Steve_M

Good morning. Today will be spent washing kit, helmet lining and, possibly, the bike after our jaunt around the lumpy bits of central Europe. We rode in temperatures ranging from 34 degrees down to 9 degrees. The kit and helmets have a certain “ripeness” … as in they stink.

Today has been “an experience “. What should have taken 6 hours of riding plus stops took 10 1/2 hrs including stops. Gerlos pass. Wet with iron manhole covers scattered randomly on every bend. I remembered from last time we did it but it was no less annoying. Fern Pass. A busy road, made worse with roadworks. Again, remembered from our last time but optimism won out over experience . Avoid! Autobahns. Awesome when they run smoothly. The devils own spawn when there’s roadworks happening. Miles of walking pace riding (filtering is illegal and it’s more than my life’s worth to deliberately break the law with my good lady on board). My satnav stopped communicating with my intercom at a vital moment and I ended up riding about 20 miles in a direction opposite to the intended route, adding about 40 minutes to the journey. Still, a nice hotel found at a bargain price, and one beer later I’m starting to feel chilled.

And you too.

Good evening. A pleasant morning & early afternoon riding brought to a halt by torrential rain. This leaves us 11hours or so to get to Rotterdam over the next two days. We were hoping to be an hour or so closer but, hey Ho…

I consider getting lost to be a core skill. These people who always know where they are are completely lacking in the spirit of adventure. PS. I did save the location on google maps… it was here Coffee stop

Lost in the Dolomites

Good morning from Italy. We popped into the Timmelsjochen motorcycle museum yesterday. What an amazing place.

That was an occasional end point for rides when I lived n Norwich. Then they started charging for parking. The local businesses lost a lot of fish and chips followed by ice cream sales as a result.

This…

I have the SRL, and my pillion has the SMH.I don’t have time to detail the issues (currently touring) but I wouldn’t buy them again. Our previous (Cardo) headsets were much better. Briefly, Pairing is unreliable, particularly with the Motorrad Navigators. constant sounds (wind noise) from the other set, the SRL randomly asks for me to “say a command”, battery life is poor (always transmitting).

I was eager to see the Eiger, so here we were.

I remembered to include the bike this time. Not lost in Switzerland this time.

I forgot to include the bike… but that’s the view across Lac Annecy this afternoon.

Good evening from that place Bonnie Tyler sang about…

Good morning. I’m still agonising over my best (favourite?) option to get into Switzerland on our upcoming tour. The first couple of days are the only section where a route is planned in advance. I was intending to head to Val-Cenis just for an excuse to ride over the Col De l’Iseran purely because conditions didn’t allow us to do it during last year’s tour, and it’s a been an enjoyable ride on previous tours. It appears to be undergoing roadworks, though, and that might affect the enjoyment. The alternative is to head to Cluses and follow the Route Des Grand Alps to Bourg-Saint-Maurice. But there seems to be delays around the Lac de Roselend…. Aaargh. Both then position us to go into Switzerland over the Grand St Bernard pass. Excuse me while I go flip a coin…

Hideout make made to measure suits. Might be a tad more expensive, mind.

I don’t have that much kit. Or, should I say that WE don’t have that much kit bearing in mind it’s for me and my pillion. Mine. One textile suit for touring and general use. One (very old) ventilated textile for hot days when the textile kit’s vents aren’t up to the task of keeping me. One Leather Hideout suit for my (now) rare days on track and occasional use. One Neotec Helmet. Two pairs gloves, one summer, one two season. One snood One pair Alt Berg boots Hers. Two textile suits. One redundant following dropping two sizes after losing weight last year requiring a new set. One Neotec Helmet. Two pairs gloves, one summer, one two season. One snood One pair boots Since we have plenty of storage space and the value of the redundant and rarely used kit is next to bugger all, we haven’t bothered with disposing of it.

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.