Pedro

Glad you liked it, it was a really cool ride. Plan is to do one in a couple of weeks, but I am pretty unsure of how it is going to be with Covid. Me and Sofia. Then again another in proper summer, by myself, and ideally a Morocco one in september or october, but I'm keeping my hopes in realistic levels. You might want to check out the Morocco ride reports, my favourite being the 2017 one, if you like big vistas.

I enjoy having a usual ride, there is something good about riding a well known road that you still enjoy, you don't think too much about it and it's sort of calming. Mine's not muddy, though

It's not true, they'll be happy for you to go pick up food and take it home. You can even take your own nice recipient instead of having to use crappy take away plastic. It'll be a mystery as to why you would prefer to eat soggy food instead of fresh from the kitchen, but to each their own.

Moving to the Iberian peninsula might be a good way to mess with all that

A nice tip, octopus gets more tender if it's frozen, that's one of the reasons it's typical in places away from the sea. Also, hammering (not too hard) the legs before cooking helps. I don't cook octopus or most seafood, too much work or cooking smells.

You´re going to hell, the GS is the hardest bike to properly clean if you are really demanding about it. Great landscape!

Thank you for your words, that's kind. Portugal isn't for everyone, I would advise you to do a trip and visit places before a final decision. Spain has plenty of regions with lots of green and luxurious landscape, and very diverse culture, food, weather, and people living in each one, by all means don't assume it all looks like the south. Also don't choose a region based on it's proximity to Morocco unless you are planning on visiting really frequently. Octopus is more expensive if you only buy the tentacles, because they're the most looked after parts but I suspect most people don't want to deal with the body part. Buying that exact same thing here would cost pretty much the same, but buying whole fresh and raw is about a quarter of the price. It's a difficult thing to cook nicely, you have to tenderize it properly and not overcook or else it'll get too chewy, too little and it'll be too chewy too...

Thank you both, indeed I usually carry an anti histaminic spray with me, or pills on a several day ride, but this one caught me off guard. On this one I share a little bit more of the country and my enjoyment of food, @Slowlycatchymonkey. This one of Portugal and the one from Morocco in 2017 are my own favourite ride reports

Seems you are truly bothered about it, though.

Makes sense, good luck with the Polish then!

The grim reaper, that's death, does he care about your pms?

death?

Can you no longer fit a TRX starter? I think I remember reading that the Honda quads used to share the same exact engine and you could adapt the starter engine to the motorcycle.

My brother knows a couple of guys in Warsaw, if you really want one I could ask if they could get it and ship it over.

Darth vader?

The grim reaper?

Are they in warsaw? Can you get a non facebook link?

If you’ve got a toothache, you can’t tell your tongue to stay away...

So you’re actually warm?

In Portugal we have small markets in medium fishing towns. On the smallest villages some have closed because they just couldn't justify the costs of being open and cater for modern health rules with such small volume, but you will easily have fish for lunch caught that same morning in most places on the coast. Not to say restaurants or fishmongers don't sell yesterday's catch too, but that's another thing. Better to buy something frozen a couple of hours after hitting the market than fish that has been traveling for two days.

The “nature” of the worker? Are you joking?

Do that near the Portuguese or Galician coast in the middle of the day and the coast guard will never think it's booze

You can't compare the vaccine availability for top dollar countries like England and the US when compared to Portugal and Spain, it's naive to think it's only going slow on account of poor organization.

Sofia's bike has a nice seating position, and is quite comfortable and neutral. I have trouble with the lack of steering lock because I've always had traillies that can turn on a dime, but that's it. It also weighs the same as a Tiger 800 but is way lower.

Most XR400's are a peach to start, mine never gave me any trouble except when I forget to follow one of the three or four steps while it's cold for it's first start in months. Not following those easy steps and then having to kick for 5 minutes is a great way to warm up in a freezing morning, too ... - ignition on and fuel open, increase tick-over a smidge and close choke - decompression open and throttle open, and kick through 2 or 3 times - decompession open and throttle closed, kick 2 or 3 times - find tdc, raise the pedal and kick all the way through, job done, open choke and adjust tick over On that same day it will easily start first or second kick every time, unless you drop it when riding and shut the engine laying over (which you should!), then it's best you just take your helmet off and enjoy the fresh air for a bit (great chance to smoke if you like to ), and then it´ll start first kick. I don't ride it often, I like that it is more reliable on the trail after being left for 1 year stopped than anything modern with a small battery and race derived high engine compression. But the comfort of the button sure would be nice if on a long trip or indeed on those days you try to start it with the ignition off and then it's gym time!