Scheiße, diese Berge sind hoch

Just a quick post while waiting for my first ride of the year. I can highly recommend this four part series available on Amazon Prime. Two German bikers riding out from the Fatherland through Turkey, Pakistan and on to Ladakh and the Himalayas finishing in Goa. Although the dialogue is dubbed in American don't be put off you soon get used to it and the scenery, and 'dronage' shots certainly make up for it. One of the best Motorcycle Adventure series I have seen in a long time, certainly makes me want to 'do one' and have a go too, but not sure about Tiger trekking though that's for sure !

Neither of the two riding BMW GS's as you would expect either .. instead they are both riding the Yamaha XT 1200 Super Tenere fully kitted out with SW Motech accessories. I'm convinced the one chap is Andy's (Bluemooner) German cousin - a dead ringer right down to the pearly whites !

Give it a go if you have Prime 👍 

Not long now ....

 

Looking forward to Spring, already now at the start of February, my GS has been inside the Vacu-Bag since sucking most of the air out (Vacuum cleaner obviously !) back in November. I’m pleased I fitted a fly lead to the accessory socket to trickle charge the battery from my Can-Bus compatible Opti-Mate charger, so hopefully we’ll be good to go. All being well in a few weeks I’ll be letting the air in and unpacking her for that first  shaky ride of the year. 

Let’s hope lockdown 3.0 will be lifted soon too, I have a few trips away planned this year - fingers crossed back up to Scotland and Northumberland with Mark, and if possible back across to the Iberian peninsula again with Steve. This Winter I have researched my family tree and have a few places I’d like to visit to follow up my research in the UK, along with a possible trip to Ypres in Belgium again. 😷 Here’s to 2021 and some more Adventuring !

The Long Way Up

The winter nights, with my bike wrapped up for a few months, I now have a chance to watch the Long Way Up series on Apple TV+. This is a great series, a follow up to the Long Way Round and Long Way Down where Ewan and Charley were riding BMW GS’s this time they are riding the Harley Davidson Live Wire Electric bikes up through South America all the way to Los Angeles. Claudio is riding behind on a Sportster and Russ and co. In Electric cars. I have to say I’m really enjoying this, and really impressed with the Harleys. At the time, the bikes were late prototypes, now in production and available to buy from your local dealer. I’m tempted to take one out for a test ride in the new year. I’m interested to see both bikes have been Adventure ‘modded’ with the rear end jacked up for taller and beefier suspension, with light weight soft luggage too.

The bikes are not without a few problems though, mostly with a limited range especially in cold weather but to be fair they are standing up well to other stresses and strains along the way. Many people out there always bemoan the fact these guys have a back up crew and a limitless pot of money to influence them through countries. Some suggest for these reasons it’s not a real adventure at all. It’s funny how those who never ride much further than the local Cafe meet for late afternoon tea and a scone in ‘Bourton on the Water’  always come out with the usual sneers about this not being a proper adventure. Too many of the ‘moany’ old misers are usually the first to say if they had their money and backup team I could do that too. Well, I know some of these doubters and sure they couldn’t and certainly wouldn’t. What I do see on this series is very skilful riding on the kind of loose surface in all weathers, way worse than your average ‘shitty’ B road lane found in the UK. You can’t fake the riding skills, it’s all there to see on screen regardless of the back up team.

I’m also enjoying the amazing scenery, the usual UNICEF ambassador cause where they are visiting under privileged kids and some of the challenges they face following how the back up crew Russ and co. are getting along in their electric 4x4 Rivian truck prototypes too. There’s some great tech’ in all of the vehicles, and although I don’t see us all switching to electric motorcycles anytime soon because of the initial cost (the LiveWire retails around £26K), I do believe in the technology and some of the problems being solved - energy recovery and tow charging to name a few. Perhaps the most interesting point to come out of the series is how it highlights the difficulties in trying to remain ‘green’ throughout the journey and completely ditch the fossil fuels completely.

Of course many will say the bikes aren’t real motorbikes, and they’ll say with all of that technology to go wrong and not being able to fix it yourself by the side of the road in a ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’ way it somehow diminishes the quality of the motorcycle experience. I say leave these critics to their narrow minded view, I’ll keep enjoying how a team of adventurers attempt to push the boundaries of exploration using what is proving to be a fascinating concept and an excellent series watching two mates try something a bit different for a change. Well done Charley and Ewan, yet another great motorcycle series and I do like the new style Belstaff jackets too!

Welsh Border Birthday ride

Nice little run out today on my Birthday. I decided to book the day off and spend the afternoon threading my way down to Much Wenlock, Craven Arms and on towards Knighton. Unfortunately due to Welsh lockdown restrictions I had to take care not to cross the border into Wales at Knighton town so kept well into the English side of the River Teme taking the road up to Clun instead then out past Shobdon in Herefordshire before taking the Tenbury road for a change.

Quite a bit of mud to avoid so no B road lanes today, but some great 'twisties' to ride on the A roads out here between and betwixt wonderful Autumn colours just before the leaves fall as is always the case around my Birthday. Those Autumn colours do seem more vivid this year and while watching BBC's 'Autumn watch' I learned that due to the sunny Spring and slightly wetter Summer there's an increase in Keratin that give the leaf it's brown / red colour - only seen when the Chlorophyll breaks down at this time of year. So, it wasn't just my imagination the foliage that remains seems to standout a lot more.   

I really enjoy the road pictured above between Clun through the village of 'New Invention' and then to Knighton. The patchwork of fields really stands out as the crops are harvested. This is one of my favourite roads and makes an interesting alternative to the A49. Probably my last ride of the motorcycling season now, as I write this we are in Lockdown 2.0, I might squeeze another run in but mid-November my GS will be going into hibernation and so will I, especially now I have some winter reads to tuck into. What a strange year, lets hope 2021 offers more freedom than 2020 and I get to ride on the continent again.  

 
A chocolatey birthday cake baked by Helen and some great winter read pressies from her, my Dad and the kids!

Rainy day Autumn fun

With Summer done and dusted looking back over the year I really can't complain, what a great riding season I've had with plenty of sunny days to enjoy, so with a  mixed weather forecast this Autumn Saturday I couldn't resist getting out to practice some rain riding for a change. It's good to get some wet road practice in as I have some plans for next year that will undoubtedly mean riding wet roads, even this years Scottish Highland trip wasn't damp enough to really test the Rukka Arma-T laminated textile I invested in last Winter. 

Over the past few years as the leaves turn colour I've come to look forward to riding the Shropshire countryside or maybe even the Wye Valley, so my plan was simple, head up up and over Clee Hill and throw a right just before Ludlow onto Bridgnorth with a run down the B4364 the northern ridge and down through Much Wenlock to Ironbride. There were quite a few diversions on the way, the power station access to Broseley was closed one way due to flood defence work so I continued on to Telford and came back through Ironbridge from the northern side. 

 

I continued up toward Shrewsbury then cut back along the River Severn along that fantastic twisty section through a glade of trees toward Cressage. By now it had started to rain quite hard. With my Knox coldkillers underjacket on I couldn't really tell if the Gore-Tex in the jacket was doing its job, but I still felt quite snug as the rain came down even harder as I travelled through the valley. I soon met with another GS rider ahead of me wearing almost identical Rukka kit displaying the distinct 'R' on his back who was riding a 2017 Exclusive similar to my last GS so I caught up and followed him for quite a while before he turned off toward Shrewsbury. Good to know at least one other biker wasn't fazed by the weather and doesn't  hide away in the house as soon as a grey cloud appears bemoaning the misery of it. When it's time to get your rocks off go for it I say, don't be a boring old moaner - it's only water !

The rain calmed down a bit as I wound my way through Little Wenlock but picked up again later as I came nearer home. I'd flipped to 'Rain' riding mode by now to calm the throttle response allowing me to lean into the bends some more almost as normal and switched the heated grips on to warm my hands too. I didn't feel wet at all, still enjoying the day and back at home I was pleased to find not a single spot of water had passed through the Gore-Tex membrane in my jacket, trousers, gloves or boots. It's good to build up the confidence in the wet again at last, and having decent kit to keep dry means I can now continue riding without having to stop and use a hot 'stuffy' overjacket / trouser combination. Shropshire in the Autumn never dissapoints me, and with the season changing in early to mid October it adds some real colour to my ride too. 👍

Roman around the Cotswolds

So today I took off into the Cotswolds at last. I haven't been in the area on a good run for quite some time, the last time being a quick breakfast meet with Steve in July 2019, and a longer run  three years ago. The Cotswolds is usually 'rammed' with cars and tourists on hot sunny days so I've been waiting for a quieter time to ride the wonderful countryside through picturesque villages and visit some sites I had in mind too. 

I left home around 8.30 am on this cool but sunny Autumn Sunday hoping for quiet roads at least for the early part of the ride, and thankfully very little traffic even through Pershore and around Evesham. My pre-plotted route includes a ride up and over Fish Hill, then a quick left at the top down to Chipping Campden for my first stop. A nice little section and Fish Hill is always fun with that sharp up-hill left-hander to tackle at speed while getting past a few cars keeping the group of sports bike riders in my mirrors too. 

As I 'bimbled' along through the town admiring all of the pretty Cotswold stone buildings I couldn't resist stopping near the magnificent St James' church with it's bell tower dating back to around 1500. A really pleasant place to stop, stretch my legs and savour the calmness of the morning air with the sound of birds singing around the church grounds. I didn't go in to the church though, I sensed they would be preparing for Sunday worship at this time.  

 

 

Back on the bike I continued down to Chipping Norton via the A3400 out of Shipston-On-Stour. Hardly any traffic so far, but as you'd expect with plenty of other kindred spirited bikers out too taking advantage of the sunshine I wasn't alone for long. While riding the B4026 to Charlbury I flipped the switch for my heated grips and occasionally dropped down my sun visor while listening to the 'Doobie Brothers' on the headset as I 'pinged off' over the river to take the B4437. I did consider stopping at Blenheim Palace but so looking forward to the ride down to Burford I continued on having more fun riding the faster sections while looking across open fields at the spectacular autumn countryside views replete with typical runs of Cotswold dry stone walls stretching out in all directions - sublime!  

Before I knew it I was now crossing the Windrush River at Bibury. Quite a few cars parked up viewing those famous cottages, so on I went toward Cirencester and along the narrow Coln river valley road to my planned visit stop at Chedworth Roman Villa site. I parked my bike near the entrance and due to Covid restrictions had a 30 minute wait to gain access. This gave me chance to grab a drink of hot tea from the café and wander around admiring the glorious view across the valley and to do some reading up on the Villa history. It seems the whole site was discovered by accident in the 19th Century by a gamekeeper digging down to rescue his ferret!

What a find, dated around the 2nd to 4th Century there are the remains of a summer house and spa baths with underground heating. Many of the floors have some amazing tiled mosaic patterns that must have taken an age to lay. The geometric patterned designs almost 2000 years old were preserved in relatively good condition but sadly, some sections of the mosaic had been lost over time and maybe the colours had faded a little too, but we can clearly see the skill, craftsmanship and attention to detail.  

 

 

 

The remains of the old courtyard could still be seen, and the small Victorian built museum displays a few of the smaller artefacts including cooking utensils and other everyday items. What a great place to spend an hour or so before returning to my bike and riding off along the rest of the valley. Well worth the slight diversion just off the old Fosse Way leading to the Roman governing seat of Cirencester.

 

Later in the afternoon I skirted around Cheltenham past Sudeley Castle down the big hill revealing a clear view of the Malvern Hills between the trees. I then picked a good route through to Winchcombe with a short break stop at the GWR (Gloucestershire, Warwickshire Railway) station before riding on through Kineton, Bredon and Ashchurch before riding up and over the Malverns and through the now ripening apple orchard Herefordshire countryside onto Bromyard and Great Witley arriving home just in time to prepare our evening meal. A very pleasant day out, and so glad I have removed the top box now. Given the chance of quieter roads the Cotswolds are perfect for spending a good day ambling along taking in its unique sights and scenery.

For todays route I chose to load the GPX file onto my Navigator and the Connected Phone app too combined with the TFT on screen instructions side by side simultaneously as a comparison. For most of the ride the app was very good at matching the Navigator like for like with only one or two minor differences and I did find myself taking more notice of the on screen instructions popping up on the TFT rather than the Navigator since I'm already looking at my speedo reading at the same time. The route was plotted using the very good on-line 'My-Route-App' followed by finer refinement in Garmin Basecamp before transferring to both the Navigator and to my phone the night before.

 

Time to shed a few pounds

My GS fitted with the Vario expandable Top-Box (unexpanded)

While heading out on my last few local rides I made the decision to unclip the top box from my GS. I have had little to complain about over the last eight years with one fitted to my bike and the convenience is useful on long tours but the additional weight even when empty high up at the rear made me wonder if this weight was at the detriment of the bikes handling and tyre wear. The BMW GS Vario top-box complements the panniers well and provides padded support for a pillion passenger I never ride with. It seemed pointless to keep it fitted all of the time though. I've never really understood why some people consider it essential to use a top box as helmet storage while at a destination either, is it really worth turning a bike into a car for the sake of a hands-free walk to the cafe when you can simply cable lock the helmet to the bike or take it with you? The GS Vario is aesthetically pleasing when fitted unlike some of the nasty looking top boxes I see fitted to other bikes but I do think any top box spoils the lines of a bike somewhat. After a few trial runs to discover with such a revelation how lighter better handling the bike is around some 'twisties' without it, I decided to research soft luggage options for taking the essential stuff I need on a day ride to include:

• Puncture repair kit (Stopngo) with Compressor or CO2 cartridges.
• Disc lock/s
• Spare gloves
• Visor clean
• Chillys drinks bottle (0.5L)
• Face Masks and Hand Sanitiser (Covid required)
• Food/Snack
• Possible Camera
• Multi-Tool

At first I was convinced I needed the official BMW tailpack bag similar to a tank bag that straps onto the passenger seat. Oddly though this doesn't fit on the rear rack of the GS and being square in shape the dimensions suggest it doesn't quite fit my (wonderful) chillys drink bottle length ways either. SW-Motech do some great looking tail packs, some ready to fit to a tail rack but in the end I went for a Universal (US) dry pack from the British company Kriega. 

I'm really impressed with the quality of the Kriega the ability to connect them to other Kriega bags and the washable removable liner is a useful feature. Most of the above listed I can fit into the bag and very useful for items I need quick access to. I managed to fit the Multi-Tool and Disc lock under the passenger seat in the end so I don't need to repeatedly pack those and have the Wunderlich GS under rack bag on order to keep the puncture repair kit permanently attached to the bike for the same reason. 

The tailpack comes with straps to mount to the bike frame or rack and lightweight aluminium hooks to attach to the strap loops with additional clips to tie off the excess strap. The bag is a roll-top design with an additional waterproof zipper pocket on top, useful for my visor clean, spare ear plugs, face mask and hand santiser and perhaps even a few notes/coins for a toll bridge crossing too.  

 

 

Looking forward for a ride out this weekend into the Cotwolds to try it out now we have both shed a few pounds at last 😉 👍