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An (Occasionally) Enthusiastic Bike rider with a penchant for geological stuff, having a good time and utilising my pessimism to it full capacity!

Monday 28 July 2008

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!

Thursday 24 July 2008

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?!

Monday 21 July 2008

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.

Wednesday 16 July 2008

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............

Tuesday 15 July 2008

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!!

Monday 14 July 2008

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!







Monday 7 July 2008

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.

Sunday 6 July 2008

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

Friday 4 July 2008

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!