The M&P Marvellous Pasty Tour

We got back safely from our tour of Cornwall on saturday after 10 days of amazing riding, exploring and eating enough pasties to sink a Cornish trawler. It was an great tour, with near prefect weather, stunning scenery, no major problems and even within budget!!

View Larger Map

This is the route we took in the end, mostly made up as we went along, thanks to my iPhone charger failing before we even left. Bloody technology rubbish. So with sat-nav binned, it was old fashioned navigation all the way: sign posts, AA atlas, Sun directions (yes it was out, pretty much all the way round) and the odd local questioned for specific locations. Much more fun!

Most of the tour from a riding perspective was stunning, with particular highlights through the B-roads of Somerset, Dartmoor, the south coast roads of Cornwall and large amounts of the A39 back, including the rollercoaster roads of Lynmouth gorge and Porlock Hill. Fuel efficiency was good, especially from the Yellow Peril, with its single cylinder apparently sipping reservedly away at its petrol and being seemingly about 25-30% better than the T'Alp - although I do box at a heavier weight to be fair!

Seat comfort seemed to be the main issue with the bikes over the trip, with numb arse a common ailment. So Airhawk style padding is added to the wish list. P also had issues with the high winds on some of the exposed roads, catching the tent and dry bag luggage, so maybe some downsizing is in order when we look for a new tent to take to Morocco.

Comms worked okay, was good to have and used to good effect a lot, but the in helmet speakers did irritate our ears with the slight extra pressure. Also at our greatest time of need, when we got separated down the A303, it failed as soon as we were out of line-of-sight. We never did bother recharging them and by the time we rode home were glad of the lack of comms and hurting ears.

In total we clocked up..

590 miles

2 ferry crossings

2-3 wrong turns

zero breakdowns/punctures - hoorah!

zero accidents - despite several terrible elderly car drivers (mostly along the A39)

at least 10 yummy pasties - worst was definitely Newlyn Bakery

.. and a generous amount of Cornish Rattler and assorted ales..

.. good times.

Melksham 2 Marrakesh

Things are also progressing with the plans for our trek to Morocco next year too. Both of us have wrangled 5 weeks off work as paid holiday for around this time next year and we'll soon be booking ferries and will have passed the point of no return!

We've also decided to try and raise some money while we're at it. I figure that even if we raise £50 it'll be worth it anyway. We chose the MS Society..

.. because my mum was diagnosed with it a couple of year ago and it seems that some treatments may soon have profound effects in countering this debilitating disease.

Our fund-raising page is still a work in progress, but is here ..

http://beatms.mssociety.org.uk/netcommunity/Melksham2Marrakesh

Map of our route. We're hoping to clip Belgium on the way into France, then skirt the Alps down the East side of France. Cross the Pyrenees through Andorra, down Eastern and Southern Spain, cross through Gibraltar to Morocco. Then on the way back up, cross into Portugal and Western Spain before getting a nice relaxing (and well deserved) ferry back from Santander in the North of Spain.

That's a round trip of over 5000 miles!?! It'll be quite an adventure for two rookies, but nothing like diving it at the deep end, and all that..

Priorities will be safety, safety, safety and staying fit and healthy I think. Hopefully the rest will all fall into place..

Let the Touring begin..

The time has come around already to start our pasty tour of Cornwall! With an evening of manic sorting and packing to do tonight, we should be heading out down to the coast tomorrow morning and then onwards to our first night wild camping in Dartmoor. Looks like it will be glorious weather for it, even if the long range forecast makes it look like we'll be catching a ferry home..

Purchased a couple more bits and pieces to make life easier, but still no Touratech frames for my panniers or Givi rack for P's top box, so it's dry sacks and bungee cords all the way this time.

I think our main worry is heavy and constant rain. Turns out Paulas new boots, that Frank Thomas is proud enough of to stick an "Aqua" label on, leak like a sieve. :( So some last minute Shoe Goo and NikWax repairs are underway as we speak. I can confirm that my HG Tuareg jacket is not waterproof also (its not meant to be). Got caught in a heavy downpour and actually it repelled most of it pretty good, except for the two front pockets that seem to just have water blown into them through the zip (which has a poxy little flap over). We did however grab a Hein Gericke All Seasons jacket for £30 too, which was due for P, but actually fits me better. It's untested so far, so if I'm lucky that might turn out to still be waterproof.

List of bits and bobs bought:

Waterproofing for boots

Conductive String (so I can use my iPhone with gloves on)

Para Cord - for washing lines and setting snares to catch the beast of Dartmoor

80L dry sacks to keep stuff dry

12V (non-BMW) socket for the Beemer

Reduced Vango pillows that pack down small and have a fleece outer. Luxury!!

New Gear!!

Got some more kit today, was like Christmas! A jacket and boots from our favourite kit-on-a-shoestring supplier - eBay. Won myself a Hein Gericke Tuareg jacket for £70, thankfully HG sizes aren't too variable and fits great, thanks to a visit to the HG Bristol a couple of weeks ago to check out sizes. Is pretty much brand new, just one broken zip pull thingy, which is no problem at all. Well pleased..

Paula finally received her Frank Thomas bovver boots too, which also look near new, really well made and fit great. Bargain for £17! Perfect for riding, lookin 'ard and kicking my arse no doubt!

We also won a bargain Hein Gericke All Seasons jacket for Paula, just £33 English pounds! Just have to hold out to hope it fits alright when it appears.

Touratech have said there's been a hold up in the German factory for my racks, so much for Kraut effeciency! Probably not actually, but will be irritating anyway if they don't show before the Pasty tour.

Westbury

Finally got to take the bikes out for some fun at the weekend, rather than just maintaining, cleaning and commuting for a change!   Headed up Westbury with the camera and now actually have some pics of us on the bikes, complete with catalogue poses and shades!

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Headed up onto the edge of Salisbury plain for some light off-road practice, a couple of miles of gravel roads and a neat little maze of forest tracks..  Both bikes bottomed out (or clattered tree stumps!), but no spills, punctures or breakages, so was all good.

Improvised camera tripod, Ray Mears style.

As for the farkling and kit progression goes, P is waiting on some new Frank Thomas boots - fingers crossed they fit this time..  I'm still waiting on the Touratech frames - at the end of their 7-10 working day delivery period now, so starting to fear of long delays..  just hope they arrive by Cornwall.  

Got some Goop, bar ends and Oxford 1.5m security cables on the way from M and P (surely we should get a discount for advertising them with our blog name?!).  

Just looking forwards to Cornwall now.  Hoping the weather is getting all the rain out of its system in August, ready for a sunny September..

Wrinklies and Racks..

We popped to Calne Bike meet weekend before last and had a great day drinking cider and wandering the streets full of bikes and stalls.  From old Enfields with leather panniers, to oddball 6 cylinders and thumping chops, it was a good little show.  Had a fantastically interesting chat with Colin and Dee Masters (Wrinklies wround the world), with their tales of Afghanistan, bike mod advice, views on panniers, how good Hein Gericke kit is and how overpriced BMW kit is!  :o)   Didn't realise they were fellow locals until we checked HU website later.  We hope to meet them again someday, maybe at the autumn HU Travellers Meeting in october...

Secondly, I celebrated my continued low APR on my credit card with some Touratech racks at the weekend!  So finally I will get to fit my bargain ZEGA's to the bike!  With the pasty tour of cornwall just a few weeks away now, I am sure they will be put to good use soon.  

What else is on the shopping list?  Well pretty much everything really.  From necessities to pure farkling extravagance.  Touring screens for both bikes.  Center stand for the TA.  Decent touring clothing all round.  Handlebar risers for me.  Givi top box rack for P's Beemer.  

I think the Cornwall tour will be the start of figuring out what we really need and what is just lust.

Update...

OK, the boot love has ended quickly.....wrong size and small hole in one :( BOO!....still looking for a bargain though ;)