It's getting on for the start of the riding season proper and a recent spell of temperatures up in the lofty heights of 14 degrees Eurotemp (Who knows what it was in Fahrenheit) has added to my excitement and expectation.

There's not been a spell of more than two weeks that I haven't had the bike out for a brief spin but last weekend seemed more like it should be with some warmth, sunshine and a 3 day break from work allowing me to get some riding in. Two highlights of the week were a lunchtime ride round the harbour where I saw 8 dolphins playing and grazing not 100 yards from the road and a meet up with John and Eileen Milne for a Sunday afternoon pose down Aberdeen prom. Two or more HD's together is always something special for me.

March Meeting

The March meeting was very well attended with the gang taking over most of the Red Garth hotel and staying on for a good blether and a sample of some real ale brews which were being trailed. Of course the usual suspects were there but this was one of the best gatherings we've had for faces that are less regular in their attendance. Hopefully the next one will have more bikes on show but the weather on this occasion was so bad that not even Hank ventured out on two wheels.

All the various plans for the forthcoming season were discussed and made and changed and remade during the evening and the excitement built up.

Bike Show Weekend

A good turn out from the North at this event with attendance at one of the two days of the show being interspersed with the party at the Moat House. We even managed to send a couple of bikes thanks to Charlie & Graces's car conking out. Hasty re-arrangements were made and they and Russ Alminde set off down from Inverness and Kinloss in a special "Fatboy" convoy.

Charlie and Grace have just recently joined the growing band of two Harley families in the North with Fred and June Henderson having done a deal on a Road King recently. I'm starting to feel a bit left out just having one. But Mr Bonner would need a pencil sharper than a very sharp thing to manage to sell me a scoot at the moment so I'll have to wait.

The team met up in reception for early evening drinks to warm up before the main event. I had difficulty picking up on the accent of one of the barmen there, the Spaniard was OK but the other chap had such a strong Edinburgh accent, he and I had no hope of a meaningful conversation. Russ did his best to translate for me and we managed to get enough out of the Edinburgh - New Joisey - Aberdonian conversion path to get most of the drinks orders correct. I can also thoroughly recommend the sandwiches on the bar menu at the Moat House, which at around £4-5 may seem poor value but I can assure you they are not. How you can get so many sausages into one sandwich is beyond me. It's great what top chefs learn at college. We were joined slightly later by George and Linda Powditch who had just flown back in to Glasgow from Daytona Bike Week and driven over to get to the do. Obviously our company is unmissable.

What did I think of the bike show.? The majority looked to me as if the stands had been left exactly where they were from last year but there were one or two things caught the eye.

The first was a Ural sidecar outfit. Them Russians can teach the Japanese about welds, at least when it comes to quantity. The comrades seem not to have got the hang of buffing off the excess weld before painting.

The second was also a sidecar outfit. I have a sneaky admiration for the sense of humour of the people who fitted a matching sidecar to an orange Hyabusa. I suspect that granny might drop a stitch or two of her knitting if she were to take a run in this particular combination

The HD clones were out in force with a Polaris and an Excelsior Henderson on show and the Japanese lookalikes but nothing to beat the beauties on show at Alvin's stand.

Summer Plans

Arrangements are well in hand for those who are travelling to Barcelona and all we have to do now is try and all meet up at the campsite to try and pitch together. If the Edinburgh guys can supply us with cellphone numbers to call when we get there I'm sure we could try and join up to make the clan even bigger. Ferries are booked and route plans made with the North section taking multiple routes to conquer Spain in a kind of pincer movement.

Tommy and Crawford are on the Portsmouth to Bilbao route, Johnny and co are attacking via Plymouth if I remember correctly and the rest of us are on the Hull- Zeebrugge route picking up reinforcements at Just Harleys in Newcastle on the way down.

More arrangements are in hand for the "Hole in the Wall gang" tour of the USA. It was Jim Galford who chose to Christen this bunch with that name and hell it's his country so we'll go with that. The route is well planned and now on revision 6, with hotels booked, sights to see planned and HD shops to visit all set out on a very thorough spread sheet. I must admit it's one I'm really looking forward to. More details will follow as we firm things up just to make y'all jealous y'hear now.

Of course on top of all this we'll have the usual weekend runs and more local rallies with The Wallace being on the cards for a number of the North group. A meet with our southern buddies up in this part of the world is on the cards and we might take you along to one of our haunts for a small refreshment. We know a man in Portsoy who you'd love to meet so that might be an idea. It'll keep him away from us if nothing else! The ride back along the coast road through the towns and villages is excellent and worth the trip.

Website

Cliquedom extends even into cyberspace and the North Section now has it's own little website with a mix of photos, event details and links. If anybody wants to send in photos, links or articles for inclusion just send your ideas to that nice Mr Hognorth at his e-mail address on the site and if he likes it it'll probably get included. The site is being run on a tight budget, i.e. £0, so there's no fancy domain name but if you want a peek go to,