldmeldrum, I made the right choice. It absolutely dinged it down, I was tempted to stop and take a picture, but I knew stopping would only result in the rain soaking through and of course, my precious camera getting a soaking. I tell you not an ounce of a lie, the drops came down so fast and with such force, my arms and legs were stinging from the impact. Luckily it only last 10 or 15 minutes and my boots and gloves - coated in "Bone Dry" didn't let a single drop in. Time for a re-coat me thinks.



We're all gearing up for the Plus1 up here, so I can only imagine the guys in charge of the **S&T and the National are all doing the same. My accommodation for the S&T is sorted - no soggy tents for me this year, oh no, I have a soft and comfy bed which I'll probably need after a day as ballast in Andrew Rae's Ariel 'trials' outfit. It has a new capacity of 350cc this year - shame I can't remember what it was last year! Rather than ride in the National this time, I've volunteered my services as a Checkpoint Person. I've no idea what that entails, but I reckon it's time to give a little back to the organisers and help out if I can, plus, it can't be any harder than piloting Cubbie round the course...I hope...

Well Mrs BC and I are out to lunch tomorrow - not an entirely free one as we shall be meeting Chris Norton - the guy in charge of the UCAN Charity (Motor) Bike Ride and the other helpers, to discuss the arrangements and what we'll be doing to help on the day. I'll confirm the date ? entry details for you when I can.

So that's about it, you now know more about what I've been doing than I do. Toodle ooh for noo.

**To read more about the S&T and the National, go to the Blog Archive on the left of the screen, scroll down and find the posts from last August, that'll save me doing too much more typing with my poorly bad finger.

Oh my goodness gracious me, I forgot to tell you all about the Glamis Extravaganza. I'll do that tomorrow. Ok, so that's a lie. I'll stick some pics from Glamis up when I return from the Indian rally. And you can have some shearing pics too if you're lucky.

GLAMIS PICTURES -