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Had a nice ride today, but didn't stop for pictures at all. The roads were the same old ones and the ones I hadn't posted before weren't very interesting. Anyway, getting home I stopped by an abandoned place with a scenic view to take pictures for you guys. Being an abandoned building I could ride into I figured it would appeal to the resident guy in search of old stuff. It's right on the edge of town where my place is, a few meters away from the road on a lovely dirt road that then leads into a forest. This is "Quinta da Marquesa", meaning the "Marchioness' Farm". It was built in the late 1500s or early 1600s and passed on by really very wealthy families, the Portugal's elite used to visit for hunting. As a lot of old and historic buildings and industry in Portugal, it ended up being wasted after the revolution on 25th April 1974, communists took over and tried to subvert it's workers to only ended up with translates in the testimonies as a "strong ass whooping" Legend says there are hidden passages and treasure hidden around the place... This picture is worthless, but over the door to the chapel there is a statement you can't read here, it translates from old Portuguese to something like: "D. Isabel de Castro, daughter of Fernão Teles, entails this estate of the Mascarenhas in the year of 1618 with the obligation of paying 30000 kings: 25000kings to a daily mass in Alcácer do Sal, 3000 for factory, and 2000kings for the goodwill of Alcácer, to be administered by the chapel: 18th June, 1621" Don't really know how to explain most of it but Castro, Teles, Mascarenhas, these are names of some of the richest and most powerful families of the old times, and the names of later owners continue to be impressive. Into the remains of the chapel: And outside Graffiti and a sad looking sofa in the only "Deliverance" room, for @XTreme´s delection This is all quite sad, a country should take care of it's historic buildings a lot better than this, real history went down here for centuries, now left to crumble apart. The "Mascarenhas", I think the first family that owned it, for example, used to rule Portuguese India. I took these pictures at around 8PM, and the light was getting pretty, so the GS posed a little on the surrounding trails before going home. First with the farm land in the background: And then just looking for a pretty picture: Heading home, I stopped by a place with a vantage point over the farm so you can see where it stands amongst the surrounding area. You can spot it in the left third of the picture, above the green dumpster for reference:

I was never one for chopping and changing bikes, a few, a very few I only kept for a year or two - mostly because buying it turned out to be a mistake. But, there was one that I regretted selling and even today, 27 years later, I still miss. Sadly it was destroyed by its buyer, which just makes my regret a little more poignant. I bought one of these in 1988, one of the very last Meriden Triumphs. A 1982 Triumph T140TSS and for me it was the bees knees. Sold it in 1994 because I wanted one of the first Hinckley machines, which was a bike I really liked. But, it wasn't the same. My dad used to make money on the side by refinishing Triumphs and he did his magic with mine and so it was completely solid and never leaked. I never had a single problem with it. not once. It looked almost exactly like this.

This morning. The memorial is for a group of French resistance fighters that were ambushed by the Nazis when they were heading to a sabotage mission just after D-Day. Most were either killed at the scene or executed in prison a few days later. There's a memorial service held here every year on the date of the massacre.

Headed north in just about 7 hours to visit Montana and Wyoming again. Hope to get some abandoned buildings pics (gonna be hard to match @Pedro 's latest though!). Spent the past day getting new tires thrown on the scooter so I'm ready to go at first light. On to Buffalo, Wyoming tomorrow. Will be riding solo for the first 1,400 miles so I should be able to make really good time. More pics as they come in....

Another link from my favourites folder, this bloke cracks me up.

North Berwick

Tidying up my favourites folder last night and found this one. I knew I kept it for a reason, cracks me up. Guess my favourite two people out of the whole collection.

Gorgeous and sad... decaying history is a common find in Portugal. Philosophically Portuguese are outward and forward looking, not really interested in the past or learning about history, in a remarkable paradox seeing that Portugal has magnificent history! A People more curious about foreign lands then their own. There is a beauty to this, a freedom that comes from not being weighted down by the responsibility of looking after something, just accepting its death and decay and moving on to discover new things. If I had the money, I would love to buy it and restore it!

The whole lot of them, the video is a perfect example of why people shouldn't be allowed anywhere near guns.............. Except Tym

Some days I wish I hadn't sold this bike. I owned it for 17 years and put about 7500 miles on it. It was the worst streetbike I've ever owned but when the time was right it was awesome. I sold it and kept my 851, some days I think I sold the wrong bike.

Same here.... It was a bicycle wipe out going down a big hill. The gravel bits in the hands was not fun. Besides that, I just don't like the feel of no gloves. I always thought driving gloves were cool, for any vehicle.....lol

So, one of our favourite people in the World was over for a visit and we were treated to great food and great company as always! I did not take many photos, thank God cause I am rubbish at it (!), but here are some of Pedro's food, very good indeed! A little starter prepared with care to eat while seating on the balcony enjoying the end of the day with a glass of wine Followed by spaghetti with a type of mackerel, a very subtle and truly delicious pasta! Another end of the day, another starter! This time goat's cheese with pumpkin jam I made and, I have to say, turned out very delicious! The combination of these two things is a very traditional Portuguese affair and works marvellously! The doggies agreed!! Day off equals pic-nic! So we went to a nice spot with 100% Pedro's choice of delights! Northern Portugal pork smoked sausage, ewe's milk cheese, local bead and Vinho Verde! Could not be more typical of Portugal!! One doggie already positioned in the drop zone... One never knows what can fall from the Human hand! Although they were catered for by the thinnest and cutest slices of carrot Pedro prepared for them, they loved it! The following day, on returning from a morning of surgeries, lunch was waiting in the form of a carefully selected group of dishes: dahl, fried rice, salted cod in olive oil and garlic and a southern style tomato salad, followed by a desert of strawberries in chocolate sauce!! delicious at the best of times, but on the back of a busy morning it was even better!

Ah...so that's where that photo was taken.............Cockermouth!.

We need to put me and Pete side by side and have a conversation. We come from places that are only about 50 miles apart but if you hear us talk you'd think we lived on opposite sides of the moon

No, this is gay.

Oddly enough so do I, it has 'up' and 'down' buttons on the left handlebar - ideally placed for the thumb and index finger. push a button and it drops (or ups) a gear. click. I like it mostly because its impossible to stall on highly technical mountain roads. which is very handy indeed. Gear changes are so incredibly smooth.. almost unnoticeable. No lurching back and forth which is great for a pillion. no chance at all of helmet tapping. And all this means that the clutches and chain have a very easy life. The switches are marked + and - in the photos. These instead of a gear lever.

Who knows how his mind works. I don't exactly make a secret of it and even, rather mockingly call it a scooter myself. It isn't - because most scooters don't have a traditional gear box. I guess its more that I ride my bike rather than transport it in a van for a photo opportunity. The levels of insecurity are really quite amazing. You might have noticed, his tendency to simply copy what is said about him and then repeat it back. That speaks volumes.

I came from the respectable side of the pool though, Pete!

Yeah, my mum lives not far from the crossing and it's regularly gridlocked around her place. I had a zoom call arranged with one of my mates last Friday evening, but I got a message to postpone it until the weekend as he was stuck trying to get back from Kent! It's a nightmare!

Dartford, if anyone even just looks at the bridge or tunnels in a funny way then the whole area comes to a grinding halt. I was supposed to drive to Aveley last week just north of the bridge and just before I was due to leave I checked google maps for the traffic situation. Everywhere around there was black with standstill traffic (might have been dark red, but colour blind and all that). I had to grab all my stuff out of the car and start strapping it to my bike at the last minute.

About 30 years ago I used to go over to Boston, MA to help the local engineer out. Nice guy and president of his local Harley chapter, but he had a really bad limp, which I assumed was the result of a bike accident. I was over one time and we got chatting about bikes and that and I asked if the limp was the result of a bike accident? He laughed and said no. He told me that he was on the gun boats that patrolled the rivers during the Vietnam War. One day they were out on patrol and came under fire from one bank. He was laid on the deck returning fire along with the bow gunner. They then came under fire from the other bank, so the bow gunner swung round to return fire, but didn't take his finger off the trigger, so he shot-up his own boat and the guy I knew had a big lump blasted out of his left leg by his own gunner! Still, that was the end of his war!

Farm's still going, do a nice set of market stalls on a Saturday now. I had to resurface the whole length of Stepney Way a few years ago and I offered to sort out their puddle filled crossover at the same time but they said they couldn't close it any day of the week to let me do the work so it got left. My resurface of Stepney Way was a second attempt due to snow a few weeks earlier. I didn't actually have a legal road closure the second time round but told everyone I did and got away with it. When I turned up on the morning before closing off the road what do I find? A car wrapped around a lamp post, a boy driver in custody and a ring of police vehicles at jaunty angles after a high speed chase. I asked the rozzer in charge if he was going to measure any skid marks because they wouldn't exist in an hour or so.

Except @Pedro.......he's an uncouth savage! He even traumatised my Rottweilers back in 2006!

They were taken away from their owners during the revolution in an excuse by profiteers to give the people management of what was in the hands of “fascists”, all those people fled and the now "managers" ran everything into the grounds, farms, factories, rich houses, etc Then a few years later when they came back all the stuff wasn’t theirs anymore, and what was reclaimed is often stuck in a legal battle over heirs claiming against each other. The legal system being a joke, things get passed on from generation to generation in said legal system … It would be easier if it was to go for an organisation like you say, but I don’t see that working properly here. Maybe even better if sold for charity and used for businesses like small hotels, restaurants, etc, it would make a kickass brothel too!

And you wonder why there are so many gun related deaths!..............Self inflicted!.

Three Mills. This is actually a few feet away from a massive Tesco car park and about 50 yards from the A12 Blackwall Tunnel Approach Road. Lots of artistic types running about outside as there is a film/tv studio attached. Lovely building on the river Lea. https://spitalfieldslife.com/2021/08/26/at-the-house-mill-o/ Streetview so you can look around at the not so pretty surroundings. https://goo.gl/maps/chiGNHdbhiofyPoV7

How about traning some troops in using this. Wasting space with all those relics of poor construction techniques.

See @XTreme , I told you there was danger going in those old places. You better keep your eyes open for communists as well as 3 foot dagos

My bro in law had a 996, couldn't ride it for longer than an hour and got off like a cripple, he loved it though.

These two.

In the USA that's the only color they came in. It was also the reason I had Larry find me a yellow 996 instead of buying the red one they had in stock.

Lovely shot. I believe it is a Purple Coneflower.

There's another memorial that I know of a bit to the east of here. I'll have to make a trip over there and get a picture of that one too.

Nice shot Bob! Where's @MooN.......he's into this stuff?

But that massive gay scooter goes all over Europe and puts most of us here to shame considering the riding that we do.

This farm was operative in 1974, so all the damage happened since …

I don’t think so, the door was human sized and facing the entrance of the building, I suppose a barn would face the inside and be amongst the ones more in ruins. It could be a bigger church, though, I have no idea.

Smart man.

https://the-race.com/motogp/itv-to-broadcast-silverstone-motogp-race-on-main-channel/.

You see some interesting shit in the sewers, we were working on a pumping station in the St melons area of Cardiff years ago, i was there to isolate the pumps so the wet well could be cleaned out, they found an engine block in there it had been washed along the sewer and dropped into the sump how it got into the sewer only god knows. Also found someones glass eye in one of the micro screens

You might have hit the jackpot finding that there's a real good chance you'll get bummed there, just remember to video it so @boboneleg can watch

Well, call them whatever you want but that’s like calling a screw a nut! They’re berliners!

Don't know the plant/flower but the bees love it.

Now you would think the resident idiot would realise that quoting me not long after blocking me just means he lives up to his name. But it’s hard to resist taking about yourself while trying to insult someone else.

You're getting fussy nowadays.

That’s all that was left, I don’t eat the shells