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I'm not sure if any of you have heard of or watched any of Sterling Noren's motorcycle films. He has been at motorcycling and filming for many years and always seem to produce an entertaining film. The last one I watched was Beyond the Border - Riding Solo in Mexico. If you enjoy motorcycle travel and beautiful scenery he is worth checking out. I rented it from Vimeo. ?

Went from the province of Granada, into Murcia, and then into Castilla–La Mancha to enter the Sierra de las Cabras nature reserve. From then on I was running blind..........cos that's as far as Google Maps goes. The road was pretty decent though......until I got deep into the nature reserve. Then it all changed! It would need a dualsport and a fair degree of offroad riding ability to keep going, and unfortunately I was not in possession of either of those two things. There's some places that an OAP on a 220kg Strom just shouldn't go.......and that was one of them!

We've jumped up on Page One......only two sites above us now! We're now actually above ThumperTalk and Horizons Unlimited! ?

Too f'n lazy to write, so will just post up a bunch of pics from a great trip 11 years ago. (we have tentative plans to go again in 2021, if the world is still here...) starting off with an epic one from the one and only @jbean. this guy here (just had his nails done and didnt want to mess up the polish)

he also does the BDR movies, doesnt he? Maybe i will throw up some pics from our 2013 trip all the way down to Guatemala. Beautiful and fun country. (all paved, tho)

Some leftover pics from the ride not previously posted. Just some random stuff. Last two pics are of the old schoolhouse in Georgetown, Colorado...

If you look at the map, the distance from Fairbanks to Prudhoe and back is 1000 miles!! ? The 4th guy in our group was someone from Ohio that was buying my brother's KTM 640. He decided he would go to AK with us, not understanding the mileages involved!. We were in a restaurant somewhere and i was showing that the distance we had traveled was about 1/3 to 1/4 the total distance JUST to Alaska. He almost turned around right there ?

This was our route north

The trip back was just me and my brother. The other two guys flew out of Anchorage. Our last day riding we left Edmonton, Alberta and rode straight thru back to Missoula. Probably about 630 miles.

We took 3 weeks to do it. I rode from Los Angeles to Missoula, MT where we all met up. So, a week to get to Fairbanks, then a week in Alaska, and then the 3rd week to get back to MT. We didnt have any flats. I did need a new tire in Whitehorse (you forget that just getting to Alaska can wear out a tire!). My brother's KTM acted up coming back down the Alcan, after he dropped it in the wood turning around. Something about the canister filling up with gas, causing it to not want to run. Heading south from Prudhoe, my bike started dying, then running. It was pouring rain for the section from Deadhorse to Atigun. At the top of Atigun Pass, it just quit. I was carrying an extra gallon of gas and put that in. Bike started and ran the whole rest of the time. The weird part is that i used one tank getting from Coldfoot to Prudhoe (about 255 miles), and more than one heading south. Might have been fighting thru the rain and mud and running at higher rpms on the southbound leg. Kind of exciting to break down where you arent anywhere near civilization, or cell coverage (only in Prudhoe)

It was probably over 7000 miles. I ended up flying home from Montana as i had ridden Jim's bike from AK. He flew out of Anchorage, since he didnt have enough vacation to ride back. My plan was to go back to Ak later that year and ride my own bike back. True to form, once i've ridden/driven the Alaska Highway, it takes me about 2-3 years to want to do it again :). I have family in Anchorage so it was pretty easy to leave my KTM there and then have it shipped later.

Par for the course here Bob.......you get used to it. Having said that, car drivers have a lot more respect for bikes than they do in Britain. They've never been labelled with the social underclass stigma either. Very often I stop to take a pic and a car will pull up and ask if I'm OK or need help! Different culture and mindset here. Most of the country grew up riding mopeds......and there's even blokes in their 80's still riding them. Usually carrying a tree or something similar.

Black castles matter.

I didn't have any problem resisting Bob!

Yes.......that's what the road turns into Bob! It's not a via verde so it's fine. That was my turn around point.......because from thereon it drops steeply and the surface is all jagged rocks! Looked very nasty to me! But having said that, a fluffy white cloud looks very nasty to me!

Nice one Pete, would it be legal to ride that track on the left considering the fact that it's a nature reserve ?

White Castles are fake Castles!?! Its like telling me Santa isnt real!

.......but we've made it onto Page 1 of Google! There's only 6 sites above us now cos some have two listings........obviously the likes of AdvRider and ThumperTalk are in that bunch. But they've been around for 20 years.....not 10 weeks. So we're doing OK! Just need to get more new members in so put the word about wherever you can. Obviously the more movement we can get on here the less likelihood of us running into pics of @Pedro's disgusting food!

We want pics Clive!

Freaking hot today, butt, i needed my horsepower fix, you can only ride a thumper for so long before you want to throw them off a bridge. So..i visited my grandparents. They should have listened to Bob, he was really sick ya know! And the traditional hands of the hips selfie perfected by non other than our own @XTreme

Great collection of pics @alfalfa

Oh, from my house to my brothers was longer than the 1100 miles you referenced. its a bit of a large country.

It's good that it's even on a map though ?

@boboneleg......the red dot is where I estimate I got to! So maybe another 10 miles and I'd have got out the other side. It shows the path on Google Maps but there's no street views whatsoever on any of those stretches! As I said, I was running blind!

That's my problem, I just couldn't resist going down there just to see where it goes, how rough it gets etc

I've been continuing to follow the path of the former railway line that ran from Guadix (Granada) through Almeria, and ending up in Lorca (Murcia). I've done Caniles and Seron stations.......and today I went to find Baul. This one was quite interesting as it hasn't been restored.....it remains as it was when it closed in 1984. So it's very authentic. And just further on from the Station is the Baul Railway Bridge! It's a complex wrought iron structure that was assembled in 1907 to complete the line between Guadix and Baza. The last train to run across the bridge was on 31 December 1984.......and the line was then closed. Some great shots on the bridge itself.......had to walk as it's blocked off to vehicles! What a photo opportunity that would have been! My Ewan and Charley moment stolen from me!

Great pics, seems that a good bike for what you are doing...

I think so.......goes back to the days of steam!

What is that small, square building with the steel tank looking thing on top? Water storage?

It's on Google maps....

Keeping cool and dry here!

As an American, this is the only castle that I like to visit...

There you go Tym..............

That tickled me. But not the fact the cats gone.

Well, it was taken today

Nowadays, being good and gentle to others. Used to be going off on killing sprees accross the middle east

I say this as a joke towards the UK, but those guys go through hell. When Maria died I was put in a cell for a while before being questioned, and all other 6 or 7 guys where black dudes (proper dark black, from central Africa) having been caught trying to jump the border. I was living a nightmare, but even so managed to see the shambles they were in, most destitute people I have ever met. And even then, not knowing anything about me and half wearing ripped clothing in winter, a couple of them tried to comfort and support me.

This weekend would have been at the Farmyard Party in North Yorkshire, as i couldn't go thought i would post some pics of the last one me and @Specs went to in 2017 The site is at Duncombe Park in Helmsley run by MAG (motorcycle action group) a fantastic location. For some reason i can I only find photos of my ride on Saturday. The day started with sore heads all round after overdoing it Friday night Alan and an old friend of mine (sadly not with us anymore) decided they would sleep it off so i ended up exploring on my own i was looking for all the single lane back roads and Yorkshire doesn't disappoint This is what i was after this is riding heaven for me Had to stop for a wee this seemed as good a place as any the place was crisscrossed with dirt roads sadly i had to restrain myself as i was 300 miles from home with no tools It was getting hot so headed for somewhere to get something to drink and eat, I came up to this railway crossing as the barriers dropped to let a train through, i was there a while getting hot and sweaty thinking of turning around but then this beasty showed up and i was happy again Got a sandwich and a drink and found somewhere cool to stop thought this would do Spent the rest of my ride looking in the distance for roads like this and heading there to ride them not really paying attention to where i was. When i got to the horizon here i stopped to talk to a couple of guys on bikes had a good old chat for about an hour when i got back on the bike i realised i'd left my phone in the case on the handlebar and it had over heated not normally a problem but i was using it to navigate and not paying attention to where i was i didn't have a clue which way was back to the campsite I just carried on riding and stopped for a pint here in the shade, luckily the phone cooled down and started working again So it was back to the campsite for round two i couldn't drag Alan into the rave tent at the end of the night it was after midnight mind i thoroughly enjoyed it LOL