boboneleg

Yep, that looks pretty abandoned around there

I don't want want to knock the youngsters but I understood that going to university was to improve your edumacation, not party every night and then spread covid everywhere ?

This photo is so typically French, bloody excellent

From that angle it looks like you're riding some big cruiser or summat, btw I didn't have the sound on

I agree Yen , Maiden Castle is great but it's too big for me to walk around in bike gear. Here's a great castle in Dorset but you have to choose your day as it's usually very busy. https://corfe-castle.co.uk/

They make some nice kit ?

Do I remember rightly in thinking that the left silencer is false (not actually hooked up ) ??

Now it was time to head for home so it was back up onto the Plain to ride tracks to Westbury and then tarmac back to Bristol. It started to get really breezy and you could see big showers in the distance but I managed to avoid them and made it back home dry

There isn't much left to Luggershall Castle but it's worth a quick visit especially considering that it's free to enter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludgershall_Castle

Opposite Old Sarum is a Roman road , parts of which you can still ride........ and near Firsdown there is even a bench on the byway so you can stop and have your lunch ? Then I did a couple more byways including Whiteshoot hill which was 'interesting ' going down on the wet chalk and then I rode the back roads to get to the second castle of the day.

In the outer bailey is the site of the original Salisbury Cathedral........... but from Old Sarum (Old Salisbury) you can see the spire of the present Salisbury Cathedral in the distance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salisbury_Cathedral

So I carried on going south and then took a detour to the east and came across this............ Now on the Plain there are puddles that you can loose a bike in so I got off and tried to gauge the depth but in the end it was fine, there was only one hole in it and I rode through it safely. Then I managed to scoot around this one to visit another tank, I think you've seen this tank before but it looks sadder every time I see it ? So once I got to the Rollestone Camp I carried onto the first castle of the day via tarmac. Old Sarum is quite important in English history but I wont bore you with the details , you can find it all here........ https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/old-sarum/history/ Because of Covid-19 you can only visit now by pre-booking and then you have to turn up within your chosen hourly slot. Well I dragged myself around the site in my bike gear for 45 minutes but I'll go back another day with my wife in the car and wearing more suitable gear. I'll let the photos do the talking.............

What Fred said, I know a bit about what goes on there as I used to deliver ordnance to the bombardment areas on the Plain.

There's still a bit to ride Tym if you know where you're going , we now can only ride 2% of the rights of way in England & Wales (Scotland is different, officially there are no rights of way for vehicles there) but it's decreasing all the time.

to be continued...........

So having put the winter wheels/tyres on the Donkey the other day it was time to get them dirty. First thing I noticed was how much more 'lively' the bike felt after riding all summer on Mitas E-07's but it it was fine after riding about an hour of tarmac. First stop was by the gatehouse of the Spye Park estate.......... a and onto Heddington Steps which doesn't have any steps anymore, it's been totally sanitised , you could drive your car up there nowadays ? and then rode a couple of trails around Devizes...... and then up onto Salisbury Plain via the Redhorn Hill vedette. When the army are playing war there would be a red flag flying here and a barrier across the trail but no live firing today so on we go........... There are plenty of warnings about not straying from the byway, if you're stupid enough to do so you really are playing russian roulette.... and down to the tank graveyard which is good place to stop and get the flask out for a coffee.........

As someone who has previously been 'escorted' off the Plain in the past and been buzzed by an Apache helicopter I'm taking no chances

You know that Shad = cheap chinese Givi knock off , right ?

I am going to visit Old Sarum tomorrow, I will take the scenic route across Salisbury Plain as there is no live firing tomorrow.......... https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/salisbury-plain-training-area-spta-firing-times/salisbury-plain-training-area-spta-firing-times-october-2020

You know that you can buy waterproof trousers nowadays ?

Did you put same weight oil in Fred or slightly lighter ?

Great to see you Lyn ?