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Had a productive morning, won't mention the house work part least you see the thumb print, after that got the top box fitted to the Himalayan. I am not sure if I can live with it yet, fits fine just part of me sees it as a hideous carbuncle rather than useful storage. Price was obviously right as I bought it 12 years ago and it wasn't a premium purchase (read cheapest I could find) back then. Then went out for a bimble up To Damerells to look at the pretty shiny. I am guessing they have just had a RE delivery as there was loads in the showroom. I saw a really lovely Beemer that tickled my fancy plus a new Z900 that wasn't too shabby. Saw a nice looking Harley as well but how many letter do you need to describe it . To lovely old CBX's on display there although well up out of reach.

Oi we can still dig it

He should sign up here......he'd fit in well looking at the dregs of the Internet that we've currently got!

I had a mk1 1100cc. Excellent little go cart once I stuffed a camshaft in a 1300 and fitted. Most of you know I was a mechanic so I've worked on all makes and still rate them, to the point that all my 3 kids drive fiestas.

As far as I can tell Rich is the only one on here who isn’t biologically or mentally SAGA age. You’ll be photoshopping your dating profile pic next.

The book " Lord of the Flies" tells the story of a bunch of public schoolboys who take control of an island cut off from the rest of the world and then collapse into vicious in-fighting. it's a work of fiction, or so I'm told...

Found series 10 on ITV Hub as well. enjoying re binge watching it.

Yes without doubt the original is a work of art. But if you or I did own one it wouldn't get ridden much for various reasons, if you had a new one though it would be silly not to ride it

I think i ate one with a Peterbilt's bumper once.

Storks, when they’re so many it’s quite something, it does get lost in the picture though

They always have decent stock there, I didn't snap the half of it just what interested me. They did have a couple of Africa twins that looked great but I couldn't have one so they don't hold my interest much. They had a Kawasaki W800 there but I was disappointed with it in the flesh, as that is my sort of bike normally. I did like the R Nine T though I could see myself on that if I had a spare 9K hanging around and a garage to put it in. Top Boxes, Meh, water off a ducks back mate

Hello Frank, do you have any indicator problems ?

Not again FFS! So how short am I supposed to be then?

Ouch is the word of the day for that lad.....and twat of course

I don’t get it.. probably fortunately

id give him a 7 out of ten.

Moron. natural selection coming into play i supposee

Ooohhh, i could SO say something rude here…

You be frank and I’ll be Ernest… welcome in

itv 4 series 11, you can download it.

I have, I think that Henry chap is a bit of a Tit but the show is ok.

Drink spiller more likely.

The Z900RS is a beaut in the Z1 colours!

She wasn't an automated bot but I'm not 100% convinced that it wasn't going to turn into a link or product placement scenario.

That's another taboo thing with these idiots.....top box! Great range of bikes there.....and very well presented!

Do Bots click like buttons and view peoples profiles cos Karolina1 bot did.

Yeh......we had a couple of Fiestas.....87 and 96 I think! Great cars......but very prone to rust in Britain.

Chrome is only any good to someone who prefers spending more time polishing than actually riding imo. Definitely some nice looking bikes there except the Rocket 3, that thing is fecking hideous.

No need, I’m like fine wine, I just get better and tastier as I age.

Don't be childish, I wasn't mauled. I only thought it would be an unpleasant afternoon it it happened.

Mange.

Do bike rides count too? From today:

To be honest walking is quite literally a pain for me but I love it as it's the best time I spend with my son. If ever something good came out of covid then our chance to go out for a walk together was it . Some photos of our walks............

Does getting off the bike to walk to a gate opening it then riding the bike through and walking back to close it count cos that's about all the walking i do when out on the bike

Newsflash, brit is outraged to find out there are hills and steps after moving to what was promised to be a flat Spain! Nice looking old town!

Yep that BSA Goldstar isn’t looking quite so shiny now

I just heard on the radio that Ford are killing off the Fiesta. There must be some on here who have either driven one or even owned one, it's been around since 1976. Although I've never owned one I did drive an 1100cc Mk1 back in the day.

I said biologically or mentally. Pedro fits in with the oldies on here very well

Who?

@Slowlycatchymonkey it must be great to explore a whole new area in a new country not knowing what might be around the next corner

Pedro, I cannot tell you how many years we spent trying to get Paolo to ride a cycle. We even employed a cyclist who specialises in kids with special needs but he just couldn't get it right. I even bought a tricycle to help with the balance but he just can't get the motion of keeping the pedals going over . It's no sweat though as he loves walking, I will keep going as long as I can with him

I'm far from a Triumph fanboy, but there are good looking bikes there!

The idea was to get the bikes to Spain quickly so we’d have time to get our stuff back from storage and the place set up ready before having to get back to work. Unfortunately Mr Slowlys shoulder wasn’t up to long rides so it was to be a straight down the country with 3 stop overs to minimise time on the bike. We left on Sunday morning, the weather was pretty good. Loaded up the Himalayan transfoming it into the something mess Pedro loved. Stopped at Exeter for fuel, there were bikers everywhere. Arrived at the ferry port disgruntled that in-spite of the service and MOT the clutch was very unhappy. It would not come out of 1st when stationary at all and it just didn’t feel right. Wait looking at the ferry entrance for what seems like an eternity and no Mr Slowly. Start to fear somethings happened to him and decided to use stalk my family to check his whereabouts, I see he’s not too far away and finally he arrives saying he thinks his speedos broken because he hasn’t seen me since we got on the motorway. Not the journeys start I was after. Board the ferry with so many other bikers it’s unbelievably packed, they parked us so tightly together wheels were overlapped and you had to climb over bikes to get out. No-one is impressed and I was glad it’s a couple of Enfields being clambered over and not something I’m precious about the paintwork on. The grump soon fades when we get to the cabin and see we have room to swing a cat and two nice French waiters posted outside our room. We have surprisingly powerful shower and pop down to the bar for a quick G&T then back to the room to break open the wine I’ve stowed in my voluminous cases. Goodbye grey skies. Hello bar. The next morning the skies of the northern Atlantic are improving and everything is a pleasant blue (although in this pic they look grey). Breakfast is included and although I’m not a breakfast person I’m curious to see if the kitchen produces a good breakfast. It does not. Mr Slowlys is full English is so cold it cannot be eaten and has to go back. I ask if they have a menu with gluten free marked up to be told no sorry in that way that lets you know they are very far from sorry. They can make me some gluten free toast (in the same grill they make the normal toast in) so I say no thanks. Mr Slowly intervened and says you have eggs, beans, tomatoes and bacon on here. They’re all gluten free surely. Yes they are he replies but the sausages aren’t. They then deliver my breakfast with the gluteny sausages and get the hump when I say the sausages have gluten in them. New barely warm just about passable (apart from the cold mushrooms) breakfast is delivered. I heard two other people ask if they had a gluten free menu and get the same treatment. I don’t expect to be catered for so I carry a lot of food with me but I am surprised on a boat that size with the number of people they feed to not bother. Usually this attitude comes from the chef who thinks he/she is some sort of creative genius and the public fuss making plebs who don’t understand. It’s an indication you’re in a place where it’s not safe to eat. Anyhow the ambience was then further enhanced by a lairy man and his screaming coughing snotty kids. We’d bumped into them when we were going to the lift. He eyeballed Mr Slowly like he wanted a fight. Fortunately he didn’t catch Mr Slowly’s eye as he was busy examining the ferry map. We sat far away from them. An old couple asked to be reseated to get away from the noise. The waiter wanted to know why so lairy man heard and got very pissy, old guy said no offence but your kids are coughing and spluttering, I don’t want it and I can’t hear my wife, as they wandered away he said fuck off then you stupid old cunt. Well fair play to the old man he walked back and told him no to be so rude. Which if you saw the size of the lairy one who now had violence in his eyes you would have congratulated him on his bravery. Lairy guy said he was fucking sick of people telling him about his kids and this was the eighth time on this trip at which point the guy at the next table joined in and said stop being so unpleasant and if this was the eighth time then do something about your kids. This duo somehow deflated lairy and it was all resolved before Mr Slowly retuned from the loo which I was very grateful about cos that’s just the sort of thing that would wind him up and I don’t think it would have been pretty!

It’s the old nature nurture thing again isn’t it. I’ve watched one of my flakey friends nurture her teenage daughter into anorexia with her competitive pressuring style of parenting and not acknowledge she has anything to do with what happened. Then I see another friend with one daughter who is lovely n easygoing and one that’s a hellcat with behavioural problems from the outset. Its not easy there’s no manual (well there are thousands of conflicting manuals) and no one size fits all solution. Plus some people are just born bad. Sounds harsh but they literally have a larger psychopathic element than the norm. So there’s that too.

The temperature suddenly soars, dramatically drops and then soars again. The ride is pleasantly uneventful and I’ve now mastered the necessary combo to get bike into neutral while moving by going down into first knocking it up into second (cos it won’t go into neutral straight from there) then a very very gentle tap down and hey presto it’s in neutral, well maybe you might have to do that two or three times! It takes a bit longer to master gauging how long before I need to stop to start this process in order to drift the rest of the way to a petrol pump but I get there in the end! Modo Apartment Hotel is well reviewed and all brand new with secure underground parking. There’s a supermarket next door and I’m really looking forward to cooking something. Theres only so many days I’m happy to go without hot food or cooking something… about one The temperature feels off the scale, clothes are flung off as quickly as possible and bags are unpacked fast so nice hot shower and a trip the the next door supermarket can reveal its goodies. Then the power goes off and the suns going down. Soon we will be sat in the dark, sweaty, unwashed and unable to cook. Emergency number gal is convinced we’re morons who don’t know what a trip switch looks like so we sit there for an eon with messages flying back n forth. Eventually someone turns up who really is clueless about fuse boxes but finally concedes via a video call it’s buggered. Pack everything back up and move to another apartment. An apartment that doesn’t have aircon and is pretty bloody hot. Nevermind, shower, supermarket, steak (mediocre quality) and nice wine. Pasta salad made for tomorrows lunch. I’m happy, alls well. Checking google maps street view didn’t give an accurate representation of how depressed Parla is. Parla isn’t nice. I won’t be stopping there again but I did enjoy having a kitchen and making some decent food. The apartment faced onto a square which was quite lively. Lots of people chatting and children playing. That was nice Apparently this is a double bed!

I make us up some lovely sarnies and tea from my food stash and we get packed up. The lift to the vehicle deck is broken and we’re on deck eight. It’s so bloody hot in the vehicle deck and the walk hasn’t helped. Some folk have sweat quite literally pouring down their faces. A very round tubby shaped guy tries to squeeze between my bike and a leather embellishment on his clothing wraps itself around my indicator. He doesn’t look or stop and starts forcefully yanking his kutte, I shout woah woah woah, he ignores me so I grab the offending dangling thing on his kutte and yank him backwards shouting more loudly WOAH. Badass biker or not I’m not having him wrecking my bike. He still doesn’t look back and starts pulling again. Mr Slowly see’s me struggling with the dumbass and clambers in front of him saying mate MATE YOU HAVE TO STOP. He did because cos Mr Slowly is now in his way and I kept my indicator but bloody hell my hands now really hurt from holding onto that bowling ball! I untangle him- no apology, he didn’t even look back. I mutter to myself he’s an ignorant man. I start to fret that if my bike stalls while in gear I won’t be able to move it and I’ll block other people getting off the ferry. So I climb to the people I’d potentially block in and say I’m going to roll my bike back to the side and they should go around because I’ve developed a fault and need to get off last. Well it was only dumbkutte guy wasn’t it. I think he thought I’d come to tell him off. He looked fearful and then relieved. Then offered to help with my bike. Which I politely declined as I’ve had one dumbass mechanic working on it already and could well do without another People are so strange. First stop Mr Slowlys favourite Motel nr Valladolid and he’s determined working speedo or not to lead us there! I generally choose the accommodation based on the bike parking and this garage off your bedroom thing they do in Spain is excellent. Don’t have to fully unload your bike or carry your gear miles and can check your bike over easily out of the sun or rain Next morning we set off for Parla on the edge of Madrid. Again chosen for the parking. It’s warm and partially cloudy so the 25 degrees when riding feels good. A smiley photo before I left Emporio just for @Grasshopper