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It can be summed up quite easily. The region we were due to visit is now a flood disaster zone on an epic scale its also impossible to go to France without an enforced quarantine when we return. And I cannot knowingly do that. It seems just wrong to carry on being in denial or hope there might be a turnaround. The plan for next year is a 2 week trip to the Austrian Alps and Italian Dolomites, same time. The weekend after August Bank Holiday. So will be trying to shift tunnels bookings etc to that date, if a refund isn't possible. And will begin thrashing out the details later this year once we are in the winter blues and need something to look forward to. And hope for better times.

Well dropped my blood level from 11.5 on Saturday down to 6.4 today so on the right track.

@boboneleg The trips I organise are on-tarmac only, the guys I invite are usually inexperienced riders (to begin with) who have never toured before. (usually) So, its generally very relaxed and has to be relatively stress free. Though there have been a few memorable occasions when we 'off roaded' by accident.. I got a shedload of earache. from them all aside from one chap on a TRX850 who thought it was a hoot.

Queuing up for covid test................. The Van Van makes the perfect bike for whizzing around town, bloody hot again so just went with t-shirt and shorts, too hot for wearing the bike gear.

Just sent this:- To The Archbishop of Canterbury, senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England. Dear Justin, On Sunday I finally visited Canterbury, a place I have been meaning to check out for many years. I have to say I was not disappointed, the vast range of architectural styles, the buzzing street life, the gorgeous looking riverscapes and the well preserved medieval city walls all lived up to my expectations and more. I'm a life long motorcyclist. I think I have stuck with it for over 35 years despite our great nation's abysmal weather because I like the independence I achieve from it. I can plan exactly when I will arrive somewhere, however bad the traffic situation. I can always find a place to park, I rarely queue. In fact not queuing is probably my biggest plus, I dislike it intensely. As a result when I visit a new place, I take my own food and drink, that way if the place is rammed I can ignore the queueing rabble and find a nice quiet spot and feed myself with no drama. Upon arriving in Canterbury I pulled into a nice empty (and free) motorcycle parking place alongside the wall around the cathedral precincts. As I had just ridden down the centre of around 10 miles of queuing holiday traffic on the M2 I was hot, hungry and thirsty. It was the hottest day of the year I believe. I grabbed my flask and sandwiches and walked excitedly around the corner into Burgate looking for the first side turning into the Cathedral grounds. Imagine my surprise when I was stopped at a vehicle checkpoint and told that to gain access to the grounds I had to buy a £14 ticket to the Cathedral itself. After expressing disbelief to the very polite lady manning the checkpoint, I walked further up Burgate and took my business and sandwiches to the Catholics at St Thomas of Canterbury. The same Catholics who, incidentally, owned Canterbury Cathedral until the 1500s when the county had a bit of a reformational shake up. I know this is a long rambling message, but I guess what I am really trying to say is, don't be knocking on my door asking for jumble for the Bring and Buy when your church roof is a bit threadbare mate!! Kind Regards Ian Powell (Christened, C of E, Laarbruch RAF chapel, Germany March 1966)

here's one i stole earlier , notice its appropriately parked next to a bin .

The paint is really tatty, I wrapped the fairing but I prefer a paint finish so I left the rest. I will strip it and get it painted at some point.

You've got send one of those mugs to @XTreme, that's right up his street

The Dolomites are very impressive, if you like a bit of gravel trail riding I have maps

Have a nice week everyone!

Heading back into Wyoming tomorrow and hoping for lower temperatures. Hit 104F today - hot! More pics to come....

Phil and I got out to our favorite river road for some fun today...

Next day and we're crossing Wyoming and southern Montana. Desolate doesn't begin to describe this area. Temp was about 98F / 37C...

Our hotel reservations got messed up and we didn't have a room for Friday night. Luckily got one of the last rooms in town at the Hotel Shithole in Rock Springs. Wyoming. Phil has a BMW and proved his twat-ness by bringing a bike cover for it...

When Buckster got the wrong memo on freedom day....

She may be an OAP now.....but her voice hasn't aged one bit!

You can be guaranteed that even the most desperate Catholic priest would avoid your rancid underkaks. It’s a pity Six did not have that knowledge available to him when Father Patrick was helping him reach those high notes in the choir.

Ah, yes. Highway 12! Told my brother (lives in Stevensville) to spread my ashes along that road, when the time comes. for some reason, he keeps offering to do it now.

Luckily I wasn't wearing standard Liverpool issue nylon tracksuit bottoms!!

Yes, I thought of you when I took that. The best time to visit is not when the M25 is shut, knocking Dartford Tunnel out of operation, especially when you have wide panniers fitted. I had to go all the way into east London on the A2 which was rammed with no proper filtering room (although I managed to get through by pure force of personality) and then go through Blackwall Tunnel at walking pace. I have never seen my new bike run so hot, usually 105 degrees C and the fan brings it down. With the fan running full time in the tunnel it reached 112 degrees and I was all set to pull over and let it cool when I hit the fresh outside air and the gauge started dropping like usual. The bike outside temp gauge was showing 41 degrees in the tunnel, back to 35 outside. I drank about 8 mugs of water when I got in and still didn't need the toilet for ages.

Not yet, but we haven't made it home yet, either.

Have you seen the price of raZer blades lately!? I;ll trim when it starts to itchwich is soon butt i thought the white hair went nicely against my tan skin so i left it a few days.

nothing matches nothing , its pig ugly and you must be drunk stoned or both.... next your be saying you like his helmet

Fuckmine , this is worse than one of flouncing floater's ride reports

Had to stop in Big Hole, Montana for a break. 30 miles from the fire but the sky still looked weird.....

Walked across the street to eat and survived what had to be the worst pizza and food ever. At ;least the drinks were good.....

An impromptu spin over to Velez Rubio on Saturday for a bbq and get together with like-minded petrol heads. Had to stop en route for a slice of pizza though Sorry Pete, didn’t have time to get up your way. Next time hopefully

Every year except this year. the door has been slammed. Luckily, last year the door was partially ajar although I was forced to be very careful about where I stayed. Germany, Italy and most unlikely of all Liechtenstein. Liechtenstein. a place that will go down in memory. A campsite with its own restaurant, where a starter cost (minimum) €25 and a bottle of Erdinger €7 Less said about that the better. Highlight.. was the most banal thing. Though a first for me. Crossing the Danube by ferry. and then looking back at the Bavarian mountains that border the Czech republic. sad git me.

@XTreme will be taking this thread to the bathroom with him.

Last day tomorrow so i'm out on the bike all day the heat will probably kill me but needs must, Back to work Wednesday got a feeling i'm going to be asked to work weekends as the job i was doing has fallen behind hence the reason for going out tomorrow

Yes portion size plus sugar and carbs intake.

Brilliant Yen! And what's the best time to visit this place?

It's one of those moments in time that always stays with you Bob!

The roads were stacked with tourists today so I took to the lanes, nowhere to stop and takes pictures as such but identified a few places to visit when it is quieter. Initially rode up to Falkirk to the Falkirk Wheel, took a picture as it is basically boat porn for @MooN. From there I headed up to the Kincardine Bridge to cross the Forth, it is one of the older bridges inland, headed across to Culross, then through to Dunfermline before heading back over the Forth on the new Forth Road Bridge. Dropped down into South Queensferry to The Cove biker cafe for a cup of tea, no pictures there as the Blue Angels MC were very present and generally object to people taking pictures. Took a picture of the old Forth rail bridge though. And of course the real motorcycle. Miles, 100 Accidents, 0 Vans, 0 Snapped knicker elastic, immeasurable.

Those are really cool colours on that Va;an @boboneleg

Great photos again Eric and unlike some other twat on here you took them yourself

What I find fascinating about this kind of attitude is that the very first mobile phone I ever saw, late 80s was powered by two lead acid batteries and was the size of a pull-along suitcase. Wholly impractical, but paved the way for a brief foray into alkaline and then once phones became truly pocket sized, Lithium. As with everything, new tech is going to be expensive due to set-up costs plus a relatively small market. But as with all tech that will change. As the switchover continues prices will fall. And eventually lead acid will be relegated to older machines for a time, until the tech can deal with them too. Ive been very lucky, the lithium battery in my own bike has been completely reliable and in the almost 3 years of ownership I have seen 3rd party replacements appear 1/4 the price of the OEM... which has forced the price of the OEM down to a degree. A 1000cc bike with a battery little bigger than a packet of 20 cigarettes - 4" wide, that when standing unused will lose 1% of its charge per month. so not much need for a charger/maintainer. Quite amazing. Lithium battery tech for motorbikes and other vehicles is based entirely on the tech used in mobile phones, and we dont give that a seconds thought. I never see phone owners wishing we could go back to the good old days of lead acid.. or even Duracell type alkalines in their phones... its all about longer usage times and shorter charge times. More from less and as cheap as possible. Safe obviously as its often kept in a pocket.

Roasting, but there was a cold drink and pool at the end of it so no complaints here

Greetings from the Grasshopper!

We land in our home for the next 3 days, Anaconda, Montana. Staying at a friend's hostel that he's building. Not quite done yet, so it's mattresses on the floor for us. What the Hell, it's free...

So sad to see this place burn, but it's a natural cycle of things. Cops in the street keeping people out as we exit the area....

Flames were hot enough that you could feel them from the road and pants, even through our jackets....

Should have listened to the cop, it was kinda scary to ride amongst so much smoke. The forest was getting ready to burst into flames any minute. Fences were already toast....

After lunch we hump north to cross into Montana. When we arrived at our turn onto the Montana road we wanted to take, a State Trooper was there and told us that he had just closed the road. Shit! About a 3 hour detour to get around it. We begged to be let through and he relented and let us go. Wild fire all around...

Lunch stop in Salmon, Idaho....

Yes.. everyone else. (I normally take a small group) had to drop out, mostly due to paranoia about possible enforced quarantine on return. In the event that never happened. I was totally honest. I crossed countries that were 'on the list' like Austria. And although I went into the Czech republic, briefly. I didn't stop anywhere public. and after a couple of hours was back in Germany. It was nice, after so many years taking groups to be on my tod. off the leash (so to speak) nice.. but not the same. I used the time to reccy for next year.. when we will be heading down to Austria and into the Dolomites.

probably.