Mr K
Registered user
It was the long hot Summer of 1981.
The beautiful, young Lady Di' was to marry the... er...Prince Charles.
I was a Trainee Technician Apprentice for British Telecom and may mate Andy Fuller was an Apprentice Maintenance Plumber for British Steel.
It was a year since we'd started work, so I was able to afford a Z200 Kawasaki and Andy a CB125 Honda.
We both held provisional licenses.
Our machines were meticulously prepared with the very best equoipment and accessories and we set off.
First evening we reached Ripon.
Next day we headed south towards Chepstow.
We stopped quite often, as Andy's bike had developed a weeping fork seal .... on the side of the disc brake
We wrapped a cloth around it and stopped regulary to wring it out...
Eventually we arrived in Chepstow and camped at the racecourse.
We continued south over the Severn Bridge getting bollocked for being on "L" plates on a motorway....
...and after a long, hot day reached our goal...along with everyone else...
We camped nearby.
I think we bought some cider and lay on the grass, drinking it... check-out the weather...
The following day we began to retrace our route and stopped at Chepstow again and the following night stopped at a site near Weshpool where my parents and sister were caravanning...
Our Lab' "Victor" seemed pleased to see us:
My sister, now a tender 40 Summers young will not be pleased to see this:
...and a gratuitous Austin Maxi shot featuring Andy's head and foot.
I can't remeber if we had another stop on the way home or just rode all the way in one go - There's no more pictures, which I've scanned from "Instamatic" sized slides, hence the black either side.....
So that was it: My very first tour.
The beautiful, young Lady Di' was to marry the... er...Prince Charles.
I was a Trainee Technician Apprentice for British Telecom and may mate Andy Fuller was an Apprentice Maintenance Plumber for British Steel.
It was a year since we'd started work, so I was able to afford a Z200 Kawasaki and Andy a CB125 Honda.
We both held provisional licenses.
Our machines were meticulously prepared with the very best equoipment and accessories and we set off.
First evening we reached Ripon.
Next day we headed south towards Chepstow.
We stopped quite often, as Andy's bike had developed a weeping fork seal .... on the side of the disc brake
We wrapped a cloth around it and stopped regulary to wring it out...
Eventually we arrived in Chepstow and camped at the racecourse.
We continued south over the Severn Bridge getting bollocked for being on "L" plates on a motorway....
...and after a long, hot day reached our goal...along with everyone else...
We camped nearby.
I think we bought some cider and lay on the grass, drinking it... check-out the weather...
The following day we began to retrace our route and stopped at Chepstow again and the following night stopped at a site near Weshpool where my parents and sister were caravanning...
Our Lab' "Victor" seemed pleased to see us:
My sister, now a tender 40 Summers young will not be pleased to see this:
...and a gratuitous Austin Maxi shot featuring Andy's head and foot.
I can't remeber if we had another stop on the way home or just rode all the way in one go - There's no more pictures, which I've scanned from "Instamatic" sized slides, hence the black either side.....
So that was it: My very first tour.
Particularly liked the Vulcans
