Left behind..

I seem to have forgotten to post this photo up on the Pasty Tour post. Nice Sunset over the sea when we were camped on The Lizard.

Also an opportunity to tag on the news that we may be investing in some totally un-necessary and frivellous equipment - a Kodak PlaySport - ruggedised, waterproof camcorder. The plan being that: when we're in Morocco wishing we'd saved our money for more nights in an air-conditioned hotel room, at least we can film a time-lapse of us melting! If all goes to plan, expect some highly embarrassing video blogs to start appearing in this space before the year is out!

Back on the bike kit front - my chain is feeling great and if the weather plays ball I should get the Scottoiler on tomorrow. Offroad brake and gear levers have been pencilled into the list of things to buy after last weekends battering. (Why just get your knee down when you can go the whole hog and spin around a 180 degrees in the mud instead!?)

Another wise investment of money has also seen us purchase tickets to next Junes Horizons Unlimited gathering, hopefully to gather a whole load of valuable info and meet fellow travellers too.

Paulas gear lever undergoes some cosmetic surgery, while I admire the complete lack of visible tread on my front tyre.

Wild wiltshire

Hey, I know its been a while since I've posted but I needed to find something to blog as Mark has had much more going on equipment wise and he gets all day behind a PC monitor to boot :)

with that out the way I have to first say thanks to Melvin and Martin who we met up with at the weekend for a play on the wiltshire byways, after meeting them on Adventure bike rider forum and decided to meet as we all lived so close.
 Melvin showed me how to drop my bike in style ;) I then did it several time on various serfaces, what uterly fantastic fun, I even stood up like a pro (til I offed that is ) only one slight damaged bit to confess to, bent my gear leaver but was bent back in no time to a more suitable position. The bema stood up to it no worries....could get addictive, may need a little scrambler ;) LOL A few photos of the day.........How coool!

Chain grief

Bought a replacement chain this week, after getting a siezed link in my old chain that appeared immune to all efforts to free it. Fitted it yesterday with help/tool lend from Wheelers in Shaw - angle grinder, wire new chain through, link, rivet and adjust. Sorted.

Co-incidentally I managed to grab a used Scottoiler off eBay for £20 this week too! Just needed a trip to Stevens in Trowbridge to buy a vacuum line t-piece for £3 and all ready to fit that too at some point. Happy days.

Off out on a blat today, so be nice to spend some time on the bike not just fixing it and commuting!

Numb Arse Solutions..

Looking at seat padding today, after our rear end issues over the Cornwall tour. With Airhawks just looking too expensive for what they are, I did some more web trawling again and figured on two options to try out..

First off is the tried and tested, old school solution.. sheepskin! haha I've ordered a pad from Lambland and I'm hoping the comfort and benefits outway the joke magnet effect it will carry along with it. We will see..

The other option in the running was the Putnams Inflatable Stadium Seat, working on a similar concept to an Airhawk. Sold by a company for people with limited mobility for about £10, it looks like a bargain, gets a few good reviews on bike forums, but has a few bad reviews on Amazon, so I went for the sheepskin instead. This also has the dubious advantage of doubling as a pillow too, but with the amount of baked beans we consumed on the tour, I think I'll give that feature a miss!

If all else fails, then I might have to DIY something from the works bubble wrap/cushion machine, possibly in combination with the sheepskin. :)

iPROMICE....

...To blog here tomorrow as it's turning into the mcoo show ;) had a broken pc though....all better now and on the case! x

Pasty Tour Pics

Sunset over Dartmoor and our sheltered camp for the night. The cheapest night, wild camping. Bit close to the road, but also close to an old pub, which we just happened to visit after successfully navigating around some rutting heffers. A short walk from a cool rocky Tor too, all in all a great first night stop off after riding to the south coast and along, via the Torpoint and Fowey ferry crossings.

View from the tent pitched at Henrys Campsite, Lizard. It was quiant, sheltered and close to the pub, but the shine soon faded when they charged us £18 a night, with all facilities costing extra on top! 20p for a minute of shower or 50p for charging a phone?! Some nice walks from this campsite, but we were glad to move on.

Two cheesey "we were there" shots, the first at St Michaels mount, where we irritated the beach guard guy to park our bikes on the slipway, and the second at Lands End.. or just outside, as we couldn't be arsed to pay the £1 bike tax for riding to the end of the road.

Quick stop at Bideford on the way home, for one last sausage and chips take away and to ease the numb arse cheeks. Next stop was Lynmouth for an ice cream while savouring the aroma of burning car brakes descending the steep gorge side roads. Then on into Somerset and across Exmoor for some more wild sheep and pony dodging.

.. finally a panoramic effort taken on Exmoor, overlooking the north coast of Somerset. Pretty much the final stop on the 170 mile blat home, with the exception of a self-congratulatory stop at the local Indian take away for a well deserved "welcome home" curry..

PANNIERS!!!

Sods Law, one of lifes annoying realities. 50 days after I ordered my pannier rack from Touratech they finally arrive, 3 days after the start of the Pasty tour! DOH!!

Anyway, still very exciting coming home to a large box with Touratech stickers on!

So after waiting for the apparently typical delivery delay, I reach the next Touratech obstacle in my path to touring nirvana - German instructions.

Thankfully, after a foolhardy 10 minutes of macho "I don't need no instructions" fumbling, I did a bit more trawling the web and find this site..

http://humphrey.myzen.co.uk/panniers.htm

Sorted. How to fit Touratech racks to a Transalp 650, in English. Beautiful. It also has a link to the German instructions in PDF, which can be copy and pasted into Google transalation for a rough idea of what they're going on about.

Am I impressed with the final result? Yes. Seems sturdy enough and I like how the top is flush with the seat and the rear also.

Am I impressed with the overall Touratech experience? No, not really. The guys at the UK office seem chipper enough, but the delay, lack of English instructions and not even a complimentary sticker!? Slack.

Only problem is: I now want to use them for a trip, but have all my holiday for the next 12 months saved up for the Morocco tour!! I feel some heavily over-equipped weekend trips and weekly shopping trips ahead!!