Saturday night Party

These are the phots from the party outside the Inn on Saturday night! Superb with a stunning backdrop!

What a weekend!!

The Norton meeting at Applecross exceeded my wildest expectations, almost 30 Nortons turned up and over 50 people, the weather was superb and the midges even had a weekend off! The beer and food was excellent and the band outstanding. As they say a picture tells a thousand words so here's some shots from the weekend. Thanks to all in Applecross who helped make it happen, the band and the people for turning up and enjoying themselves, these are pictures of the run.

Applecross

25 degrees here so looks like the norton guy's can't moan about the weather. Brilliant run up, possibly one of the best.

En route

At dalwhinnie en route to applecross for the norton meeting. Why is it when you ask for tea now you get asked what kind? Remember when the only question was do you want milk and sugar? Life was so much simpler!

The Donnington experience

Got back from Donnington with a misfiring Commando, it did get me home thankfully but didn't seem to like being on the motorway at all. Went to start it on Monday and nothing, several kicks later and no luck so I whipped out the plugs to find no spark. I traced it to the Boyer ignition box, 12v in but no pulses out to fire the coils. Luckily I usually have a spare in stock so an hour later (well I wasn't in a hurry) MVD roared into life again. The oil leak from the rev counter drive isn't too bad but is a pain nonetheless so I ordered new parts up, they hadn't arrived by luchtime today so I botched it up again to hopefully get to Applecross this weekend without polluting the roads. Guess what an hour after I finished the postie arrived with the parts!! Typical but I decided to leave it as is for the weekend. Norton meeting this weekend at Applecross so looking forward to that! If your coming and camping make sure you call the campsite first!

Oh yes the title I almost forgot, Donnington is a disgrace! And to be honest the Norton event, billed as the blue riband event of the year was poorly organised. No useable showers, toilets still suffering from an overdose of Sh*te from the previous weeks music festival, Tea and Coffee and even water not easily available and mostly confusion everywhere and they bloody ran out of beer on the first night ! Apart from that it was great to see the REAL Norton guy's there and have a beer with them and no I don't mean what the club termed the VIP's!

The new 961 a tad dissapointing if I'm being honest as is the bullshit behind it, I really hope i'm wrong about this, and no I didn't put down a deposit on one!

The new 961 norton

Yours for only £15995 the first ones to be delivered by the end of september. Will i or won't i that is the question.

En route

Met david at abington services. On our way now .

A busy day1

So thats both the commando's mot'd before 10.30. Always a bit stressful the mot test. Mvd has sprung an oil leak from the rev counter drive so now need to fix that before donnington on thursday.

Back Home

So thats it then back home after around 4600 miles and 12 countries and 2 continents. Superb trip and many memories, when I get back to thinking normally I'll post a short video. We got the ship last night and I've never seen so many bikes on a ferry with the exeption of the Isle of Man. A large group of Harley faggots, sorry riders from Perth who were over at a rally in Holland. Unlucky for one who had his bike nicked, bloody sad really that you cant trust the people at a rally!

We were so lucky, great weather, great food and great hospitality from all the people we met, every journey is an adventure and this last one was certainly that. Thanks to all the people we met over the last 3 1/2 weeks who made our adventure so enjoyable!

The boat home

The final leg, always sad when you get to this stage. But its good to be back in a way in time for the ferry. All good stuff though.

Sunshine

Now the sun has brought the crowds. Excellent!

Todays entertainment

A belgian snail race trainer. Only here at the bba .

Ypres

So this is possibly out of context but had lunch in Ypres then on to the bba meeting. The picture of the bonfire which i think i published first is from that meeting. Having a great night so far .

Arras

In Arras now. We stopped here last year. Found the same bar we stopped in last year. A really nice place. There's a music festival here tomorrow but its a pity we must move on to the cafe racer meeting in waregem but thats a great party as well.

Champangne

In epernay the heart of the champangne region. When you see the officer of these companies you can tell there's money about. 200 miles today weather a bit cooler now.

Oh dear

I suppose it has to be done. Its too hot so some wine tasting is in order.

Moved a bit further north.

Tonight we are in Beaune just south of Dijon. Managed to find the heat again which is good. Enjoying the relaxation.

Grenoble

Camping in Grenoble tonight. The road to here is superb all the way with good surfaces and excellent scenery. The site doesn't do food so a visit to the supermarket and some self catering in order. Nice wine at just over €2 a bottle so life is quite good. Tomorrow we'll head north to try to keep in the sun, not sure where yet but after the wine and a wee dram i'm sure we'll come up with a plan.