Weathers kinda nice - time to ride!

Weather was nice this morning, sunny yet cool. Dragged my GSA out for its first run since my elbow surgery in June. Was lovely to get out for about two hours on varied local routes including the road from Corhampton to Winchester via Morestead, then a bit of A31 before joining the A272 up over Mattingley bowl, then the A32 at Loomies (which looked busy) down to Wickham/Titchfield and home.

Gotta drop the oil and filter later, replace the spark plugs plus an FD fluid change and spline lube, brake pad check and piston clean and a diagnostic scan/service lamp reset. The puddle forming under the bike is just condensation dripping from the flapper valve as she warms up.

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I was surprised to see quite a bit of new growth grass. One benefit of the area I went through was that the burnt areas had hardly any trees in it, so it wasn't as obvious as some fire damaged places I've ridden through.
it's amazing how quickly the grasses recover. i was over the east/south side of dava 2 weeks ago, as you say not too many trees damaged but bad enough.
 
Had a grand day out with nice temp all day 24C, this Sunday past.
I was with one of the Inverness IAM lads supporting the Police Scotland Highland and Island Rider Refinement course. (c140 miles)
Meant we had a 1:2 ratio which makes the coaching so much easier.
I am sure those who attended had a fine day out and from feedback, all took something away that will help make them safer riders.
Cracking roads and good craic throughout, but with a serious message.
Here we are at halfway point, Poolewe, for our lunch stop.

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Evening ride to check that my recently sorted luggage doesn't come flying off of my home made mounting system . . .
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SteveT

:cool:
 
D2D and my lads are helping as marshalls . . .
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I was down as a marshall as well, but a broken foot put paid to that idea.

SteveT

:dragon
 
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After breakfast at a regular haunt, namely Johnny Baghdad’s it was onward to Tan Hill for a brew then back via The Kidstones and another brew in Kettlewell. Lovely, steady day with two of us on new toys us bikes.
 
I’ve missed the weather window for a couple of sunny days out with an overnight stay - was hoping for Skye.

So - today was the day for just a wee ride in the dry. Turned into 400 miles. And a 12 hour day.

Bright enough, but down to 1 degree on the road via Loch Earn to Tyndrum for my second brekky.

Thank you hot vest.

Onward through Fort Bill (fuel), Laggan, by-passing Aviemore, Dufftown, Huntly (Asda Cafe & fuel), enjoyed the A97 (now one of my favourite roads) down to Dinnet, Glen Shee, Blairgowrie, Perth bit of M90 (ouch), Clackmannan Bridge and home.

Lots of quiet roads. Picking off overtakes was fun all day long.

The dash says 400 miles, 56 mpg and 43 mph. GPS says something else.

Trusty steed is still purring along.

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Day 1 of 3 went well. Pretty nippy in the morning. Thank goodness for Keis vest and hot grips. Sun came out at Perth. Pit stop in Braemar. Low cloud over top of Glen Shee ski slope. Then sun really came out. Roads were brill. Very quiet. Any traffic disposed of quickly. Quite a lot of tourists about. I’ll be fighting for dinner with a bus load 😂


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Day 2 - Woke up in Gairloch to Smirr. Not real rain, but wet. The road to Applecross was damp. The Inn wasn’t serving coffee yet, but a lad was opening his caravan coffee shop. £4 for a paper cup of coffee! Good business.

Then up and over the pass. Thankfully quiet. The stretch of new tarmac is really nice.

Things dried out all the way to Skye so I enjoyed the romp up to Portree. Unfortunately things got damp again at the top of Skye for a while. Uig is a real dead end, but the positive is the great ride from Uig to Broadford. That was fun.

I noticed a lot of foreign tourists in Skye. Several camper vans, some real Rufty Tufty ones.

A Co-op Carry Out eased the pain of hotel dining. Only 2 hotels popped up on Booking.Dot.Com, bed looks ok.

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Day 3 - Woke up to a cool but sunny Broadford. Started OK, but came unstuck when I stopped to take a picture of the Skye bridge. I had a Non-Start situation. Lots of clicks and a fading dashboard, but No-Go.
Not good when I'm 200 miles from home.

I was well placed beside the Kyle of Lochalsh lifeboat shed, so very easy to find.

Decided to call my never used StartRescue and expected to be riding home in a van. I must say the StartRescue worked well.

Where am I?
Where do I want to go?
What vehicle am I on?
What do you think is wrong?


Received a couple of prompt messages to say that a local "recovery operator" would be with me within an hour. And he was.

Blow me, the bike spluttered into life. Multi meter out. He reckoned it had warmed up.

He led me to his premises a few hundred yards away and made more checks with a big AA black box and told me the battery is in OK state (not bad for 10 years).
Suggested bad / dirty connections may be the problem.

With the bike running, with an almost full tank, I decided to head for home in one big stint. Which worked.

Afraid to risk a stop/start, I reached home in 4.1/2 hours and 202 miles. With 2 miles of range left on dash.

Unloaded bike and risked a visit to my nearby Tesco pump and filled up with E5 for hibernation as usual.

Squeezed 18.37L into an 18L tank.

Time to chill after enjoying 700 miles of mostly super roads.

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