Yesterday was the '14's turn out of the garage.
The sun was due to shine and Carole's friend was due over to our house; apparently there was some big wedding happing down south that was due to be televised. I was also FA Cup final day and as it did not feature Wolves I was not enthused by the prospect watching that. I reckoned I would have the nation's roads to myself and I would not be missed at home.
Sometimes I am happy to just take a run out for an hour or so to nowhere in particular, picking single carriageway roads that I enjoy and just sort of going where the blue front fender leads me. If I have a big chunk of the day though, I prefer to have a destination in mind and sometimes pick somewhere from the English Heritage website and have a mooch around with the camera in hand.
Living where I do, I am usually pulled toward, Shropshire, Worcestershire or Herefordshire for a run out. Birmingham seems to be a malevaolent block against the eastern side of the country; why waste the first hour or so of precious biking time going through or round it? In need of a change, I bit the bullet and scooted around the M42 up as far as Tamworth and then found more enjoyable riding through into Leicestershire.
Nearly 15 years on since I bought it the GSX still gives great pleasure for runs like these. Quick enough for the riding I do and comfortable enough to make you want to keep going. The Z1000 is fun, but literally becomes a pain in the arse after 80 miles. The Z1300 is OK on the straight bits and is nearly always a conversation piece when parked up, but too much of a hippo around the town. The GTR holds its own on days like these except that the bulk and luggage capacity is unnecessary when I am on my own and in no need of 40 spare pairs of Y-Fronts.
Eventually I arrived in Kirby Muxloe where I then spent a while roaming around the castle, taking a bit of time with the camera, relieved to find that the recent repair I had had to do to the aperture mechanism seemed to have worked. (Have you any idea of the number of bloody screws you need to remove to get inside a DSLR camera??) I think I took pictures from evet conceivable angle and a few of a brood of goslings (I got hissed at for that, I think I upset Mother Goose).
Back on the road I let the Gramin Zumo pick me a "Curvy Road" route to Lichfield. I have previously found this setting to be a nightmare when you actually need to get somewhere at a sensible pace but I was quite useful in selecting some roads for me that I may not have considered as I was under no time pressure.
There was a brief final stop at Lichfield where I found something to eat and drink and was able to shrug off the jacket for a while before walking up to the cathedral. I was getting a bit too warm to be walking around a town (sorry Lichfield, city) It seems that the linings were a bit of a mistake, I suppose that as it is now May they should be coming out.
Heading back home I stated to notice a bit of a grumble from the drive chain, so that's the next little job. A bit of lube and a pinch with the spanner and it will be ready to go again.
Looking forward to it.....
The rest of the pictures here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rynglieder/
(https://www.flickr.com/photos/rynglieder/)
Nice pickies 😊
I think the Royal Wedding was a blessing for all bikers as we got the day to ourselves not only without grumbling but actual encouragement to go!
Thats REALLY local to me, did you pay to enter the castle grounds? Or just get as close as you could?
Nice one. I like castles, and ruins, and history, and naturally motorbikes. So this thread delivers.
I'm with ya Rynglieder I have 2X B'n'W '03s - nice country!!
:cheers:
Stan
Nice pics. Thanks for sharing :onya:
Quote from: Proteous on Monday, 21 May 2018, 01:21 PM
Thats REALLY local to me, did you pay to enter the castle grounds? Or just get as close as you could?
Yes, I think it dawned on me that I was on your patch.
The ticket office is within the moated area of the castle so once you have sidled past the killer geese and are over the bridge you need to be digging in your pockets for a fiver. In truth the best views if you just want to take a few pictures are from the outside of the moat and there is no charge for walking round there, it seems to be the haunt of the local fishing club. I can't recall if the perimeter gates were locked, if not you could probably do lap of it after the official closing time.
I don't usually begrudge a few pounds though, it helps keep our history preserved.
The bikes in general are still being pretty neglected due to a project I have had on down in Devon for the last 12 months which has taken up pretty much every other weekend.
I have managed the odd trip out though; during June I managed to set aside a day which I got together a really enjoyable route through Bishops Castle and Newtown out to the Clywedog dam in mid-Wales.
The sunshine had pulled out the Sunday Drivers on the roads near the edge of the West Midlands but as soon as I had broken through the ring created by those who are just out for an hours drive there was practically nothing in my way and what I came across was easy enough to put behind me.
Beautiful countryside.
And a dam great photo (see what IO did there? ) :lol:
Quote from: VladTepes on Friday, 03 August 2018, 11:40 AM
Beautiful countryside.
And a dam great photo (see what IO did there? ) :lol:
Dam Beautiful countryside in Wales :)
Someone has opened the dam floodgates.
great piccys mr glieder. love the dam one.
Rynglieder is going dam busters on this!
Quote from: VladTepes on Friday, 03 August 2018, 11:40 AM
Beautiful countryside.
And a dam great photo (see what IO did there? ) :lol:
Now look what you have god dam done Vlad :smile2:
well I'll be dammed... hat..coat..door... :whistling:
Oh dear, dammed if I tell you the story damned if I don't.....
Actually three days and 450 miles on the GSX this time!
I mentioned earlier in this thread that a project down in Devon had been eating into my motorcycling time; In July last year I bought a holiday chalet / bungalow thingy and since then I have been down nearly every other weekend and the requirement to hump around tools, materials and bits of furniture has necessitated the use of the car. There was a goal in sight though, I had hoped by this summer it would be sufficiently complete to allow me weekends away on the bike and open up the roads of Devon and Cornwall to me for a day or a half on two wheels.
I can't claim it is finished, there are a couple of dozen niggely little things shouting for my attention, but it is near enough done and this weekend just passed presented its self as an opportunity to take a bike down there.
We had taken a few days down there on the GTR a couple of months back but with this year's Europe trip looming I decided to spare the GTR's relatively new back tyre the motorway miles and it would be nice to spend some time on the GSX again
In a fit of idleness I put on the soft luggage that had served us through a dozen different countries over recent years. I still have the side frames and Shad hard cases for the GSX but it didn't seem worth the hassle of fitting them for a long weekend. (I still need to decide what to do with the Shad gear, it cost us over £400 and has just done the one tour and is now sitting doing nothing at the back of the garage. Perhaps I should sell it on but I know I'd regret it). It was of course the wrong choice of luggage. I'd forgotten how much Carole struggles with sitting on the seat pad and has a constant battle to stay perpendicular to the bike around bends and under braking. It will be the last time with that soft luggage when two-up, but I'll hang onto it in case it is useful for a quick solo trip.
Our habit is to leave home around 19:30 by which time the commuters are all out of the way, it's about three and a quarter hours down to Dartmouth from home but arriving after 23:00 is not a big deal when you only have to turn the key quietly in your own lock and stick the kettle on. It was the first "night ride" I had done on a bike for as long as I can remember and I really enjoyed the blast down the M5 except from the shuffling and grumbling from Her Behind Me. The trip does take longer on the bike than in the car though; as I am one of those who still enjoys or depends on a cigarette there are two stops involved and even the GSX's tank won't stretch to the whole run without refuelling. The journey was also made longer than usual by the closure of the A38 at the junction with the A380 resulting in a detour via Newton Abbot and some twisty roads that I was less familiar with having to be ridden in the dark. The GSX headlamp got us through OK but I did find myself wondering if there is some upgrade available if this was going to be a regular event.
Our trip down had taken place on a Thursday night as I had taken the Friday off work, a carpet fitter had been booked to take care of the chalet lounge so Friday became another day of shifting furniture, bits of painting and making sense of the spaghetti that resulted from the rushed dismantling of my AV equipment. Sadly the only use the bike got was when I was despatched by the Domestic Authorities to Sainsbury's for emergency provisions.
Saturday was a different matter though. My good lady seemed strangely content looking at our new carpet with all of our furniture sat back on top of it and she suggested I should have a run out on the bike while she caught up with the omnibus edition of Easterdale Street (whatever). So I grabbed hold of my OS map (sensible) and my Garmin Zumo (stupid) and off I went.
It was only going to be a short run, exploring the local roads and East Prawle was selected from the map as it had a car park near to the coast path and what looked like a big enough village to sell me a cup of coffee. I set off, at first using the route that I had memorised from the map but as I became uncertain I fell into the clutches of the Zumo which had been telling me I was doing it all wrong from almost the moment I had started. One thing I now know about West Devon's roads is that if there is a sign at the start of them saying "unsuitable for HGVs" they are almost certainly not going to be any fun on a bike either, regardless of what a Zumo tries to persuade you. You hear all about the disappearing vegetation in the rainforest on the news, I can tell you exactly where it has gone, it is down the centre of the bloody lanes between East Allington and Sherford. Inevitably I came up on the back of a large German 4x4 (although I still can't work out how I caught up with anything at the speed I was crawling). That in turn then came across three cars trying to ascend the lane from the opposite direction. There was of course a Mexican stand-off; this was the moment I found out how hard it is to reverse a GSX1400 up a hill. After a bit of straining and grunting I managed to get it back far enough to nestle it into the hedgerow and watch the door cills of the traffic in front of me skim the rear pegs as it passed by.
I eventually found my way to Frogmore where I stopped to take a fresh look at the map and a picture of the bike. I then pressed on using my preferred strategy of looking at road signs and entirely ignoring the Zumo. With these improved tactics I had a fairly enjoyable run into East Prawle, the promised cup of coffee and a walk down to the old costal defence ruins.
The return to Dartmouth was made by selecting roads that looked as if they might have white lines down the middle of them. A further stop off was made alongside Slapton Ley where the map was again consulted as the coastal road is still undergoing repair after erosion and collapse last winter.
I caught up with Carole back at the chalet and the final run of the day was into Dartmouth for fish and chips and a pint on the wharf in the sunshine at Bayard's Cove –I'm hoping that there is going to be more of this in my life in the future.
Our run back to the midlands on Sunday allowed me to experiment with varying our trips to and from Devon. There should not be a rush to get there once all of the work is done and I would like to think that when I am on the bike it won't necessarily always be motorway. Our little optional detour took us past Clevedon and on to Portishead where we spent an hour watching the boats entering and leaving the marina through the sea lock.
Not a bad weekend and a few lessons learned to make future breaks better. It was good to be feeling the miles go by under the GSX again, with buying our place in Dartmouth and taking on the GTR it has been a bit neglected.
0306 Frogmore
0310 East Prawle (It's a bike so I only put one quid in the box)
0320 WWII Radar bunker
0327 Slapton Sands (I didn't put anything in that one, they should have mended the road)
0330 Back at my Country Estate
0331 Portishead
Carefully selected for your motorcycling enjoyment by Garmin:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.3157241,-3.7220706,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sJ6fjnmcRTtpfp69CkplwZQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
(https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.3157241,-3.7220706,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sJ6fjnmcRTtpfp69CkplwZQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656)
Very nice Rynglieder! Don't know why you persist with the Zumo though.... :facepalm: