After a few snow filled months it was great to be out on the bike.

We decided to tackle a stretch of track (part of the old military roads in this area dating back to the 1700s) that had us beat while riding previous bikes, me on a Tiger and Jim on his Varadero. We had to manhandle the bulky lumps out of this particularly wet, boggy moss covered section. We decided to have another go on the more slender Teneres and see how we would get on. Predictably we fared a lot better, even the TKCs handled it but with a few oh s..t moments. What can I say about the Mitas C02s that I haven't said before? - no stoppin them - brilliant on the soft but by the sounds of it would not want to ride on them on wet tarmac.








Theres a lot of wartime history around this area so we decided to take a trip up to Boyndie airfield near Banff.
We managed to get onto the site and ride down all three runways and have a look around a few old buildings including the control tower. During WW2 Norwegian and British squadrons flying Beaufighters and Mosquitos were based here and attacked German shipping in the North Atlantic and Norwegian harbours.








A quick visit to Findlater castle (ruins of) and a stop off at Portsoy harbour for steak pies - the best I have ever tasted, made even better as Jim paid! Portsoy is an old fishing harbour with a boat festival every year - clinker sailing boats and all that





Another track along the coast and a stop at Sandend - a good spot for surfing when the swell is up.

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Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard, grow big an wear glasses if you need em.

Really like the WWII history, would love to ride there myself.

Too bad Holland is just trying to remove the WWII history.


Last year in France we went to a lot of bunkers.
First in Yport (near Le Havre), then Camaret (near Brest) and finally back via Escalles (Cap Le Chevre, Cap Blanc Nez).

Even took a pic of your coastline

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Derbi Senda DRD Sm "04 (black) => BMW F650GS "04 (yellow) => Yamaha xt660z T�n�r� "09 (blue)

The north coast of Scotland is peppered with WW2 airfields (and some WW1 flying boat sites) which were set up to train pilots for the airfoce and navy. Some sites were also used to make up strength for the thousand bomber raids later in the war. A few were used for direct strike forces such as Boyndie and Dallachy. A good book about the subject is 'A Steep Turn To The Stars' by Jim Hughes a local historian.
My interest also lies in the fact that my father was in the RAF and used to build and repair Mosquitos during the war.
Is there a particular reason Holland is trying to remove this type of history?

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Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard, grow big an wear glasses if you need em.

Go on then Fiddich, give me a clue as to the first part of your day out? A grid ref maybe?
All I can see is a bogging mess on yer rear wheels!

Did you do the coastal route to Sandend or the road? My memory of walking that route several years ago doesn't lend to the use of anything motorised!

And Sandwiches at Sandend on the Sand! Nice

Steve T

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A weekend wasted isn't a wasted weekend

Firstly very close to you, the woods above Fochabers, the old military road.

To Sandend - all the small roads we could find and any tracks off them. I'm sure you recognise the spot the photos were taken from - a track from the farm above the bay that leads onto the footpath- ie dead end.

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Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard, grow big an wear glasses if you need em.

Probably because there isn't enough free space to build industry and expanding cities.

All bunkers are blocked because of gay people (no offense) doing dirty things in there.


The totally opposite is that they are still making memorials.
Last year they dug up an old Messerschmitt BF109 not far from my home.
They even found remains of the pilot, but the rest was just torn up metal.

The forrest is still full of old ammo as the germans tried to blow up a depot.
They used too much TNT, so everything got scattered over 25km.
People are still trying to excavate it, already took them 10 years.

A good friend of our family has been a B17 tail gunner in Europe and the far east.
He never talkes about it, but my dad says he got bullet and knife scars all over him.


Can't imagine how it would have been those days.

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Derbi Senda DRD Sm "04 (black) => BMW F650GS "04 (yellow) => Yamaha xt660z T�n�r� "09 (blue)