Steve_M

350 miles of motorway driving today. Home to midlands and back. Some interesting driving observed,. If you’re driving an Arnold Clark van and you have a plate with the name “Malcolm” on it, it’s probably best not to drive as if you’re on a kart track , swapping lanes and overtaking on either side of the traffic, cos there’s a lot of people with dash cams who love to be proper Karen’s (apologies about the stereotype if your name is Karen). Not me… I can’t be arsed Another driver, driving along the outside lane of the motorway in a transit van, should check his mirrors more than once every five minutes. Those flashing blue lights on the vehicle behind are to give a subtle hint to get out of the way (i’m wondering if an advisory note about driving without due care and atttention might be in the post). The copper was doing everything he could to make himself seen. Bloody interesting as I was following the action having seen the copper in my mirrors at least a couple of miles earlier and got out of his way. As above, but an ambulance held up for about a mile behind a car… Middle lane hogger on a clear section of the M6 by the Lake District being overtaken by a VW Polo who was travelling in the inside lane. The hogger then decided the inside lane was safe and free from hazards.

Ah, yes, our “offshore friends”. I once had to pop back to work at midnight to check on progress on a software rollout. It should have been a simple matter of following the script… at 3am I told them to unwind any damage they’d done, and then sent an email out to the sponsors … Of course, it was the messenger who got shot.

It’s an appalling design decision to put the services half a mile from the on slip road. It’s just at the point where I quite fancy a cuppa when on route to visit my mum.

Me, according to the guy in the BMW who was trying to overtake me up the inside as I was indicating and looking to move left to exit the M6 into Knutsford services on the southbound side.

A little while ago I tuned in to Radio4 Extra and stumbled over a programme in the series “A fair cop”. It’s a light hearted programme about policing hosted by an ex-police sergeant and contains some black humour. I had it on playback on the BBC sounds app today and he related a tale of a disgruntled motorist caught speeding. “why aren’t you out catching pedophiles instead of harassing me?” To which the answer was “I guess they don’t drive as fast as you”. Who said coppers don’t have a sense of humour?

Stop buying plastic skeletons for putting in the garden at Halloween. It’s bad for the environment. Naturally sourced, local skeletons are so much better.

I’ve never had to carry my BJA licence for any reason other than to take part in competitions or visiting clubs to train - so they’re insured. The whole thing of your body being a lethal weapon was an urban myth spread by a few charlatans who were trying to make a few Bob out of it. My kit went everywhere with me - especially on holiday so I could have a bit of a knock at the local club. One seaside club I attended as a 15 yr old the guy who ran it suggested I join the junior beginners class as I had a white belt with five red tabs on (then the highest junior grade, but he didn’t know ‘cos he had his own system for which he charged £lots for). After which he realised his mistake he asked if I could join his advanced class… then I joined the seniors. None of his judoka caused me any difficulties in any class. Afterwards my dad and I went down the pub with some of the seniors (I was on lemonade, honest) and my dad gave them details of the BJA and suggested they gave the current guy the elbow. There were a few of us at my school who did judo and, yes, once word got out so too did the bullies. I always backed away but I did see a club mate illustrate why bullying is a bad thing.

Some years ago we walked up to the Lost Valley and on to Bidean Nam Bian. The heat was tropical. So, yes, it can be glorious.

I have yet to have a clear ride through Glen Coe. Rain, wind, punctures and a diversion via the B8974, only. No stags… That was on the Bealach Na Ba where it had also crapped all across the road.

BJJ is mostly groundwork and pretty hardcore. I haven’t seen the original, Japanese, ju jitsu as far as I recall. I was watching judo at the club my son trains at. There were a couple of guys who compete in BJJ at quite a high level and it was fascinating to watch. The judo guys were just cannon fodder on the ground. Standing up was a completely different kettle of fish…

On the bright side, the weather conditions north of Gretna were truly awful had you travelled up yesterday. My good lady went up to Houston and the wind and rain was “horrendous”. Enjoy your time in Scotland.

I’m picking my mum up from Walsall in the week to bring her back here so she have a bit of a holiday. According to google maps it’s 3hrs 22minutes of driving. The best we’ve done is 3hrs 45minutes plus tea and pee break. It’s generally about 4hrs 30minutes plus T&P breaks. I’d say I’ll look at alternatives but there aren’t any!

There’s an incentive to get good at Ju-Jitsu (BJJ?) quickly

I didn’t realise that was an option. I had to give mine the car and most of the house to get rid of her…

I sat on an RT (£21k ) at Lloyds Motorrad the other day. Not really my taste, though it does probably tick many of the boxes. £21k, actually, even half that now may be a stretch. A two fold impact in the last year or so, being massive price increases on materials for the house renovation, and the damage to pension pots in the Truss budget has set us back quite hard.

I’ve had chain driven bikes. I really don’t miss cleaning, oiling, refilling Scottoilers, cleaning the fling off the wheels, exhaust swing arm, rear suspension, panniers.

The French motorists are remarkably supportive I found. Heading out of Thonon-Les-Bains every motorist for about a mile were flashing their lights at the oncoming traffic. Sure enough, a mobile camera.

I wouldn’t notice ‘cos, as a GS Rider, I’m far too above that sort of thing. . The GS was far too rich for me for many years and, now I’m a poor pensioner replacing it with another one is way out of my budget.

I couldn’t trust my good lady not to spot a nice roadside cafe and suggest coffee and cake. When I say “suggest”…

Excellent point. I have had funds “retained” a couple of times. I now, as far as possible, avoid unmanned stations. my approach to fuel is to fill up as early as possible once the displayed range is down to 100 miles, and as close to and before arriving at the evening’s overnight location. This eases the following day’s start.

Sod it. Here’s my checklist. Passport Driving Licence GHC Health Insurance Loaded FX Card Credit Card Insurance Certificate + contact number Registration Document Breakdown / Recovery Policy documentation. + Contact number European Accident Statement Ferry tickets Cash (not a lot) Maps GPS loaded with initial couple of day’s routes (ie. to get to where we intend to tour) and POI’s. Route planning is done on a day by day basis. Vignettes (Crit’air, Switzerland and Austria motorway). Autoroute tag (yes, it’s expensive but damn, it saves a lot of fecking around at Autoroute tolls Tour notebook. With addresses at the back in case we send postcards (it has happened). UK sticker Mobile phone Camera(s) iPad Kindle Chargers + overseas adaptors Medication Spare glasss 1st aid kit (basically once of those little travel packs full of plasters. I think. I haven’t had cause to open it. Anything more would be a waste ‘Cos I can’t remember my first aid from when I was in the scouts 54 years ago). Puncture repair Spare bulb (I’ve kept that in even though the Beemer has multiple LED lights which, I hope, makes it redundant) Small bottle of oil. We’ll be doing 3,500 miles on our tour this year. The GS has got through about a litre of oil in three and a half years and 24,000 miles. Better than having to buy a litre in Switzerland? Small head torch. Never had to use it but… Disc lock Hi Vis jackets Choice of biking clothing is personal but our list. Several berghaus / Rohan / whatever walking tee shirts and long sleeved tops, worn as layers. Normal riding kit - we have textiles. Wolf for me and Frank Thomas for my good lady. Waterproofs Earplugs

Some years ago I went to Andorra with a group of guys, a couple of who I knew through work. This is their checklist which I used for a basis* for my own. It’s probably a bit out of date now but it’s a good starting point. Checklist *I will emphasis that I have refined this list for my own purposes, both adding and removing stuff from it. One notable item that appears to be missing is the European Accident Statement forms (What are they about?) which I found here Forms Addendum. EHIC or GHC …

Life is a compromise. Goldwing . I tried it. Didn’t like it, though that was the first 1800cc model. A mate had a demo ‘wing as a loaner last week and was impressed. But he’s an old 52yrs and rides an RT so readily ignored. As for the GS… I’ve used mine to tour lumpy bits of Europe - two up and luggage, leisure rides, completed my RoSPA training on it. It’s done around 40-50 laps on track at Cadwell Park, and a Motogymkhana tryout day at Bruntingthorpe. While I don’t have the same emotional link to it as I had for my CX500 and VFR800, and not as capable a tourer, in my view, as the ST1100 , it is a fabulously competent bike. Given my list, and today’s visit to Lloyds Honda / Motorrad in Carlisle, there is nothing in their ranges that comes close with the exception of the GS and (at a push, RT which, at £21k is a bit rich for me and really doesn’t float my boat. The Honda NT1100 had potential but those panniers… just not a practical shape.

Given my fondness for my old CX500 ES, it’s not much of a leap, and probably ticks many of the boxes. Age (mine, also) might be a bit of an issue.. What concerned me as I knocked out the wish list was that I may have been describing a Honda Deauville… which, in fairness, is a worthy and capable bike and may be a good fit for my needs. I would rather go without cruise control than use any mechanical throttle lock. I once had to do an emergency stop and my throttle was a bit sticky and didn’t close on its own. Locked front wheel, bike staring to go down, sheer terror made me let go of the brake and the bike recovered. Fortunately, this was only an exercise on a machine controls course, in the real world it would have been a different outcome.