My trip to the Bike show....

On the bike, of course!
Steve came up from the deep South and we launched ourselves up to the NEC via Jacks Hill Cafe on the A5 near Towcester (strangely the bike can't seem to get past this without turning into the car-park, and throwing me off into the cafe in the process) We topped up the Cholesterol here and continued on our way.
I noticed, after travelling the first 30 miles and my fingers had started explaining the definition of frost-bite to my already frozen-from-birth brain, that the air temperature gauge was registering 3 degrees C.
My nice new Halversson's ensemble was keeping me quite warm - but my gloves were failing me around the fingertip area - and the rain had failed miserably to penetrate anywhere - Result!!

Having got to the NEC we parked the bikes -indoors- and I discovered that the NEC coms system didn't get on overly well with my alarm! It took ages to get the thing to set correctly and would only work when the Transmitter/receivers were in use and thus ignoring my alarm system?!
The show was better this year -in my opinion- than last year, my only disapointment was on the Triumph stand,

The New Thunderbird!

It's bloody awful!
What are Triumph thinking?
Just call it the 'Rocket 1'

Don't sully the name and looks of a design classic by comparing it with yet another Harley clone! leave that to Honda et al

Once over this, we met up with Teresa, Mick & Hanna for coffee and pasties in the highly priced Cafe in the NEC (opps, sorry I forget to insert 'corruptivly' between the 'highly' & 'priced')

AND, (here's a good thing that you all need to do!)
we joined the Royal British Legion Riders Branch they get up to all sort's of ride-outs and trips, displays visits etc. they also are looking to do a record breaking sort of 'iron butt' trip of 1000 miles in 24 hrs with over 200 riders, this could be fun! all for £17 a year! (This also covers the RBL memebrship fee)
Click on the link and find out more.

My newly insert wing mirror mounted LEDs worked extremely well and leaving the indicators on is now a thing of the past, jury's out though on the fairing deflector kit I fitted. I need to get out more to find out if this works.


Oh yeah, Have a look at this website I'm putting together it's all about the '7 Points' trip some of us Round Britain Ralliers did in May 2008
you may like to have ago yourself!!

Pah! - Doctors - what do they know?!

I had my routine 6 monthly blood test a couple of weeks ago with some additional blood letting to test for adverse effects relating to some cramps I've been getting in my Calf muscles.
All pretty routine stuff 'till I get a summons to appear in front of the Doctor. I assume this is for my routine 6 monthly bollocking relating to excessive feeding frenzies and not nearly excessive enough exercise frenzies.
However, on reporting to aforementioned medical practitioner I am advised to stop taking the cholesterol tablets for a couple of months, submit to another blood-letting exercise in 2 months and
(you'll need to be sitting down for this bit)
Stay off the bike for a couple of months!!!!

What is wrong with the man? is he mad? has he been prescribing himself the wrong kind of sweeteners for his tea?
I don't understand?!
He did have a large sort of smirky grin as he mentioned this, I think he's in the pay of that dodgy copper in North Wales.

I, of course, agreed with everything he said and promised to take the car to the NEC for the bike show (He he)

(Sh#t, I hope he don't read this!)

Bl#@dy LEDs, it gets worse!

Having spent ages fitting 2 LED's in each mirror housing One in the right housing (the proper Amber ones) has packed up!, this comes to 6 of the 8 LED's I got from Ultraled.com that have give up the ghost, bailed out, gone west, etc.
I shall forego any further urges to get my LED's from this source and stick to getting them from Maplins, all of which are still working despite having to put up with my (not inconsiderable) ability to bugger - all things electric - up.

I tidied the garage up today, due to pressure from' she-that-doesn't-want-to-scrape-ice-from-the-windscreen-in-the-morning', so the car can be put into it.
This has the effect of reducing the available space for the bike, so I will now have to revisit my 'mucking about in the garage' schedule and maybe transfer some effort into sorting out my website, which I've not been giving enough attention too.

Bl#@dy LED's!! Why can't they fit themselves?

Some where on the internet is a photo of a Honda ST 1300 Pan-European with dinky little Amber LED's fitted inside the wind mirror housing facing back-the-ways.

Theory being that people who sit a bit taller in the saddle (or have a Airhawk seat cover - that'll be me) and can no longer see the indicator tell tales on the dash and tend to forget the indicators are on, (and getting all bitter and twisted when cars/people pull/walk out in front of you as you approach junctions?!)
Will be able to see the LEDs fitted in the mirror housing and switch off the indicators (thus relieving the stress inducing actions related to hurling abuse/gestures at cars/people who pull/walk out in front of you as you approach junctions for what you perceive as a totally inexplicable action and/or a distinct dislike of you personally despite the fact they don't know who the hell you are; Hmm- is that Paranoia?)
This theory has yet to work for me, I fitted a couple of 5mm LEDs, as seen on the aforementioned internet picture, but they where;
a) Red instead of amber.
b) not bright enough during the day.

So over the last week I decided to replace these LED's with the correct colour 12v 5mm amber LED's
I invested a few £'s in 8 LED's, pre wired and set about fitting them.

At this stage I should mention that anything electric, in particular 12v, is a total mystery to me and I've always assumed that 12v systems were the domain of other worldly beings who have no concept of 'normal'

Out of the 8 amber LED's, one turned out to be white(?) and the wires fell of 5 of the other 7 leaving me with 2 that I managed to get fitted having blown the alarm indicator fuse on 3 occasions and requiring 3 trips to Maplins for spares (I've completely depleted the Milton Keynes branch now of both mini spade fuses, amber & orange LED's)
They are now fitted to the bike and are working (at the moment) unfortunately due to a very strange lack of amber super-bright 5mm 12v LED's on this planet I had to make my own up (see above relating to my understanding of electric) and I could only get Orange LED's - thus I have Amber to turn Right and Orange to turn Left.
I've also fitted some wind deflectors as you can see, these went on without to much hassle ('Cos there not electric!) and I have some other bits to fit to protect the (rubbish) paintwork.

I suppose at some stage in the near future I will change the Orange LED's for Amber one's but I need to get some more fuses first?! and read up a bit about electric

A jolly good week end

Last week end some of us intrepid Round Britain Ralliers had a final camping week end for 2008 at 'Conkers' near Burton on Trent!
As none of us had any idea what the site was like I elected to take the Caravan to use as a 'club house'

(This is an old photo as despite having taken 2 cameras AND a DV camera, I failed to get any photos?!)


The thinking behind the camping trip was to allow the RBRers who might have to come from a long distance away the opportunity to meet up for the week end, not having to rush about to get back home and hand in their photos for adjudication on the Sunday (Dave the Disorganiser and his family, have 2 week-ends when they welcome the participants of the RBR to come and have their photos checked and points/scores issued)
This is always a popular event and an get a bit crowded.

On the Friday Steve and I set up the caravan and had a practice BBQ with Jacki & Phil, Paul was there in his camper van but got carried away uber-relaxing!
We were denied the pleasure of Highwaylasses ('s) presence by her work commitments :-(

Saturday saw Teresa, Mick and Hanna appear and a few day trippers including the British Biking God 'The Grim Rider' and Jerry who stayed at the YHA which is on site..... with a bar...... and a restaurant..... and is brand new...... and had I known it was there I would have stayed in it as well!

The BBQ sort of went on a bit, plenty of smoke (caravan still smells like a transport cafe) and we got to see/hear Graham and his brother Barry in full bickering mode, (this had to be the highlight of the week-end) and it started to rain as soon as their bikes started to go home.

I think it was a successful week-end and the weather was perfect (apart from the bit of rain that we had booked for Graham)

Brightona, and the failed challenge!

Steve and I decided to go to the Brightona Bike meet having seen it on the UK Bike web site.
This was a good thing to do, lots of bikes albeit HDs in the main, but there were plenty of them as the day wore on there were not far off the same quantity of bikes at Brightona as there was at the Ace Cafe burn up

There was some strange looking bikes there as well! there were some that were in the process of being fabricated, I think, as the engines were missing!
(I notice things like that.)


It has to be said the excitement of being there was heightened by the lack of traffic control, which made riding far more enjoyable weaving in and out of the pedestrians crowded onto Madeira Drive, and when on foot dodging bikes and cars coming at you from all directions.

Anyway having battled our way past the entry and paid our £5 we wiggled our way through the crowd and parked at the far end of Madeira drive then walked down to Harry Ramsdens for Fish & Chips.
Here we elected to take the 'Harry's challenge' meal, which consisted of a larger than normal lump of your preferred fish + chips and Peas/Beans (you get a certificate if you manage to clear the plate) all went well when it arrived it looked very manageable (in fact dessert was muted) however it all went wrong about 1/2 way through and neither of us succeeded in our quest and consequently failed to get our Certificate - disaster!

This was not a good thing to do!! and lessons have been learnt ('till we go back, that is!?)

Nearly Christmas! (Well, close enough to justify getting more bike kit?!)

I feel a desperate need to spend more money on the bike.

so I plan to invest in some more bits of plastic to protect the rather rubbish paintwork on the areas of the fairing where the paint has worn off! and some better weather protection - Compared to my Triumph Trophy the weather protection on the Honda is not much cop either!

I'm thinking, if I sneak a few bits on the bike at a time, 'Er indoors may not notice. although there may be a problem when I roll the bike out of the garage after a few months of sticking bits on it, and it has sort of evolved from a stock Pan European to something just short of a Goldwing!



Still, That's a bridge to be crossed when I get to it.
Live for the moment, that's what I say!! (Albeit a very short moment, probably!)

Don't read this if you're a sensitive biker who likes to treat the road as a race track!

How arrogant and ignorant are some of us bikers!

I've just seen some footage of some seriously silly riding

Why do we have to put other peoples lives at risk with our need to go faster than everything around us?
If we can't kill innocent people as a result of our stupidity and ruin the lives of their relatives maybe we can kill ourself, and ruin the lives of our relatives and loved ones. (How clever is that! we die so we don't have to worry about anyone; is that a definition of ignorance or arrogance?)
Not to worry though! we like to think - that our mates think - we're brilliant riders, which, of course we are!!
So we'll never crash/run over a child/cause some other road user to crash, etc. we're just too good and anyway, they should have seen us coming and got out of the way!

If you need to speed, do it on a track and don't give the Police & press (and undertakers) reason to persecute Bikers who just want to enjoy safe riding and are happy to share the road with other people!

Rant over

Despite the credit crunch....

...I decided to buy some polish stuff for the bike!
Highly recommended by a friend I invested my funds in the Macquires polish system to try and clean up the image of my Bike.
The paintwork on the Honda pan 1300 is rubbish after only 23000 miles and 18 months it is heavily oxidised and covered in micro-scratches (something that never happened on my Triumph Trophy 1200 despite some serious abuse!)
So I set about the bike with aforementioned polish kit and after 2 days of scrubbing, rubbing, cursing, sweating, and swearing the finished result was a revelation! finally the bike looked 1/2 decent, in fact, the best it ever has (including when it was in the showroom?!).
So pleased was I with this result, I stuck 'her indoors' on the back of the bike hopped on myself and launched us off to Skins cafe to show off my shiny bike.
At this point things started to go downhill, Nice sunny day = big, well fed Bugs which now adorn the front of the bike thus detracting from the nice shiny effect, then we get to the Cafe and She develops the need for new Motorbike boots so I retaliate by adding a back protector for my new jacket and some gloves, resulting in the passage of 200 of my English £'s back into the local economy!
Bugger!!!

I like Duffy, (so should you!!)

Anyone who remembers the 60's, Northern soul, Dusty Springfield and similar should listen to this artist, AND she's no primadonna like most 'stars'
Very refreshing music!

Back from the "Brighton Burn-up"

(You'd have thought someone would have come up with a more apt nomenclature for this 'do' by now?!)

However, I digress.






Truly the good Gods conspired to produce some decent weather, excellent country and scenery on the trip down and, what a spectacle when we arrived in Brighton!




All sorts of Bikes from Mopeds to the (very) obvious 'Boss Hoss'

There were Bikes that would never see the day when so much as a pint of petrol would leave the tank they were so 'bulled-up'
Others that had obviously had a lot

of cash spent on them,
and were dearly
(in more ways than one) loved
by their owners

Some who were there for the ride (Me)

(My bike being ignored by all & sundry)





Some bikes that just shouldn't be allowed out on the road and some that sparked emotional thought processes such as 'How the F#@k did that make it here in one bit? '

Entertainment provided in the form of the stunt riders and an 'MC' that no-one could figure out from which of his orifices the noises were coming from?!


Loads of Scooters, and people dressed for the various decades in a surprisingly and refreshingly completely non-threatening atmosphere.

Brilliant An excellent day had by all (other than the 3 scooters that rather embarrassingly (for the rider) and amusingly (for the onlookers) overheated and packed up in the que to leave, he he!)

Brighton News and Events in and around the area

Isn't it frustrating.....

.... when you cant play with some thing new you've bought yourself!
I've yet to go out and parade my nice new riding ensemble I got me for my Birthday! This is due to work commitments and not the weather as I need to get out in the rain to see if the kit is waterproof.
I did do a small trip out overnight last week-end and had to drive home in some serious Fog, no joke on the A1 when I was doing no faster than 40mph (Visor fogging on the outside as well as Fog = bugger all visibility!) and all around me were obviously unaffected by 50mtr visibility!?
So I didn't get to find out if the 'keep you warm/cool liner' worked or how waterproof it is.

Now then! this week-end see's the Brighton Burn-up taking place and all being well I'm going down there with Steve, this will be an all day event so it's bound to rain at some stage, and I get to try out my Kit.

I like getting prezzies

It's my Birthday in a few days, Now I don't normally have Birthdays as this only makes you get older! I have, However, condescended to have a little Birthday this year so that I can have prezzies (I like prezzies!)
So far I have one prezzie which I went and got today at a motorcycle cafe and clothing place in Brackley, Northants, called Skins this consisted of a new pair of motorbike trousers from the Swedish company Halvarssons which will improve my riding in the wet, hot, dry, cold & indifferent weather?! They certainly fit better than all the rest of my trousers (Mind you that may be due to my mutating waistline) and they are related to Rukka stuff but without the extortionate cost!

I can't help but think that'll be the only one I get for my Birthday, but it don't matter because I also got in the post this very morning my....

East Coast Challenge mug
(Most important!!!)

RBR - All done!

I finished the Round Britain Rally on Thursday of last week, and I'm now thinking of what to do for the rest of the Summer/Autumn (Fall)
I intend to go out for a week end camping some time but this will be decided 'on the day' and be weather dependant. (it would make such a difference to have a week end without rain!)

Meantime, I have the bike to service, Honda - 4000 miles, therefore should take approx 3 minutes (would normally cost £247 at the dealership so that wont be happening as it's nearly out of warranty) and then I've still got to clean it and survey the damage collected over the year, I know I've collected quite a few scratches and scrapes due to the rubbish H2O based paint Honda use, hopefully they'll polish out.

Whaddavidonewrong?

Truly I have been blighted by the gods this last week, attacked by an out-of-control 'Turkey-Owl' who took it upon itself to Front up the wipe-out-a-biker-a-day branch of the 'Divine-Wind' (Owl division) movement, This member of the Strigiformes obviously had a hard night as he leapt out from a church yard I was passing during the day, either that or he had special needs!
Unfortunately for him Thor the God of nasty weather had already booked time for me to be drenched over the next 4 days in the north of England and Borders of Scotland (I think this was due to my having decided to wear my leathers instead of textile biking kit)
This took place whilst doing the East Coast Challenge with the outward bounds division of the Round Britain Rally, we were all camped in Norwich for the week-end which was nice! the Sun did come out on the Sunday so everyone could take their tents down in the dry, I stayed the Sunday night and suffered (See below!)


So on my arrival into Northumberland the heavens opened in time for me to struggle putting up my new larger tent, then it only stopped raining to allow me to get to the shower block and back and in the middle of each trip on the bike, this let me leave in the rain and get back in the rain drying off for 1 or 2 hours in between -how kind!
However the best was saved for a rather miserable walk to a Landmark I had to visit along a stretch of the Solway Firth which was along the ankle deep mud tide line in spectacular rain for about a mile, the up side was the rain was so heavy it washed most of the mud off me!


The rivers were all in flood (nearly every road I drove was flooded or had deep 'run-off' from the fields crossing them) which was a truly special sight if not a bit scary when driving alongside them!

Memories are made of ?

I just got a mail from 'Friends reunited' from a school colleague who I used to go out with back in the day.
How embarrassed was I having to write back saying I couldn't remember her, I have since put some serious thought into this period of my life time and come up fairly blank!
It was only 36 years ago but so much has happened during that 36 years my brain cell seems to have squirrelled away most of my formative years.
I think I may be remembering some of this period now, but it does make you wish you'd kept in touch in the first place and not just 'lived for the day' mind we didn't have the technology to assist memory (DV, Digital cameras, phones etc) that today's youth have.

Still I must have had a good time over this 36 year period to have forgotten the previous years.

Nearly ready to go.....

Well my bike is packed and I'm ready to go....
My new tent is still up in the garden and is fairing well in the torrential rain, I just hope it stops in the morning so the tent can dry out so I can pack it dry ready for my Friday morning launch window of 0900hrs

My final trip to Wales (This Year!)

Stunning weather in Wales?! I did wonder if the Satnav had screwed up again as I crossed the border into Wales but confirmation was not long coming in the form of some undecipherable signposts which I assume were pointing towards towns, villages etc of the same name.

You can't help but be impressed by the quality of the Welsh (& Scottish) tarmac even the farm tracks are relatively smooth, they just beg to be used to there maximum tolerances, so self constraint has to go up a notch here and I've found the best way to curb ones enthusiasm is to soak up the countryside and stop often to bathe in the green & grey spiky geology and stuff.

Strange the temperature variations at my campsite, when I arrived late evening Friday it was hot but cooling down so setting up shop was a pleasant task -other than the over-friendly advances of the local midges- and I was thinking 'how nice! I get to sleep in my super small summer sleeping bag with out having to keep all my kit on'
WRONG!!! it was bloody freezing during the night! the campsite at Rhand#@*~# is in a bowl at the head of a valley; very picturesque and all that but it traps cold air which come of the surrounding hills also the mist stay in the bowl and gets everything wet, however once the sun is up and has burnt through the cloud/mist it's like a oven (a very humid oven)
Still it makes a change from rain.

Trip out on Saturday was good although I got cut off from the bike for 3/4 hour while the gate operator mucked about raising and lowering the plethora of bridges that let boats in and out of the basin at Swansea and into the sea, and it had to be the Swansea Regatta on the day I get there so they all wanted to get out, probably a nice sight when your not wanting to move on.

I also forgot to take a photo of the bike at the Cardiff LM, only noticed after having spoken to Steve on the phone later that day, this just made my Sunday all the better as I had to nip back there and take the picture; which, in view of the good weather and having got all day, made for an extremly pleasant trip home.

The escape from Wales

Success! I got out of Wales without mishap! that's twice I've managed to escape the clutches of the Red Dragon this year.
normally I have some sort of disaster when in Wales, punctures, fall-off's etc, I can attribute 2 of my assisted recoveries (1 to the RAC & the other to the AA) to my Welsh soirées.
I did forget/lose my little foldy-up handle that I use for the cooking pans which resulted in medium-rare fingers and abuse to the God of gas camping stoves, and the C&CC clubrez booking system stuck again as despite my paying online they had used that payment to cover the cost of my forthcoming camping adventures at Norwich, once again the site staff came to the rescue and took more cash from me, how kind!



Early morning start was a bit misty



The Site at Rhandirmwyn (pronounced @#/'.,##'**?)
was the best I've been to yet -despite it's name, (I say this at every site I go to -other than Teversal- as each one seems better than the previous one!)

The scenery is marvellous and the showers produce enough water to enable you to stand still and get wet; as opposed to most camping site showers which require you to run around in the shower to get wet.



Somewhere on this bike is the handle for my cooking pots!




More about the Motorcycling to follow, watch this space!

Ready to go!!!!

I've just finished packing the bike up, and am ready to head off into Wales for the week-end!
I must be getting good at this camping-on-a-bike malarkey as I seem to have rather a lot of room left in the top-box(?) and most of my pockets are still empty.
I assume I'll find out why when I arrive at the camp-site and discover that vital kit required to ensure the smooth running and success of this week-end is still residing somewhere at home?!

Saturday, Terrible wind on way to Sheffield!

I nipped up to Sheffield on Saturday to pick up the Land mark I missed due to my puncture last week-end, I stopped at Jack's Hill cafe for brekkies only to find it had been invaded by loads of kids accompanied by proud Parents who displayed the usual need to share their up & coming Doctors, Actors, Barristers, leaders-of-industry etc with the rest of us poor unsuspecting public, how kind of them!? I swiftly swallowed my 'Drivers Breakfast' (I had a small breakfast to enable me a swift departure due to the earshattering noise emanating from the above)

Back on the road as I hopped off the A5 onto the M1 at J20 I noticed the wind had got stronger, the Pan European is not normally bothered by wind (Just as well being positioned beneath me after all them beans) but this trip it was certainly registering its displeasure at the wind being stronger from the side than from the front. especially at the M1/M18 junction!

Once off the road the trip through Sheffield with all its new road system (unrecognised by Satnav!) The wind dropped and the Sun had its hat on, so all was well.
Got to the Land mark and was greeted by seriously spectacular views, I could almost see my own back, the visibility was so good! I loitered a few long minutes to soak it all in.

Back on the road to visit the dog agility at Grantham where Poppet the Dog was with the other half, I met her Sister as I was going through Worksop (she was also going to Grantham) so I followed them down to the show ground.
Left for home at 8pm with plans to be home by 9:30pm only to find the A1 closed! so I did a bit of cross country riding on some very nice roads staying just ahead of the rain. (Got home at 9:35PM - Result!)

Near miss!! (Booking camping via clubrez)

Phew! Close call again using the Camping & Caravan Clubs online booking fiasco called Clubrez

I booked a site for this coming week-end in Wales, unfortunately I seem to be missing the Welsh pronunciation gene and booked the wrong site, a mistake I discovered almost immediately I hit the 'confirm' button (as you do!)
I tried then to change the booking utilising this facility on Clubrez only to be told this can't be done as the booking was within 8 days of going there? So I ring them up this very morning and am told I may lose my deposit (It's not just Labour MPs then?) but try contacting the site direct and they will sort me out, which they did, another example of just how good the C&CC site staff are.
Moral of this story;- don't book online with the C&CC unless your booking 2 weeks in advance.

Motorcycle tyres

Now here's a thing....

Why is it that we bikers accept the cost of our tyres? all a bit fatalistic really isn't it?

I mean we accept that our new rubber is gonna cost approx £220 every 4 - 12k of riding (fine if your a Power Ranger or 'cruiser' rider who's mileage is limited by the weather?!) and that when this meagre mileage is curtailed by a £0.01p nail etc, we will have to replace the tyre, as repairing it is just a bit too risky.

I don't think I've ever seen the Motorcycle press moan about this? they just accept it without question. (which begs another question....)

Why then don't cars have this problem, are the tyres any less technical? or is it that maybe the car press would get uptight about the cost of tyres as they have a larger readership/public who would inundate them with 'enquiries' to find out why they aren't asking the manufacturers about costs.

Answers on a postcard, please to MCN, Bike, Ride, TWO............

Tempting providence!

Why is it that when you talk about past disasters they repeat themselves? is there some God like being amusing him/her self? Is the aforementioned email fairy moonlighting for a few extra laughs? am I paranoid? does any one care!
I remember a conversation at Hayfield about joining the AA/RAC and how good they both were, I mentioned that I tend to get the bike low-loaded about twice a year (This has been the case for the last 4 years!) this year I have only been low-loaded once, (My ignition barrel and steering lock seized in the locked position)
So one of the above was obviously seeking to redress this piece of -relative- good fortune by supplying my rear tyre (only 800 miles old) with a complex puncture as I left the camp site, complex because having plugged it 3 times it was still leaking air, so a mad dash for the nearest garage and a phone call had the AA coming out to rescue me,


Getting comfy as I wait for the AA





I was fully expecting a low-load home due to being unable to stop the leak, but the very nice man from the AA managed to insert another plug and some 'slime' which -finally- stopped the air escaping.


A very nice man!





I drove the rest of the way home in the end thus saving that other low-load home for another day!
The Bike is now a unicycle in the garage awaiting another tyre! Interestingly this is a story/moan/whinge for another day!!

Carry on Camping (Hayfield 2008)

The Round Britain Rally gets Camping at Hayfield Camping & Caravan Club site in the Dark peak area of the Peak district national park in Derbyshire, an area of tranquillity and escape from the hustle & bustle of modern life, an area to get back to nature and enjoy the beauty of the English scenery at it's best and a good place to spot low flying 747's et al buzzing the site from 0130hrs until the BAA are sure everyone is awake!



Despite a wet week-end the indomitable spirit of the Ralliers comes to the fore in the face of such trials and we all park the bikes up and make a truly heroic run for the dry inside of the Sportsman's Hotel once inside we are forced to eat good food and drink as much beer as possible, like true 'hard' bikers we take this torture on the chin and only complain when being kicked out!

My tent managed to start it's own breeding program during the week-end, possibly due to the weather and grew a 'windbreak' which, unfortunately was pointing in the wrong direction and became a windcatcher tunnelling the wind into the tent, this is not good as it also diverts the rain into the tent as well, in fact, this whole design was a disaster but I'm not going to admit it to any one, that would be silly!

It started with a curse II

....... Moving on then.
I left the 1st CP at J23a planning to follow the satnav to Leicester - pretty straightforward it's only a couple of junctions South on the M1- However satnav wants me to go north up the M1 - I can see this is going to see me and the satnav having 'issues' in the very near future - I ignore the satnav (I am a master in the art of 'ignore') and find my own way.

The rest of the trip is fairly uneventful, met Janet at Lincoln, very nice! got stuck in air show traffic in Lincoln, not very nice!




had dinner at Suzi's cafe at Sutterton (A17)




Sunshine and nice weather abandoned me when I got to Rotherham.
Drove through the night in the rain across all of the scenic parts of England and couldn't see a thing, and finally got to Bletchley to meet some of the other Round Britain Rally mob collecting their various awards and availing themselves of Station X's comestibles.
A good day had by all I think, and the rest of the Sunday to recover and catch up on the 36hrs without sleep.

It started with a curse!

Brilliant idea! If I take my iPAQ with me on the National Rally I can upload lots of interesting(?) snippets to this blog, live and fresh as it happens (this is clever and I have seen Highwaylass do it)
I know it can be done because my first post was done this way.
So, having found myself at a loose end at the first checkpoint (I got there 1:1/2 hours before the start of the rally and nobody else was there) I extract said iPAQ with a flourish, and madly stab at the keyboard creating a truly wonderful narrative on my exploits at the driving skills 'tests' I had just completed (actually, 'completed' may be a little overstated?!)
When I send the above, it gets hijacked by the email fairy who promptly looses it (Tart!!)
when I try to recover my labour of love there is no sign of it, what's all that about?

I even took this picture to send with it,Could this be the reason the email Fairy consigned it to oblivion?

More to follow

Ready to go!!!

I think I've got everything loaded and have certainly put my normal collection of kit and maps that will probably never see the light of day (but you never know....)

I'm sort of looking forward to it now it's a bit closer, I haven't been out for a decent ride since getting back from the 6 points thingy and have just about scrubbed in my new tyres and brake pads.
The weather people reckon it's probably going to rain on our parade at some stage in the proceedings so I've elected to wear my most waterproof bit of kit - my skin.
I have sprayed my gloves with waterproofing stuff of which I have so much faith in that I'm taking 2 spare pairs (well you never know......)

First stop will be MIRA for the riding skills(?) test bit, I'm intending on getting there about 10am do my thing and then off to my starting Check point at J23a M1 where I'll no doubt meet lots of like minded people all ready to launch themselves down the M1 to Leicester!

BBQ weather

Suns out and I've ran out of time (and enthusiasm) for taking the bike out due to having to cut the grass (again, this was the 5th time this year, why'd it have to grow so quick?) and having been out all morning looking for some more camping kit ready for a camping excursion in 2 weeks to meet with fellow Round Britain Ralliers for a long week-end in the Dales.
I went originally for a sleeping bag liner, having suffered near cryogenic suspension on the 6 points thing, - I ended up in a luke-warm shower at 4.30am trying to thaw out!
As a result of investing in a sleeping bag that squishes down to about 1/4 size of a normal bag - useful for packing on a motorbike - and, as it turns out, 1/4 as warm, so the plan is, get a silk sleeping bag liner these make the bag a) warmer, b) cleaner and c) easier to slither in and out of, just have to make sure the bottom zip is done up! So I traipes off to a camping shop that don't exist, no problem, I go to one in the opposite direction that does exist, I look at silk liners - £34, not good! I'm thinking £20 tops, so I decide to get one on the net, I console myself with the purchase of a blow-up camp bed for £9.99 and a gas cartridge for my little fold up gas cooker.
I then get home to the call of the BBQ which has to be cleaned! (I hate cleaning BBQs) and then burn some dinner for us, and top up the toilet rolls in the loo ready for the morning!
By the time all of this has been done, it's to late to stick everything on the bike and drive around testing it, not to worry though I'll do it another day -maybe!

This is hard work!

I've spent about 6 hours trying to get that Flickr photo Slideshow thing you can see on the right hand side of the page working, and showing the pictures I want you to see and not pictures of some Hen night, sunsets etc.

Does the term 'User friendly' really mean that? or is it a plot to lull us all into a false sense of security whilst jemmy-ing money from our otherwise sensible fingers.

Perhaps we should bring out some form of legislation pertaining to the use of 'iffy' terms, so them IT types who come up with these words and phrases have to go to everyone's house and show them what they actually mean, I would include politicians in this as well, but the last thing I want is one of them coming to see me and they would be forever knocking at the door!

Going out on the bike tomorrow to test the SATNAV bracket repair I have bodged, a lump of the bracket fell of and tried to take Steve out by nearly going under his front tyre on a motorway, when on the 6 points expedition last month, which resulted in having to cable tie the thing on.
This brilliant piece of engineering should save me the £40 it would cost to replace the proper one; on the other hand it may still cost me £40 and have wasted 2 days of inventive thinking and a whole mess of trial and error, bits of metal strewn all over the garage and 25% of my knuckle skin sacrificed in the pursuit of design excellence (That last bit failed, by the way!)

Working tomorrow

Got to work tomorrow, still this gives me some time to prep the bike for the English National Rally and check I've got me route right.
Last time I did the rally I relied totally on the satnav and it had me zooming off in all directions less the correct ones! once I realised it had it in for me I gave it a stern talking to and checked the somewhat dodgy info I have inadvertently loaded into it and all was well, I cut it a smidge fine at the final check point though.
The picture is of my Triumph Trophy 1200 at Sutton Maddock check point at about 4am in the morning hence the blurry eyed photo.

This year is the first year on the rally for the Pan European and it's looking forward to it, should be a bit cheaper as well as the fuel consumption is better on the Pan than the Trophy, mind the cost of fuel has gone up you know! so it'll cost twice as much anyway. Still ones got to do what you can to keep up the fight for Global warming, and keep paying lots of tax to bail out the Government in it's time of need.

The first post!

OK, I'm laying in bed scrbbling this this blog on my iPAQ due to me having been turfed out of my office/study by 'she that must be obayed' .
Possibly not the best way to start a new adventure in cyberspace but not to worry it'll all come good when I'm allowed to get back in my office!!