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Not really a nature photo, but I went outside for a cuppa last night at 4am and took this photo of Orion, with a handheld phone camera and it really blows me away that such a sharp image is even possible in those circumstances.

One year ago today we arrived in France to start our new adventure. It's been a bit of a roller coaster ride so far, but things seem to be settling down now and we hope to finally get our own place in a couple of weeks.

Had a long ride yesterday, wasn't going to post but @boboneleg posting a drive report kind of shamed me out of being lazy. Even making a map and everything. By long ride, I meant by my standards, @Earache would have finished before lunch time I wanted to come home for a few days but felt like taking a trip, so decided to turn what could have been a 2,5 hour motorway ride into a day and a half of riding with a stop overnight. Left Espinho at around 9 and a bit, rode on the motorway for a bit as getting out of that area on small roads is shit and takes forever, then exited and made my way to Serra do Buçaco, the Serra is a protected forrest, it's very lush and dense, a cool place to hang out. There's a convent there, Convento de Santa Cruz, built in 1628 and used by Wellington after the Battle do Bussaco, against the french in 1810, dude was probably tired and in need of a nap. The convent is the smaller more austere building on the left, the palace to the right has been converted to a hotel. It was 10:30 by then, and I had all the time in the world having not yet decided on where to sleep. Weather was great all over Portugal so no worries there, decided on sticking around and visiting the convent, as I'm waiting for the group in front to buy their entrance tickets a few of the ones that had already gone in start to shout amongst themselves and creating quite the commotion, lady at the entrance couldn't really understand english very well and as they were louder and louder she called the police, the tourists ran inside and I decided to just have my morning expresso outside and leave the visit for another day. I quite like the monk sculpture there: Quite a place to have breakfast like a king, that table inside: Abandoned cool restaurant or small guesthouse right next to the protected Serra, with a nice view from the balcony behind it Climbed to the tallest point of the Serra and had a look around while doing a couple of phone calls This obelisk was put here as on the Bussaco Battle grounds in memory of the Luso-British army for the importance of the Bussaco Battle in Portugal's independence, it states: To the Luso-British army Campaigns of the Peninsular War, 1808 to 1814 6 blockades 12 defenses 14 encirclements 18 assaults 215 combats 15 battles I don't really know the difference between a combat and a battle, though, will look into it. Surrounding it, there's 8 half buried cannons by a steel chain, it's quite cool. It boils my piss that a plaque was put there because a Politician visited it in 2010, fucking politician just had to put his name on something that didn't concern him, and the twat was a President so should really know better ... As a curiosity, the monument was once destroyed by lightning strike and replaced a while ago. Up there, the air was cool and crisp, pleasant, ideal weather for riding with a non ventilated jacket and a not very warm midlayer over a t-shirt. This made me decided to go to the Serra da Estrela, both times I was there before with this bike the weather was shit, wet or foggy and not really able to enjoy the views, so I started to make my way there via small roads. No hurry though, so slight detour to gain an apetite. There's a river to the right, you can barely see it in the picture, it was just one of those cool places that doesn't quite come across on a picture A few miles ahead, on one of the region's best known motorcycling roads, I stop for a snack. I love these local countryside non touristy places, a ham and cheese roll, a can of orange soda, and an expresso totaled 2,35€ If you look on the map I posted on the beginning, this next part is on the loop starting and ending on the same place with "Torre da Serra da Estrela". Arriving at Serra da Estrela national park, as far as tarmac roads go, you can do worse than come here: Being daft, I decided to get out of that great smooth road and climb a gravel wind farm service road, it looked like it would offer a good view from up there and end up on the other side of the hill, where I was heading to. The road turned out to be steeper than I thought and the surface WAY looser than I thought, so the heavy GS was wheelspinning in second and third gear all the way up, and weaving quite a bit too, I didn't feel like turning back as continuing was easier, so just went for it waiting on a smoother descent on the other side. Obviously, the picture makes it look quite flat, but you can see the road all the way to where I left the tarmac. I stopped on the last windmill, where it was smoother, to enjoy the view and see if there was a way down after what looked like the end of the road. It was a dead end so I turned back down the way I came. 10000km TKC70, not the best choice for traction on loose surfaces: Quick stop downhill to show how steep it is, and nope, still looks flat... This picture below shows why motorcyclists love this area, and also why it's better on weekdays. I only passed by 3 bikes the entire time on this mountain. Road porn? Brief stop for a scenic piss at 1900 meters. And a stop to call a client, could do worse as far as work location goes Made my way to the Tower which at 1990 is mainland Portugal's tallest place, but didn't stop as it's not so scenic and there were too many cars there. So just carried on and headed south to start the climb down. I sort of had a hard time deciding if to sleep here in the mountain or not, but it was too early to stop. Climbing down the south side of the mountain there's a road that is not paved for 2 or 3km, I love it and hope they never pave it. You can see it in the distance by the change of color in this picture And looking back to where I took the previous picture, on that wall up near the top Back on tarmac: Stop for another coffee and a small sugary snack From here on out, I took almost no pictures, I decided on sleeping in the Alentejo and to make it there before dark I didn't stop. My helmet has the dark screen on and I didn't really feel like riding small country roads at dark in it, more so there where there are so many livestock grazing around. Quick stop by the Tejo as the sun was starting to go down behind the hills. It was quite the nice end of day: Made it to the hotel half an hour after dark and riding quite slowly by then, a nice shower and out for dinner. It was a perfect evening with no moisture, no mosquitos, just perfect to eat outside. I was starving Which shows by the clean plate A few people on the other tables, and turns out a couple of them from near where I grew up, then the ladies from the kitchen came out to eat so we just started talking and spent a nice couple of hours there, felt nice after all this crap of not talking to anyone else during the pandemic. Castle shot from my chair And a short walk to bed There are no pictures from today, rode through places previously shown a few times, spent a while on the phone and email in the morning and only left by 11am, made it home by 2:30pm including a brief stop for a snack. The bike's a mess of dust, dirt and mosquitoes.

It's a fine art and there's going to be mistakes during the training period, that's just a fact.

i bet your going out best trousers are beige 3 button waist 22" flares , accompanied with a nice multi colored tank top with a shirt underneath it with collars not far short of Concordes wing span.

@Slowlycatchymonkey .... look wife beaters ...

Yeah but Britain fucking remembers you.

And the you get THIS…..

I do like it when there is a consensus. gives me a lovely warm feeling inside, like after you vomit because you've eaten some bad fish and your stomach says NO. get out.

I've probably told this before, but just in case I haven't. A well known character I worked with bought a house cheaply because of the shocking state it was in. He added an extra level in the roof and extended the basement out the back, the place was huge when it was finished. Next door was the Bishop of Stepney's official residence, huge garden full of old fonts I recall. It ended up worth a small fortune and he was very proud of it. The well known character came wandering in to our office and my boss at the time shouted out, Boss: Oi Grouty, I hear your house value has dropped down. Grouty: What do you mean? Boss: I see in the papers that there has been a new Bishop appointed. Grouty: So? Boss: Well he's a black bloke. Grouty: You're talking out of your arse, what difference does that make? He's a man of God AND a Bishop. Boss: Well yes, he is, no denying that, but you're not telling me that you won't be bringing your car stereo in at night from now on.

Sounds like my first Wedding outfit!

Possibly wild horses, just chilling and chomping on some wet grass

From a distance

fucking warehouses , upping sticks and going home ...bastards.

Well, the first one was documented on the second page of the Dayton Daily News, the award was for failure to Evade Enforcement dispite tryng for 15 minutes while raming most police cars off the road, except the two State Police cars....oh well that ends in cuff and stuff... end of award report...

This is how I get sharp, close up shots of Woodpeckers and some others Most of us at some time have had a woodpecker visit the garden but they're normally infrequent and very timid As soon as I saw one in our garden I did the below and in the first Spring we had 10 Woodpeckers visiting constantly throughout each day, including two pairs of adults and six juveniles Firstly you need to give them a feeding station that's more natural to them This is a log I propped up and drilled holes in for a special mix of food Next was to create some yummy food for them, a mix of crushed up fastballs, peanuts and dried mealworms..... 40 fastballs zapped in the microwave for 4 minutes to soften them, 1 litre of raw unsalted peanuts, 300ml mealworm and 450ml of vegetable oil warmed for 1.5minutes Use your hands to crumble the fastballs and use a blender to break up the peanuts and mealworms, mix all the ingredients in a large container, depending on the consistency of the fastballs you may need to adjust the quantity of oil but wait until it all cools down before deciding to add more oil or more fastballs As you can see, I also added a camera bracket to the log so I could get very close with high quality lenses for razor sharp images, as I knew they were in every few minutes by then I could just set the camera on intervalometer pre focused on where I knew the eye would be

Day one was 741 miles in just under 11 hours of riding time with an overall average of 69.31 mph (which includes fuel stops). Made it to Columbia, Missouri just in time for a couple of beers and a shower before bed. Ahhh. More tomorrow....

I only had a bike licence for years and then one day two blokes who had moved to a different new bit of the council came to see me when I was a trainee and asked me if I would like to go and work for them. You'll get a pay rise, a new donkey jacket and a car they said. I don't have a car licence I said. Well get one and watch out for a job advert they said. My first lesson was a few hours after the 87 hurricane, shit, trees and water everywhere. The job advert was so specific it was embarrassing, only myself an a chef at Sainsburys applied. The interview was worse, I was rung up the night before and told what the 5 technical questions would be. Then at the actual interview, the same silly sod asked me the whole 15 on his sheet because the HR person was looking over his shoulder. Luckily she didn't know the answers and I could make stuff up. For the next few years if I mucked anything up they used to moan that they should have had the chef. I did eventually get the car, it took a lot longer than they promised and then the tax man crucified me over it a few years later.

Out of the originals I can't seem to think of anybody! Nobody normal would follow me around many different forums over the best part of 20 years till I fuck it all up. Though I'd say that @Pedro has always been the most normal and the most mature. That's not saying much though. But from the newer members I'd probably say @Tango and @Motobiker.......though they'll eventually end up as imbeciles I'm sure.

Hmm not sure you read it right she asked for normal not deviant agricultural vehicle drivers

Come on then, let's see them . 100yds swimming certificate, best looking cat at the pet show, ultimate sheep molester, whatever it is get them up here........ I'll start, I'm quite proud of this one............

A ride drive report by Robert , aged 63 years old. As I had only used my new (to me ) car for errands so far I decided today was the day to take it for a proper drive. I had to think of a route with some points of interest but without me being tempted to take it down some muddy pit of a lane in the middle of nowhere so I decided to take a drive up the Severn Vale. First stop was Sharpness Docks as there are some interesting things to take a photo of there, turned out to be a fail as they've fenced most of it off now I did however get a photo of two Cubes together............ Next I got shafted twice as two roads in a row were closed with no warning at the begining of them, BT are on my list of wankers for today Later on I stopped at Frampton-On-Severn which has the longest village green in England (so I believe) , I wanted to take a photo in the other direction which shows how long it is but my crutches started sinking into the green so to save embarrassment I retreated........ Next I left the Vale and headed over the M5 motorway to head up onto the Cotswolds......... Up through this lane near Haresfield which was pretty close to trail-riding Then I found some abandonded building for @XTreme, he would have been all over this shit. Forunately for me it didn't involve any dead dogs and on up to the top of the hill........... Heading for home now I drove across the lower part of the Cotswolds before a last stop on the Badminton Estate , this is one of the gate houses........

I thought we were short of supplies in the UK, but according to the fucking media we are now short of warehouses to store all the stuff we have got, just another load of hype to start the cunts panic buying, I think the press should be gagged.

Now there’s a thought that would have caused a land slide.

Cheers mate. Unfortunately it has taken so much effort to actually get the bonneville registered here, that it's staying.......forever!

But is he a wank stain, Welcome Rob, you love it here it’s absolutely SHYTE.

If you want you can bring that bike over here for me to have, I won’t flounce I promise, hope you enjoy the next 30 years there then.

I meant it as a joke, insulation for homes / insulation from Europe...

You can lose an arm

What @Tymjust said.

I got a few high speed driving awards from police agencies around this great nation.

The man, the legEnd, you got allot of trash talking to do Six before you get to the Pro level.

Don’t think you get stuff like like served in a old folks home, you dopey old sheep shagger.

I'd say that's true, it makes you wonder how he's put up with the rest of us for the last 20 or so years

End up who the fuck you kidding.

Are they sheep skin by any chance.

What the fuck have you got on your feet?

Spanish dwarf photographer, apparently the place is heaving with them.

Yeah it has a Dick growing under it.