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. 👍😀