Leaderboard

Time to head back to Vegas and dodge the donkeys on the way....

Just a slight bit of off roading to get there. The town has some weird artwork - The Ghosts of Rhyolite ...

The next day I realised why I'd heard a few sirens during the night. Hotel was opposite the fire station. Then it was south again, on the motorways. We stopped for coffee and fuel, and for Titus to look for insects. Another bit of motorway to Plasencia where I had read of an aqueduct that was supposed to be worth seeing. By the time that we got there my brain was nicely cooked so after grabbing some photos and slurping water it was back onto the motorway heading for Caceres where we were to camp for the night. We arrived, with my brain cooked a bit more, at the campsite and before even going to the pitch it was beer time. Back on the bikes and up to the pitch. All a bit strange having out own toilet and shower! A guy rocked up, barney who was a few pitches down from us. He was in the queue in Millay behind us. Small world. Anyway it was time for more beer and tapas so that was it for the night. A very pleasant evening after all the motorway riding.

Mostly stone and concrete construction as there are no trees available for wood construction....

And what this one has to do with a ghost town I don't know. At least the carpet matches the curtains...

It's about 8:00 AM and already near 100F / 38C so I head north towards the ghost town of Rhyolite .....

Passed an abandoned old Opera House from years ago ...

So today I set off for Compton Abbas airfield , a lovely grass airstrip with a cafe on the downs above Shaftesbury, well I got there and it was closed I was told later that it's been bought by Guy Ritchie , https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/local-news/guy-ritchie-unveils-plans-compton-8006729 So I decided to head down the road to see if I could another cafe , found one on the edge of Bladford and had a chinwag with a guy on a Virago 400 ............... From there I headed down the backroads to Weymouth .................. I went to the harbour to check out a pub where we'll be staying in 10 days time ................ From there I headed back on the less travelled roads ............. Found a cute church in the middle of nowhere ................ and then made a @Earache pit stop on the way back ..............

Today it was time to head for Portugal where Titus wanted to show us some stones. It was quite a pleasant ride through villages once we'd left the motorway. We found a campsite at Evora that was ok, it had internet, but the pitches left something to be desired. It was getting hot. Time for some laundry. Then it was time to look for stones. By the time we set off it was bloody baking. Interesting ride ending up along some dirt track. Then it was a hike down a footpath broiling in the sun, where we saw a stone. Great. After hiking up a mountain to get back to the bikes I was bushed! More water then another couple of miles to look at more stones. I thought that the mound of earth was for burying people who'd cooked for long enough. Lots of stones. I had a lie down on this one until I realised that I was cooking from it's heat. A new one for me. Bark taken for cork I assume. Then I thought it would be nice to photograph some flowers. I might have been hallucinating in the heat. It looks as if the bark has been taken off a lot of these trees. I remember this as being more colourful, man! This was the highlight of the day. Shade and beer! Unfortunately the food left something to be desired. All to be expected in the local football club bar.

It was in decent shape. Wish I could have gotten inside or seen inside, but they had it pretty well boarded up....

Back from Juan Cortes! So much smoother now! For some reason Honda specify 10-30 instead of 10-40 on this.......so that's what it had!

Get in ……

Took car back to the garage, they found the problem, exhaust heat shield catching on the undertray, I no longer have Cozy Powell doing a drum solo when I drive over rough roads.

Caboose has seen better days....

Cool old railroad terminal on the hill ...

...

I've dropped over 10,000 feet in elevation - almost 2 miles - from home to here......

Pointed the bike west and headed to Death Valley...

My mate Titus and I had decided that as we weren't able to do a circumnavigation due to the odd conflict here and there that a trip to Dakar would have to do as a poor substitute. Beer was involved in arriving at this decision. On the morning of 16th March, in drizzle and 11degC, I set off for Plymouth where I was to meet Titus and his son Omar, who'd decided to come along for some father son bonding, and sharing his father's love of travel. Loaded up ready to leave. Sainsbury's Plymouth for breakfast, meet-up and fuel. Then on to Millbay for the ferry. It took an eternity to get through checkin as Omar, late to the party, had booked as a foot passenger, whilst Titus and I plus bikes were on another booking. Computer couldn't cope and there must have been about fifty people involved in sorting it out. Then it was the same again at the customs check. Nightmare. Then I got mugged in the bar. Just leaving Millbay.The bogs where I used to sleep when I missed the liberty boat back to the ship has long gone. I think it was about £6 for a Murphy's. I'd booked a cabin for the night as I knew I'd be knackered but the other two decided to sleep on the deck somewhere. Apparently not very well as they were knackered in the morning. Waiting to escape at Santander. Loads of bikes on there. Then it was on the bikes heading south for Palencia. A bit further than we'd liked to have done, but it was cheap. At one point Titus veered to the left then caught it and carried on pulling over for a coffee break - he'd fallen asleep. Bloody scary. Nice enough through the mountains but not what I'd have liked to have done. Needs must I suppose. Parked up for the night. We wandered off up the road to try and find beer and food and ended up in a small tapas bar. They weren't hungry having devoured about six chickens between them that they'd got in Sainsbury's.

I’ve serviced my bike on one leg and crutches

Train station looked like some doors, windows and a lick of paint would see it right again. Great stuff Earache.

Just gone live: Sol Simple Properties I'm now off to Baza for the oil and filter change!

You can walk okay for now but if you get that Honda all bets are off.

Loading up and headed back to Utah tomorrow. Will leave early again to beat the heat out of town. More pics tomorrow.....

Quick stop at the bottle house on the way outta town ...

The wiring for the porch lighting looks legit and up to code....

The vault is still standing at the bank ...

This town only lasted a couple of years and had some pretty decent buildings in town.....

Up at 4:00 AM today and out on the bike to beat the heat. I swung by the Strip for a drive - it was largely empty ...

I like mine being white, all the black on it always looks dirty as hell but as long as I keep the white bits and the light clean it looks 80% ok

was the toilet closed ?

Our green (and yellow) and pleasant land ……..

Dipping yor knob in cider and taking a photo isn't good.

the moderators:

Who put a photo up that they shouldn’t.., ban the cunt

It covers the Costa del Sol, which includes Marbella! Serious money to live there!

Crikey, they're got some money on the books.

Not a proper ride report, then.

They're pretty, when they're clean and shiny. For you that works ok, though.

Yeah, I can still walk OK, Pete, but my big toe and the one next to it have both gone a nice shade of purple! The list price of the TA is 10599€. I think that there's enough interest in it that there won't be any negotiations on that price. The only thing that I didn't really like is the TFT screen. It's a bit small, so some of the info displayed is a bit hard to see and I've got pretty good vision! Otherwise it looks OK.

Lotas of artifacts and junk left in the yard - old bed frames, cart frame, old plates and cups,...

We came close to crossing paths, I guess. Maybe off by a week. Our trip was weekend of 5/6!

How come the Peak District doesn't have any "peaks" in it? The Lake District has a few Lakes.

Sure, but it might vary, I don't really use measurements and timers. I'll always use a bag of 700 or 800grams of the best peas I can find, which is usually Iglo primavera peas, the smallest ones are the tastiest. This will be too much for just two, but this is something that's great for the next day or left frozen for another time, just unfreeze and warm up when you get home late one time and it's great. Obviously a quality black pig chorizo and local free range eggs are a big difference to supermarket grade stuff. Ingredients: - 700/800 grams of peas, frozen - about half or a little more of a chorizo, usually with paprika, good quality that smells like proper smoked is what you want. The one in the picture has a little more than half, obviously in slices. Slices not too thick. - 1 big tomato or two smaller ones chopped in cubes, I leave the skins. If you don't have good tomatoes, you can use good canned pasata, but it´ll completely transform the dish into something with a lot more sauce. - tomato concentrate - 1 onion, shopped - 4 or 5 proper big cloves of garlic, smashed and chopped roughly, or just properly smashed - paprika /ground cumin /black pepper, roughly ground / rock salt - great quality extra virgin olive oil - glass of white wine - 1 egg per person You start by warming the pan with the chorizo slices in it, in medium heat. Keep going until you start to cook the chorizo and some of the fat is coming out, add the chopped onion and mix it a bit with the chorizo fat, few seconds later and before the onion starts to dry add the olive oil. I don't know how much olive oil, probably about as much as it would take to have a little cover over the bottom of the pan if you were to start with it, more than a brit would add, like a mediterranean! Add the garlic. Season with salt (plenty, but account for the chorizo you've used as if it's poor quality and too salty that will add on) to help the onion release water. Get a sizzle, I use the smallest beak in my stove at full gas, which is less than a medium heat, but I like to cook with little heat. Keep mixing from time to time to help drain the onions and keep them from burning. When the onions are properly translucent but before they're golden, add the paprika (about a table spoon) the pepper ( be generous) and the ground cumin (have no idea on quantity, a few pinches, just to give it something extra but not turn it into a Moroccan dish). When you add the spices, the paprika will make it all go dry, keep mixing as you want it to cook a little more as it condenses. Add a squirt of the tomato concentrate and let it cook a few seconds, mix it so it properly mixes and you've more or less got an uniform result. Then add the shopped tomatoes and stir it all together, when it starts to cook put heat of minimum and close the lid. Now you're letting the tomato cook for a few minutes while it falls apart in it's own moisture. Stir from time to time to prevent sticking and check that it doesn't get dry, it shouldn't. You're going to maybe do this for 5/10 minutes, and when the whole thing is now mushy and the tomato has cooked, you put on medium to high heat and add the frozen peas. You'll mix the peas into the sauce properly and keep going until the peas thaw and there are no clumps of ice, close the lid for a little to help get heat into them. Once they're starting to sizzle add the glass of white wine and let it start to sizzle, after a few seconds the alcohol is mostly gone and you give it a mix, turn the heat to medium low and close the lid to properly cook the peas. Depending on the tomatos you used and the peas, you might have too little liquid, if needed add a little water, but not much more than maybe a whisky serving amount of water, this is just to help cook the peas. You don't want the sauce to be runny and liquid, so if you've got too much liquid or regret adding water, leave the top off for a while to help evaporate. Give them a mix from time to time to properly cook everything more or less the same, I think I cook the peas in low heat for maybe 20 minutes. When the peas are done, this means you can squash them easily but still firm enough that you chew them and have texture, give them a final mix, dig a little hole for each egg and put them in gently. If you're not good with opening eggs without breaking put each one into a little bowl and use the bowl to put them into the pan, this is also a safety measure as you'll easily spot a rotten egg before adding one to the pan and ruining the whole thing. Rotten eggs aren't that common but if you use local sourced non industrial ones they're not that uncommon either. Close the lid to help start cooking the eggs and let the heat on minimum. Cook the eggs until your preferred state, I like them properly runny, let it rest for a couple of minutes with the lid closed while you put on the table and announce what a lucky girl she is, and serve with a couple of toasts using rustic bread. If you´ve got fresh herbs, you can add some shopped coriander at the same time you add the spices, and some at the end before serving, or use a branch of rosemary to cook amongst the peas after you've added the whine and mixed them properly, all's good. I think it takes me an hour from start to shop the onions until it's done, maybe a little more if there's conversation and drinking wine in the mix (there usually is) Sorry, I turned this into a proper marathon, in reality it's not that complicated.