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As planned a trip out on the old mountain bike this morning, covered about 35klms which isn’t a massive distance but about 80% of it was on dirt or gravel tracks and it takes its toll on my old bones! Set off about 0830 and the weather was ideal as it was cool(ish) and hazy but by the time I’d got home it was 34.5 Celsius in the shade……quite enough thankyou. Found an old railway station that sits on the Linea Verde close to me, falling apart, covered in graffiti and a bit spooky to be honest……..Pete would’ve loved it. Took a couple of photos for the old twat in case he drops in here to keep an eye on the place! Standing at the station and thinking about Pete made me feel a bit sad actually but then I thought he’d probably call me a cockney wanker and it made me grin. Stopped at the pub before heading home…….because I could.

In the morning we avoided the hotel's overpriced breakfast, packed the bikes, and had a lovely fresh croissant (or two ) on a patisserie, along with juice and coffee. You can love or hate France and the French, but nothing beats a nice still warm croissant in the morning! No pictures of that as we were eating outside and I was trying to keep the pastry from flying away with breakfast stealing winds! By 08:30 we were already traveling, as we left town the police was closing down a street for some kind of protest, I suppose people there aren't happy with the state of their town either. We rode through little pretty villages and tree lined roads for 20 or 30km, and got on the motorway heading for Carcassone. We were on a schedule as this part of the trip wasn't planned before, the girls were supposed to catch the ferry from Italy back to Barcelona, but after having a not very pleasant ride on the first trip, and hearing my praises on the beauty of the french side of the Pyrenees, they decided to give up on Barcelone and ride all the way back. Hence, we had a timetable to maintain, easy enough miles but it did mean there had to be motorway bits. We had maybe 200 or 250km to get to Carcassone, and doing that we were expecting to get out of the wind storms that affected the area we were on, so the motorway provided the relief we needed, and indeed after a couple of hours we were in Carcassone where the winds were now just a breeze. We went on a walk, but the place felt like too much of a tourist trap on Sunday. We didn't do ourselves any favors by parking a little far from the castle, we ended up going for a nice walk, eating a pretty shitty sandwich on a place I chose , and moved on. Walking back to the bikes, I came upon @Skippy's old bike. From Carcassone onwards, we rode more or less the same route I had ridden by myself when entering France a week before. I was keen on showing that area to the girls. Eventually, stopping to figure out where to sleep on the same pretty castle I visited before. We were quickly running out of daylight, so hurriedly booked the same place I had also stayed before. Unfortunately being a Sunday they didn't have a dinner meal available. I ended up riding to Lourdes to buy something for an in house picnic. The two open supermarkets didn't have bread, so that was out, carrying pizzas by myself was also not a possibility, so ended up getting Indian takeaway. Two different biryanis, some sort of chicken nuggets with red seasoning and onions, and something else. That's what I ended up with as they messed the order completely. Along with a bottle of wine, and that was it. Lack of plates and other things meant we had it from cups, the ladies had fun but I honestly was not happy about it. Next day, Pyrenees and onto Spain.

New day, heading to Portugal. We left Potes while it was still a little cold, but sunny enough. Stopped for breakfast and parked next to a very odd looking Land Rover. After a brief stop at a lookout, which was mostly taken over by me having a few work calls and emails, we pointed the bikes towards Portugal. Hopped on a very boring motorway for a little bit, then some main roads, and we made it to the border quite early. We were to spend the night very close to the border, sleep in one of my favourite places and have dinner at my favourite Trasmontano restaurant. I had called and asked for my favourite rice to go along with the usual grilled beef. In the meantime, we made time by showing Barbara a little bit around the area. We got ourselves installed, and walked up to have dinner at an appropriate time. I loved it, didn't disappoint. We made it back to the hotel under an amazing sky, at around 22:30 the full moon lit the clouds from behind, and it looked even better in real life. The reason we stayed here was partly because it wasn't too far away from the Picos da Europa, but also because Northern Portugal was plagued with a natural disaster in the form of forest fires. The air was very smokey, the country was in panic, and we wanted to see if that got a little bit resolved before venturing farther on. That was left for tomorrow.

Wow that’s some ride report @Pedro, great photos too. Thanks for showing me what a working DR600 looks like

In the morning, the outside of our hotel was full of bikes ready to go out, most of them to one way or the other catch a ferry in Santander or Bilbao, returning back home to the UK. We get on the motorway for a bit, then onto smaller roads heading through a particularly ugly part of Spain into the Picos da Europa. Every small town seemed desolate and sad, might be just me but those small villages and towns in that area suck the life out of you. We stopped for a coffee and some breakfast in the form of toast or whatever. No chance of that, nothing to eat whatsoever, in a cafe , they had coffee, coffee with milk, and all sorts of spirits. We had a pretty horrible coffee and left. Eventually, making it to the start of our third mountain range in this trip, after the Alps and the Pyrenees. The weather had given us a little bit of a hint of rain, and a few sprinkles, so the waterproofs were partially on. The cold in the Spanish plains also made it easy to want to put them on, but now that the pace had slowed we were much more comfortable. A stop in a village where we slept last year on our way to England, to plan things and figure out a place to sleep that night. After a little, we found our bearing. @Sofia remembered a viewing point where we were riding past, so we stopped there, there were a few big birds there, which were very interesting to see but kind of hidden by the clouds. It's still very cool to see vultures and eagles up in the air not very far away from you. Didn't get any nice pictures of them, though. Our final stop, to book a place for the night. We were ready to stop, so it only took 15 or 20 minutes to get there, a nice little apartment a few minutes from the little town of Potes. We left the luggage and went to Potes to buy groceries to cook dinner and eat "at home". Potes looks very quaint and cute in the pictures, but was really a busy tourist trap. Most shops were for souvenirs, most cafes were horrible, we had a little walk around, sat in a cafe for a while and then gave up and went away. Back home, Sofia and Barbara talked to our Dutch neighbors for a while, while I caught up with work. That night we ate some portobello mushroom linguine, drank some below average spanish wine, and went to be a little tired.

I found your photographer... https://picmood.com/shop/Barolo/108/any/8-00_22-00/9/60 https://picmood.com/shop/967985 https://picmood.com/shop/967983 https://picmood.com/shop/967986

No chance, my tv provider added a ‘free’ channel just for tonight. Someone’s paying for it but it ain’t me

I need a water jacket seal for the new turbo cartridge, only place I can find one is direct from Mercedes, luckily it is only £1.38, I also found a split crankcase breather hose so will fit that as well, I thought I would need to do some creative plumbing for the vacuum hoses for the wastgate actuator as according to the manual they are routed through the TiK pipe that I am getting rid of but on mine they are completely independent which is a bonus. Will finish it later in the week.

We got up to a cold morning, the cars (not covered like the bikes were) were starting to get a bit of a frosty look to them. To prevent the girls having to ride around on the soft gravel, I maneuvered the Honda NC750X (@JustaPor) onto the front of the house, these are cool little bikes and the frunk is an addictive thing to have on a bike. Again, I'll post my opinion on them later on, same as on the 1250GS. We slept on the outskirts of Lourdes, and first thing was heading up the Pyrenees to the Col D'Aubisque, from South to North, half way up the mountain @Sofia stopped to see a honey stall. The owner was a very nice elderly man whose hives were just in sight behind the stall. Sadly the honey was all packed in plastic containers with lids that pop off, however tempting it would have been to bring honey from such a cool location, you could see the potential for a big mess if one of those lids pops off mid trip. Going up the Col de Soulor And a stop at the Col D'Aubisque for a coffee. When I was here last week it was not sunny at all, there were hardly any bikes coming up and bikers basquing in the sun, but it didn't look any less pretty in the rain. A bunch of british bikers turned up, and didn't say hello back to the girls even though they did greet them in English. Having a portuguese plate Barbara was obviously in disguise, but I really don't understand why some brits do that, we had the same in Yorkshire last year. Anyway, it was glorious up there. A little more than an hour after, we stop for lunch in a little village, having spotted a small grocery shop. Couldn't be any more french, that, I had a nice jambon beurre, and we sat outside watching France happening. A guy bought his baguette for lunch, and 10 minutes after came back for a bottle of red wine, his Citroen CX15 having clearly endured a pretty hard existence so far. It was a lovely place to stop. I guided the small group via a small roads through very green valleys, and then up the mountains that I had previously seen through deep fog and under rain. Strike a pose: And just like that, we were down the mountains and onto the Spanish side of the Basque country. We rode to Pamplona for the night, and stayed in a hotel in the outskirts of town. In hindsight, we should have looked for something near the centre as that would have allowed us to walk out in search of a nice place to eat, Pamplona must have plenty. Instead, we ate in the hotel's restaurant, they advertised it as a special restaurant but it turned out to be very mediocre, a true disappointment. I did my best to impersonate a Bond villain, while sat in an armchair. Next day, onto the Picos da Europa.

Barolo is very nice, very pretty town and the surrounding farms on top of each hill like little castles. It's clearly a motorcycle destination as we saw lots of groups of Italian bikes riding through, we arrived on a friday and there were lots of them, and on saturday when we left in the morning there were lots more. There was even a guy taking pictures of bikers on the road with a sign for a website, but I forgot about the name and didn't find it on google. Will look into it a little more. What I don't really like about Barolo is their very typical, very old school red wine, they call it the king of wines but I really don't agree. I'll consider it a pretty motorcycle destination but not really a wine one. Anyway, in the morning we set off in perfect motorcycling weather, heading to France. An hour and a half hours later, espresso stop. We chose a nice and wide main road to cross into France, the Col de Larche, at just a smidge under 2000 meters was nice and smooth, wide roads, nice going to make progress. Still, it's as tall as the Serra da Estrela, Continental Portugal's highest mountain. Picnic stop for lunch in Jausiers, already in France. We were going to keep on country roads, but on the map they seemed easy and pointing more or less straight in the destination we were aiming for, which was to go past near Carcassone the next day. The scenery we found was great, and really surprised me since I was hoping for something a little boring. Firstly still high up in the mountains: And then lowering onto farm lands, through tiny roads, no markings and a little bumpy, we were making slowish progress, but steady and pointing the right way. What you can't see in the pictures is the high winds, those really picked up and made it a little uncomfortable. The mountains gave way to farms, and those led to gorges We didn't stop for many pictures as we needed to move, but the scenery really surprised me as by looking at the map it seemed like it would disappoint after the mountains. Eventually we got onto properly wide and main roads, and that made us keep a higher average speed, but the winds were merciless. This region of France was under a yellow warning for high winds, with 20 to 30 knot winds through two or three days. A little tired of it, we got off the road at 18:00, a little earlier than planned, and just found the closest "cheap" hotel. This was in Pont-Saint-Esprit, the hotel was a little poor, shabby, not expensive while not really good value either, but in the center of town so we could have a little walk before dinner. The town was a disgrace, it might have been vibrant 10 years ago but has fallen in disgrace. Lots of abandoned houses, lots of closed businesses that looked like they have been closed for a while. This was a saturday afternoon and the best restaurant in town was closed for dinner, only reopening on tuesday? The real estate agent's shop itself looked half abandoned, and most of the adds showed no price. It really felt like a ghost town in the making. We did have a walk, still enduring the high winds. We picked the cheaper of the two restaurants available, but the most inviting by looking at the warm lights inside from now a quickly darkening street. The meal was a very pleasant surprise, and we all liked it quite a bit, washed it down with some local wine from a place where we had ridden a couple of hours prior. As I type this, Sofia is looking and sorting some invoices, and I reflect on what a good business it must be to have a restaurant in Italy, but I'll leave those reflections to the final post. Next day, onwards onto the Pyrenees.

Those are NC750X. I know you're not a Honda guy so I'll let it slip. Anyway, another great ride report!

I was, but with factual correct information.

Morning came, and by 08:45 we were almost done with packing the bikes. Took us a while to leave, but eventually we set going and got on the motorway to cover some ground, first stop was Piacenza for some coffee. Like the star I am, I navigated into town and parked a few meters before the center of town, which is generally banned to most traffic. It was nice to walk 5 minutes into the center of town and we had a little moment enjoying an espresso in the Piazza di Cavalli. A few tables were looking very Italian with people enjoying snacks and cold wine, at 11:50. I'm 100% ok with that , but we had to move. Again another bit of fast road, and we stopped in Asti to have some sandwiches made at breakfast. Into the center of town at almost 15:00, and we stopped in a very Italian piazza, complete with complementary very photogenic Ducati for pictures, for an espresso. From Asti, we rode small roads to Barolo, making our way onto the Alps. The original plan was to ride to the Mediterranean, Cinque Terre and all that and the girls would get on the ferry back to Barcelona, while I would ride back. This plan was discarded, and they decided to forget about Barcelona and enjoy the ride back, this was what was now happening. Sofia always wanted to visit Barolo, even though not being a fan of the local wine, so we stopped by. It's a very manicured wine region, small, so every small vineyard looks like a well tended to garden, the town itself is both very touristy but also very quaint and well kept, it's iconic. They don´t half charge for their wine, here. Barolo looked really Italian, really nice, and nobody wanted to get back on the road, so the decision was made and we booked the cheapest accommodation in the vicinity, an apartment for the 3 of us, 500 meters out of town. Stopped by a grocery store, bought wine and risotto, a couple of entrees, and made it to our home for the night. The apartment turned out to be a huge surprise, it was spacious, had a space outside with an amazing view to Barolo, and a fully equipped kitchen. We were very happy that that was the cheapest we had that night, so proceeded to make ourselves at home. @Sofia was very happy It was a good night. Next day, onto France.

Currently sitting on my arse waiting for the Joshua/Dubois fight…………I wish they’d just get on with it, all this hype before does my head in. Now Liam Gallagher is poncing about the stage fer fucks sake……..and his voice irritates the fuck out of me. ………….I’m grumpy as fuck because I can’t use my bike tomorrow, it’ll have to be pedal power instead.

After dinner, on the previous night, we stayed up talking and drinking wine as the weather changed and turned into wind and thunder, then heavy rain. I used to spend holidays at a camping place with my parents as a boy, in their caravan, and I forgot how nice it is to listen to the rain and weather cozied into bed without the shelter of a proper isolating house. We had a lovely night that night, and slept deeply. The next morning, we wake up to rain. It looks like rain outside, the forecast is unequivocal, etc, but we suit up anyway and decide to make the best of it. On the previous day, checking on google maps and waze, we realize that the mountain pass we were taking from Lake Iseo to Lake Garda, is closed. If this trip had a theme that has to be it! However, considering the nasty weather maybe it wouldn't have been very nice to lead the ladies up a mountain pass, instead we take the nicer less high roads to Riva del Garda, and stop there for lunch. I didn't take many pictures as the navigation was pretty straight forward so I didn't need the phone on the handlebars, plus it was raining so hard all of the time that I didn't want to take my gloves off and get my hands wet. The only time I stopped for pictures was right next to Lake Garda, coming back home after lunch, the lake is so big and the weather was so bad that it waves big enough to splash onto the road. I had never seen a lake like that. That road has lots of small tunnels and is quite interesting to ride through, in and out of the tunnels with the lake on your side. A little past 18:00 and we were back to have a nice warm shower and get dinner going. That night, as well, we ate on our cabin as well. I, again, cooked some pasta with anchovies and onion, which turned out way better than the one with tomato and peas of the night before. We got ready to leave the lakes and start heading back towards home.

The next day the girls went on a little walk around the camping and the lake, mostly relaxing, while I decided to go up to ride through Passo de Baremone and Passo di Maniva. I did a little research online and found these to probably be a lot cooler than the Via del Sale, while at the same time more off the beaten path. Sadly, riding up to Baremone I found out the road was closed for repairs. I insisted because I could make it to the unpaved section after the tarmac, but the amount of trucks that took the whole road was a little bit of a challenge. As I waited on a bend for a truck to come pass a fellow biker was following the truck down and told me there was no chance of passing as they wouldn't allow it. The trucks didn't have it easy though, some corners were too tight for them so they went down the pass by going forward and reverse instead of turning around the bends, not to mention they weren't exactly coordinated and often there were trucks driving on both directions. Pretty views, though! I decided to go around the mountain via proper roads and get to Maniva, on the other side, and then see if I could get on the pass. The roads up to Maniva ski station were nice tarmac and a pleasure to ride on gay tires, smooth and grippy but a little bumpy. On the way up came upon two kids on serious supermotos so had a little bit of a spirited ride up there chasing them, we got to the ski station and they quickly turned back and raced back down Up in Maniva, the pass was also closed right at the start, which was a shame because it looked really nice. The weather was closing quick, though, so made it down as the GS felt nice with absolutely no luggage but that meant I also didn't have any waterproofs. Went down Bagolino, home of the Bagoss cheese and maybe capital of the 4x4 Panda, and stopped by a grocery store on the way back home. Bought fruit, cheese, ham, pasta, lovely anchovies and tomato, as I was going to cook dinner tonight and the next day, and to prepare for two breakfasts. Back near the lake, the weather was summer like, so Sofia and I went for a walk to buy salt, the only supply I had forgotten. Somehow, the walk to buy salt turned into a big walk and we all went to see a fortress built by Napoleon. I wasn't impressed with all the walking. I had brought some Monogramo Felicetti, which is very nice pasta that had never seen for sale in Portugal, and got to work with dinner and making my fancy puttanesca. The ladies were lovingly watching from a distance sipping on wine. The result was very nice. Anchovies from the Ligurian sea, nice olive oil and amazing pasta along with Bagoss cheese. The cheese is a bit too strong, but had to be tried for being so local.

I'm very impressed that you did the Via del Sale on gay tyres , top marks to you Snap ..........

Nice one Ray, good job the Welsh twat wasn't there anyway as you would have to pay for all the beers

Absolutely pissing down here again ..............

Says the man with the blue dildo and the nancymobile .........

There's a market I pass by twice a week that serves a Cheeseburger soup.... the stuff is the Bomb!.....So tasty! Don't knock it till you try it....

'76 Ossa Phantom....

im working for the same place as with the dust carts just the job on the sweeper was offered and I decided it was better than the dust carts as i now know what time i start and finish and where i am working unlike being moved around on the dust carts which i hated especially if there was a loader who didnt pull their weight

Joshua was an embarrassment ... Liam Gallagher would of beat him

Hamburger soup?

Da fuck? It's turning into an R6

Served a good purpose of washing some of the mud off the GS, I was a little embarrassed to return it in the state it was in and would have had to wash it before.

When it rains in the lake district of Italy it really rains. I love when you see all the scooters/bikes parked up in the tunnels waiting for it to stop

Yebbut , ive already taken my Vespa off road where as you have turned your proper off road bike into a nancymobile ..................

Speaking of shit...funny Dickhead hasn't added his grain of salt yet...must have got his finger caught in the turbine and had to go to the hospital for hand cream...

Just received my indian aux lights....nice little winter project...

wish some one would jump on stage and knock Liam Gallagher the fuck out ..twat

From Mandello del Lario, we set off not too early not too late, but as is the theme of this trip we quickly came upon a flooded tunnel, had to be diverted up a mountain pass I was avoiding because of construction, and proceeded to stay stuck in traffic going up it. Eventually by almost 11AM we were up at Culmine di San Pietro, which deserved a stop if nothing else but for the name We had a quick espresso stop, and proceeded. Through a gorge and some nice mountain roads we arrived at San Pellegrino. San Pellegrino was a great stop. We came upon a proper food shop, cheeses, hams, wine and beer, etc... My new best friend made me the most amazing sandwich with 24 month prosciutto, cheese and olive oil, which was simply amazing and probably the best sandwich I ever had. Basically a ham and cheese, though Perfect lunch stop, serious shop: Sadly, I was dragged away. I could have contemplated a love affair with an Italian cheese expert and sandwich maker otherwise. We carried on towards lake Idro.. A couple more mountain passes and roads, and Lake Idro awaits in glorious sunshine. Lake Idro is very small compared to all the other big lakes, we settled onto our accommodation for 3 nights in a camping cabin / bungalow. The next day was destined for relaxation and the following for exploring around Lake Garda. First night, we walked up to a nearby little restaurant / pizzeria, and had a lovely budget friendly meal. Barbara won the night by choosing a lovely pasta:

Another Trump voter.

Culture day, in Milan. We went to look at a Sunday car meet in center Milan, at the Piazza degli Affari, but got there too late, it was also raining too much for proper attendance as usual there are lots of very nice cars. Arriving at the Pinacoteca di Brera, in the rain. Judas, looking a little compromised there Fortunately, all the rain that had to fall fell on the museum day, and the next day we left Milan under warm glorious weather. Packing up: Heading to the Lake Como, to sleep at Mandello del Lario, but first a stop in the Alfa Romeo museum, @Sofia is a fan. Very nice! : A true GTA: Da fuck!?!? Having been a fan of all the old Italian movies with pursuit scenes, I was very happy to see this, maybe my favourite car of all the museum, at least on par with the race Junior and GTAV. Out of there, after an espresso at the stylish Alfa Romeo bar, and off we went. Rode up to Bellagio, to catch a quick ferry to the other side of the lake. Turns out the ferry people were on strike for a few days, so no ferry until after 5PM. We sat looking at the lake and eating the sandwich we had made in the morning, and looked at the pretty wooden boat taxis zooming back and forward. Bellagio was pretty, but way too much of a tourist trap, mobs of people and all turning up and with nothing to do but wait before going back. It's a very instagram friendly place: We quickly made it to Mandello del Lario by riding around the lake. The idea was to arrive at the Moto Guzzi factory at 3pm, to then get see the museum. Moto Guzzi was a bust. We knew they had the celebrations a few days after and were not taking bookings for the museum visit, but were told by the phone to just rock up and knock on the door. We were turned back, and after much begging and puppy eyes resigned to go to our apartmentl, to freshen up and have a walk around town instead. Mandello del Lario is very charming, the weather was nice, and we made the most of it. It was Barbara's birthday. Dinner was ok, but not as nice as expected, took forever to get served and so far Italian hospitality and service left a lot to be desired. We did enjoy Mandello del Lario, though.

Didn't sleep more than one hour last night, was tired and sleepy but went to bed and just had to wait the night to pass. This was hard, but meant that it was easy to get out of bed at 6AM, a little past 6:30 and I was getting on the motorway. Sun rise, it looked like a lovely day but it wasn't to be. A couple of hours after leaving the house, and I'm stopping for breakfast already in Spain. @Earache, your petrol station shops could learn a thing or two from spanish Repsols, generaly you have fresh half decent baguettes and full legs of proper smoked ham My breakfast, by now I was a little surprised it wasn't getting any warmer outside. To warm up a little, a little butter on the hot toast, some fresh orange juice, and an espresso. Theoreticaly, this bike shouldn't be a lot different than mine cruising on motorways, but it is. Mine has the touratech suspension that is always a little too firm for comfort, a short screen, and rough tires. This one, on new 100% road tires, rubber footpegs, stock electronic suspension with soft springs, and a proper screen, rides like a pillow and I listen to music in my helmet at 70% the usual volume. The result is that distance passes by a lot smoother, I WILL look into one of these stock GS screens for mine too, smaller than the massive Adventure screen but they work nicely. The seat is shorter than mine too, maybe that also helps to lower me into the bubble a little more. What this bike seems to do a lot more is use fuel. It does have a substantially smaller tank but felt like I spent all day putting fuel into it. I think it uses more, and I do need a 30 liter tank, this is not funny. Does anyone know if the 1250 uses more fuel than the 1200 just cruising down a motorway? Coming the other way, all bikers were wearing rain suits, I put mine on too to shelter for the cold winds that now were starting to get really strong, and in anticipation of the rain in the distance. I have three days to get to Milan, including today. This is plenty of time, I gave up on doing the Via del Sale because of the weather, I don't fancy going off-road on a rental bike on gay tires after heavy rains. Also, I played with the idea of going all the way to Germany, spending one day stopped on the Nurburgring, and then the 800km to Milan on friday. There's less chance of rain in Germany than in southern France, which sounds ridiculous, but it'll rain there as well and I would like one nice lap of the track with no rain, plus that would be adding some distance to the bike and testing the rental company's goodwill. Gave up on all of that and headed to Pamplona. Got there to find perfectly dry weather, so stopped on a park bench to take all the plastic stuff off and figure out what to do. Pamplona is a very civilized city, huge areas of motorcycle only parking: I gave my friend from Pamplona a surprise call, but turns out he was away. All hotels were either too expensive or full, or in areas where I'm not leaving a bike outside. I found a little place in the hills, one hour away, deep in the Basque hills and got going, but not before fueling up again. The rain did return, and I stopped, once again, to put my rain jacket on. Got to my destination for the night at almost 19:00. Perfect timing to have a nice shower and a walk around town before dinner, it has been a long day. Being lower, with a very much improved gearbox and clutch, this feels like a toy to ride around town compared to my bike. It has less braap thought, it's very smooth but seems like it's half asleep if you blip the throttle. Having said that, it is faster at speed, but not in such a way that makes it a reason for changing. What I don't like about it is all the electronic shit, the screen and you having to navigate menus to see things. I'm always checking my pocket for the keyless key, because it's not where it should be ... I'm staying in a very charming old country house in a very quaint village, so went for a walk: A spot for playing "pelota vasca", but probably "pelota mano" which makes me wince just to contemplate. Look it up if you don't know what it is. I was going to eat beef for dinner, but not after watching a veal scratch her face against a concrete pole: The inside of the place I'm staying almost makes me want proper winter weather, maybe not really though Eating codfish cooked in what must be a very Basque way, with peppers and tomato, the fried egg adds a lot to it. Frankly, I'm not going to miss it. Some cold basque cider to wash it down, and that's the day done. I'm being confident, my rain pants and overboots are inside the pannier that is on the bike, I'm trusting. Let's see how tomorrow goes.

That’s true that is

I'm loving this road , is it anywhere near St Jean pied de Port ? If so I have ridden it about 12 years ago .

Nice one Dave , I bet the dudes in the RD owners club love that 400 ............

Please tell you haven't paid £19.99 just to watch that crap .............

Cheers Bob, but probably easier on those tires going down than up.

Made it to Ericeira yesterday, dropped the bikes and drove the last 300 home to Sofia's. Long day as we rode through a VERY smokey and uncomfortable northern Portugal, riddled with fires all around. Will catch up with work and things today, might start to work on continuing the ride report too. I've fallen behind and now there's too many pictures and things Also now seriously considering getting a stable partner to my GS.

600 mile service done today … new exhaust will be on next week …. And then the weather will probably turn to shit

Think this will be epic..