On the Road Again!

The first ride out of the month took me to H's Café at Kent Motorcycles on th A2 near Canterbury. I was undecided where to go until I reached the Kent Cricket ground in Canterbury. Either Robinson's Foundry or H's. In the end H's was chosen. There were very few bikes outside on a chilly blustery day. After a coffee inside I decided to retrace my steps almost and fill up at the Murco in Stelling Minnis.  I forgot to kick off My Ride and so only have the outward journey mapped. In the end after Elham Valley I decided to head home as it began to sprinkle with rain. By Lyminge it had stopped but the road surface in places retained what water had come down and it was a little slippery. So altogether another 40 miles or so chalked up.

The best laid plans of mice and men.... or more accurately,   " The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men,  Gang aft agley" Go wrong! Robert Burns wrote this about a mouse.  But of course it does apply to us.  The plan to get two of the waypoints from the Ride the World challenge ticked off on the way to and from the Ride to the Wall bollixed due to the petrol crisis that affected southern England and to some extent still does! My plan to get the two in Kent was similarly cocked up.  But never fear. Sunday the 17th is Meldrews Sunday and an opportunity to get on the road and waste some of the earth's valuable fossil fuel supply for my own selfish gain calls to me.  We haven't decided where to meet for breakfast yet but maybe somewhere along my chosen route would be good.  Gibson's? H's? See how that goes.

The plan was to meet Cal and Trevor from the Meldrews at H's. Suzi's battery was flat again and even with the dbPower unit connected there wasn't enough power to start other than with the kickstart. I fitted the old Givi Topbox so that I could take the dbPower with me, just in case, and a hat! Once going it was an easy enough ride to H's taking the A20 to Folkestone and then on the Canterbury road. Tickover still a problem with the throttle rolled off. It drops below a 1000rpm and dies. Luckily the electric start was working. Cal is thinking of trading his F800 in for a Honda Forza scooter. It looks a decent bit of kit with a 350 engine. He says on a test ride it rides pretty well. It does look nice. Kent Motorcycles has two Gold Wings in stock as well. A bit too much for me, weight and price. A tad over £31000!!! I decided to come back via Dover and the A2 and A20/M20 route. Avoiding country lanes and possible gravel and mud strewn surfaces. Luckily Suzi started up but...

After what has been a few weeks that could be described as "summer" the weather has turned into distinctly early spring weather. Low temperatures and rain.  The rain heavy at times and also with the odd hailstorm mixed in. The Greta supporters claim it's "global warming". The other side say "it is bollocks".  As I have no degrees in climatology I have no idea. Then again Greta also has no degree either. So today I wore the FT jacket over a t-shirt. A wool v-neck jumper went in the left pannier with a Triumph waterproof jacket and my Held overtrousers. It was another test day for my new Hood K7 jeans. They have been worn once before. They are quite tight and I am hoping they will "give" the more they are worn. Pepé started first push of the button. Not bad since it has only been used on the road once since November. That was last week when I had my MoT.  It was case of getting used to new tighter jeans. I guess inches have got smaller over the...

Another nice summer morning. I pulled Pepé out of the garage and tried to set the Yamaha My Ride app working. Since last time it lost my login details and I couldn't be bothered to mess about. H's cafe is near Lydden on the A2 between Canterbury and Dover. H's is alongside the Kent Motorcycles Honda dealership. Out back is a former Little Chef restaurant that Kent use a a rider training centre.  I was going to meet fellow Meldrews MCC member Cal there. And of course any others that made it. Today none did. My outward journey was up over Sandling onto the A20 where I was left for dead by Marc Marquez and his brother, or what passed for them in this part of Kent. The A20 between the turning by the High Speed Rail link and the M20 J11 as far as the J12 junction is a "bikers road". It can be fun. Some guys ride like they are the aforementioned MM93. I split off as the first junction through Postling, Lyminge and Elham Valley. All very relaxed and groups of bikes comin...