XTreme

Can't have been easy getting repeatedly hit over the head with deckchairs by geriatric Rockers!

I wanted to have a quick run to test the camera quality out on the new smartphone......which is a Samsung Galaxy A71. Apparently it has 4 cameras and can take photos at 64 megapixels with a resolution of 9248 x 6936! Big numbers.....but what's the end result? Normally my pics are around 3 to 4MB.......when I checked the pics from today they were 25MB+. Is there a difference to the naked eye? Massive! It's like going from an ancient 1980's TV to the latest giant 4K HD flat screens. Seriously.......you could take pics for a glossy calendar with this thing. The ones you see here are reduced in size and optimised to bring down the file size......but I think you'll see a major difference. Very short vid to give you the general idea of the location.......then the pics!

But at least you've flushed The Turd Clive!

No......I was Regional Manager for Byte Computer Superstores! I was previously doing the same job but living in Milton Keynes (lovely place but can't say the same about the people)........I moved from there in 1997 because we wanted to be back in Wales.

19c at 10AM.......there's hope!

And I want it to cool down!

No......you carry on Michelle! We like laughing at some of the pretentious shit that goes on there!

Sounds like a good one Eric!

Whatever bike it is it'll be covered in shit within about 10 minutes! And it'll never, ever be washed!

1998 I was living in Chepstow and working in Gloucester and Cheltenham. I liked Chepstow......but it was a bit weird that despite being in Wales (well my side of the town was) I think I was the only one there with a Welsh accent. And my eldest boy went to school in England (the other side of town).

The good old days of death threats over WD40!

Come on you fucking casuals......isn't anybody doing anything?

Had to be ButtRider didn't it? @Tym........how long did it take you to get banned there?

So how's life back in 1998 Yen?

I tested the vid capability.......it's really impressive!

I wouldn't buy anything Apple.....it's overpriced for what it is!

Got the phones! Very slick indeed! I've set up mine......got to do the wife's one after we've been to the animals. But first thing was check the image quality as this is 48 megapixel compared to 16 on the Huawei. Incredible difference.......file size of the one test shot outside the house was 6.5mb compared to around 3 on the Huawei. And you can pic out the textures on the mountains rather than just a blur. These desolate places are gonna look great! Yes I know they're grim locations.....but now you'll see the grimness in much better detail.

New mobiles have arrived! Off to the shop in an hour!

You may remember that I mentioned that I was contacted by a Brit guy who lives about 15 miles from me about a month ago. I've never met him, but he's got a Strom and wanted to meet up. I told him I was going to find Retamalejo and that it may get a bit hard. And never heard any more. Well I did find it, it was hard.......and I got heatstroke! Anyway, he just contacted me again and wanted to meet up for a coffee on Sunday. I told him that I go out to ride......and have no interest in going in bars (particularly now Covid is back). However, I did tell him that I'm planning to try and find this abandoned village in the Sierra de Segura on Sunday if he's interested? But I added the disclaimer that I've no idea how rough it's going to get......just to make him aware of what he's getting himself into. And that's absolutely true......it may be straight forward or it could be The Road of Bones! But at least it's forecast to be cooler so dehydration and heatstroke shouldn't be a factor this time. No reply so far......just see what happens. But I'll be going......this has been planned out for some time. So what are you lot up to?

@Skippy @Grasshopper's Ride

A meeting of two genocidal fascist dictators.......and Yen's looking for personal grooming tips! It could only happen on here!

In terms of abandoned villages Belchite is the most striking.......and by far the darkest with 3000 dead in the Spanish Civil War.

Apparently Hitler said (after meeting Franco) that he never wished to meet him again! Coming from Hitler that pretty much says it all. And as far as I know, no other leader of a country has ever asked other countries to kill it's own citizens as in the Bombing of Guernica.

I've uncovered a rather sinister bit of info about the abandoned village I'm going to search for on Sunday. You may remember that with all these villages the reason so far for them being empty is economic. Because people moved to the bigger towns and cities to get work. But not with this one.......because the residents were made to leave and their homes demolished! And there's a pattern of villages being forcibly depopulated throughout Spain during the years of the Franco dictatorship up to 1975. In this case, the creation of the Cazorla-Segura National Hunting Reserve in 1960 required a change in the usage of large tracts of land, land that contained a number of villages and hamlets. So the residents were evicted in order that the state could take their land. This is Dark Motorcycling for sure!

Get voting everybody!