Dodging Summer Showers

These last few weeks of July has seen plenty of weekend summer showers, I've been looking forward to a ride out somewhere but recent days out visiting National Trust places with Helen left me resorting to a ride to work this week just to get my kicks on the bike. I don't usually commute by bike, choose to leave motorcycling to fun times not associated with work but the weather in the week was good enough to take a nice run down through Astley and Shrawley via Hallow and a return home via Martley and Great Whitley. I fitted my panniers to transport my heavyweight laptop, bit of an overkill but I do like the exhaust growl resonating off them ! Good fun riding those Bewdley switchbacks, they always get the adrenaline flowing.

On one rainy Sunday I decided to spray the Givi Airflow screen from the inside. I really like the Givi Airflow on Lindsay's V-Strom, it has a black band across the centre and really tidies the look. The GS version of the Airflow is clear, and shows all of the GPS brackets, clocks and other hardware, doesn't look as 'sporty' as I think it could. I was convinced by copying the design of the V-Strom version it would tidy the front end up a bit. I removed the screen and gave it a thorough clean first and masked off the remaining screen carefully follwing the contours of the cockpit shape with just enough height to hide up to the clocks.I used Plasticote Barbecue Matt black paint sprayed on to the inside of the screen. Really pleased with the results, see above photo.

Finally today, the weather looked promising, Lindsay just back from his trip away with Roy and Ron riding the Alpenstrasse in Germany so we agreed to meet for a local ride with a cafe stop somewhere so I can hear all about his tales. The forecast was showers later, depending on our chosen route, so we decided to 'wing it' with me leading and left for Bewdley and Button Oak taking the back roads into the countryside toward Kinlet and on to Cleobury Mortimer, over Clee Hill, then down to Tenbury, before diverting down towards Bromyard in the usual spirited fashion!

Just as we passed Ledbury, while really enjoying the ride, a few rain drops on the visor turned into the start of a deluge just after we passed a posh looking cafe / garden centre called The Nest. Definitely one to remember, they do a really nice Eggs Benedict it seems with what seemed like a Parma Ham. Lindsay went for a healthy looking bacon buttie, so we settled in comfort while waiting for the rain to pass, listening to his time riding the Alpenstrasse and the Gerlos pass. How I remember it well from 2013, and so glad he got to see that Krimml waterfall. 

 

Later, our mostly dry run took us back up towards Leominster before turning off the A49 on the edge of the Berrington Estate taking us back into Shropshire, the outskirts of Ludlow and that wonderful road through the little village of Caynham before riding the edge of Clee Hill, this time turning off right down the lanes to Corley before popping back out on the main road at Hopton Wafers. 

We covered over a hundred miles this morning, despite taking the Garmin I didn't need to use it at all. Another great ride just making it up as we go, turning off the main roads on roads only travelled by the locals. 👍😀

Shropshire Back Roads and Stiperstones Summit

Laundry Day

This past month I have been agonising over how to clean my BMW Rallye Suit. It's getting on for three years old now, although I've owned a set of textile riding gear before (Heine Gericke), I have never washed and treated one. After several summer trips in the Alps, Spain,Portugal, Scotland and many days riding around Wales the suit was beginning to 'hum', the sleeves and trousers were soiled from that last trip to Scotland in torrential rain near Applecross, and heat and dust of last years GS Challenge. The zips were getting stiff, the whole suit was er, quite 'rank' really so with the dry weather ideal for drip drying I decided to go for it and see what happens. Here's a guide for the very pleasing results and how and what I used (In case I forget for next time).

   

My now cleaner Rallye 3 Jacket after wash and treatment with NikiWax

The labels suggested a cooler 30 degree wash after removing the liners and body protection (back,elbows,knees and hips), and then a repeat wash at the same temperature with BMW's own none silicon based rain resistant proofing. I didn't fancy paying BMW prices for what is essentially none silicon NikiWax, I discovered I had a sachet in the garage anyway, so Helen gave the jacket a cleaning wash first, followed by another wash with the NikiWax TX.direct wash in in a ball dispenser.  I then hung it out to drip dry on the washing line, avoiding direct sunlight. The jacket came up like new, and the zips glide smooth now. All of he grime has gone and has a nice new shine to it. I bought another sachet from Go Outdoors and repeated with the trousers and with a spray bottle of the same stuff treated the seams, sleeves etc for additional repellency at places the wear is greater. I'm really pleased with the result, and hopefully better protected from a rain drench ride now.

Stiperstones 

  

For last Sunday myself and Lindsay agreed an 8am meet at my house for a fairly local ride. The usual options are down in to Hereford, up into Shropshire or the Welsh Marches, but rather than plan a route we agreed to just see where our bikes took us, heading in a westerly direction. I started the run, in the direction of Bridgnorth but this time instead of taking the usual route down to Much Wenlock I continued straight at Bridgnorth on toward Telford, then toward Coalbrookdale and Ironbridge before riding back down toward Shrewsbury passing the power station. We pulled over at this very picturesque bend on the River Severn near Buildwas on the B4380. 

Quite amazing how the river runs a course like this, it does make me wonder how or why the river loops round without any obvious (to me anyway) obstacle. Was this a river 'meander' where faster currents on one side of the river eroded the bank on one side (see left bank on bend near the tree) or was it some other hidden feature? 

I then set my Garmin for a direct run to Church Stretton to avoid the boring A roads up and around Shrewsbury instead for the  back roads and lanes crossing the river near Cressage, then on through the lanes and fords to Acton Burnell before arriving at the Cafe near the foot of Long Mynd. The cafe quite a popular stop for cyclists before they attempt the Mynd, so we got talking to a few and one guy in a particular with a bike worth £6000 who seemed to cover a lot of ground on this incredibly light carbon fibre bike. We both polished off a nice small breakfast and cuppa before taking a ride over the Mynd and down to Stiperstones car park to climb one of the six Shropshire summits and visit the unique rock formation known as the 'Devils Chair'.

  

We decided to climb up to the summit, and since it was a fine summers day again I had my shorts and sandals in the top box, not the most appropriate footwear on this rocky terrain, following Lindsay who was getting a great run up in his bike boots. I recently watched a TV documentary about prehistoric Mammoths roaming these Shropshire hills, where the ground back then was a tundra - a great source of food for them. During the last Ice Age the hills were covered with ice and the rock formations were a product of ice millions of years ago. Amazing to think the ice flow covered everything in sight.

The Devil found his Chair!

I haven't been up here on the summit since walking all six Shropshire hills back when I was at school. Great view out across Shropshire and into Wales. We reckon we could see the start of Snowdonia and Cadair Idris from here.

 

Later after setting the Garmin to avoid a return trip over the Mynd by forcing the route down along that wonderful twisty road to Clun, first stopping at the School house cafe Lindsay suggested at The Bog, so named because the village was literally built on a watery bog continually fed by water coming off the hills. This was a lead mining village and the guy in the cafe explained how it flooded so often they dug many soak aways until the advent of steam power helped them pump the water away further down the hill into the next village! Sadly, because of this and despite being a great source of lead, the mine was continually close to bankruptcy so ceased to operate sometime during the 1930s. 

After a cuppa and cake the run back home cut cross country via Craven Arms toward Morville until I took a right and up another narrow lane up a hill on the outskirts of Bridgnorth to cut the corner through the lanes down to Kinlet, Button Oak then Bewdley, with twisties and lanes all the way. Great for the GS and V-Strom. Just proves we don't have to ride far from home to have a fun day on our bikes.

A Good Biker Read

Recently I started reading the latest (3rd in series) of Neil Peart's books bought for me by Helen last Christmas describing motorcycle travels between 'Rush' shows on his GS. The book 'Far and Wide' covers the 40th anniversary tour (R40) interspersed with biographical accounts of his life, latest projects, family, the guys at work and other thought provoking matter. The first book I read and mentioned in the blog post here called Far and Away set the scene, then his second book on the same theme titled Far and Near covered rides 'shunpiking' In Europe too. 

   

For Far and Wide the motorcycling tales are based on his rides through North America and Canada using Wal-Marts as a truck stop to unload the bikes after shows, where they head off with his GS riding security guard Michael (and others) on adventure rides from city to city visiting National Parks, Indian reservations always via remote back roads on the way to his next Rush gig. How the guy manages to arrive and play a two hour set still amazes me. This latest book describes how at age 60 plus he has decided to stop touring as he explains how he arrived at the decision after 40 years of shows, drum solos and lyric writing. I have to say, these books really do inspire me to ride in the US and Canada soon. A bit of a pipe dream I know but looking at the photos with Neil's narrative you can't help adding some of his routes to the great rides to do before you kick the bucket list! I just wish he would publish the routes he has taken over the years along with GPX files too.