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I wa navigating the 1st day of our 3 day trip to the Ardeche and the first stage of day one went something like this https://goo.gl/maps/QQrWRDJd9jMbtFFJA Boring roads that we'd all ridden many times as its our main route south from here avoiding autoroutes but on roads majour enough for actualy " making progress"> The idea being to get far enough south by lunchtime so as to be straight into the fun bits after lunch. I'd planned a decent first stop at 1.5h out cos we're all either so old as to need to stop and piss regularly or so fucked up physically that an hour and a half is about the limit of saddle time before necrosis sets in. ( the excuse I use is that one of the guys is riding a fireblade 1000RR with a fuel range of about 6 miles ( I exaggerate, but only a little...) as 4 of the bikes were carrying pillions, I'd planned the stop at Magny Cours ( race track) where there is an autoroute style fuel station with clean toilets, decent coffee and fuel all in the same place. One of the group ( whom I shall call Jean-Michel, cos that's his name) was dissapointed at the stop os there wasn't any beer available... at 09h30 with 6 or more hours of riding ahead...! I was forced to admit that the need for draught beer at the morning fuel stop hadn't even occurred to me. The 2nd stage went without a hitch, though I had failed to take into account the bank holiday weekend traffic a St Pourcain sur Sioule ( cos untill now I've never been anywhere on a summer bank holiday weekend) which is a majur bottle neck as you have to cross the river there or add miles to any southbound route not on the autoroute> tis lost us about 15 minutes on planned timing but I wasn't overly worried as, or once, we had reserved a restaurant for the lunch stop so 15 minutes either way wasn't going to cause a problem. I nearly caused an accident as we rode through the industrial suburbs of ClermonFerrand and for some reason I had a brain freeze at a red light, with us turning left across the main drag I stopped at a green light ( convinced it was red) which tokk the following bikes somewhat by surprise Lunch was good, as always but I can't remember what we ate. It was hot when we moved out for the afternoon stint and all liners were removed from jackets, summer gloves came out etc etc. We refeulled and headed off for this route for the afternoon. I hadn't planned a stop bt counted on finding a bar in one of the villages we were passing through. https://goo.gl/maps/heRHB7Qu2iVE7Auc8 There wer some fairly majour strom cells moving up from the south and I had to alter the route a couple of times on the fly in order to avoid them. At one point, I stopped the group and put my rain liner back in my jacket, suggesting the others do likewise, despite the clear blue skies overhead. I told them we were heading straight into a big storm front in the next 15 minutes. some did, some didn't and boy did they regret that decision. Withinh 5 minutes of moving on again it came down so hard that there was standing water on the road that couldn't drain off quick enough and visibility was down to less that 100m. I pulled off into the first available place to stop and the rain stopprd as instantly as it had arrived, but not before those who hadn't prepared for it were drenched through to the skin. it had found it's way through my rain gear in a couple of places too, all in the space of less than 5 minutes! The good thing is that they now all think I have some super rain forcast app on my phone that they don't have access to... At one point I was very glad that my sena intercom was not linked through to the others cos the GPS took us down a couple of VERY minor roads with grass down the middle and, at one point, a huge pudle right across the road that I was worried some of them might refuse at. Being out in fron I had just seen a renault Clio in front of us drive through it without flinching so I was able to put on a show of confidence and ride straight through ( to be fair, if I hadn't just seen the car go through I would have hesitated as there ws no indication as to depth or bottom) We got to the hotel with enough time to shower and change before Apéritif time with thunder banging of the valley walls and lightening flashes looking like heavenly speed cameras et every straight bit of road, but just had time to get the bikes under cover befor it started raining again. Aperatif: purchqsed from the village butcher out of focus due to the large amounts of pastis consumed... food was good too: salade de chevre chaud followed by a large lump of red beef ( can't remeber the cut cos everything was a little blurred at this point) with a Cépes sauce. The dish to the right was what we would call a "Treuffade" here but had another local name. Potatoes, sliced and cooked in a cream sauce with "lardons" ( bacon bits). Having destroyed any and all of the good work done over the last few weeks to reduce cholesterol count, I proceeded to kill myself with a desert containing more sugar than my annual allowance in one serving. There is no photographic evedince of this as I threatened to kill anybody who informed my wife or doctor...

Went back to the rocky hill i was struggling on with the XR a few weeks ago this time with the Beta the right tool for the job which made short work of it except i did fall off where my mate says i heard you stop here as well LOL been laughing to myself at him cursing

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there's a whole world out there thet you'll never understand Pete.

Been out for breakfast then a bimble stopping for a photo on the way home. Great weather for it.

When my mate Charlie still lived in Essex he had a Yamaha DTR125 and a classic Suzuki 500 2 stroke which he commuted down the M11 on. I would know if he was ahead of me in the morning as I could smell the 2 stroke oil. Sure enough I'd catch up with him wedged up some lorry's back side slip streaming it if he was on the 125 because he didn't have the oomph to pass it, or flying along on the old 500 thing. They both self destructed eventually and he switched back to using his GSXR1100 for work duties.

Look what I saw in someone's garden this morning whilst out for a stroll. Two of them as well!

Brecon beacons today.

Monday morning came and we were up with bikes loaded before breakfast at 8, one of the "panzerdivision" ( BMW RT 1300 which a really want to baptise Hideous Barge but I think that would be plagierising Jeff (?) who called his bike that?) so as there are twwo of these horrendous machines + an R 1100 in the group I have given them the collective noun of "Panzerdivision" ) was not joining us for the ride home as they were continuing south and east for a weeks holiday. So 5 bikes set off back north with a plan to stop and feed at Thiers ( where the knives come from) twisties to start with, opening up through some fast winding N roads as far as Ambert, then a dash across the plain to Thiers. baking hot again in the sun and I, for one was happy to have an awning over the table even if it was only a buffalo grill with their usual slipshod service and factory manufactured food, it was quick and cheap refuelling excercise... well it would have been quick if they hadn't somehow managed to "lose" the order between waitress and kitchen, due to a " computor error".... it was pretty clear that the waitress had a max IQ of 4 and had not been sufficiently trained in the use of her fisher price "Me Pad" to the extent that she had omitted to push the send button once we'd all explained exactly what we wanted whilst desperately resisting the urge to grab her nose ring and shake her with it.... but I digress... Whilst waiting for the driveling morons to concoct some more excuses, all less believable than the last as they weren't even capable of getting it straight amongst themselves, we decided that rather then face the long slog back up the route express the way we had come down, which would be heaving with road lice ( camping cars) and caravans trying to get home from the long weekend and causing chaos in the process, we'd run up to Vichy and then cut north along the D roads via Decize ( where we stopped for beer / coffee/ pisser etc.) a bit like this: Got home shattered. With the firm opinion that that was too far for me to do comfortably and the premonition that I was going to suffer all the following week> I wasn't wrong. STATS : 1127km over the 3 days. 18 h in the saddle avereged 5,1 litres /100km average speed 61km/h

My daughter is flying to Malaga today she's a ginge so I've warned her to stay covered LOL

From our garden today ...............

Sunday turned out glorious, 8 am breakfast scary picture. I wasn't navigating the rest of this so the route is a bit vague but something like this on sunday morning Lunch was at Les Vans " Pintade facon Tadjine et legumes de saison" followed by a proper "Créme Brulée" that hadn't been fucked about with by adding chutneyed marmalade of bean shoots or whatever the pansy fucking parisien parisites thnik is fashionable now... it was 31degC acording to the sign in the square and I could rally have done with a wee siesta, but there were many more hairpin bends and tight twisty valleys to do before the end of the day so we set off again for this bit the river to the east is the Rhone and top right is Valence, to give you an idea of where we were. there were still some nasty storm cells in the area but we managed to avoid most of them, running just under the trailing edge of one and the leading edge of another during the afternoon. We were Lucky because the storms were dropping hail and a couple of times, around a bend the temps would rop 20deg in 100m, you'd ride into a wall of fog lifting off a rapidly cooled road surface and see piles of hailstones along the roadside, suggesting a storm had gone through only a few minutes before us. One of the girls managed to get a couple of pics we got back to the hotel without problem and pretty much repeated the previous nights debauchery, starting with Pastis and finishing with Liqeur de Verveine... The hotel chef said he'd made a special effort for us and his "two wheeled trout" was excellent:

Been raining overnight and just waiting for more to come in the next few hours. But the longterm forecast is saying that next weekend could be the end of it. I hope so.......cos this is insane for this time of year!

His van is just out of shot.

when i was a learner on my 125 many years ago i was given a a gallon of SAE40 castrol R and as cash was very tight i was using it in the bike. while out riding i was pulled over by a copper on a bike which was nothing unusual back then as it was a weekly thing for me, anyway i was expecting to get the usual bullshit from him and asked what i was doing wrong today, he replied there's nothing wrong I've been following you for a while because i could smell the Castrol R which took me back to my days of racing thought i'd stop you for a chat about it. he was ok and i didn't get a producer but the fucker still took about 45 minutes of my day.

This is one of the best articles I've read on electric vehicles so far. Enjoy! https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jun/03/electric-vehicles-early-adopter-petrol-car-ev-environment-rowan-atkinson

I had one of the last TS250ER , local shop was selling them off cheap as the new model was arriving soon, I paid £679 on the road. I wouldn't want one now though, although it never let me down they were very cheaply made. Brittle plastics, 6V electrics , dodgy wiring and some other stuff that I can't recall now.

I use this Draper gauge and a cheapie compressor from Lidl. The gauge on the compressor is off but I normally go above what I need and the bring the pressure down with the bleed valve on the gauge. I have an accessory plug on my bike so I can power the compressor from it. Bit bulky but accurate and quick.

You want one of these, and a compressor.

That strawberry stuff has been around for years, I used to purposely ride behind a guy on a two-stroke bike years ago just to get a wiff. Can't beat the smell of Castrol-R though ............... https://www.castrol.com/en_gb/united-kingdom/home/motorcycle-oil-and-fluids/motorcycle-engine-oils/2-stroke-engine-oils.html

For the millionth time upload to YouTube then paste the YouTube link!

that's because you're a phucking filistine!

I think he wants to visit those abandon villages real bad and explore maybe his sexual orientation..

No I said July and August because of the heat. What I don't understand is @busabeast continually going on about wanting to ride over here......and I'm sure he does. But I find it odd that considering he's got a young family it appears like he's going to leave them stuck in Sunderland while he goes off on his jollies. I think it would be more appropriate if he brought them over and booked a hotel in Malaga for all of them.......then hires a bike for a few days in between. Nice break for his family I'd have thought.

My boy is going to be out there this week he's picked up with some girl in uni that lives there lucky bugger

It's showing 26.5c on the thermometer as i type this, out on the bike was a nice cool breeze when moving so didn't feel too hot

I had similar thoughts when i was looking at a DT175 in CMC last week but the bike looked tiny and back then i was around 10 stone i think my muscular 16 stone frame now would crush it LOL

you could always put a tea spoon full of caster oil in your tank it makes for the same smell

He sold Cockles, Mussels, Prawns and Kippers, Fuck knows what his proper title was.

Bag of chips outside the chippy in my day! What you say @Clive?

Mostly, yes. there's also the fact that the only tie I could take photos was when we stopped, so eating and drinking mostly.

Whooo! Up to 16c ☀ now, A scorcher!.

Suzuki have rectified the 6v electrics since though. They're still working on the rest as I understand it. And you can also add bad welding to the list as well.

Just when I think you can't possibly come out with anything more stupid than your previous crap you exceed yourself with possibly the most stupid statement I've ever seen . You'd be a great politician, most of them live in a fantasy land as well .

Yep, I like looking at them but modern bikes are sooooooooooo much better to ride. The good thing about those old bikes is they were so easy to work on

All true as I remember but nostalgia is a strong emotion.

@Six30 what was he saying... no you don't want to come here during May or June the temps are way too hot to do anything let alone ride the bike, i think it sounds like another load of chinky bullshit, he doesn want us coming down to his manor and showing him how to ride a bike

Still cloudy and a cold northerly wind blowing....... Bugger it, will watch the WSBK 🏍

That’s a pretty gas station, looks like a great day to ride a motorcycle.

He's bang on. I'm yet to hear of a diesel fuel replacement for my sharan. Been thinking I should sell it on and get a petrol car.

@zzzak, it’s time you started your education. There are no black people and white people, we are all the same colour, just some people are more melanin deficient than others. Don’t worry, I don’t judge you for your inferior melanin though. I judge you because you are a bellend.

Police Interceptors......following the Nottinghamshire police........keep seeing our town on the programme...... alot!

I was born in the U.K. but I am significantly darker than most of you lot especially when I get in the sun, due to my ethnic mix.

My bike by a decaying wall