Leaderboard

The Tamega River flows from it's origin in Galicia through Portugal in Chaves to end up in the Douro River about 40km from Porto. Having made the trip up the Douro a few times, and having had a few coffees in Entre os Rios ("Between the Rivers"), I have never been to the Tamega near where it joins the Douro, so today I did. This ride only covers the last 30 or so km before the Tamega ends. Work was pestering me so left a little later than I wanted, and very annoyed so didn't feel like taking the gopro nor stopping for pictures a lot. Honestly I don't think you missed out on much, it was pretty uninspiring. It was amazing weather to be riding, a few lovely spots to stop, but overall pretty uninspiring roads. First stop, to answer a work call that tried hard to ruin my day. Stopped on a dam access road with a nice view. After a little more I started looking for a place to have my light lunch, and found the perfect location. When I planned on going for a ride today, I wanted to stop someplace with a majestic view and mountains, it wasn't to be but I loved this: Before I ate I had another call, which sort of put me in a better mood and helped my spirits, I enjoyed lunch better that way. Birds singing, great weather to ride, could have been better with a nicer sandwich but you can't have everything. I was really missing having a nice expresso after lunch, but cafes are still closed, and the places serving takeaway I spotted open weren't inviting enough to risk contact with the people outside. So braved on without my expresso. A few kms further on I was riding on a quite bad old cobblestone road and decided it was a nice chance to adjust my suspension a little, so stopped in front of this great old farm house to do it. It reads: They did not pass! To the brave defenders of the old romanic bridge, who under the command of Captain António Serpa Pinto, of Soalhães and Canaveses (a local), managed to heroically hold back the charge of the french invaders on the 31th of March and 01st of April 1809, saving the populace of the Douro from the curses of war. Signed: the peoples of the region A little closer to home stopped by a cafe by the Douro with just one person outside to see if they were serving my expresso, but had no luck. As I was hanging up the phone a duck came to say hello. From there, a quick 15 or 20km on the motorway and I'm home. Funny thing that shows how different fuel mileage on my bike is when riding on small roads and motorways. Last ride was a 300km motorway ride with the sidecases at 130 to 140 average. Fuelled up just a little before arriving home, and today the autonomy indicated 400km as I was leaving home with an almost full to the brim tank. At around 75km into this ride it was showing 525km, and now 150 into the tank it's back at 400km

Normal service resumed on the way home tonight Tym..................

Head is bursting after all that driving! Couple of shots from today......including oranges growing in a tree outside a cafe in the city centre. And the usual bizarre ornaments that they go for!

Maybe a parakeet. Theyre well known as survivors n strong breeders. London parks have a high population of them. Known for a shrieky call. This pic is St James’ park in London

Crude map of the route, just for scale. All told, the trip was about 1800 miles, in 8 days. The goal was to do as much dirt as we could find, and survive. Our last push south was 160 miles of gravel, sand, dirt and rocks. Hence the need for 50 margaritas when we reached Rice and Beans in San Ignacio. Pre-trip: Day 0 With the flyers coming in to Ontario Airport, Gary's house was soon overflowing. This trip started out with a group of about 6-8 riders, but word spread and we peaked at 15. The plan was to meet in Norco Hills, at Gary's, on Friday morning for a shakedown ride (short) south over some great curvy blacktop, finishing up in Tecate. The crossing at Tecate is very low effort, especially compared to the madhouse known as Tijuana. We had a hotel reserved just across the border as I didnt want to hit the newbies with too much the first day. About two thirds of the group had never been south, so they were a little leery. Blame that on the American "news" media, who sell commercial time using sensationalism to the extreme. Rant off. But, first. How to shuffle bikes to Norco. As i was loaning out two of mine, i figured a trailer would be needed. As it turns out, one of our riders from Connecticut arrived in Las Vegas where he was to pickup his own GS from the trucking company, only to find out it hadnt left Philadelphia yet. After the head explosion, I convinced him to take Flames. He rented a car from Vegas and drove to my place. This reduced my headache to just getting one bike south, plus mine, which was accomplished by my brother riding it down. Day 1: At Gary's, the bikes were being packed and prepped. The KTM was ridden down from my place, which meant that Matt hadnt had a chance to pack and prep it. I sold that bike to Gary because i wouldnt take it offroad! Brad Calbert - Skunkwerks Moto. If you are in the midwest and need service on any type of bike, see him. The "cats" before we leave. Damn, thats a lot of bikes!! We headed south over Palomar Mtn, which is a squid staple with all its twisty bits. First flat of the trip honors went to Matt on my KTM. Maybe we could have fixed it quicker if i hadnt left the tool kit out of the bike ? Luckily, we ran in to two guys on KTM's at the top and got the tire fixed. Looked like there was an old tube left in the bike, even tho i had just had new rubber put on. After running the length of Palomar Mountain we stopped at a biker hangout for lunch. We stragglers got there just as the rest of the group was finishing lunch, except Fernando. Fernando was on a Multi-Strada that was making horrendous back fire noises. He finally got it running well enough to head back to San Diego, to drop it off at a shop. The rest of us headed into Baja, just as the sun was setting. Something that always happens, but something we always say we wont do ?

A few kms from where my parents live there's this residential area where I suspect someone released a pair of some sort of tropical bird. A cockatoo of sorts or similar, they must have taken to the place and now there are a lot of them around, it's a crappy picture but it's there. Sounds like a rainforest sometimes

A little earlier, stopped for a work call.

Well, no one died. That's a plus, considering there were 15 of us riding down to get dirty in Baja. Great weather, great friends, and only one "rescue". a good example of the idjits, AKA Agalos, having lunch in San Felipe. Ever seen the commercial where cowboys are herding cats? Well, that is pretty much how these rides go. Fortunately, there is tequila!! Hell, we may even get around to riding bikes....

@Six30 making another application for a Mod gig!

I thought if I went on my push bike via my nearest footpaths and bridleways I would gain access to some lovely narrow country lanes with no cars on them as well as some of the green lanes I used to ride my motorbike on. After two footpaths, a bridleway and another footpath I gave up due to the severe clagginess I found and rode back home. Here is a close up of my bike showing some nature on it.

First up was the great bike shuffle. We had four riders flying in from Ohio, Carolina, Missouri and Connecticut. Since you really cant check a motorcycle in your carryon, it was time to round up the extra bikes. Dennis had his son's GS, Gary had a spare GS (the 1250 that i had just sold him because it was too pretty to beat up offroad. oh, well). I had Flames (Bruce's favorite bike) and a KTM 950, which was almost in running condition. ahhh, new shoes but, first, there must be bling. There is a local riding "club" known as the Flying Monkey Adventure Riders, who could be considered nuttier than AGALOS, but they are still young so you have to cut them some slack. Anyways, one of the riders is a graphics artist, or artist period. We needed a trip sticker, so Tristan came thru:

The promised sunshine was far from sight for the entire tea run but the very tame wild ponies made up for it

Not the most inspired ride in the world but hey its likely doable soon which is currently the most important criteria for me. My husband passed his test a wee bit over year ago and I’ve been manoeuvring him towards the idea of bike touring (slowlycatchymonkey n all that) with the intention of going far flung with it after he’s found his feet so to speak. My plans are now over a year behind due to the evil C and this was always intended to be the first step so I’m genuinely thrilled its starting to happen. LEJOG seems the easiest most gentle way to break someone into this idea and to make it as painless as possible I’ve signed 3 of us up for Nathan Millward’s Garbage Run. It kicks off on the 22nd May Lands End. I’m really looking forward to it. We should get a good flavour of what gear works for us and what daily mileage we’re comfortable with, seems a good way to do a test run. I’ve been on an organised tour in the past and swore I’d never do one again. Stuck with a load of randoms, shuffled from one point to another on someone else agenda- no thanks. But I’m keen for this to go smoothly and after discussing it with others it seems a lot of places are already very booked up plus this is only semi guided- you are given the route and start n stop in the same places as everyone else but youre free to ride on your tod at your own pace. So fingers crossed all goes well. I cant wait to get out on my bike proper styley again and booking something like this after the year we’ve all had feels like winning the lottery! https://www.thegarbagerun.com/original-garbage-run Brace yourself for all sorts of odd posts of the prep the run and the aftermath!

Here is a nice pair. get your minds out of the gutter!

The twat has put up cctv and told all the other neighbours and some other Brits in the village it’s because I’ve been harassing his wife fer fucks sake! He reckons I’ve been staring at her through the wall. Spoke to all my neighbours and he’s made himself look like a proper cunt. Saved me a job. ??

The roads might not have floated your boat but nice pics. Most of us here in grey lockdownland would love a bit of that, I definitely would.

Nowhere else wants you Dave.......cos you're a fucking weirdo! So think yourself lucky that a place exists which has zero standards and is willing to put up with your kind!

I don't know where you got that impression, maybe you just assumed it because I ride a real bike and you're a ponce.

Pete, you seem t have the knack for creating haven's for oddities, the "not so normal". you should really get a large subvention from the EU for looking after the handicapped. Handicapped? Yup, Buck is a multiple expat who drives a harly and rides a bus, Bruce is Saffer and rides a boat, You're a taffy dago, I'm half frog, Tym is unstable, Bob... well Bob has a Bristol accent, Grasshopper is a girl ( and fixes her bikes in a tent) Cattee lives in Norfolk FFS!, various other members come from the dark side (of the atlantic) Yen puts up ride reports from abandoned toilets... lets face it, Pedro's probably the most normal person in here and he's portugese. all of these conditions should be considered a handicap. Is it really surprising that our collective "Humour" is not readily comprehensible to all and sundry? I like it, Thank you for keeping it going despite what "normal " people might say or do.

@Six30 when Blunder catches him posting here!

Go for it girl, we want to see lots of photos

I have heard if you get that then your the one picked out to have the "secret jab" you have now been injected with the government device ?

That definitely deserves a place here

In hind sight, should have used Baja in place of Mexico. Baja, as it will turn out, has its own spirit that makes it one of my favorite places to ride.

I have just the place..... ?

There were two or three cars with people having lunch near where I stopped, restaurants being closed people that work on the road stop in places like that, but still picnic areas in the countryside would only be busy in weekends. Traffic is absolutely normal, though, we are unlocking progressively. Will still be restricted on the weekend and easter period, though. Thank you, I did miss it too. What I miss more is more wide open spaces, the summer as well That is very typical of rivers in northern Portugal, on the other side you can have your horizons restricted in places like these, beautiful as they are they are not a match for big views as far as I'm concerned.

Stop moaning, it’s fucking raining here and I can’t be bothered to go out. Instead, I’m doing proper fuck-all for the rest of the day. ?

Was it better than ITV?

Well, if you are having sex in a Telsa dont be surprised if Porn Hub has a special section just for you.

I'm going to request my own account deletion if this shit goes on!

Put yer fucking clothes back on @Six30 your curdling the milk.

To fucking late @BucksterPete already did that showing his ginger pubes.

No problem, here are some Great ones.

Right, let’s fuck this place up.

Got my first Sunday, hopefully it'll fuck me up so I don't have to go to work.

I'm away for a few days and

A real bit of agricultural machinery you mean jeeves now wipe my arse

That’s good pleased you are over the chills.?

That's all i have now is a bit of an ache in the arm

Being the odd one here is no bad thing. I meant it with sarcasm, though, because of the "he's the most normal and he's portuguese"

That sounds like quite an introduction into touring. Way to go! I do hope Portugal doesn't go the same way as you are saying is happening to the UK. I am tired of humanity and just want everything to myself, is it too much to ask? Oh @XTreme, this reminded me of that Australian couple from an old forum, maybe DSUK who left the UK after living there for a few years, to travel around Europe on a pair of Honda Transalps before flying back home to Australia. What where their names? They came to visit and me on their trip, and me my brother had dinner with them, and then took them to Porto at night by car, to show them how the town they spent most of that same day trying to navigate their way out off on the bikes looked like if you knew your way around

I'vs had an official invitation from the govt to go get my vaccination. I went to the doc who said, well they're fucking optimistic I have no vaccin left and cannot order anymore... Theres a phrase about piss ups and breweries that springs to mind. I'm sure it's those sneaky english keeping all the vaccins for themselves... ?

Portugal is such a Paris whore that they almost interrupted a Champions League match to announce that Almost!

I had the shivering and aches Fred, and my wife. From speaking to other people most seem to get this.

That's a bit fucking stumpist isn't it ?? ?

sounds like a bit of a tor sucker to me ?

Don't drink tea or coffee so cant do that, went to bed with a cold shivering and aches, my missus didn't like the cold hand on her woke up this morning everything back to normal. same temperature in the house tonight and both hands 33.8c last night the left hand was 27c and the right 30c it was weird oh and cold

Had my covid jab yesterday in the left arm and my left hand has been cold all day it's 20c in my house and its still noticeably colder than the right hand. Just checked both hands with the thermometer and my left hand is 3 deg colder than the right wonder if its just a coincidence ?

Here you go then, new fork springs bushes seals oil, and a new screen.