MooN

oh come on... cats are fair game... I used to know someone who even had some recipes...

I am treating you two with the contempt you deserve. I did mention that I know nothing of the uk between London and the south coast heving never set foot in the area. Brighton is simply a name of a known coastal town that the frogs might have heard of...

having a local guide would be top banana mate, I might just take you up on that, obviously depending on timings and availabillity etc, but I'd give you plenty of warning.

it's less embarrassing being seen climbing out of the back of a sheep...

I rest my case...

please don't think I didn't think about welsh whales, but the really pretty bits that I know are just that bit too far to e a comfortable ride and fit in the timescale. ( and going from Burgundian civilisation to Swansea would be too much of a culture shock...)

you know the difference between a skoda and a sheep...?

i have a "medium to long term project" on the go which has been motivated by a number of people from the club here ( we're no longer oficially a club) begging me to organise a bike trip to the uk. it's still in the primary planning stages and obviously all depends on such variables as covid, post brexit regs, funding etc etc so I'm still at the stage where I'm looking for info. scenery and decent biking roads is what were looking for we'll be 4 or 5 bikes, well used to riding together. if all goes according to plan there'll be 2 of us speaking fluent engrish and 4 or 6 having no clue. it's basically going to take a day riding each way to and from the UK. If we had 3 days in the uk, where should we ride? my fave places are all too far to ride comfortably ( north yorkshire moors, Lakedistrict, scoland) so I'm trying to find some southern england riding but I don't know the area between london and the south coast at all so any suggestions sould be welcome from people who know the area... I thought something like: hastings, brighton, Bath. day 2 bristol, the cotswolds ( castle combe, stroud, stow on the wold, moreton in marsh) stratford on avon, Banbury, chipping Norton and finishing in or near Witney cos my family live there. following day witney, south of oxford, central London ( are bikes exempt of congestion charge?) and back to folkstone, pushing on down to Arras for the night. any must doo roads or must see thingys around that sort of route? Ta south downs national park?

dont have any road tax to pay here... no mot for bikes neither... just sayin like...

I will if he's in a bloody transit van like you were..

not convinced I like the phraseology of that, given what the murricains thnik "hooking up" involves ? but I could be a waypoint on the way south for anyone foolish enough to want to ride down from the uk... interesting project, see how it evolves

welcome in, bloke or otherwise...

welcome

Bonjour, welcome...

'ey up, welcome in

I was about to say " Oxford! that's near my family..." but then saw oxford CT which I guess is in the US somewhere ( Conniticut?) and definately not near my family at all...? but welcome anyway

3400km round trip for me, the bike would do it. could I? dunno. logistically, if I no longer have a job i'd have the time but not the resources, if I still have a job, possibly... it would depend on so many variables that simply can't be answered at the moment, but the idea is almost as attractive as you lot aren't.

My Wife is enjoying this social distancing she's insisting that i'm not allowed with 1meter of her...

Hi Pedro, one of the reasons for chosing the triumph was that the triple engine is just soooo smoooth... once its set up properly and chain tension is right then its all just velvet smooth, so much less problematic for the back than a twin or a thumper ( which were the other options I had). riding position was also a major consideration, again due to back and knee issues but also cos I'm 1m90 odd to start with. I've a triumph "comfort" seat on it and since this trip have added 1 1/2 inch risers to the bars which makes it even better position wise. So far can't fault it. BMW was about the only alternative I didn't test ride as they were so far out of budget.

Dunno mate, the time was right, physically for my back I needed something less... erm... vibratory... than the old tralp and I still had a couple of years befor N01 daughte started university so... I'm starting to see reports of the first generation of 800xc's racking up 100,000+ km with no majour problems so I don't see why not. I tend to keep things till they're no longer fit for purpose so we'll see I guess.

possibly the last of my september trips as work has evolved and we now are busier in september than in July August. It was my fist proper trip on the tiger which I bought in october 2017. The 3rd week september is traditionally our "boys only" weekend away with the "club" ( inverted commas cos we're not officially a club anymore) and in 2018 the planned destination was the high Jura. 8 bikes in all and all except me had just the weekend off. I didn't need to be back at work till the thursday and had cleared it with Madame MooN that I would be an extra day at least. day one went something like this: Auxerre Besancon via A6 and A39 in order to get just east of Besancon for Lunch and then straight into the good bits. Up the Doubs valley to Baume les dames, Pont de roide, Maiche,Villiers les lac, Morteau ( sausages!), Pontarlier ( aperitif!), les gorges de la Langouette, Morez et premanon. As usual, when riding with the group I don't get time to stop and take pics. but we did about 500km in the day with about 250 on the more interesting roads between besancon and Premanon. next morning i rode with the group as far as Cure where they turned back westwards and I carried on turning right down the eastern flanc of the Jura towards lac leman ( or lake Geneva as the uneducated call it) I dropped down the hairpins through St Cergue to the lakeshore and along the edge of the lake through geneva and out the other side heading North east alon the french shore and back into Switzerland at St Gingolph where I popped down to the lake edge and took this photo. To take the pic I was sat at the same table in the café Madame MooN and I ate at on our very first weekend bike trip nearly 25 years ago... It was too early to eat so I set off again, heading for Martigny and the col st bernard. I stopped at a petrol station and grabbed a sandwich and a drink ( when in switzerland, drink milk and eat yoghurt, its devine!) There were quite a few bikes about and I had fun annoying some power rangers and then trying to keep up with some swiss plated ducatis. My excuse is that they probably knew the road, being locals... I stopped to picnic by the lake at the top which was heaving with bikes from all over. Me being the asocial entity that I am, I didn't stay long I rapidly withdrew, stopping a little further round the lake for the pic above. I then set off down the south side of the mountain heading for Aosta. I had a lot of fun on the way down but was very much put to shame by a complete nutter on a pushbike who would overtake on the straights ( 70odd km/h) and then get in my way on the hairpins. This is how I discovered that I can lean the Tiger considerably further over into the corners than I would have dared with the tralp ( Oh, and that the bakes are a little more efficient...) having skirted Aosta, I headed west and North back up the valley towards the Mont Blanc, on the Italien side turning southwest before Courmeyeur and heading back up to the french border and the col du petit St Bernard. looking north to Mont Blanc I spent the night in a small gite in Bonneval, just north of Moutiers. I was totally knackered and had made very few stop, thus discovering pretty much just how many hours i can spend in the saddle on this bike and since the back op. I think it was nearly 9 hours if i remember right, including the few stops. the next day was just an easy run home via Annecy and Bellegarde where I picked up the A40 westbound and thus onto the A6 northbound at Macon and Home for tea and buns by 5pm. i did manage to get a speeding ticket as a souvenir somewhere around Annecy and I also learnt that when an automatic camera flashes you in a Tunnel you KNOW you just got flashed...?

tunnel is not me. ?

not done any real off roading with the tiger yet, but just a couple of lanes and bits