S-Westerly

Ditto.

Once upon a time I worked for Exxon and I was supposedly top of the promotion list. I was summoned to the office for what was supposed to be my promotional briefing but instead was told it was on hold due to my having had a furious row with the Master on my last ship. (He was wrong and I was right as it eventually transpired). So I wrote a resignation letter on the spot. Got another better paying job with a German company within 4 days and got promoted by them a year later.

I'd say nob was nowhere near strong enough to describe someone showing that level of fuckwittery. Brain dead moron would be the most charitable description with adjectives added as necessary.

Today's nobs are plural - it's the knobheads who have allowed our motorways to deteriorate to the extent they have and the bigger nobs are the ones who have 30 plus miles of alleged road works and average speed 50 mph with sweet FA going on.

To be honest yes. There are statistically more storms and significant wave heights are up by about 0.5 m on average compared to 50 years ago. Doesn't sound much but there's an enormous amount of energy required to achieve this.

My mistake was wearing my summer gear to go north on Sunday. Waterproof over trousers aren't waterproof anymore. At least the jacket still is. My only sensible decision was to take winter weight goretex gloves but even with them I had the heated grips on full blast. Wore 3 layers under my jacket and was still cold.

I thought it was supposed to be summer! Where's the bloody global warming then? 6 C this morning and pissing down with rain. Filthy weather.

Rode it over the moors roads from Corbridge to Barnard Castle. Had a great ride apart from a grouse which embedded itself in my engine and the suicidal / homicidal wooly fuckwits that like to wander around in the middle of a road, preferably around a blind bend. In revenge I'll be eating a lot of lamb.

It's actually in Mitford which is a couple of miles west of Morpeth proper. Must put it on my list of places to try!

My tallish boots are Daytona and I had to get the extra wide fitting. Dead comfortable and fully waterproof even in the worst weather.

Ooh nice! Supposedly a really fun bike to throw around. Looks good too. No hideous visible cat either.

Looks good. What is it?

Anything boat related is mysteriously more expensive than standard. It's ridiculous although you can sometimes get good deals.

We're cultivating a slow worm as he seems to enjoy eating the snails and I've invested in nematodes to work on the slugs.

So do the slugs and snails with which I am conducting total war.

We store system oils for years and have no issues. Oils don't generally degrade provided they are not contaminated with a foreign substance.

Rolled out at 0500 this morning in the pouring rain and arrived in Morpeth at 1000, slightly damp. Bike was great and behaved well.

That's the difference between bikes and cars. He can't, so if you cock it up its entirely on you even if you are under instruction.

What he said. Same happened to my son in law on his first go. Was in a 20 mph zone outside a school. Pulled out in front of a Golf GTi which should have been doing 20 mph but wasn't and had to brake. He was a bit disgruntled but passed next time without issues.

Well a mixed bag of a day. No problem with the cooling system so a win there. Couldn't get it ready until lunchtime today so instead of leaving at 0900 and having an interesting ride north it will be 0400 tomorrow and a thrash up the motorway. Loss here. Next loss is there is a problem but according to Guzzi rep its a minor issue and bike will be good for the summer. However to fix the issue is a major dismantle of the engine so a big job (warranty). Frasers, who have been very good, have proposed I drop the bike in to them prior to my going back to sea and they'll then sort it out while I am away. Sounds a reasonable plan to me. Not entirely sure what the issue is other than it involves an oil mist (?). Oil levels are fine. As its under warranty if the whole thing blows up it's covered anyway so I'll enjoy - with caution.

Test ride a variety of bikes, then buy the one YOU like the best. Other folks opinion really doesn't mean a thing as it reflects their personal choice which will be different to yours. For instance I won't buy a Beemer for a number of reasons all personal and probably illogical, I find Africa Twins and most other ADV bikes too tall, I do like V twins but my local Ducati dealer pissed me off and do you see where I'm going here?

Are you actually going to exceed 112 mph ever? If you don't the tyre itself will perform as expected.

You'll be fine. I went from not riding anything for over 20 years to a Ducati Multistrada 950. In just over 5 years I did close to 25000 miles including Europe trips. GS for you won't be a problem.

Depending on the nature of the off no boot is going to provide 100% protection. Bend things the wrong way or drop a heavy weight on it and something is going to go.

Well done to you. Enjoy the next few years. I came back to biking in 2017 and I've never regretted it for one moment. Not even in the pouring rain on the M1 on a November night. (OK maybe a little bit then.)