curlylegend

A souwester .

Well done Sir, that's the kind of thing that makes my heart soar like a hawk !

Why ?

Same here, lasted about a week and took about a month to very slowly go away. But the last couple of days it looks like it wants another go. I think I'd rather have the Black Death, you only get that once !

A pal of mine turned up for his test on a BSA C15, heavily modified as we'd say nowadays. A hint of alloy mudguards, clip-ons a miniature hand painted rear numberplate and a silencer that was obviously missing it's baffles. He was decked out in a Lewis Leathers Highway Patrol leather jacket covered in studs and badges a pair of winklepicker shoes and of course no helmet. I was there for moral support and remember well the look of disgust on the examiners face when he looked at my pal and his motorcycle. There were a few questions, the eyesight test and then the examiner asked him to start his machine. To some of my friends at the time, the epitome of cool was to be able to do a stylish bump start. Hence no kick start. My pal lit a cigarette, clamped it in his teeth and grabbing the clip-ons launched himself up the road to leapt side saddle onto the bike and drop the clutch. He cracked open the throttle and shot up the road to do a perfect foot peg scraping u-turn. He roared back to the examiner pulled up and said " Right pal, whit's next ?" The examiner replied " The next thing you can do son, is go home and re-apply ! You've failed on at least four counts within the last two minutes and I can't be bothered filling in any more. There's your fail ticket. " He did eventually become a highly qualified IAM instructor... but that's another story.

I understand that. It's the main reason I don't have a dog, although I would love one !

I agree wholeheartedly !

Passed mine, or rather was given a full licence, in November 1976 in Glasgow. My appointment was in the Shawlands Test Centre at 13.30 . It had been snowing that morning and beginning to lie. When I slithered along to the test centre the roads were pretty diabolical. I went inside expecting the test to be cancelled. The examiner who was crouched over an electric fire and really looked like he didn't want to be there gave me the choice. Did I want to cancel and rebook or just have a go at it, despite the weather. I was keen to get it over with so nothing ventured nothing gained. He asked me a few Highway code questions and then told me to just ride round the block a few times and he would step out at some point to test my braking skills. Well after six or seven circuits of the block with my heart in my bloody mouth I eventually parked up and went back inside. The examiner told me he'd looked outside and decided an emergency stop wouldn't be fair under the circumstances. He asked me if I'd fallen off. When I told him I hadn't, he reckoned that I'd demonstrated that I was capable of riding a motorcycle and handed me a Pass Certificate. Certificate stashed in an inner pocket, in high spirits I set off for home. And immediately slid of on the next bend.... and the next !

Isn't that what motorcycle AND tyre manufacturer recommend ?

I use very similar ones to them, I think just the logos changed ? I always travel solo and never camp nowadays. I keep the contents to a minimum which means it's really easy to detach them and take them wherever you're going. You can use a shoulder strap if your digs are on the top floor and the ascenseur it out of commission.

DML, Distributed mode Loudspeakers. I had heard about them a number of years ago but it was only recently that I could get a hold of the Exciters at a decent price. The panel can be made from anything fairly thin and stiff . I used a sheet of 40mm thick extruded polystyrene which was enough for two speakers. The exciters are something like a very chunky tweeter but has rather different qualities. It doesn't have a cone to vibrate and transmit sound, it vibrates the whole panel its bonded to. Advantages are very broad frequency range. Means I'm hearing high notes as well as low notes at a comfortably low volume. And the sound is crystal clear ! You can hang them from the ceiling or the wall, positioning isn't that important. And CHEAP ! I spent a fraction of what I spent on the previous speakers. Total cost was about € 50.00 and a couple of hours shaping and painting the panels.

In the drawing room I listen to music on a combination of old Rogers speakers married into a set of Jamo speakers with subwoofer all driven by a Sony A/V amp. Adequate but not really Hi Fi. But in the kitchen where I actually do most of my listening I have a new ( remarkably cheap ) valve amp driving a pair of home made DML flat panel speakers. Sound source is a basic Tablet to connect to Spotify and play music from the series Yellowstone. The DML speakers replaced a pair of very expensive Hi Fi ceiling speakers. Honestly, there's no comparison, the DML's are fantastic ! On the moto, I listen to a very old somewhat modified iPad through a pair of bluetooth headphone speakers which supposedly have a degree of noise cancellation, cant say I've noticed. Anyway sound level is usually such as to give me almost subliminal music. Suits me fine !

Indeed, Bagpipes sound lovely from across water. If the bugger's playing pibroch preferably the Atlantic.

Does it work ? Doesn't look very rock&roll to me ? or even country and western ? But....to each his own !

Yes, a Good New Year to everyone. Last year wasn't perfect, but it was better than nothing...

I'm taking all this in you know. I would like to know if I'm missing out on something, or more likely doing something daft ! Thanks for all your answers.

Yes, what is a travel guitar ? A pal of mine always travels with a harp...a jews harp. Am I allowed to say that ?

I'm still using a Garmin Zumo. I would use that method myself.... actually I have done....but nowadays there are so many 30km speed restrictions in towns and villages with speed bumps that rival the Alps. I prefer to plot out a route to avoid as many of these as I can. I use MyRoute App on my PC and any routes I create are available on my smart phone and downloadable onto my Zumo. But if the worst comes to the worst and my phone's not available I can always revert to my Zumo. I normally carry a cheapo Android Tablet, weighs nothing and takes up no space, and use it to book accommodation at my leisure in the digs I'm in for the next evening, making sure that it has everything I need, free wi-fi, parking etc. Then I'll modify my route by putting in a few POI's and making sure I'm not going overboard with the distance or the time in the saddle.

I suspect a story there ? Might be similar to the reasons I'm not at all keen on northern Italy between Lake Garda and Turin.

Never fails ? Christ you're lucky. It's failed me quite a few times. Maybe it's me, patch over the eye, scar on the cheek hook for a hand and a waistcoat with a very popular American motorcycle club's name on the back. Years ago, in Scotland, I did have to sleep in a graveyard, both hotels allegedly full and B&B's not answering the door. More recently, in France, I've managed to turn up in a town hosting some damned sporting or cultural event. Then it was either Formule 1 or the bloody Hilton !

So the consensus seems to be ride light and have a plan B, and a plan C too. And yes, it is nowadays much easier to dodge bad weather. or at least mitigate it. Sat Navs and smart arse phones seem to be the minimum requirements. Is everybody comfortable plotting out a Plan B or Plan C on a smartphone at short notice ? And it seems a few of you will book a first night's accommodation and wing it from there on. What if you're in a bad signal area and can't raise Booking.com ? Anyone ever been caught out like that ? So what did you do ? Follow the signs to Spain ? I'm curious. Looks fantastic, where is it ? I won't deliberately go there and I won't tell anyone else...promise.

I'm interested in peoples' opinions on this. How many of you will plan out say a 10 day tour to the very last detail. Routes mapped out, rest and meal stops targeted, camp sites or hotels booked in advance ? Or the other way of doing it is to just head off in a general direction and stop and eat when hungry and sleep at the side of the road when tired ? Or just search about at the end of the day for accommodation ? How many of you do the belt and braces thing, carrying a tent etc but booking into a hotel if wet or cold or no campsites available ? Who travels with the kitchen sink and who travels with hardly any more than the contents of their pockets ? How many of you will use motorways/autoroutes to get as far as possible in the time available, or who avoids motorways/autoroutes like the plague ? Who scrupulously checks routes to make sure they're going to be open and to avoid any unsurfaced roads. And what about the latest plague, ULEZ areas ? And what about satnav, smartphones or paper maps and memory ? This is my luggage for a 10 day tour of Europe, the only thing I've added is an electric tyre inflator. Let me know how you travel and how you organise it..

£25 PER KILOGRAM & I’d bought a 2.6kg piece. Mrs Mickly was unimpressed, especially as she doesn’t like beef. So although it was a shock, I’m quietly excited to try it. Don't even try to cook that....just eat it raw !

Glad it wasn't just me feeling suspicious about the whole thing...

What exactly were you expecting ? Remember this is a family forum !