bonio

Hmm. Could be the riding position is trapping a nerve. Or (less likely I'd have thought) engine vibes down the bars are affecting your hands. What bike were you riding? You can either try sitting a bit further forward or back on the bike - if it's a trapped nerve this can be enough to make a difference. Or ask to use a different model of bike, if they have one.

Oh no! Gutted for you.

Incoming.... !

They've been doing this kind of thing - removing road signs and markings - in Holland for years. They say that it makes the traffic go slower and it's safer for cyclists. In the article I read, they said that of course it could never happened in the UK: the Dutch are so much more enlightened than us.

I guess this means they've gone through the prisoners that were drafted in over the summer. The wise ones surrendered in their first week.

@husoi dark chocolate.... Always knew you were classy.

My son had this, but it was months before they contacted him to say he hadn't paid, by which time he'd racked up "debts" of £175. He phoned, and got "don't worry, we've made a mistake, we won't charge you". Meanwhile they sold his debt to a debt collector, who pursued him across the years to Australia and kept on with their falsehoods and threats. He's a lazy lad at heart so, rather than fight it, he coughed up!

Nice ideas, all these, but none of them can be enforced with cameras and id plates / licence plates. And that would cost a fortune. They might irritate other road users (they do me!), but as @Mississippi Bullfrog says, the number of KSIs related to bicycles is very low. So it rightly doesn't much slice of the budget.

The bits of the headline that stick out to me are, "could" and "may". When I read that I wonder if it's just something the journalist invented on a Sunday afternoon.

Tuck. You'll thank yourself next Spring.

Noooooo!

Hi, welcome in. Great bike that; bet you can hardly wait. Pics please when it arrives. What were you riding before?

I guess people buy adventure bikes mainly for commuting. In which case this bike makes some kind of sense.

Glad you got it sorted. Nice bike, by the way.

@Esoteric I managed to fix a small crack in the engine casing using chemical metal. I just slapped some on the outside over the crack. It slowed the leak down to begin with, and after a year or so, it stopped it completely.

The rubber tubes are there to handle overflows from the tank. They run with fuel if you overfill, and they can do the same when the bike goes over. So no worries on that count. I hope the rest of the bike is ok

You should know it mate. It was something like, "Oi you, Two Soups, shut up and pass the... " don't remember exactly what it was that was wanted. Happy days!

It came to about 1730 miles for all in for me. A bit over 400 miles on the last day. Bit knackered on Sunday! Took new tyres, which are now well scrubbed in No idea of mpg thankfully. Spent whole days in mainly 2nd and 3rd gears.

Day 7. James is off to France this morning, starting his journey home. The forecast is for rain so I'm off sightseeing in Trier. I got to the edge of the city and the heavens opened leaving me to find my way through a mist of rain and spray all over the visor. All kinds of road sign on every corner telling you what you must or mustn't do. I'm not always sure if a particular sign is a must or a mustn't, but as far as I am aware the only time I went really wrong was when I turned into a street meant for bicycles only. To me that counts as a success. Found a great parking place next to a bank that had a large canopy, providing a good sized bit of dry pavement, ideal for changing out of the bike kit. Very thoughtful of them. Then I grockeled for day: did the Cathedral, the basilica, one of the sets of baths, all of which go back to the 4th C. To top off my day of culture, I lunched at McDonald's. Another heavy shower meant I nearly got soaked in the baths (you're meant to laugh here) and that the ride back was a damp one. But a great day out. So that's it. Tomorrow is meant to be a bit of a slog to get home in a day. Done it before so I know there won't be much to write about, so I'm signing off this report here. Been a great trip. Some fantastic roads, good company, great scenery, comfortable place to stay - all you can ask for. The main surprise for me was to see how the road surfaces in this part of Germany have suffered since the floods last year. There are still one or two sweet patches, but mostly they're patched, ribbed, eroded, and badly in need of repair. They've got their work cut out to put them back to how they were.

Day 6. Today we headed to the part of the weather map that look least soggy: Saarburg. It had only recently stopped raining when left and the roads were still a bit damp when stopped in a village just along from Piesport in the Moselle valley for tea, coffee, and apple cake. The Moselle valley We then headed south and the sun came out for an easy, very curvy ride through forests and along river valleys until we reached Saarburg. Neither of us had beeen here before , but we'd both go back. It has to be my ideal of what a small German town should be: narrow streets, timbered buildings, expensive shops, a little river and a waterfall. And it even had places to get lunch. Lunch stop Back on the bikes, we were soon in Luxembourg again, for cheap fuel and that awesome tarmac. No wonder we keep going back. We managed almost two complete tours of Grevenmacher due to the navigator app having a brain fart, but eventually escaped to enjoy the Grand Duke's roads. Beaufort, Luxembourg Finally, though, the rain caught up with us just before we crossed back into Germany at Bollendorf. Time to head for home.

A quick update on days five and six. Day 5. I had an appointment at the British Embassy in Brussels to pick emergency travel documents. Because once you've told an official yout passport has been lost, there's no way officialdom can grasp the idea that it might have been found again. Rain overnight meant wet and muddy roads all the way to St Vith, followed by too many towns and too many cameras, then some nice twisty roads before Liege. I left the bike there in a run down parking bay by the station, next to a couple of moth eaten mopeds chained to a rack, aware that my disk lock was not really designed for deployment in this kind of area. Hopped on a train to Brussels Central and was back again as quickly as I could. As proof that miracles do happen I have this: the bike was still there. Stopped by the station to get some lunch. Wowser what a miserable place. Made Lowestoft on a rainy day look cheerful and life-affirming. Took a different route back through Houfalize and across Luxembourg to get back. The roads were now dry, the sky was, blue, the sun was behind. A perfect route. As for James, he went off for a spin round Luxembourg unsupervised. But I'll leave the tales of the pizza and the half naked man (the two eere unrelated) for him to tell you, when gets a chance. Leaving the bike at Liege On the train back, with the emergency passport Arriving back at Liege Station. I can see from here that the bike hasn't been nicked.

Today @Bungleaio and I mastered one of the basic survival skills of modern man: lunch. I'd never reckoned that lunch was a skill, or if was, I'd never thought it a hard one to acquire. But the fact is that this is Day 4 of the trip and neither of us has had any success at it so far. Today, we nailed it by heading for Boppard on the Rhine. A cracking ride which took us down to the Moselle three times at three different places and then up into the hills one last time before coming down into the Rhine gorge. The Moselle has to be the prettiest river on earth, turquoise waters fringed with green vineyards and dotted with small towns in pink and white and fairytale castles clinging to the hillsides. No pictures though cos when there are two of you neither really wants to stop. So just these from our lunch stop. Eatung by the Rhine Parking by the Rhine James is good company so we shared some beers over schnitzel for dinner.

Today for me was a quick blast of Luxembourg. Heaven. Luxembourg everything a rider could ask for. Open roads rising over soaring hills. Gentle roads that sweep through green valleys. Wild bends and hairpins between cliffs and forests. It has small roads and big roads but almost no shite roads at all. Two small problems today. I've yet find the knack of finding a place that serves food for lunch do had to make do with an ice cream instead. Second was the engine has started misfiring - very lumpy at 3-4k revs - after filling up with cheap fuel at Vianden. At first was really bad, but hopefully it will settle down. Went to the Supermarket to find some redex but found @Bungleaio in the parking lot instead.

No queues whatsoever at the tunnel yesterday. M20 had only light traffic and the trains seemed to be half empty.

I used to do about 50 on my GS. Don't think I get that much on this machine.