The nights are fair drawin in

Of course an old Scots saying bemoaning the fact that the days are getting shorter due to the onset of that dreaded period of the year , Winter! It doesn’t have to be the end of your motorcycle fun though there will still be good days to enjoy and the gritters haven’t started spreading their salt / sand/ assorted chemical concoction on the roads yet. When the roads do become salted up though it is a thought to take your nice bike out because you know if you don’t spend the time to clean it properly when you come back, the next time you open the garage your bike will have disintegrated into a pile of rusty junk.. My preferred method of protecting the bikes the last two winters has been a liberal coating of ACF50, a spray that protects all parts and even seals electrics from corrosion. Widely used in the aircraft industry for corrosion protection its been marketed in the last couple of years for motorcyclists, it’s worth a try. If you have a secret formula for keeping the corrosion off your bike in the winter let me know.

Nottingham Branch camping weekend

A week after we got back from the Begonia trip some of us made the trip down to the National Watersports facility near Nottingham for their end of year camping weekend. An impressive six people trundled down from the area, George , Sandy and Dave made the trip down and back avoiding the dreaded motorways whilst Alex , Fiona and myself took the fastest route down for time reasons (We couldn’t leave till after lunchtime. The campsite was very good and the local pub (around a mile away) was excellent, an 80’s themed birthday party on the Saturday reminded me just how cr*p 80’s music was. Dave and Sandy had a run out on the Saturday and reported a fine day, the locals led an expedition on a pub crawl around Nottingham on the Saturday afternoon whilst the rest of us lay around and sunbathed! Being Scots we don’t see the sun normally after August so we took full advantage. An excellent turnout all around and good to meet up and talk Norton nonsense with the guy’s. More nonsense of course being talked by the pub crawl attendees who certainly looked like they’d had a good day. Our run home in sunshine and warmth went via the A1 then up the A68 from just south of Newcastle, I’d forgotten how pleasant the A68 can be on a nice day. As we approached the border the temperature dropped, welcome home! The other thing of note was that on the English side of the border there were no speed cameras but on the much shorter 50 mile stretch from the Border to Edinburgh I counted over 20! Or one every 2 miles almost, ridiculous!! Thanks to the organisers and fellow Noccers who made it such an enjoyable weekend.

Passports

Those of you wanting to be counted in the passport competition have till the end of the month to get them back to Kev Feltoe.

Branch Grants

I’ve applied for a £75 branch grant for running our event at Applecross, I’d suggest any other branches do the same for any events they have run this year, once again Kev’s the man and the end of October is the closing date.

International Rally Spain 2010

In an effort to encourage as many people as possible to try to get to the Rally in Spain next year (July 8 – 12^th) I intend setting up a meeting before the end of the year somewhere central (Stirling?) So that people can discuss their travel plans in an effort to keep the ferry costs down. The NOC will be negotiating a discount no doubt on the Portsmouth – Bilbao or Santander routes but some may want the opportunity to ride down through France rather than suffer the congestion to the south of England and then be trapped on a boat for two days. Please get in touch with your E mail address if you are interested and I’ll keep you informed.

Not the International Rally 2011

After some coaxing (it didn’t take much) I’d like to propose we run the Not the International Rally in 2011 so that our European friends can come over and enjoy the real International Rally flavour in Bonnie Scotland. Ideas for locations and format are welcome! A question for our Euro friends, what would you like to see and do at this meeting, what would make it must do event for you? Let me know please.

The Inoa Rally 2010

As we know will be held in America, an old friend of mine Nigel Whittaker would appear to be part of the organisation so it should be a good do for those who can make the trip, he sent me this.

INOA 2010 Rally comes to BC, Canada – The INOA 2010 Nortorious Rally Lumby.

The big BC event in 2010 is not the Winter Olympics, but hundreds of Nortons from all the continents of the World migrating to the International Norton Owners Association Nortorious Rally in Lumby , BC . Offering some of the best riding roads in North America , visitors are promised outstanding hospitality, a full programme of events and the opportunity to explore the exceptional natural beauty of the Okanangan and Kootenay areas of BC, either by themselves or led by local guides. Note the average temperature is 32C in July! Dates are Jul 20 – 25 and further details are available at http://www.bmoc.ca/Nortorious.html or from nigel.whittaker@hotmail.com. Pre-registration will be available shortly. Local images can be found at http://www.totabc.org/trellis/gallery . Cost will be $75 for the 6 day event.

Getting there – direct flights from the UK to Vancouver , Calgary and Seattle . You can then take connecting flights (approx 1hr) to Kelowna or choose to have a scenic drive (4 hrs from Vancouver, 6 hrs from Calgary, 7 hrs from Seattle (includes an hour to get across the Land Border). Motorcycle rental companies operate from all 3 cities. There is talk of direct flights from the UK to Kelowna this winter for the ski season but no news yet about this extending through to the summer. In addition to the rally there is a wide range or tourism opportunities from visiting the numerous vineyards in the area (the wine is very good!), white water rafting, dirtbike/ATV tours, back country hiking, fishing to hitting the better know tourist destinations such as Vancouver Island (whale watching), Banff (look at Japanese people) etc.

The last time I had a beer with Nigel was at the International in Belgium so I’m thinking it might be worth the trip. I am in two minds though as I have quite strong feelings about the International moving out of Europe, many of the regular attendees simply cant afford the time or money to make a trip like this and I know that many of the people who have kept the Norton spirit alive over the years will be disadvantaged by these more outlandish locations. It was only 2 years since the meeting was in Australia so I feel the Committee should have a good think about what direction they are trying to steer the club in

Finally as its coming to that time of year I have a tip for you – Don’t eat the yellow snow!

The Small Print

The views and opinions contained within this publication are not necessarily those of the NOC or of the branch but are probably mine as I wrote it.

No one accepts any responsibility for anything, if you have a good time don't say I didn't warn you.

Gino Rondelli

October 2009