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What if you are god itself? If your consciousness is just floating around in the emptiness of cold eternity and you’re just keeping yourself entertained with a dream? Anyone could be god, and everyone else’s reality would be be a byproduct of someone else’s dream? If I’m god, why would I create an old Citroen Berlingo to be parked right outside the door bothering me right now? Am I punishing myself?

Well that got abit tight..... that truck should have not been in there.... but i managed i tipped the load of stone where it was sat in the pic then extricated myself the way I came in

I just realised that I have been trail riding for 45 years, that means I've done 45 years of getting bikes filthy and then washing them only to get them filthy yet again ...........

Out and about with the Dear Boy. Got my walk in before the rain comes.

But I've got this as a backup

No point, I already have the pinnacle of motorcycle excellence.

Only if I win the lottery mate! The old FZ6N is going to have to see me through next year at least…………anyway, as Ogri says, “it’s not what you ride, it’s how you ride it laddie”.

This one should last me another 20 years.

Went out on the ebike this morning with a couple of the guys from the group. It was a glorious morning. We clocked just over 40kms. It has clouded over now and is slightly chillier. Forecast is for some high winds over the next few days, but no rain. We really need some rain here now. We get the occasional shower, but we've not had any appreciable rain here for well over a year now!

This is not religion, it’s philosophy

Yes, I do a bit, completely out of the question now since I split a vertebrae 18 months ago, only gotta sneeze wrong and I'm in trouble. I really do need to get out on the scoot more though, it's a capable and nippy machine.

Can’t see myself buying anything in 2024, nor really wanting to.

I can't really see me changing a bike next year. My boss really, really wants a Desert Sled so I could sell mine to him but I have absolutely no idea what I'd replace it with (if anything) .

And we have too much......several roads around here were impassable yesterday. Says turning dryer and colder here for the next week. I was thinking of going a short ride at the weekend, just to Asda. ...May not bother if it's freezing.

Managed to wash the Beta today as well first dry day since last Saturday's ride Just checking things over ready for this Saturdays ride after which it will be filthy again

I finally managed to wash the Yamaha this morning . I have repositioned the headlight bulb (I had mounted it upside down ) and isolated the side stand switch . Anything else will have to wait as I have to collect Paolo from college in a mo. This evening we are out for a meal to celebrate my niece's birthday and tomorrow we are off down to Weymouth for the weekend ( should I have waited for the weekend thread for that bit ?) .

About the same temperature here, not a cloud in the sky......I may wash the car, I think it's red under the muck..

Overcast and gloomy here......and it's getting colder in the day now!

I've got nothing planned because I still don't see anything that's a better fit for me than the CB! And if it's still with me in July then it'll be the longest ownership of any bike that I've ever had! What about you lot? I imagine @Skippy will be on the hunt soon!

Buckster hit upon a god idea why don't we post made up ride reports with pics or without obviously all from the archives of Google pictures..... it could be fun and get the traffic moving on this site

We wouldn't be in this situation if @Six30 had got the mod gig

Every year here, it's a pain having to park the scoot at the garage while the mechanic and I have a natter and mug of tea.

probably keep bmw for this year

Some people, https://www.instagram.com/reel/CzWKS8gLpq1/?igsh=MGVmM2U1NzU1OQ==

Only had my bike for 3 months, no intention of changing it. Exactly what I wanted.

The list of bikes I would like to own in the future is long....some of them are in the realm of fantasy But most far exceeds my finances........so for now the Daelim will have to do.

It's not a bad day here again 9⁰c and a few high flying clouds

Yes and the virtual pictures

Looks cracking @Saul

Not all the Home guard were comic, over 1.7 million of them by the end of WW2. Manned Anti Aircraft batteries, Coastal Batteries and Bomb disposal. 1200 killed on duty. Not all like Dads Army.

I try to rationalise things. If something doesn't directly affect me, then I try to ignore it. I see people getting worked up about things that are very unlikely to affect their daily lives. The media are very good at manufactured outrage, running stories that are designed to get various people hot under the collar and it seems to be very successful. I try to look behind the story and work out what the agenda is! A lot of these stories are just a distraction, designed to take people's attention away from something else that is generally more likely to affect their daily lives! Anyway, getting worked up about things that you have little control over isn't good for your blood pressure!

Was the name of this years TRF Christmas trail ride and someone much better than me at photoshop came up with this for the header photo The day was starting from Abergavenny, so the bike and gear went in the marmite wagon last night ready for the off at 08:00 this morning just as i was gong through the door i realised i hadn't put in my bike trousers so after a quick visit to the garage i was on my way. 51 bodies had signed up for the ride and then split into groups of between 7 to 9 members and given routes with varying levels of difficulty. The group names were Chick Chasers , Sleigh riders, Mincing Spies, Tree Fairies, Frank Incensed, Myrrh and Tinsel Troupe. I was assigned to Frank Incensed group who were one of the smaller groups at seven and a harder route of around 70 miles so that suited me fine. Some of the members at the meeting point, Kim was the only one to dress for the occasion she said it looked nothing like that when she got back lol This was our route there were a number of different routes and some groups had the same route but would ride in opposite directions to keep the numbers down. I like riding this area as the lanes can be difficult and there are not many gates to open and close The ride leader kept up a good steady pace throughout the ride and with no navigation mistakes so i only had a chance to take photos when someone was stuck or we were waiting for others to catch up , The first of the lanes summed up the rest of the ride they were slippery muddy and very wet in places The hold up ahead was someone having to have their bike picked up of them i was a bit slow getting the camera out i need a go pro LOL We had to negotiate a few fallen trees on route due to the recent weather And some twat of a farmer deliberately blocking the road, he had the bucket of the machine close to the tracks it was tight but we all got though. Things never look difficult in the photos The Frank Incensed group Waiting again, one of the guys was falling off regular and as the ride went on it was getting noticeably more frequent we found out he only got into trail riding a few months ago so was understandable and to be fair was doing well I had a walk back down the lane to see what was going on and here they come It was harder to walk back up to the bike than ride up This was the last photo i took and was the last lane the lad that was falling off done as he decided to head back to the vans as he was fucked and the next few lanes were quite difficult We missed out the last two lanes on the route as it had got dark when we got back to the vans the yellow weather warning arrived i had just finished loading when it hammered down. The bike is and gear is going to have to wait until tomorrow for a wash now The jackets not too bad But i think i'll need a shovel to clear the pavement after i wash the bike off Still waiting to hear how the other groups got off and i think there might be some videos of todays ride turning up later Got to say a great end of year ride i must get out more often next year i think

Pete knows no boundaries

I've been riding bikes for 21 years at the start of next month

Brilliant Fred, looked great fun

Maybe you can go for a virtual ride.

Let's be fair Bob, you could have a thread about absolutely anything on here and the ginger twat would find an excuse to post a photo of his parts ..................

The prophecies of Nostradamus to Pete getting his bits out in 4 pages! I doubt if even Nostradamus could have predicted that!

I can't she's gone to bed. But I get what you are saying, but maybe it was a big bang and the conditions for like were just there by random fluke but it's definitely not some god who made it all

one of my mates at the time his dad was the architect for the thing and the thing is still standing and all these years on it looks a real mess the weathers have taken it's toll on it it's all cracked and faded

In this case the BOAT is a Byway Open to All Traffic, It seems that Merthyr council have been sly dogs and not put one of the byways on the map and nobody knows it exists, that was until they had a sly meeting where they have proposed closing it which meant they had to put it on their page for the public to see and luckily somebody spotted it, so the plan today was to ride up to it and ride it while it's still legal which is a bit ironic because everywhere i rode to get to it isn't legal LOL. Anywho set out around 08:00 this morning, it was quite frosty and was -1.5c but with clear blue sky's and very sunny. I had around 3 miles of road riding before i got off road and after the first mile i was already thinking about turning back to put warmer gear on the heated grips were working overtime trying to keep my hands warm inside my summer enduro gloves but i stuck it out because temperature is a different story when you hit the dirt This is the mountain where i spotted that tetradactyl before LOL This was one of the legal lanes, it felt a bit exposed to the right now that everything is dying back for the winter, the bridge carries the A470, Merthyr to the right and Cardiff to the left I ride up past my parents house and onto trials of my past heading down towards the old Cefn Glas railway tunnel as i have done many times before Further on i have to cut through the forestry to avoid a deep mud hole i didn't fancy riding though it on my own and risk getting stuck, the cold has gone now and i'm feeling quite warm After the forestry it opens out to this moorland, a stretch of land I've hated riding from the age of 16 as it's riddled with ruts hidden by the long grass its quite slow going picking your way through the ruts although I've seen good riders go through here like it's tarmac Back into the forestry and its still frosty in the shade all the water from here on is frozen typical Merthyr weather I end up taking a detour due to get around fallen trees and end up having to negotiate this, something i wasn't comfortable doing on my own and as usual it doesn't look that steep in the photos but believe me it was and i'm now steaming hot and sweaty This is the last time you see my mirror There's a steeper short drop off onto the forest road and i decide to walk the bike down to be safe but i loose my footing when the front wheel drops off the short step and i end up falling down the bank taking my mirror with me when i go back up for the bike it's also taken the Radiator Shroud off where it dragged on the bank knew i should have just ridden down doh! From here there was lots more mud and fallen trees to negotiate and eventually i got onto the Byway i was looking for. The start was nice and easy so i could catch my breath and cool down heading into the sun now An nice drop down into a gully and back up. the trail goes sharp left up to the top left corner of the photo and was similar dropping down to where i am Back on some easy stuff About halfway along i get lost, there's trails going off in all directions and i end up by the Abernant railway tunnel it goes from Merthyr to Abredare and theres rumours their going to reopen it for walking and cycling This is a photo of the inside from stolen from on line, i would have loved to have got in there again its just under a mile and a half long. I went through there on a Honda 400 superdream when i was 17 years old but it's all locked up now with a thick layer of grease on the gates to deter anyone climbing over One of the fallen trees to get over there were quite a few like this on route no real problem for the mighty Beta And this would take me into Bike Park Wales mountain bike center, the fallen leaves from ere on hid lots of slippery rock which got me all hot and sweaty again A bit more road work to get my onto Heol Cymro which is a half mile steep climb covered in loose rock made worse today by the low sun flickering through the trees blinding me From here it was a gentle ride over my mountain to the petrol station for a wash before home You can clearly not see my missing rad shroud here Another good day's riding lit the fire when i got in so it's all toastie in here and i'm now sinking a few pints of Skippy piss chilling out

So, to prevent it from sliding into a discussion about Brexit, I'll carry on with the report. Woke up after a very nice nights sleep, and I'll tell you something really nice about the UK. The way houses are made, along with the way the towns and neighborhoods are spread about mean that you can really have a nice nights sleep in a very quiet location even if it's very close to a main road. It helps that traffic doesn't move too fast but it really is a contrast to what I am used to. And today I would realize something totally different between the landscape in England and all other places I was on before. Barbara had a thing to do in town and while she was away I took her bike out, her trusty Triumph Street Triple, and got it ready to go. Also gave the bikes a wipe from all the rain, and we were on. Sofia was super enthusiastic about this day, she used to ride around here a lot when she got her previous Speed Triple, we headed to the Cat and Fiddle for a morning tea. First a pose: And then heartbreak. Turns out her much loved pub went bankrupt a few years ago and it's be resurrected as a distillery, they now serve their our Gin and Whiskey, not any kind of tea or coffee. It was a little weird to be told that they don't serve any hot beverages in a pub that's next to a road. The point of it eludes me, but then again it is not a pub anymore. I did have a cold sparkling water, and we were directed to the room where we could sit, told where we could and couldn't go, and asked to log in out license plates before sitting in order to use the parking lot. A little too weird. Sofia was disappointed, but we moved on in high spirits: Then headed to Cromford, and shortly visited what might be the world's first factory and arguably the birthplace of the industrial revolution. An interesting place, a lot of the original place is gone, it was 7 stories tall, and changed the world if not only the region. We had a sandwich, instead of slaving away at a weaver. And on and on, through Bakewell Estate (I think), with a short stop to take a quaint picture And then I followed my nose and navigation through Hope Valley, where I ignored a closed road sign and much to the displeasure of a couple of Range Rover driving people came across a lovely spot, where I proceeded to have a few phone calls with people from Spain and Portugal. Somewhere we had another tea stop, and while chatting this dude that rocked up in a Super Duke came to gently offer his helmet cleaner and cloths. He was a class act and how you only have to gain from treating people well. Sofia was very happy to see some of "her" loved England reaching out to her. My joy, dealing with work, is transparent: and onto Macclesfield with another stop for looking at scenery And from here back to home is how I realized how much different England is to Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Germany, etc, I look at google maps in most of the places I have been to before and can pretty much guess what it is like before arriving, hence picking scenic paths between places. Here, I looked at the map and it all looked like an urban cluster of towns and villages, such a highly populated place would be ugly in Portugal, here you do get the people moving about but it feels like pretty countryside. It surprised me and is one of my favourite things in England. Granted I stayed out of big cities, but still it is something I appreciated. Back home we had a few very high quality cheeses that Barbara had bought for a party a few days later and were not eaten, we got to work and helped her a lot with that. Her hotpot complimented the day perfectly, and I was a happy dude after touring all over with two women following me. I liked this too: The next day we would leave.

We woke up early and bikes were packed before we sat down for breakfast, looking out of the window to Douglas bay at little past 7, it was a beautiful day. By 8:00 we were on board the ferry and waiting for it to sail off. We weren't returning back to Liverpool but instead going to Heysham this time, out of heysham we would ride through the Yorkshire Dales, have a look around and then get on a motorway to meet up with Barbara, one of Sofia's dearest friends with whom she shares a strong bond. Barbara lives east of Manchester near a small place called Wincham. The boat doing this ferry is vastly superior to the one doing the Liverpool cross, it was originally built to the US military, then sold to the company that does this and converted into a civilian ferry. Inside it's leagues above what the other one and the one from Santander is, everything is nice and well thought off, there's sofas set up like an enormous living room, a really nice way to do a ferry. Sadly I was unaware of this and we sat down in a cafeteria sort of area, only to see the living room like cafe well after it was fully taken in one of my enthusiastic ferry exploration walks. Sofia couldn't care less about nice sofas, two sea sickness pills and there she goes off to dream land, leaving me alone. Sailing away from the Island, on a beautiful sea: Boarding the ferry we got to talking to a couple of dudes riding around the UK only on dirt roads and green lanes, they were two curious people as one is a tree surgeon, we don't have that in Portugals. Trees here are chopped and killed, I would like to know what the majority of people would think about tree surgeon being a carreer. Further on leaving Heysham we ran into them again leaving a gas station: On the previous day's visit to the supermarket we were too enthusiastic and bought too much food, a pair of vacuum sealed smoked salmon filets in some sort of salsa were untouched, so the plan was to buy fresh bread and have that for lunch on the side of the road. I liked that plan, a sandwich by the motorcycle is my favourite kind of lunch. We found a baguette, and I proceeded to find a suitable place for a picnic. Now, picnics areas are something that is severely lacking in the UK compared to Portugal and France. Spain is equally lacking, what is wrong with setting up a few picnic tables and benches all over the place, in nice shady scenic locations? Sofia was not optimistic about finding such a location but I managed to do just that and a more perfect place does not exist in the UK! It's in a small place called Burton-in-Lonsdale. I enjoyed that a lot, and went for a wee sheltered from street passing people by the creek right next to where we were, as I was finishing I felt observed and sure enough there it was, a big furry cow gazing at my privacy. We don't get furry cows in Portugal, it was surprising. I enjoyed riding into the Yorkshire Dales, it's very pretty in a farming sort of way. And it's got grey sheep, I find this amazing that you have sheep that are already grey naturally, makes it easier to make grey sweaters! Hawes is a tourist attraction, Sofia tells me a lot of bikers head there as a destination when riding around this area. We stopped for a warm drink and see what it's all about. It's not a common sight to see foreign plated bikes in the UK now, at least not when we were over. I only really noticed one other foreign bike in the full trip, so what happened in Hawes is something that I as a motorcyclist (or just a citizen of a country) can't understand. I got distracted and either went away taking pictures or stayed behind talking on the phone, but Sofia went ahead to the bikes that were parked amongst a lot of others: As she was putting on her stuff a couple of guys in their 50s were pointing to her, and one came over and pointed at our plates and muttered "polish?", she replied that no, we were in fact from Portugal, and he just grunted away and proceeded to talk to his friend pointing his finger at her before walking off. Now, regardless of whether we would be from Portugal or Poland, or Russia, that not cool. I cannot understand how a motorcyclist doesn't get a smile on his face when he sees a bike that's on a trip far away from home and visiting his country, to me motorcycles are all about going places and the excitement of getting on them and riding off. @Sofiatells me that this area was one of the most important brexit supporters, I still can´t see how one motorcyclist dislikes another that is on a trip. That sort of atitude that we sometimes felt made her really sad as she was so happy to be amongst British people again after so long. Anyway, you shouldn't empower a twat, and allowing one to spoil your mood would be doing just that. We rode off, looking at the bucolic landscape, the term I used at the time was "fucking bucolic", as it really is. With the Yorkshire Dales behind us, we headed south, stopped by a little cute cafe / diner sort of place to have a sip of water and put the navigation to Barbara's place on the phone. From here, somewhere north or Burnley, we were to take a motorway or two and give the rush hour near Manchester a pass. I had heard horror stories about English motorways and congestion, and was quite enthusiastic about looking at that for myself. We were lucky with the traffic, it was sort of heavy at times but the M6 (?) didn't stop on the way we were going. Poor people in cars on the other way weren't so lucky and must have been hours stuck in there. An hour or so of that and we arrived to Barbara's, where we would spend two full days. First day would be off the bikes for the girls to spend time together, mostly visiting people, being shown around places, etc, it is a treat to spend these days off the bike sometimes, more so when the weather isn't really nice. I woke up to rain soaked bikes, so wasn't too sad to be shown around in the car that day We had a nice time looking at quaint English places, going to a proper wine shop, visiting her family, etc. As we were casually driving past Oulton Park we noticed that the place was quite busy so went in to ask, BSB was arriving and setting up, and we were waved in with a smile when Barbara smiled at the man in charge of the gate control. It was cool to have a look around, because racebikes! I cooked dinner that evening, peas in a Portuguese style with chorizo and poached eggs inside. The result was not really to my liking, the chorizo betrayed me as did the salt compared to the one at home. The ladies were very gracious and ate it with a smile. Went to bed late after talking for hours, the next day we would all go and see the Peak District.

So, boating day. We woke up early and I was quite pumped about sailing to England, I've never been in a ferry longer than the ones to Morocco. The ferry I take to Morocco takes exactly 1 hour travel time and the largest vehicles it takes are motorhomes, bikes board first and exit very quick because it's a small boat, and honestly both sides of the trip make it a quick efficient event both in Spain and Morocco. I have been dreaming of putting the GS on a container ship and taking that trip to southern America so was quite curious to see how a day on a boat feels, I was also very eager to see what the sea looks like at night. The ride to Santander took a little longer than it could have because we rode out of the mountain area we were in via smaller streets, but Santander is a pretty big city so eventually traffic got annoying and we were quickly on a little bit of motorway to make it to the port. Breakfast was had at a bakery, and I honestly feel like Spaniards overall are useless at it. The bread in most of Spain is poor, the pastry is also not worth writing home about, compared to Portugal and France it feels like they simply can't be bothered, regardless we did buy some bread to take to the boat for lunch and dinner, along with some cheese and sliced ham. We got to the ferry check in and it was starting to get hot by then, we were early and the boat wasn't even in yet so went for a little walk to buy a memory card, Santander center is a pretty nice place, wide modern avenues and a general happy vibe to it, I wouldn't mind spending a night there. We waited and waited under a shaded area, all the vehicles now starting to form a crowd. Out of all the vehicles, I didn't see a single non UK one except our bikes, that felt a little weird as I was expecting at least another few travelers. What also happened was that instead of patiently waiting under the shade a lot of bikers just roasted in the sun and proceeded to strip down most of their clothes, I've seen brits do that in Germany before and find it hilarious. In front of the row, the first ones to arrive, were a couple of Hells Angels guys on Harleys, behind them a few more or less classic motorcycles including a very pretty Ducati, and then us. Everyone looking happy after their stay in Spain. After a tedious wait, there it was: It took forever to unload too, annoyed me that all cars exited before the bikes as that was probably what would happen to us too. I have to say all that operation felt not very organized and a little chaotic, but I guess that's what happens with such a big number of vehicles. We were the first few bikes to board and that made me happy, no confusion for us and we were up in the cabin before most were even aboard. I quickly had a shower and changed to normal jeans and tshirt, and was childishly eager to explore and see us set off. Sofia was, however, a little less enthusiastic about the boat thing and wasn't at all looking forward to her motion sickness, previous trips hadn't been the smoothest, including one when a storm got so nasty that they diverted the boat to France. I assured her it was going to be fine since I had booked nice weather. I went and got a seat at the bar facing the front, happy to be on my first long water cross: Two hours into it, she's having something to eat to push down the sea sickness pills. I was convinced to take one too, just in case. @Sofia's look and mood was akin to a scared puppy. The cabin was tiny but helped the feeling of adventure. We crashed from the sea sickness pills side effects, a nice nap made me eager to get up and go outside for the end of the afternoon and sunset. The sea was indeed perfect for a smooth sailing, and it wasn't even that windy for being offshore. For lunch we had the bread from Santander, it was ok and I was able to push it down with the nice cheese we had, but wasn't keen on having dry bread for dinner too, so we had dinner in boat's restaurant. It wasn't the nicest meal, I did have a nice burrata and roasted vegetable "salad" with was very nice, but everything else was a little "meh". Not worth it of a picture, the sea remained call and I did enjoy having a cold bottle of wine casually sitting around as in a very overcharging shitty cafeteria, making the best of it. By night I had a nice walk to the outside, now a bit chilly out but satisfied my curiosity. At night the sea is ... dark, which is no surprise but I enjoyed how really dark it really is. The kind of dark that feels like you have your eyes shut, I liked it a lot. Really dark: We were making steady smooth progress: The cafe closed early and the pub / bar sort of place was too packed with very loud music and people, too busy, so we had an early night although I did go back outside for another look at the dark sea. I wonder if it looks darker in a less lighted boat more out in the middle of the sea. We both dozed off easily. The night went as well as could be expected, I was left wondering what all the fuss about sea sickness was about, Sofia very happy to have had her best cross ever. Arriving at Plymouth at 09:40 AM. It took forever to get off the boat and even more so to get off the port, after all the cars went out and because we were the first bikes to get into the boat we were also the last ones to get off. I was surprised at how hot it was outside and quickly took my jacket off and tied it to the back of the bike. One full hour after docking: someone is looking at every passport very carefully, which is ok as it's a proper border, but they had all been checked in Spain already and maybe it would be better to have more than two people doing the whole of the work. I had a long while to check out the Harley though, and what looks like a "sporty" Harley in online pictures really is massive and very very long, don't think it's for me. Between all the port stuff, in which nobody checked anything more than giving a quick glance at my passport, it took us the best part of the morning to get out and get rolling. We steadily got on the small road heading north through the Dartmoor, and stopped a little later for something to eat in a shady place by the road. A pasty was consumed, bought from a very nice lady's shop, Sofia was very happy to be well received by such a friendly person. Is it proper nosh? I liked the exuberance of black pepper, as I'm a pepper fan, but don't really understand the concept of potatoes inside dough, it's either meat and potatoes or meat in dough, both are confusing to me. However, it was a first taste of britain. Skies were blue and sunny, the plan was to ride through Dartmoor, through Exmoor, and then go spend the night near one of Sofia's dear friends in Swindon. This plan proved to be too ambitious, the time spent in the ferry killed it, and by the time we made it to the other shore it was clear Sofia wouldn't be meeting up with her friend. He was going on a trip after so we missed him, that caused some anxiety, and that mixed with my distaste for shedules on a motorbike trip did cause some friction between us on that first day. We were also planning on meeting with @boboneleg since we´d pass near Bristol, but time management wasn´t the most efficient on this first day, turns out Bob was away too, so that's not too bad. While we were contemplating what to do, somewhere near or in Simonsbath or Minehead. We did make it to the shore, and went to see the Lighthouse Keeper's Cottage at Foreland Point in Lynton, but fog was quickly setting in and kind of killed the views. It's a nice shore and a pretty area, but we should have given it a pass and be less stressed. On low spirits, we got on with the job of heading to where we were heading, so got on the A39 and went east. Ladies and gentlemen, if you just want to go somewhere don't hop on the A39 close to the end of the afternoon, I am not used to that. It's the worst case of british problem roads I've seen. Speed limits change every mile, you've got camera warning signs every time you blink, constant traffic, it's complete arrassment of surveillance and police patrol, and the pace of traffic is soul crushing. Sofia was getting a little bit of a shock compared to the UK she was used to a few years ago. We wanted to be in Wales the next day, because there was a set date for the Ferry to the Isle of Man, so that meant getting to near Wales that day, and in a way it was good that we got that road and traffic out of our way for next day. While all of that was happening I was dealing with riding for the first time ever on your side of the road, it felt ok and I felt confident on open roads and even on roundabouts since it's all about following the flow of traffic, but intersections were interesting. Here we were, stopped while finding a place to sleep in a pub, somewhere near Woolavington. I found the scene very English, then proceeded to set the navigation to said pub and head off down the road on the wrong side much to the surprise of a gentleman driving a 5 series BMW, I corrected my road position, an apologizing wave was waved and all was ok but Sofia did catch a fright as she was beeping her horn behind me. A decision was made to invest in a proper horn for the Speed Triple too. Overall, it was not the ideal start into our UK part of the trip, there were few tense moments through the day as there sometimes are when people travel together, and I have to confess I am a little too used to being on my own in "adventures", but we parked the bikes behind the pub away from prying eyes, had a nice shower, and proceeded to order wine and food. Showers: what is wrong with you people and your showers? Took me forever to understand showers, it´s like you're dialing the clocks on a time machine just to regulate warmer or colder water. More on that later on It was an overpriced room, but felt cozy and I was in a better mood. We were going to meet up with our friend Simon the next morning and he's always a lot of fun. I was also in a british pub so ordered fish and chips. Food took forever to arrive, 40 minutes into the wait and we were told that the chef was going to take 5 minutes to go outside since she was too hot. No alternative, but it felt a little "Morocco" to me, I smiled at the event and was now having a relaxed glass of shitty wine with my travel companion so all was good. Chunky chips were very different to what you have in Portugal (in a good way), and the fish was not codfish but some other thing. It was OKish, not going back there for the food though. I also don't understand just boiled peas as a side, it's beyond me. The people were very nice and all smiles, though. We slept well, and I was looking forward to getting back on the bike the next day and pointing it to Wales.