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Cardiff, or at least my part of it, experienced a power cut at about five o clock this morning. I knew it was five because the phone was bleating that it couldn't communicate with its base station. I'd been thinking about a bike ride so it was a good kick in the arse to get me motivated. Had me some toast and a brew and by 0620 I was on my way. Didn't bother with warm gear because I was sweating like a good un just getting ready. Piss break somewhere between Newtown and Bala. Misty over the hills. Some spectacular views with nowhere to stop! On to Bala Then on to Trawsfynydd stopping briefly on the dam that displaced a whole community to provide water for Liverpool. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capel_Celyn The graffiti translates to, "We will never yield." On to Trawsfynydd where the decomissioned nuclear power station is a stark reminder that radioactivity takes lifetimes to break down. The dam on the mountainside above the power station is the upper reservoir of Stwlan hydro electric scheme. I can remember it being built. ? He caught a fish, no idea what though. The metropolis of Trawsfynydd Barmouth being enveloped by sea mist. Clywedog with some mist still hanging about. Temperatures varied between 8degC to 23degC. From fresh to Betty Swollocks Here's the route. I only had Bala and the Trawsfynydd road in mind so the rest sort of fitted in. Didn't bother with food, but had water with me. Nice to get out but fucked by the time I got home.

Nope. Didn't tell him either. One of the reasons im so worn out is that since June the boss and I have been working flat out to simply try and keep the company afloat and survive into next year. If the company goes under then i'll have to find another job, at 49 with the physical health problems I have and being a foreigner ( and english with the Brexit bollox currently going on) my CV is not particularly attractive and jobs are scarce with the economie screwed by covid. The work load has now eased as we have almost no clients now so it's just putting the boats to bed for the winter which I can do at my own pace then probably furlough till december I expect. I'll just have to deal with it untill either it gets better or it breaks completely, when it will be boyonf my control anyway.

Shame as I loved my old Tenere, shown here at the top of Mount Jafferau.

Would you believe that the Dealer is closed on Saturdays?

Well.....it's cat amongst pigeons time. Another dealer came back with a good price for the Strom.......not as good as Rafa's......but not too far off it. And it ain't against a fucking Beemer! I've said that I'll go and see him Saturday morning in Granada.

I can’t even see any movement, perhaps I’m so used to my Himalayan shaking around ??. If you’re really worried mate take some fucking man-up pills. Worked wonders for me. ??

I know the dealer (Rafa) very well......bought from him before. He's a very proactive workaholic and always wants to do business........that's a fucking rarity here. He should be on display in a museum actually. Anyway......he gave me an incredible price on the Strom (€3.5K which was what I paid for it 15 months ago from another dealer) as he knows the standard of my bikes. And knowing Rafa he's probably got another punter lined up for it so he'll sell it the same day at €4500. It helps that he's a Suzuki main dealer as well. Due to the post-Covid boom there's virtually no trail/adventure bikes available for under €5K now. So I'd only have to pay €1.7K to get the Beeemer......which is pretty tempting. But ultimately I couldn't do it. As ugly and bulky as the Strom is........I can trust it with my life. I couldn't with a Beemer. A quick look at 650GS forums and FB groups confirmed that. I can't go from a bike that'll last a lifetime to a bike that'll last a lunchtime!

Dark as I wanna get - I find those old towns kinda spooky and eerie....like I'm walking through someone else's home and I really shouldn't be there. Folks had it tough back then. Not just the climate either, had to be hard working up there. I did about 475 miles yesterday and will do about 400 today. Headed back home on Friday and that'll be about 400 as well. So not a big, long trip. Just wanted to get out one last time for the season and ride a few of my favorite roads before packing it all away for the winter.

well, next session is 4th october and then not again till march next year as the off road bits will get very slippy with the winter weather but more to the point the "chasseurs" will be out in the woods, pissed as usual and shooting rifles at anything that moves, (deer, boar, dogs, dog walkers, joggers, motorcyc;lists or each other, they ain't picky...) I am wondering if I should try and swap to an "on road" riding and handling course a sbeing possibly less pysically demanding.

Made into my swanky hotel about 12 hours after I left home today. A nice day's ride. Missed dinner tonight as no delivery of anything out here and I don't wanna get on the bike to find something. Will eat tomorrow. Sorry @Pedro, no food pics today. Tomorrow will be Gateway, Telluride and Grand Junction, followed by Moab on Friday.

Cruised outta Silverton and down to Durango as fast as I could. It was getting dark and cold out....

Awhile later , I came upon an crash that had just happened. Dunno what happened but one adult was trapped in the side by side, one got out and three kids all had head trauma and bloody heads. No helmets on any of them. It looked like it fell from above or rolled a few times - not sure which. Side by side was fucked up! I raced down the hill as fast as I could and luckily found a Sheriff's Deputy and sent him up the hill to help. Hope they're doing okay....

What's left of last year's avalanche - tree debris....

Enough with old houses, time to get down the hill and to a hotel....

One even had an indoor shitter - no plumbing, but at least you didn't have to go outside. Bet that smelled nice...

Great views from home in the Summer. Not so much in the winter. The mine was very close to home....

Some of the homes had multiple rooms - fancy!

Rough living back in the day.....

Down to the old mining town of Animas Forks - pretty much nothing there but some old buildings at this point....

Cool old miner's shack with it's own waterfall...

I think it's a case of we've got to listen to our body and revise our expectations accordingly.

Up and outta the house at 0630 today to start the ride as today was gonna be along one. Shame it was 37F / 2-1/2C at 6;30. Freakin' freezin' when you're doing 85 mph on the highway for the first 3 hours. I didn';t take a single pic as it was too cold to stop. But once I got near Sapinero, CO, it warmed up a bit. This part of Colorado looks a bit different from my area...

If a decent low mileage Tenere turned up then I'd be very interested in one Ray. But you know what it's like here......usually high miles and cheaping out on maintenance.

Heat can make the road surface rise and fall.

I saw a gold nugget on the ground in one of those pics!

Superb Eric.......and there's even some Dark Motorcycling in there too! Those mining ruins look pretty unusual too. What sort of mileage are you going to be doing in total?

Up to Engineer's Pass and back, passed some old mining ruins....

I got in about 40 miles of dirt today, some of it very rough...

...

Just me and a couple of tossers on cruisers...

Pretty empty today - no caravans, etc clogging up the roads....

One of the better roads in Colorado - if you're not afraid of heights.....

Turned south at Montrose and was through Ouray and onto the Million Dollar Highway...

Still, makes for a nice drive. This has to be the only water in this half of the state, the rest is pretty much desert.....

There used to be three towns located where the water is now. The dam that was built in the 1920's submerged the towns....

Hang in there Bob, you're a legend!

Same here! I'll just have to try harder. Whenever I do a trip over a few days the first couple are the worst. Eases up afterwards.

Not when it's moving. I dropped it today trying to park on what I thought was level enough ground. When I went to move it to a better spot the back end span round and deposited me on the ground. Bike was sat at about 45 degrees so easy enough to right it. Fortunately no damage to me or the bike. But don't tell anybody! ?

Just a quick summary. Left shoulder - fucked Right shoulder - fucked Lower back - fucked Neck/nape - fucked Knees - fucked Right ankle - fucked Left calf - fucked Right calf - fucked Eyes - fucked Teeth - fucked Left kidney - fucked Stomach - fucked Blood pressure - fucked Hearing - fucked It might have been easier to list the bits that aren't fucked.

Fine spanish wines, something I’m not familiar with. This is not an admission of me organising anything in Spain

And cake. A day out is nothing without very fattening cake. ?

This was the BMW single, not sure what year it was?

That is a priceless Steinway! “Not anymore” gets a giggle out of me everytime

I thought that as well! He's not Doctor Clouseau is he?

Well I have to see a consultant soon (been postponed for 6 months due to Covid) about another op on my leg to try and cure the phantom limb pain . If I have the op it will be my 11th but unless he truly convinces me that they can get it right I may not bother. It will mean another 6 months on crutches and I feel like I'm losing riding time day by day as it is ?