This Summer and Autumn I have enjoyed a few ride outs with the KAB and a late September trip away with Tim riding around Exmoor. It was an interesting few days staying each night at the very amenable Ralegh's Cross Inn just off the moors on Brendon Hill. With a Friday off work, I had plotted and shared a route with Tim through the Wye Valley before agreeing a stop at a Cafe next to Tintern Abbey before heading through Chepstow and toward Bristol. We found our way across the famous Clifton Suspension Bridge, I hadn't ridden across it before, so made sure the GPS route skirted around Bristol out to the Clifton area to find it. The bridge is the first of it's kind, and after paying the toll we were both surprised how narrow the road is. Obviously built by Brunel in the pre-motor vehicle age its amazing how well it's held up since it's completion in 1864, a real contrast in size to the huge modern Severn Bridge we crossed earlier yet both share the same 'suspension' design.
A bit cool despite wearing my heated jacket I was warm enough to leave the heat turned off as we made our way through the Chew Valley and the weather brightened up in the afternoon. While looking for somewhere to lunch, my Navigator flagged up a place to eat nearby, so we followed the the amended route to the Chew Kitchen at the edge of Chew Magna village. The food was top quality, not our regular biker 'scran' being a popular restaurant we both chose the home cured ham with local cheddar cheese sandwiches. A great find, with an amazing deli counter full of home made cakes too. Later in the afternoon we had some fun crossing the Quantock's and then across some fun twisty roads around Exmoor before checking in to our accommodation for the night. A nice stay and the bikes were parked up safe, with real-ale on tap and a good 'pub food' selection.
With a 'full english' breakfast on Saturday morning we were soon riding out to Lynmouth for a walk around and coffee stop and then riding a mix of B roads and lanes we climbed up and over Porlock Hill. Always good to adjust the route and take the more scenic toll road as it hugs the coastline giving chance to look out across the estuary between the trees. The climb reminded me of those mountain roads again with some of the tree foliage and pines shielding the view giving a real 'continental' feel. I had ridden this road some years back on my own, and it was just how I'd remembered it back then. The 'continental' theme continued as a I came across a friendly couple parked up. I think it was the lady rider riding a Royal Enfield Continental GT accompanied by a guy on a classic Honda. I do enjoy looking at the classic retros and original classics and both riders were having a good time, both coping well with the incline. After some fun criss-crossing the moors myself and Tim stopped for a very nice 'Fish and Chip' lunch in Minehead with a pleasant view overlooking the beach from the bandstand before heading back across the moors for a couple of beers.
Unfortunately our time in Exmoor would be 'marred' by late Saturday and early Sunday's routes taking us along closed single track roads between villages and along dead-end routes requiring repeated re-routes as we experienced GPS navigation issues. Anyone thinking of riding around Exmoor might want to take note of this and plot some fixed routes to avoid confusion. Sadly too on Sunday while riding along one of the lanes the TPMS system notified me of a loss of rear tyre pressure, frustrated by now, I considered calling up bike recovery and just outside Glastonbury I pulled over and noticed a nail embedded in the centre of the tyre and made it to a Sainsbury's air-line pump just in time. Fortunately after calling up the RAC as a precaution I had plugged the tyre myself with a solid 2.9 bar of pressure just as the recovery guy got to me. Always good to carry a plug kit and compressor, thankfully I made it back home in good time. Late Autumn myself and Rob had a pleasant little Friday ride down into the Wye Valley. Just lately my work life has been 'full-on' so to speak, so after a rear tyre change (I discovered the plugged tyre had another small puncture) I was happy to follow instead of leading for a change. A more 'relaxed' ride and Rob's chosen route was perfect, I look forward to riding it again one day.
Rob and I attended MCL 25 (motorcycle live) at the NEC in Birmingham. I'm starting to warm to the 1300 GS now, and do like the 'new for 2026' Blue 'Tramutana' model. The BMW ASA (automatic shift-assist) system looks interesting and the clutch lever-less bikes seem to be gaining in popularity. I couldn't imagine having the necessary control required to ride without manual clutch, but after watching the guys on the small off-road track demo'ing the system at slow speed with tight turns on dirt it's clear to me there is no real compromise. All things being equal I still think I'd stick with a clutch lever option though. Some nice looking new models and I did like the BSA Thunderbolt adventure bike in silver and yellow, one to take on the RE Himalayan I thought. The new Norton's look special and both of us quite taken with the latest Ducati Multisrada V4, and we both agreed the latest BMW F900GS was a very comfortable tourer, a bit lighter than the Boxer twins too. It was good to have a chat to the lady on the Ride Expeditions stand too. Some of their tours look great. I'd love to join a tour like this having ridden a lot of Europe now, maybe I need to consider a more 'exotic' trip away in the future. I did bag a bargain at the show and managed to get a new Shoei Neotec 3 to replace my Neotec 2 for £480.00 (currently retail at close to £600). Infinity Motorcycles even threw in the SRL2 integrated comms adapter to fit the new Neotec 3 and saved me over £300 for a new comms unit. Some bargains to be had, and a good day out.
My GS has now rolled over 30k miles and at 5 years old the battery was getting sluggish in the cold. Tim put me on to a great little battery shop in the back streets of Cheltenham 'Groves' who fixed me up with a heavy duty Yuasa replacement for a very competitive price. I prefer to buy a battery in person in case I have issues with it and have to return it or something and they were very helpful. It was easy enough to fit myself in the end. On a recent trip down to Cotswold Motorrad with Helen we took a look at the latest GS and GSA models and as mentioned I do like those 2026 colours. The trade up price would come at a cost I could put toward one or more bike trips away though - but you never know! That said, I still really enjoy riding my 1250 so for now I came away with a new pair of Cruise Comfort boots to replace my 12 year old BMW boots instead. I've been more than happy with them after 60k miles so decided to go with a straight up replacement. So, new helmet, boots and battery, looking forward to the 2026 biking season!
