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I met Pete online in 2002 I think, when I bought my Transalp 650. I had joined AdvRider at the time, and he just sent me a message on there to invite me to DualSport UK. At the time, he also had a Transalp 650 and was still living in Wales. It was a new thing to me, bike forums, and turns out I quite liked the small intimate group on a forum like that compared to the vastness of AdvRider or even Horizons Unlimited. It's the closest thing to a motorcycle club clubhouse there is online. I literally had started riding a few weeks before joining that forum I think, and started posting my first ride reports literally figuring out how to go on a motorcycle. I was happy to be amongst @modrover, @YamaHead, @Sir Fallsalot, @boboneleg, @Renegade, @Catteeclan, @yen_powell, @MooN, and even @Tym and @Buckster who gave me so much shit I considered leaving plenty of times. With some of those people a relationship grew to frequent communications outside of the forum. I did my first longer ride on a bike to meet @XTreme and Alie, now recently moved to southern Spain and in search of a place to live, before they settled on the house they've been in until now. Then a second meet up in their current house a couple of years later, in which he took a picture of me trying to kickstart his XT350, that picture haunted me to this day at every opportunity DSUK turned to Maximumbikes, then somehow I grew apart and the forum also disappeared and turned to a facebook thing, I think. Years later, I was very happy to get a second private message, again through AdvRider , as an invitation to join this current forum. My life had by then changed, as did I, and I talked a lot with Pete, he and his wife again becoming good friends, this forum has since then provided a needed internet home and I've used it to vent a lot. He loved that I posted my Morocco ride reports on here and I loved doing those too. He supported me during a few moments when he felt I was about to leave, keeping most of his opinions off the forum to try and avoid exits, because he loved to provide people with this space for them to gather around and didn't want anyone to leave on account of him. This forum is not going to be the same without him, and I doubt it'll survive without him, he pulled it forward with sheer enthusiasm. His over the top self confidence and absence of fear of ridicule were his favourite tools for the job, and you can't help but appreciate that. He and his wife are friends, real world friends, and I'm desolated she lost him in such a quick and surprising way.

Relatively speaking I hardly knew Pete at all, I think we both happened to be on some god-awful FB group and he commented on a photo I’d posted up. Can’t remember what the photo was or exactly what he said but I’ll bet it was something unflattering………..and I’m guessing it also made me laugh. We discovered we were living fairly close and so we arranged to meet up after a few interchanges on the phone. I’ll never forget waiting for him to turn up at a cafe/bar in Barranda and as I sat there waiting I wondered what he’d be like. Fuck me, he was just as I imagined and it didn’t disappoint. He had the worst fitting pair of jeans I’d seen in a long time, a jacket that was way to big for him and a pair of boots that wouldn’t have looked out of place on a building site. What a scruffy fucker and as soon as he opened his gob out came the sing-song accent and I liked him instantly. We sat, we chatted and generally took the piss out of each other. He particularly like my black and white sportsbike boots. Off we went for a ride and we explored all kinds of abandoned shit. He took me down roads that were totally unsuited to my Kawasaki Z750 and he didn’t give a fuck. I laughed like a twat as I bounced along trying not to smash my balls into the tank; all the while he glided along on his gay Honda. It was his fault the zipper broke on my jacket and also his fault that the warning like came on. I think he liked the idea that he could will things to go wrong. We met up a few times over the course of a couple of years and it never failed to be entertaining. He thought his “street Spanish” was so good………I thought how funny it sounded as he never tried to hide his strong Welsh accent. He always referred to me as a Cockney Wanker and I didn’t mind that at all. He called me a cunt to my face and I knew we were kindred spirits because it just made me laugh out aloud. A few weeks ago he asked what I was doing at the weekend and I think he was hinting about meeting up. I couldn’t make it but sitting here now I regret not trying harder to take the time to go over and see him. I feel guilty and it makes me very sad. It feels like I let him down. If he’s watching me type this he’ll be thinking what a soft southern shite I am because it’s just brought a tear to my eye. So there you go, he came into my life out of the blue and very unexpectedly. He was a force of nature and certainly unique. He disappeared without warning and far too soon. I hope he knew I considered him to be a friend. A daft Welsh twat yes, but a friend nonetheless.

In 2002 I was in a pretty low place. I'd had an accident the year before in which I lost my leg and now I was sitting at home after more surgery just moping around. I decided to get a PC and see if there was anything on the internet to brighten things up a bit. I came across a motorcycle forum that looked a good laugh and started to get to know some of the characters, @Buckster, @Renegade @YamaHead @MooN @Catteeclan @Pedro @Tym @Specs @Sir Fallsalot @yen_powell and many more (my apologies to anyone I've forgotten). They were an eclcectic bunch with all sorts of views but most of all no one took themselves too seriously . The guy who ran it @XTreme was my kind of man as @Saul says above, a straight talker but bloody funny at the same time. I can't tell you how much it lifted my spirits and it was my 'go to' forum. When Pete started this forum up I was so excited to catch up with old friends and carry on with the banter and meet (virtually) lots of new guys and gals as well. No other forum I've been on has ever matched any of Pete's creations, he led from the front and was always trying to keep things chugging along . Good luck today Pete an wherever you end up I'm certain you'll be having a laugh.

I am sure this will be classed as gay but I don’t really care. I wanted to say something about Pete. It's funny but even though we never met I have come to look on him as a friend who I spoke to most days. Please you that knew him much longer and better than me do the same, I and I am sure others would like to read it. I liked his manner and the way he would call me out for being a cunt when I was, straight talking honest friends are rare and should be valued. Sometimes you need to look at yourself and what you are doing. He ran this website well and showed a tolerance and the same friendship to some character’s with pretty extreme views not just because of what they could offer to the place. Also because he saw value in them and their views. I liked that, regularly talking to people I would not in most walks of life is a good and valuable learning experience. That environment Pete created with his forceful personality. If you can get by In this sometimes harsh forum it makes you a stronger person in everyday normal life, I liked that too. Interesting place run by an Interesting Guy. I liked his consistent hatred of most things Chinese and Indian unless he was buying them, his quick fire consistent POS posts made me laugh. His refusal to see any value in the same unless of course it was something he bought. Bloody Negatron but Funny Guy. Also I think sometimes we forget of the time and effort and finance he put into this place, because he believed in it and it was his creation. To our benefit of course. Oh and the last thing that I liked was talking to him was often like taking a trip back the the 1970’s with his views and some outlooks on life, my formative years that I look back on with fondness for all the flaws of the time. Good Guy Hopefully we can continue in this forum and stop it going to hell in a hand basket, which it may very well do without him. Pete a friend I’m going to miss. The self proclaimed Rugged Individualist. Cheers Shad Man

This is the last of this kind of forum, Pete had a unique gift to make forums like these and put a lot of effort into driving them forward, proven by their decline once he hands them off to other people. Let’s hold this one together for him until the plug gets pulled and not let it go to hell in a hand cart.

No, it’s Portuguese for

The sun was shining and the cold wind from the last few days had gone, so I decided that a little bimble was in order. I topped the tank at our local supermarket and headed up to Coursan. Then across to the Narbonne northern bypass and peeled off north towards Ginestas. The traffic was pretty light, so it was easy going. A guy on a T100 Bonneville caught up with me just before Saint- Marcel - sur- Aude. We tried having a conversation at a set of lights, but engine noise and language barrier put paid to that! He turned off shortly after anyway. I carried on North and eventually crossed the Argeliers - Trebes road. This is where the ride starts getting a bit more interesting, as the road was then heading into the Corbieres hills. After a bit, I turned off this road to head towards the medieval town of Minerve. This road follows the hillside on one side of the valley of the river Cesse, so it twists and turns around rocky outcrops. French drivers have the mindset that nothing should be coming the other way on blind bends, so extra care is needed to not meet one of them on your side of the road when coming around these bends. I stopped just before the town to get some photos. The town is perched on a rocky point where two rivers meet and have carved two valleys/canyons through the rocky landscape. I rode through the town and headed up to the carpark that overlooks it. There's not much of a view of the town from there, so I decided to carry on up the single track road into the hills for a bit. There didn't seem to be too much more up in that direction, but there were some nice views towards the Pyrénées. It was a bit hazy, so the snow on the peaks was barely visible. I headed back down to the town and set sail for home. I stopped once more to take some pictures of a village, sitting between a low cliff and the river, which has no water in it at the moment. I took a slightly different route back. Going through Argeliers and Capestang, before peeling off towards the south again, through Montels and Nissan- les-Enserune and back to home. Not a huge ride, probably around 100-110km, but nice to get out on the bike for a while.

just some pics from the 3 hours i was out for today. weather is, as usual this time of year, wonderful. Blue skies. 25deg and a light breeze. I followed a route I had not really planned some tie ago but had forgotten to tick the box "avoid gravel" on the gps route planner...

Out for a tour of the countryside with the Missus....near Sumpter... Blue Springs summit.... elevation: 5,864 ft.

I wanted to ride the Lammermuir Hills as it has been a while and the last time was well before I fitted the new shocks. I headed over some nice twisty country roads and through Duns before turning off and heading for Longformacus and up into the hills. Miles of single track roads with little traffic and a few cattle grids and many sheeps. This was looking back from where I had come from. This was where I was headed. The views were spectacular as always. That is Watch Water Reservoir in the distance.

Forgive me, I don't get out much. Just heard the news, floored me. I've been around Pete's forums for many years, Max Bikes was my go to for some banter and pisstaking. Exchanged messages with Pete many times over the years, he was a truly unique and likeable guy, totally at ease with his Spanish lifestyle and dedicated to his family and his family of bikers. I fucked up a few times, indeed he banned me once, after an exchange of words, but after some grovelling apologies from me, he let me back. Many evenings I enjoyed the banter and pisstaking, brightened up my evenings many times, I'm smiling now remembering some. RIP Pete, one of life's good guys. I'll miss you mate.

I came across DSUK almost as it was morphing into maximum bikes I think,back in 2005, having made my life in France I was looking for an English speaking bike forum and had signed up to about 8 I think with the intention of seeing what I liked or not. Max bikes felt so much more like what I was used to in a local bike club, I stayed. Over the years I have been more or less active according to personal circumstances and available time. People on here have offered support through some difficult times, and definately some huge laughs and fascinating conversations amongst the inane banter that is the backdrop to it all. Much as it pains me to admit it. Pete has been the motor in the machine, and though others have had a hand in steering, or oiling the wheels, or applying the brakes, or filling the tank, when the motor is no longer in the frame the rest will struggle to keep the machine alive, no matter how good they are. Thanks for the ride Pete. ( you spicky ginger welsh twat)

Can't believe it's already time for goodbye to such a good guy. Thanks for letting me know - you know who you are Always enjoyed your vibrant full of life opinionated self Pete, that's why I followed you to this dinosaur filled poop hole I think that was part of the fun we shared. A serious and light hearted touch in the same measure. If reincarnation is true then you're definitely off dog level Hope you enjoy the ginormous top box in the sky XXXXXXXXXXXX xxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx

Tomorrow, Pete's family will have a small family only ceremony in Granada, and then he will be cremated. His ashes will be brought home. They would rather not have anyone else there.

For the record, I’m not going to ask for a video link to the funeral. I’ve offered help, and Scott says they’ll reach out if they need anything.

No.....not the bike! Obviously I have no idea how to do shit like that. I'm talking about the reservoirs, because we've had years of very little rain. And there's now a serious drought situation. Now I'm not one who normally looks for more rain, but every year the price of straw for the horses has been going up. We used to pay around €400 for a year's worth......but last it was €1200 and we had to have it brought in from Albacete. Which is about 150 miles away. So an increase in rainfall and the filling of the reservoirs is critical.....not just here, but throughout Spain. So off I went to check the current situation. Luckily, the weather was great......around 20c! So it was perfect conditions! The approached into Castril.......and the wall of the Dam. This is The Style! I was amazed when I saw the levels in Castril because when I came here last Summer it was very low indeed. This is probably the highest I've seen it in 5 years! It's nowhere near it's highest, but the water line has gone up a lot. Two car loads of a Spanish family then turned up......three generations of them. So I ended up having to take a load of group photos of them. They weren't from Andalucia because they were speaking Spanish in a grammatically correct way rather than slurring words and leaving out letters in words. Lovely people......couple of hot girls in their 20's with them. I wanted to get a photo with those two, but I couldn't very well tell the rest of the family to get out of the way! Then it was on to San Clemente.......the levels there had risen a bit but nothing like the scale it had in Castril. Most of the land you see here was underwater when I came here in 2005...... Had to get the obligatory shot on the bridge.....obviously destined to be BOTM for April. Bike ran great as usual.......these rural roads are the perfect place for it. And it actually made me think......"Why am I considering selling it?" Well there we are! I got out and did something......and in doing so, I made a positive contribution to the forum! Some of you lot should try it sometime!

Just got home from a manic day with my youngest. Not moaning I enjoy her company but it’s been busy. First off I taxed her bike this morning so it’s road legal now, £25 for a 125. Adjusted the back brake, Mirrors, checked the oil and tyre pressures then left it out front. Got the Hornet out as we had errands to run. First off to Dameralls via a fuel stop to get the spare key for Chloe’s CB125F. She was grumpy as she wanted us to use her bike for the Dameralls run but a 40 mile round trip for the pair of us on duel carriage ways on a 125 didn’t appeal Had a mooch around Dameralls but it was chaos as they were having a major bike reshuffle. The Dear Maid did think it would be good if I got a new red NT1100 and to be honest I can see the attraction. Funds don’t allow so it will remain a wish. Got the key blank £13 which I thought was okay for a Honda part. Then headed back to St Austell to get the thing cut, which took seconds and cost a fiver. Cheapest vehicle key I have got in recent years After the key cutting Costa was the next call to sweeten grumpy boots up. After this faff we had to go to Holmbush Post Office to get a postal order and post off my other daughters driving licence application. The nearest office to Fowey FFS. Normally you can do the payment online but because she hasn’t got a birth certificate which was replaced by her adoption certificate you have to send a cheque or postal order to Swansea. Of course my bank has stopped issuing cheque books for my convenience. Bloody lash up but that is the way it works. £51 and out of there. After that back home to swop bikes. Now we headed down to Golant for Chloe’s first ever riding lesson, in fact the first time ever she has been on the business end of a motorcycle. Before you ask it is a private lane where her grandmother lives. Made some good progress I thought. Taught her lots of basics but she has mastered clutch control and braking. A small step but she did very well, the first step is always the hardest. After about 45 minutes she was frazzled plus we had to head back to Fowey as she had a dentist appointment. All good and she was hungry again so I bought her an ice cream from Game of Cones and a tea. Holidaymaker prices it was a £10 FFS. Finally while I was finishing my tea Chloe gets on the bike and says ‘now the bikes legal I can drive you up the hill’. I pointed out she was 16 with no licence and no insurance. Also she doesn’t know how to change gear yet. ‘Oh’ was the reply but I gave her credit for trying. Anyway it was a good if expensive day but I am absolutely knackered. Apparently she wants her next lesson on Thursday as the is the next break in the weather. I don’t mind we get on well but I have told her the goodie runs won’t happen every time.

6 of us from Fowey went up to Devon today to see the National Hillclimb Association first event of the year. We stopped for breakfast near Poundstock. They thought us old fuckers must be dodgy as we had to pay before they would serve us any food. I personally was flattered that they thought I could do a runner. . It was very nice though and they warmed up after awhile When they realised we were behaving. Trip Stats It was an interesting meet with several interesting bike’s although most seemed to be modified crossers. There was one combination so I guess that won its class. Hartland Point was vey pretty with Lundy Island out on the horizon. Some pretty big balls in terms of pace. Mental buggers. Some interesting stuff in the car park, well to me anyway. Also our little band, my other mate wouldn’t take his Ventura into the field Don’t Blaine him it probably weighed over 300kegs We stopped in Bude for a cuppa on the way home. Had a chance to look at my mates V4 Ventura on the way home. Detuned V-Max motor. Very big bike but beautifully put together. Bloody good day out with the old codgers.

Might go with this one, not sure yet

I’ve been down to Weston hospital today as my mother was rushed in yesterday. Anyway she was much better today although she’ll be on beta blockers for the rest of her life now, she’s not doing bad for 85 years old . I went on the donkey as hospitals are a fevking nause to park a car .

So some peeps on here go on about rugged individualism and what it takes to ride a bike. In my book that involves getting out there and riding no matter what the conditions are So none of your going out on a dry sunny days to visit some DBM's in an abandoned building or luring some poor cockney into a pic nic area so you can show the poor sod your groin !! This is rugged individualism , ploughing on through all conditions .................... You might have to stop at a cafe on the way .................... but that's fine because you're not scared that your bike may end up covered in shite ............................

I often wonder what goes on in my, admittedly very spoilt, Jack Russell crosses head. Everyone of his toys has a gimped right front leg, non of the others are touched but he always attacks and takes the stuffing out of the right front. The only exception is his walrus where he has gimped the right front tusk. ???

Bollocks to all this politics, you can look at my motorcycle instead! Had a little bimble over to Trebes, which is in the foothills of the Corbieres. It was slightly chilly when I set off, but it warmed up a bit on the way back. I didn't actually go into Trebes castle, I'm saving that for a visit with Mandy, and to do a bit of a walk in the gorge there too. The roads were pretty quiet once I'd got past Narbonne, so it was a nice ride.

Quite impressed that you managed to affect another country’s whole politic discussion to suit your son, Pete!

Just heard from him, he is dealing with family stuff and his home PC is fucked, I think he accidentally shat on it.

So after church yesterday I decided on a run down to Moffat and St. Marys Loch, I was going to get something to eat at the loch but after a spirited run down the A701 stretching the limits of the bikes new handling I was ready for a break, luckily the excellent Moffat chippy was open so I was able to have some gourmet food for lunch. After this I headed off to St. Marys Loch, the sheep have been sheared now so they are super chilled and don't give a hoot about traffic at all, they are spending the day licking the salt off the road and scaring unsuspecting motorists and bikers, no worry for me as I grew up in a farming community. There were a lot of bikes out, the Scottish countryside of course did not disappoint. You can see some sort of dry stone ring on that picture, I took a closer look but left it alone, probably witches or a sheep brothel. There was quite a lot of water running down from the tops. Pretty sure this sheep's buddy was dead, it still had wool and looked like it was victim of a fall, it is Scotland so it was probably drunk and fell down the hill while staggering home, nature will reclaim it. Fred would still shag it. Anyway I got down to the Loch which was busy with bikes, swimmers and canoes. This is actually Low Loch, St. Marys Loch proper is a little further along, there were a big group of young riders there which was good to see, it was funny listening to them, I was stood with a guy who was on a Multistrada, same age as me and we were laughing as the kids were talking the same BS that we did when we were that age, maybe biking does have a future. There were loads of wank panzers with all the accessories and all with intact chicken strips, ridden by middle aged fat lads trying to recapture their lost youth before going home to put those shelves up the wife has been nagging them about. After a cigar, I headed east through the valley towards Selkirk and then explored some roads I hadn't ridden before on the way back to Edinburgh, did about 140 miles, the weather was braw as you can see.

Please except my sincere apologies.....ark at me going off all posh ....truth is I'd forgotten I was part of this illustrious group of gentlemen....by gum av gone posh again Any road hello , how do and bonjour, things are still bloody grand over here

Have just been chatting with Dawn and she said that Pete and Ogri will be up there setting the world to rights.

I don’t have admin access or control of the domain name, software and hosting, without that I can do nothing in the long term. I could set another place up at some point but we would lose everything here, as I say, this is not the time to think about this.

I guarantee he is in my prayers.

A week ago he was riding the gay moped exploring abandoned shit and indulging is secret liaisons with midgets. I also know he was looking at getting a new bike. Now he’s gone. Just shows how fragile life is. My thoughts are with his family, especially his wife, this really is a shock. I know he would expect me to say this so I won’t let him down. Wouldn’t have happened if @Six30 had got the mod gig.

this has been a long time coming as it is something that I have been wanting to do for a fair few years now. I originally planned this as a solo trip, but things change and a couple of mates tagged along, one for the whole thing and one ( + wife and dog) for the Normany part but not the "there and back" bit. With unstable spring weather and unsure of my own ability to ride km in a day and still be able or willing to set up a tent in shit weather, I booked what they call a "cyclo tent" in the municipal campsite in Bayeux. It cost me 90 odd € for the 3 nights and as it has é beds and my mate Manu came along Ionly paid half of it . It's a kind of semi rigid tent, and looks like this: ( that's Manu in the pic with his RT1100 The campsite is well organised (but everybody's GPS sends them to the swimming pool and not thecamp site) well maintaine and equipped with new, clean and heated shower / toilet block. t's half an hours ride from any of the invasion beaches and all the main sites, i'd recommend it if you're thinking of going. The ride North from here on wednesday went almost without a hitch, the weather had changed radically for the better and I left home ataround 08h30. I met up with Manu as planned, at a petrol stationjust this side of Joigny on the N6. We then headed eastwards toward Montargis and Orleans, rounding Orleans to the south and then turning northeast towrds Chateaudun where we stopped for lunch. Top Tip for eating rapidly in France: Get to the restaurant by 12h00 at the latest (11:45 is better) cos the french feed from 12 to 2 and the ALL arrive, en masse at 12h00. We got there at 11h45 so were pretty much first in, first served and first out. as we left at 12:45 they were still queuing at the door and more were still arriving. It being a Looooooong weekend, the whole country and his significant other were on the roads (Including, much to my surprise a large number of citroen 2CV, many pulling caravans FFS! I failed to get a picture of this, as I was too busy trying to not fall of my bike from the surprise!) From chateaudun we moved ever north and east, through Nogent le Rotrou, Mortagne au Perche, Sees, Argentan and Falaise (not only famous for the "Falaise Pocket" but also the home of William the conquerer, whos chateau is still visitable (looks like I'm going to have to come back here...) We stopped fro a break and a coffee in Falaise, as I had planned the only autoroute usage of the trip from here to Bayeux, as it would be getting on fot rushhour as we approached Caen at this stage we'd been on the road for nearly 7 hoursand I just wanted to get to the end. From Falaise north, the Autoroute is a "voie rapide" similar the the autoroutes in Britanny so no toll, but with a speed limit of 110kph rather than the 130 of the toll roads, but that's fine as the tiger is probably at hermost comfortable at this speed. The traffic around Caen was bad, and I had to resort to lane splitting with is "tolerated" inFrance and codified but not legally. It isnot something I'm very comfortable with as I never need to filter in the part of the world I live in, but most of the drivers being Parisien, it was surprisingly easy, you just sit on the white line between the two outer lanes and the cars open a passage for you like Moses parting the red sea! My ride plan had us arriving at the campsite at 17:15 and we pulled up at the gate at 17: 14 which had the other couple who were waiting for us accusing me of witchcraft (the french are not good at punctuality, for the most part...) we strolled into Bayeux for a feed that evening, and back along the river Up and out early the next morning wanting to beatthe crowds. We're one month away from the 80th anniversary celebrations and its a bank holiday weekend of 5 days AND the weather is glorious... 1st up; the Merville Battery and museum, you can look it up for specifics. It was aninteresting visit and the information dotted around the site was very instructive and complete. The Dakota parked in front of the Hangar is known as the "SNAFU special" so I had to translate that for all and sundy as it was the only thing not translated on the information boards . Again, we were almost first in, but by the time we laft, the car park was full and there was a 15minute queue at the entrance to the museum. We moved back down the estuary and river to Bénouville and the site of Pegasus Bridge. I believe the first objective of the invasion and the first attack by glider born troops. The 3 glider pilots in question managed to place their machine so perfectly after a 5 mile glide that it is still today considered to be one of the greates feats of airmanship of the war. The original bridge has been replaced, but is still intact and the museum has been built around it They also have built a scale model of one of the Horta gliders used, from the original plans. I was so overawed by the sheer balls of any of the blokes who dared to actually fly inone of them, that i forgot to take any pictures. None of the original gliders have survived intact. This tank did though (built a little moe solidly I think) Iwas intrigued by the graduations painted on the turret. Aparrently it was to enable an exterior spotter to give precise firing directions to the gunner inside. We ate at the restaurant "Les 3 Planeurs" right beside the bridge, good food and reasonably priced. Again, we managed to keep one step ahead of the crowds. By the time we got the "The Grand Bunker" at Ouistreham things were getting crowded. This bunker was a command post with fire direction for the germanshore batteries and was not constructed with the ease of movement of hundreds of tourists inmind... interesting though, and an extensive collection of parephanalia, from an original landing craft to communication equippement and telemetry gear for ranging guns. this is hand canked air filtration system in case of gas attack The rest of the days activities, I had planned to be outdoors, as I struggle to deal with crowds in small spaces, so we moved on to The british memorial at Ver sur Mer and this is where I got the title "Standing with Giants" you canlook that up too https://www.standingwithgiants.co.uk/#:~:text=The 1%2C475 giants reflect the,April 2024 - 31st August 2024. you can see the remains of the Mulberry harbours at Arromanches in the background. moving mong the silouettes, reading the history, the phrase "standing among giants" becomes achingly apt. Having been somewhat subdued by the Ver sur Mer memorial we moved on to Arromanches, cos I wanted to see the remains of the Mulbery harbours, the dog wanted to run on th sand and we all wanted an ice cream or cold beer... or possibly both! The tide was pretty much out so good timing. What with the sun and the sear air and all the rest I slept prety soundly that night. Next day, up and at'em early again tobe amongthe first visitors to the Us cemetery at Colville sur Mer. If I remember correctly, this was the first US military cemetary of the war and is the larges US military Cemetary outside the US with 9433 soldiers buried here and the names of a further 1500 odd names of soldiers lost but not found or identified. As with all such places it is very sobering. The organisation is impressive and clearly top notch. The parking attendant told us they were expecting 10,000 visitors per day leading up to the 80th anniversary with apeak of 12.000 at the weekends and 14 to 15,000 on the -th June. They have car parking for about half that... needless to say, there was a vehicle queue of about 2 miles when we left. we had a quick look at Omaha beach and moved on to the Point du Hoc https://www.abmc.gov/Pointe-du-Hoc some of the bunkers have survived almot unscathed but the ground has beenlaft pretty much as it was in '44 and the depth and size of the craters gives some inkling into the destructive power of a battery of 14 inch naval guns (of the USS texas I believe) The fact that the rangers managed to scale those cliffs, locate the guns (that had beenmoved), take the battery and hold it for tw days untill support arrived, absolutely beggars belief. Grandcamp Maisey for lunch, where Manu's bike managed to punch a hole right throgh the pavement with its side stand and fall over into the road... my helpful comments about just another german making holes in the Normandy villages were, surprisingly, not appreciated... we wpent most of the afternoon at the mairee sorting out damage reports and insurance claims for both pavement and bike. the damage o the bike was, fortuately, only cosmetic and the third member of our party being an insurance agent, obviously helped in avoiding any unneccessary palaver. Having lost a lare part of the afternoon in this manner we sadly had to pass over the museum at Omaha beach, contenting ourselves with a visit to the beach itself, or part of it, but it nowbeing high y=tide there was not much of it to se so we pushed on to St Mere Eglise, with it's iconic 3john Steel" parachutist dummy hangng from the church, as per the film "The Longest Day". The event did effectively happen in real life, though somewhat differently from the film. The village manages to generate 200,000 visitors a year from a rubber dummy and some parachute materiel. It was the only time during the trip that I thought things had been allowed to get a little out of contro and border on the distateful.

Dear @Buckster , due to @XTreme's trip to the hospital it means WE are in charge now. These twat's better shape up now. Any nonsense and we'll get the cards out and issue some holidays . Sorry to send you this on a PM but it's best they don't know

I left home to go and meet up with Sofia to help guide one of her motorcycle tours. Meeting in Tras os Montes, near the inner North Portuguese border, where we'd meet her client the next day. Hardly no stops this day as I left later than planned. Did take back roads to get there though, before meeting with Sofia at Pocinho, by the Douro river. A stop on the way over to take a look at an access road to a farmhouse where we'd stop a few days later. It's quite steeper than it looks on pictures, surface not maintained as it's basically a work service road for vineyards. It's really the sort of stuff I love to ride on but not to everyone's taste. We had been enjoying almost summer like weather during the previous 2 or 3 weeks, but the forecast was changing and I rode through a few showers on the way there. Spirits were high and I was met with a ham sandwich upon arrival. Sofia had two british friends riding down as well, doing the north of Portugal in dirt roads and mostly off tarmac tracks, we were to meet them for a coffee since we had now time to spare before our destination for the night. Met up in a little village, and I took a few pictures while we waited. We ended up waiting more than anticipated because it turns out they were coping with a rear tire puncture. Eventually they arrived, their bung didn't do it repairing the puncture and it had a slow leak. Considering this a saturday afternoon in the middle of nowhere, and that most shops around would be closed on sunday, I gave it a go using my trusty repair kit. It worked like a charm, they carried on with the trip and it's still going strong today. While all this went on, the weather changed again and a heavy rain arrived. We waited a little while having a coffee. We made it home for our room for the night later than scheduled and after the last bit of the ride being in cold rain. Went to have dinner at my favourite restaurant, a proper beef rib perfectly cooked on coal. Happy times! That night we stayed in an old lady's little air b n b style place in a farm house, the bikes enjoyed the night inside the farm size garage, most garages in this area are big enough for full size tractors to drive in and our with trailers, so the GS could barely fit in. Contrary to previous weeks, this night temperatures were already quite low with a minimum of 0ºC. We rode off at around 4º or 5º in search of a cafe to have breakfast in, we weren't in a hurry because we were only expecting to meet up with Sofia's client by mid afternoon. Didn't make it 3 or 4 km down the road when we came upon a french guy with a fallen down Transalp 750. He dropped it parking on the side of the road, and couldn't get it back up. After lifting the bike, I managed to put his sidecase back on, it had both broke the lid and the mechanism that locks it onto the bike. Sofia had a strap that was used to then hold it all together, can't say I rate Honda's luggage very high after that incident. We did spend some time having coffee, then going to fuel up the bikes, and then already in the afternoon went to visit a village right near the border waiting for time to pass. Weather was cold and rainy. Eventually we found this warm little place for a snack and to get away from the cold. Will post almost no pictures of the tour itself as most of them feature a person that doesn't deserve to be shown in this forum , however, the next couple of days were blessed with big clouds and the odd threat of rain but overall really nice conditions to be out on bikes, if it had been in January. First day Our stop for a picnic lunch: And final stop point for the night, right before the hotel and dinner: Next day, we made it up to Portugal's highest point, only a brief rain shower on the way there, but overall great conditions. Even had lunch by a lake under glorious sun. The road up the mountain: Up there the temperatures were around 0º when we got there at around 14:30 to 15:00, pretty cold but the big clouds and brisk air made for great views. Up there it's often foggy and you can't see anything. Going down the mountain the other side, we took a little dirtroad. I went ahead to check if it was muddy, it wasn't. I wasn't happy to have this face off with a local cow, who wasn't happy to face a noisy bike either. We spent that night at an amazing place with a couple of horses. They're friendly enough but are of a wild breed, not really for riding, and like to take nibbles at your hands. Will continue later on or tomorrow, don't have that many pictures to post but there will be something.

Went for a bimble round the Clay Country today, cold and dry but Twas a joy to be out and about on my own. The Blue Bells were out on my walk this morning and saw the Ugly Boat.

This dude is really digging it

What's that twat doing lying in a muddy puddle

France has, until this year, avoided having an MOT equivalent for motorcycles. they have now invented one, and have somehow managed to take all the stupid bits of everybody elses MOT or equivqlentand roll them into one pointless surperfluous and inefficacious bi-annual visual inspection. The statistics ( these are generated by the French "Sécurité routiere" organisation who are rabid anti speed, anti motorcycle road safety advocates and remain incontested by the govt. and ratified by the majour insurance companies) - the road infrastructure is directly implicated in 25% of all road traffic acidents. - in road traffic accidents involving motorcycles, The fault is imputed to the motorcylist in less than 40% of cases. -the number of motorcycles on the road has increased by 30% in the last 5 years. -over that same period the number of mortorcycle deaths has decreased by 20%. - Mechanical failure or defect is implicated in less than 0.5% of accidents involving motorcycles. Now I have nothing, as such, against a regular MOT type test if it can be shown to be beneficial. it can't. the govt has just announced how the test is oing to work ( bearing in mind that this is supposed to be in place for january 2024) and it appears that the test centres will not be required to have anyone on their staff with a motorcycle licence! The staff will be required to undrego a 1 day raining course on how to carry out the check, and this will include instruction on how to move a motorcycle around the workshop and " instruction on how tp pick up a motorcycle should you drop it". Needless to say, this raises some eyebrows, not least those of the insurance companies who maintain that if you do not possess a motorcycle licence, and you damage it whilst in charge of it then any insurance would be void... Is it only me that can see some charges of GBH on the horizon here...? anyway, yesterday afternoon, despite temperatures around 0 c we went and made some noise and fucked up some christmas shoppers saturday afternoon, to display our discontent. we stopped in front of each of the main MOT centres in town. They were closed of course but it was easy enough to set their alems off with a couple of bikes up against the building and half a dozen backfires... this fucked up their day as they then have to get someone out to shut the alrm down. It should be mentioned that the police ;otorcycle escort managed very successfully to be busy at the other end of the convoy whilst this went on... as that last pic was taken, the camera battery succombed to the cold, which was a shame cos as we started to move on one of the dozen of BMW GS's refused to start and had to be assisted by a guy on a 1990 Honda transalp... of course i laughed like a drain suggesting they were using the Honda to carry out a " reliability graft". 30 seconds later, Karma struck and the tiger refused to start. Victim, I suspect, of an hour at idle speed with heated grips on full power. The convoy dissapeard down the road and I started to ring Mrs Moon to bring me some jump leads ( i've never tried to push start the tiger and wasn't about to start in the middle of town in saturday afternoon traffic... Then an angel came to rescue me, one of the FFMC outriders ( either a girl or a guy with very pretty eyes...) had seen me pull off to the side, guesse what had happened, ridden forward to a colleague she knew had a booster in his top box, and bought it back to me. Luckily the battery on the tiger is easily accessible under the seat so we started it from the booster and I followed her to catch up with the main group. The battery seems fine now so ai can only think that it was the heated grips drawing more power the the constant idle was providing charge to the battery. the battery is at least 6 years old so it may well be on it's last legs as well. After the group dispersed I rode into town with a mate and we found a bar in the centre square that was doing christmas ale and mulled wine. On top of that, the landlord announced that he give a 10% discount to motorcyclists at the weekends. Result! got home well after dark and with temps down beloz freezing. Lukily the ride home was nly about 5 km so no real challenge. I don't expect the demo will have the slightest effect on the installation of the new technical inspections set up, but at least no one an acuse us of not have protested from the beginning.

For @XTreme, a nice NC750x, heavier, not less gay and above all no more topbox!

In this case the BOAT is a Byway Open to All Traffic, It seems that Merthyr council have been sly dogs and not put one of the byways on the map and nobody knows it exists, that was until they had a sly meeting where they have proposed closing it which meant they had to put it on their page for the public to see and luckily somebody spotted it, so the plan today was to ride up to it and ride it while it's still legal which is a bit ironic because everywhere i rode to get to it isn't legal LOL. Anywho set out around 08:00 this morning, it was quite frosty and was -1.5c but with clear blue sky's and very sunny. I had around 3 miles of road riding before i got off road and after the first mile i was already thinking about turning back to put warmer gear on the heated grips were working overtime trying to keep my hands warm inside my summer enduro gloves but i stuck it out because temperature is a different story when you hit the dirt This is the mountain where i spotted that tetradactyl before LOL This was one of the legal lanes, it felt a bit exposed to the right now that everything is dying back for the winter, the bridge carries the A470, Merthyr to the right and Cardiff to the left I ride up past my parents house and onto trials of my past heading down towards the old Cefn Glas railway tunnel as i have done many times before Further on i have to cut through the forestry to avoid a deep mud hole i didn't fancy riding though it on my own and risk getting stuck, the cold has gone now and i'm feeling quite warm After the forestry it opens out to this moorland, a stretch of land I've hated riding from the age of 16 as it's riddled with ruts hidden by the long grass its quite slow going picking your way through the ruts although I've seen good riders go through here like it's tarmac Back into the forestry and its still frosty in the shade all the water from here on is frozen typical Merthyr weather I end up taking a detour due to get around fallen trees and end up having to negotiate this, something i wasn't comfortable doing on my own and as usual it doesn't look that steep in the photos but believe me it was and i'm now steaming hot and sweaty This is the last time you see my mirror There's a steeper short drop off onto the forest road and i decide to walk the bike down to be safe but i loose my footing when the front wheel drops off the short step and i end up falling down the bank taking my mirror with me when i go back up for the bike it's also taken the Radiator Shroud off where it dragged on the bank knew i should have just ridden down doh! From here there was lots more mud and fallen trees to negotiate and eventually i got onto the Byway i was looking for. The start was nice and easy so i could catch my breath and cool down heading into the sun now An nice drop down into a gully and back up. the trail goes sharp left up to the top left corner of the photo and was similar dropping down to where i am Back on some easy stuff About halfway along i get lost, there's trails going off in all directions and i end up by the Abernant railway tunnel it goes from Merthyr to Abredare and theres rumours their going to reopen it for walking and cycling This is a photo of the inside from stolen from on line, i would have loved to have got in there again its just under a mile and a half long. I went through there on a Honda 400 superdream when i was 17 years old but it's all locked up now with a thick layer of grease on the gates to deter anyone climbing over One of the fallen trees to get over there were quite a few like this on route no real problem for the mighty Beta And this would take me into Bike Park Wales mountain bike center, the fallen leaves from ere on hid lots of slippery rock which got me all hot and sweaty again A bit more road work to get my onto Heol Cymro which is a half mile steep climb covered in loose rock made worse today by the low sun flickering through the trees blinding me From here it was a gentle ride over my mountain to the petrol station for a wash before home You can clearly not see my missing rad shroud here Another good day's riding lit the fire when i got in so it's all toastie in here and i'm now sinking a few pints of Skippy piss chilling out

You’re a big girls blouse.

Hi guys! I'm Dany (aka JustaPor) and haven't been active in a forum for more than a decade I found this place thanks to @Pedro when he shared the link of his Morocco trip report. I bought a brand new 2022 CB500F (picture attached) last November. I'm currently waiting on @Pedro and @Sofia's latest ride report!

We didn't exactly leave at first light, after a lazy breakfast we eventually got the bikes out and made it to Spain after no more than 10 or 20 km. I always get a kick at how the road surface changes immediately when you see a border. We did a detour over a dirt road, what looked like a scenic road in the map turned out to be a few kms of gravel road over a hill, the views were nice and all but not really the stuff to which the Speed Triple and it's fancy Pirellis call home. After a bit we stopped for a taste of the shit Spaniards call coffee, pitiful really, but the rain was holding off and we were headed to proper hills and nice roads, the skies were shy about turning blue, but all was good, we rolled on. A lunch stop while all hints of bad weather vanished and temperatures climbed, and shortly after I'm being led around some lovely mountain roads. Cantabria is known for mountains, higher altitudes and green pastures, cows with plenty to graze on because of a lot of rain. We saw mostly drier rivers and reservoirs in what looks like a worrying lack of water in a high temperature September. Some lovely views and really nice roads, I now understand why this is such a migration area for motorcyclists from Portugal and the UK. Sofia had done her research and took me through the least travelled roads, which included some interesting canyon roads with very little traffic. I could get used to this. That's @Sofia down there in the road: The last hour, as the sun was starting to lower was pretty cool. The roads, the forrest, the colours reminded me of my time in the Nurburgring a while ago, it was a very nice ending to a great day on the bikes. We settled into a small countryside apartment, our base for two nights. Lovely view from the back window: There's a small restaurant the across the street from the place we were sleeping in, but turns out it was closed. We took the chance to have a nice longish walk to the next open place and it did feel nice after a warm afternoon on the bikes. A nice dinner and a (now feeling longer than the first time) walk back through Ucieda. Long day on the bikes, nice long walk, well fed, I slept soundly. The next day we would ride around the area, check a couple of nice looking roads and a few scenic locations, and come back to the same place for the night. Bonus is leaving the luggage behind for the day, although I don't really feel a big difference on the GS with it on.