Lunch, anyone?

I think we're on the 3rd or 4th Large Lunch now. Whichever, it took place last Saturday, so as not to clash with the autojumble at Forfar or the VMCC AGM, or the jumble at Alford, as it has done in the past. The sun was out and the sky was blue and lots of lambies were born too!

Keeping to tradition, I was a little late for lunch, but I do have a good excuse this time. One of the ewes decided to drop her triplets as the time was approaching for me to leave. Mrs BC had to pull the first one out, a huge chappy he is, and once he was all cleaned up, the tail of number 2 appeared, but that's all we could see, so Mrs BC had to help with that one too as he was facing the wrong way. Boys eh, directions are never their thing. Number 3 was a little girl who had to be popped in a box in the bathroom to warm up and all this takes far longer than you might imagine.

I'd fired Cubbie up the day before (started first kick after I'd remembered to give it a wee bit of a tickle - not bad considering it was shoved in the shed upon my return from Shetland last November) so I was confident all would be ok, and for once, it was! I donned my *NEW* pink gloves that I bought at the Ingliston bike show last month, plus full winter gear as although the sun was shining, the air temperature was a bit on the chilly side. That popopopopopbang is just the best music. Plenty of petrol still in the tank, and a quick check in the oil tank showed it didn't even need a top up (odd 'cos what's that black splodge on the floor all about then??) so it was a case of key on, fuel on, tickle tickle KICK and we're away.

I arrived at the Sheiling Tor in Fyvie, just a few miles from Cubbie Towers, in good time for the food, although I'd missed Bob's Treasure Hunt. A few Grumpy-Ones were having a cuppa while they waited for the return of the Hunters...just a quick mention to Eden, Geoff & Julie, Captain Bill and of course, Bob. Felt a bit sorry for Geoff 'cos he was in the car because his Triumph had, er, this pains me to say it, but it had let him down big time. No more will he laugh at Cubbie - or so he says! Peter the leader soon returned on his Ariel Leader, and seemed to have enjoyed the route, and he was followed by Dr Jim, Stuart (he's a Triumph man ya know), Kawa and Iain. A couple of new faces also arrived at the same time; Peter and Frances from Ballater astride a mighty Norton, good of you to come all that way just for lunch, glad you got the right day this time Peter.

So that was it really, the turnout wasn't as good as it could have been but it was the first ride of the year, so maybe bikes weren't ready or people actually listened to the weather forecast which wasn't too promising. Next up is the VMCC Founders Relay Rally on 2nd May, look out for more info about that, as the NE Scottish Section hosts a checkpoint in the wilds of Deerhill. Ha, bet you don't know where that is!