The 6^th month of the year already and winter is fast approaching. May I be the first to wish you all a happy Christmas. Just thought I'd cheer you all up. The year 2000 is a very busy year for many of the North section and it's all hotting up now with the rally season in full swing.

June Meeting

Unfortunately I was unable to attend the June meeting as I had a prior appointment in Spain which took a degree of priority. No feedback is available as to who was there or what they got up to.

Ride Outs

Hank Willemse is busy organising evening ride outs usually on a Wednesday night. If your not on e-mail you may be missing out so if you want to be involved then contact Fred Henderson and he can try to see if you can be contacted for these events.

Barcelona

What can I say about Barcelona that won't have already been said somewhere else in this newsletter? I don't know but here goes. The party I travelled with set off on Tuesday the 29^th from Aberdeen. Michelle and I met up with Jim Land, John Milne and Ron Balliet and had a brisk run down to Newcastle stopping only for fuel and the mandatory half-pig butty at the Horn. It was a great atmosphere clouded only by the news that Crawford Logan's, bike had broken down the day before as he headed for the south and his attendance was looking unlikely. However his riding partner, Tommy Gunn was now heading for Newcastle and trying to rebook on our ferry to hook up with us.

At around 12:30 we met up with Tom along with John Natrass and two of his friends, Kath and Paul and headed off for Hull, a good sized party of 7 bikes and 9 people. We had a bite to eat and a quick look around "Just Harleys" then set off again. The run was marred only by a short but heavy spell of rain as we approached Hull. We quickly boarded and the sound of the seven bikes as they cruised through the ferry had some paint flaking off. We were probably the second most unusual vehicles that day as we shared the ferry with a number of guided missiles on some trucks.

After getting our cabins sussed we all met in the bar for a few pre-dinner drinks and I had my first sample of some excellent Leffe Brune beer which set the standard for the night. The buffet dinner was very good with an Indonesian section, which had to be visited at least three times.

Day 2 was a brisk, attention requiring run through Belgium and the North of France down to Nevers where we happened on a small tourist hotel with enough rooms spare. The driving technique on the continent takes some getting used to as normally at 85mph in the UK not much passes you. On the Autoroutes this speed is almost stationary and if you're in the outside lane they take great pleasure in sitting 12 inches from your rear mudguard until you move out of the way. The more relaxed option is to take the N roads, which apart from being toll free are mainly ruler straight in the North and pretty quiet as well as being much more scenic as you pass through towns.

Day 3 was a case of making ground again so after checking the map we decided to put up with the AutoRoute south just to get on with. How wrong could we be? This was a brilliant road from around Clermont Ferrand south with tremendous scenery and a motorway which believed it was a mountain pass as it swept round cliff faces and down through gorges. It's quite common to see a Fatboy scrape metal on a bend but more rare when it's on a six-lane motorway. Tight bends, adverse camber, manic motorists all kept us on our toes as we tried to catch glimpses of the rolling countryside and mountains beyond. Each time we stopped for fuel the heat got greater and eventually a pit stop to get out of the leathers was required. Things were looking good!

We reached the rally site in the late afternoon and the place was loupin. We quickly registered and got word that there were 8000 bikes and that the campsite was filling up. One small suggestion which will be heading to HOG is that on this type of site they really need someone to shepherd folk in the right direction as driving around on a heavy bike trying to find space is not fun. Every part we could find was full or sectioned off as "reserved" In partial frustration we removed the rope from the section reserved by the Bridgwater Chapter and after a brief bit of "you can't camp here", " Oh yes we can" sort of discussion we pitched up.

We were subsequently made more than welcome by Dave Holden, "Animal", "One shirt" and all the others and we were invited to their big party on the Saturday night. Our thanks to the Bridgewater mob for their hospitality and for the smell of cider which persisted for the next 5 days at least.

Entertainment on camp was great whether it was official in the shape of the bands, flamenco dancers, or giant paellas or the unofficial people watching, burnouts, Grappa speed drinking, titty parades and bush dodging competition. The latter being a game played by Big Ron and pillion on returning from the bar at 2.30 in the morning where previously static plants would leap out from the dark and try and attack Ron's bike.

The world championship snoring competition was held in our section of the camp again with the title wrenched firmly away from Big Ron and now in the care of Jim Land. John Natrass made a poor showing but if he ever sobers up long enough to practice his technique he is a promising contender.

A special "scouting" award is made to Mr Natrass for consistently finding the entrance door to his tent every night no matter how well hidden it was. In truth the door never moved once but John tried a variety of routes to his tent over the next few nights, each route having a nasty set of booby traps such as guy ropes, washing lines and other people's tents. The increasingly dishevelled state of John and his tent over the rally was seemingly being caused by a combination of the local hospitality and nocturnal encounters between him and his own guy ropes……….and the tree which he had partially erected his tent round. (Don't ask!)

What should be the photo of the rally is still being developed but I'm convinced it's a doozie. Mr Land must have been feeling a bit tired and emotional one evening as only roughly 90% of him made it into the tent before his lights went off. Luckily the resident ants must have found the leg which remained outside unappetising, as the flesh was still intact by morning.

There are some tremendous roads around Lloret with the coast road to Tossa de Mar and then on to San Feliu being two examples. From Lloret to Tossa the road is smooth and reasonably wide but basically there is no natural path for it to follow. As is common around here a ledge has been cut into the slopes of the hill just wide enough for the road. Above and below are steep or vertical hills.

The run was a pleasant 25 minutes as you work your way round the headlands and crane your neck at villas, which can only be superglued to the rocks above and below. Impossibly large houses, which cling to ridiculously steep slopes with apparently no passable route to them, are all over the place. Now and again a branch off the main road appears, usually a dirt track, which must wind its way to these houses. At the bottom of the gullies lies clear blue water and golden beaches. I was surprised at how green the countryside was and all up and down the slopes are trees, bushes and plantlife which seems to thrive in the heat and must get water from somewhere.

The road from Tossa to St Feliu was similar but moreso. Narrower and more extreme in the bends it was not unknown to find a curve which must have been 350 degrees. On a few occasions you would be on a ledge and then 3 miles on find you were barely 100 yards from the road you'd been on 10 minutes ago as you reached the end of yet another headland. All the time the guys on the "Susikamada" plastic bikes were shooting past us waiting for another blind bend or oncoming vehicle before they overtook. Clearly they must be fed up of the scenery or in some cases life itself. I conclude that a large part of a Spanish traffic police time must be spent scraping these guys off various stationary objects which is why they never have time for speeding checks.

Lloret de Mar was also a pleasant surprise as I'd been expecting the kind of purpose built Spanish resort I'm used to with the package tours I've been on. The main part seems very old with the tall buildings and narrow streets in the manner of a traditional Spanish town built that way to keep the streets in shade and cool. In addition to the traditional "English" pubs there were dozens of local bars frequented by local people and providing Tapas and food to their taste. An excellent balance between "Chicken and Chips" and hamburgers with Jamon Serrano and Aceitunas.

Tossa was similar with one small bar serving the best local version of Jamon Serrano (Spanish Parma ham) and the sweetest olives I've tasted. Hanging from the ceiling were a dozen hams with small cups to catch any fat that dribbled out of them and along with all the locals present having a relaxing beer the ambience was just great.

A great area to visit and for those who never went I can fully recommend it and in future years I'd be keen for an unofficial North Section rally to take place there. The journey down doesn't seem too bad and the area is superb once you get there. Anyone else fancy it again?

Sturgis 2000

The final arrangements are being made for the "Hole in the Wall Gang" grand tour of "The States". Bikes are organised for shipping over, flights are booked and the limo arranged to pick us up from the airport! Yes that part is apparently true. We set off from the UK on the 25^th of July for a 17 day 4,500mile tour of the USA which will take in the 60^th anniversary of the Black Hills rally at Sturgis. Ron estimates that around 500,000 people will be there which is going to be some party.

Those going from the North are Fred and June Henderson, Charlie and Grace Mackenzie, John Natrass, Angus Wing, Michelle and myself. We will be meeting up in Florida with Ron Balliet and our old friend Kat along with Russ Alminde who now lives there. A few more Floridians will be joining us and Russ has agreed to drive a chase truck as his bike hasn't been shipped back from the UK. Having a chase vehicle will be great as we'll be able to travel a bit lighter on the bikes and any pillions will be able to take a break from the heat or numbbutt syndrome if required.

The route will start in Sarasota Florida, then goes to Fort Walton Beach, New Orleans and on to Jim Galford's house in Houston. Jim and a few others will be joining on before we head up through Texas and New Mexico before spending a few days being tourists in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. From there we go through Wyoming and South Dakota before arriving in Sturgis, North Dakota. The trip finishes off with a long run to Minnesota and Ron's house where we then fly back to Florida and the UK. Ron has organised shipment of the bikes back to the UK from Buffalo MN which means they should be back in time for Aviemore (What a year!!)

Our U.S. friends are doing us proud with reservations in hotels and campsites arranged, the best eating places looked out and a huge party organised at Jim Galford's house where apparently half the people in Texas will attend.

Plenty to write about in the next few newsletters

 Monthly Meeting

Finally the usual reminder that we have our monthly meeting on the first Wednesday of every month at The Redgarth Hotel, Kirkbrae, Olmeldrum, Aberdeenshire at around 7.00pm. All welcome whether owners or potential owners

S'later