2008 News
Spring 2008 | Summer 2008 | Autumn 2008
Spring 2008
SaltireBlue's First Honorary Member
In March 2008 several SaltireBlue MCC members spent a weekend in Strathyre. Due to the wintry weather conditions most of us arrived in four wheels rather than on two. Top marks, however, go to founding member David who made it to the hotel by motorbike.
The purpose of our weekend was to celebrate a very special birthday for Finlay. For those of you who know Finlay, you will be aware of how much he has done to promote motorcycling within the gay and lesbian communities over many years. Not only here in Scotland, but also in the UK and in Europe.
He is held is such high regard that motorcycling companions, who no longer live in Scotland, flew in from Switzerland and South Africa to be part of the weekend celebrations.
On Sunday morning, it gave SaltireBlue MCC great pleasure to present Finlay with its first Honorary Membership of the Club.
SaltireBlue MCC Joins GLME
In May 2008, at the Gay and Lesbian Motorcyclists in Europe (GLME) Ascension Camp in Germany, Committee Members voted in favour of SaltireBlue MCC becoming part of the GLME federation.
SaltireBlue's three founding members were all in Morsbach to hear the GLME Committee's decision. Founding member Derek Green said, "Becoming an affiliated member of GLME is the biggest achievement for SaltireBlue Motorcycle Club in its very short history."
Summer 2008
SaltireBlue.com
As you can see from this July we have a "new-look" web site. We pretty proud of it, and we hope you like it too! Our aim is to provide information about biking in Scotland which anyone, not just SaltireBlue members, may find useful.
Whether you are planning an afternoon biking in the Scottish Borders, a weekend tour around the Highlands or perhaps a motorcycling holiday in Europe, we hope that you will find sections like, Places To Go, Road Reports, Ferry Information etc. to be of benefit.
Of course we will continue to update the information on this site from time-to-time. So if you have suggestions for future content, then why not email us and let us know.
SaltireBlue In The News
This month it's SaltireBlue MCC that's making the news. A small article about us features in the August 2008 edition of ScotsGay magazine (Issue 83). The club would like to thank magazine publisher John Hein and his staff for also adding SaltireBlue MCC to the Group List pages.
One Day Bike Runs
To mark SaltireBlue's first birthday on 24 August we asked our members to suggest favourite one-day bike runs in Scotland. We have taken 8 of the best and made them into single-page A4 Adobe Acrobat PDF factsheets, which you can download or print from our Places To Go page. We like to think of them as our birthday present to you!
Haste Ye Back!
On Friday 29 August founding members David and Derek attended the final evening of the GLME Summer Camp at Loch Lomond to represent SaltireBlue at the Committee meeting. We were delighted to meet friends, both old and new. Everyone we talked to had enjoyed their week of motorcycling in Scotland despite the wet weather. We would like to wish everyone a safe journey home. Now that you know where Scotland is, we hope it won't be too long before you return. Perhaps next time SaltireBlue can try and arrange some better weather for you!
Autumn 2008
New Members And Rideouts
Despite the arrival of autumn in Scotland, our club continues to attract new members. Thankfully as most recent weekends have been dry, bike runs have been organised at short notice by email, text and online. This has enabled the newer club members to participate in at least one or two SaltireBlue events before darker afternoons and the onset of winter arrive.
Towards the tail-end of September founding members David and Derek welcomed Steve on his first club run, a jaunt from Glasgow to Inveraray. The following weekend the same trio were joined by founding member Jim and new member Neil for a day's biking around Perthshire.
At the beginning of October Derek and Neil met SaltireBlue's latest member, Graeme, and the three of them tried-out the Leadhills bike run from our Places To Go page. And for a fourth weekend in a row, club members were out and about enjoying a tour around the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park.
Don't forget, if you're interested in becoming a member of SaltireBlue MCC simply complete the Membership Application Form and send it back to us.
An Invitation To Meet SaltireBlue
On Sunday 07 December SaltireBlue MCC will hold its Annual General Meeting at the Glasgow LGBT Centre, 84 Bell Street, Glasgow.
We would like to invite anyone interested in becoming a member of SaltireBlue MCC to join us after our meeting in the M.E.D Cafe Bar for a drink and chat from around 4pm onwards.
Norfolkline Announcement - 18 December 2008
Norfolkline Ferries announced that their service between Scotland and Belgium will commence on 18 May 2009. Sailings will depart three times a week in both directions. There is no service on Sunday. Timetables together with full details of single and return fares including motorbike charges, for low, standard and peak seasons can be found on the Norfolklines web site.
www.norfolkline.com/EN/Fares/Scotland_Belgium/