Slowlycatchymonkey

No chance of China without a guide. Rode in Tibet 2019 (which for anyone not interested in global politics is ruled by China) and the control exerted by the govt is quite a surprise. Guides are obligatory, map pages had to be removed and destroyed, multiple military check points on a single road where they go through your bags yet again, on tarmac road you have to slow to 5mph for gantry cameras (I assume because their number plates are so tiny it wouldnt be able to pick up the number plate above that speed), your route has to be pre approved and then you can only stop for fuel at the places they have said you can and can only have the amount of fuel they calculate you need to keep you on the pre approved route which is brought to you in a jerry can so you don’t take more than necessary to get to the next stop. Still worth a visit though, the guides and the Tibetans are lovely people! Tajikistan is an unusual pick what’s the draw to that one?

Not anymore! Heyho, we were lucky enough to catch the tail end of an ideology some employers had that you look after your staff. Similar to the military, accommodation was provided, housekeepers kept the place working and changed the linen and you worked all the unreasonable hours necessary whilst doing precisely what you were told when you were told to do it ? Why they couldn’t find another use for it I dont really understand.

Talking of abandoned places I really want to go back and have a gander in one the student nursing accommodations we had. Is was a beautiful mansion built by a philanthropist for use as an orphanage. We were the last cohort to use it finishing in 1997. The govt then got into a row with the locals about using it as a home for paedophiles and its been left to slowly derelict since. Its still covered by hospital security staff but that doesn’t stop it rotting. It turned up on a few ‘abandoned places’ websites a while back, these pics are a good 5-7 years old, dread to think what it looks like now. Such a waste and quite sad if you knew how alive and loved it was.

Tym’s the one torturing us with it!

Maybe he just didnt broadcast the trespassing part?!

Because of the unusual position of the UK weather wise it has more tornados per unit area of land than any other country (as in number of tornados for the size of the land mass) but they are generally too weak to be noteworthy. We have at least 33 a year and outside of America hold the record for the largest outbreak of tornados. In 1981, 105 tornados in 5.25 hours. Not a lot of people know that... probably cos its not that interesting ?

Are you sure this ones not a porn bot?

So only out n back available ? How long will that take?

How many miles is it if you rode the roads around the entire perimeter? Or perhaps I should say what is it in time?

You’ll find it again or should I say it’ll find you. Everyone has slumps in motivation to do things, sometimes when shit happens for a very long time but from my point of view if you dont force it somehow one day it just reappears. Then Africa will be yours and I’m sure a rollicking good’n itll be ?

Not quite as bad as calling a motorbike clothing line ‘John Doe’ ?

Yer getting the Fat Boy in and out of a garage with awkward access is why my dad wanted to get rid of it. Pulling it backwards at an angle is the thing I struggle with most. I suppose thats why its part of the test here, I stood still so long to recover after pulling my bike backwards in arc on my test the examiner thought there was something wrong ?

Anyway @Pedro what’s your dream bike trip?

Not sure how hills came into the equation and of course some peeps can handle heavy bikes or Harley Davidson would have ceased to exist. Simply the heavier the bike the harder it is to push and no matter how careful the planning at some point you have to push. In or out of a garage, back into or out of a tight space, it happens and depending on where you live it can be regularly. Now I may be a kermit the frog armed female but 250kg I can push, 350kg I cant. The lighter the bike the easier it is thats physics. So a lot of peeps look at 350kg and understandably think no ta!

If he’s not comfortable to travel somewhere then he is the limiting factor on us travelling together. Acknowledging what someone else is and isn’t currently comfortable to do isn’t based on assumption. I dont expect or want anyone to travel to places they don’t want to go (people who do things they dont want to aren’t a lot of fun) but after a bit of experience he may well change his mind and I’m happy to show him and if it doesnt float his boat Ill go on my tod. Easy.

Don’t really get what your saying Pedro. He’s the kind of dude thats happy to be shown things. I’m not gonna push and he’s not the sort to be pushed. But there are different levels (or perhaps ‘ways’ would be a better word) of travelling and ultimately where we travel together and where I travel alone will be dictated by what level/way he’s comfortable with.

Ive not been very clear, my bad. Thats what he said while I was a kid growing up.

He has never stopped. I bought the Fat Boy off him to surprise Mr Slowly and at the moment he’s whizzing around on a scooter (he calls the egg whisk) while looking about at what he wants next.

He has repeatedly throughout my upbringing to stop me getting a bike- “Everyone I know who rode a bike is either dead or disabled” ”I was one of the lucky ones.” Alternated with it was down to skill, a sixth sense or a guardian angel (yes exact same words). ”Its not the same now, if you went bouncing down the road then there was no other traffic, now you’d get squashed” ”We used to have a lot of fun racing on the north circ, you couldn’t do that now” ?

Id rather not remember ?

Unless youre lucky enough to have reverse or find yourself in the position of always being able to ride in and ride out its the inevitable pushing them about that does you in. Having said that I met three Aussie women who all rode Harley road glides (370+kg) when they were at home. I asked them about having to move them and they said they dont, theyre just careful where they park! If youre “careful where you park” in England you’d never get parked! The joys of living in wide open spaces ay!

A film about Cambodia?!

As someone who has disappeared underneath a toppling 320+ kilo Harley (I did type Fat Boy but you can imagine how that read ?) I don’t find them manageable ?

Hmm you sound like him ? Except my parents my mother and father both rode motorbikes whilst preaching we really shouldn’t, it’s stupid etc etc. My mum even ran off with a Ducati dealer so it’s a bit pot called ?