TVNOC Xmas Doo, Killin 07/12/19

That time of year again for the joint Tay Valley Norton club/Norries sidecar group Christmas party.
It was a great turnout with lots of laughs and lots of motorcycle blethers. The hotel now being dog friendly, meant Sitka could come along too. Thanks to the organisers for arranging a braw night.

 Norrie and Bill getting into the party spirit

 The dinner table

 Jake the artist

 A couple of Jake's amazing sketches, a chopped Norton!

 Dinner table chat

 Laurenne in party mood

 Sitka getting plenty of attention

 The River Dochart in full flow

 Plenty of water over the Falls

 More water

Hilarity for Ewen and Liz at me getting soaked taking photos of the river.

TVNOC Tullybannocher 20/10/19

We had planned to set off from different locations to meet at Tullybannocher, that was until I got a phone call to say that the Street Triple wouldn't start after fuelling up in Birnam, this is not unusual at either end of the year, the striple seems to have a reluctance to start when the temperatures take a dip. I borrowed jump leads off Kev Bruce and headed over there and it jump started no problem.
We then had a great through the Sma Glen over to Comrie for one of the last gatherings of the year. It was a good turnout including a few Nortons and some Italian exotica. It was great to catch up with friends that we hadn't seen for a while. There wasn't a shortage of bikes out on the road, possibly due to the sunshine and getting near time for putting the bikes off the road for the winter.
We have now removed the standard Triumph battery leads and will replace them with new thicker ones thanks to a recommendation from Hacko. Update re the Triumph leads, they have been fitted and the bike fired up no problem, only time will tell if they do make a difference, they are definitely thicker than the standard ones. They were bought from Jeff "pudding" Halford on Facebook.

Exotic Italian lineup

A very fast Jota

Lesley's Street Triple

The Big Yam with travelling jump leads

Ewen's latest bike

Bill, Gino and Wilson pondering over the Commando

John Hyman setting off

Carpark blethering

Liz getting ready to head home

Fiona's Norton for the day

Gino's choice of Norton for the day

Phil's Ducati standing out in the crowd

Smokey Joe looking good in the sun

Eric's Wee Smokie Arbroath 13/10/19

It was a cold but great run up to Arbroath on the bikes for the wee smokie gathering, its always a friendly atmosphere with lots of folk to blether to. Eric does a great job of putting it together and making everyone welcome. We spent a good few hours wandering amongst the bikes, drinking tea and catching up with friends. It was a really good turnout with a mixture of classic British, Italian, Japanese and some modern bikes. Thankfully the temperature of the day doubled from 4 to 8 degrees for the run home with a brief stop off in Meigle for more tea. Thanks to Eric for organising the gathering, looking forward to next year.
Photos all taken with the Olympus OM1 and Fuji Industrial 100 film.

Lesley and Hector in the Norton Neuk

Bill's braw Fastback in the Norton Neuk

Triumph Trident really suited the colours

Mac's JPN

Nice Panther

Phil's Ducati

Some of the gathering

Riders view

Classic Honda CD175

A very red Triumph Speed Twin

Very clean 250 Yamaha

Alan and Marion's transport for the day

Nice 50's Sunbeam

Norton ES2 and period lid

The Norton Neuk departing

Elie to Lower Largo 7 mile Walk 4/10/19

We left Sitka with Lesley's neighbours for the day so that we could go for a longer walk, because at 13 he struggles with bigger distances.
The forecast wasn't too bad on the east and we hadn't walked this stretch of the coast before.
We left the car in Elie and made our way along the beach towards Earlsferry, crossing the edge of the links golf course then up the cliffs to Kincraig Hill. We passed through the site of the ruins of Kincraig Battery, a second world war observation post looking out over the Forth towards North Berwick. It was pretty breezy but thankfully we only got caught in one rain shower.
After Kincraig we made our way down the hill back onto the beaches of Shell Bay and Largo Bay.
We stopped of at the Railway Inn at Lower Largo for cheese toasties and a pot of tea, not a bad day for a Friday.

Elie Harbour

View over the fields from the battery

Earlsferry links with the Bass Rock in the distance

West and East Lomond Hills

A lone curlew and a couple of oil rigs

The statue in Lower Largo of Alexander Selkirk who provided inspiration for Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe

Malagan sculpture by artist Alan Faulds made from 5 separate sections of Scottish oaks and the roof tiles made from his old hot water cylinder

Screenshot of our route

Lady Mary Walk Crieff 12/10/19

In search of autumn colours, we went to Crieff for a walk along the river Earn to follow the Lady Mary and Laggan Hill route. There were plenty of other folk out walking their dogs enjoying the scenery. The going underfoot got a lot muddier as we headed uphill towards Laggan Hill, the path being a run off for any water coming off the hill. Just as we stopped off at a handy bench for a piece of Lesley's neighbours home made quiche and some hot chocolate out of the flask, the heavy rain started. The three of us got our waterproofs on and we headed down the path towards Crieff. We got into the town just as it pissed down, briefly stopping to chat to Brian and Cherry who were on their way to Brian's mum's birthday celebration. The dog friendly cafe was shut so we traipsed back to the car. For the most part it was a braw day, just great to be out when the sun shines.

Sun star through the trees

River bank colours

Fly in the leaf

Fishing hut

Green leaves

Leaf mask

Autumn colours

Wee offshoot