Pedro

Now that's a pretty racecar!

So everyone on that field gets their own plastic trash bag instead of a few bins between the lot? The lefty side of me, that I didn't know existed, has just revealed itself!

BOTM

I'm on the other side of that, I think it's me that has gotten fed up with putting a polite face to deal with the same shit as before. You go through a life changing experience, and suddenly you don't put up with the same amount of crap as you did before.

over there?

You seem to be enjoying your newly found weekend freedom! That’s a pretty building on the dam, here those things are built with little concern for aesthetics, nice forest road too!

You’re aware there’s a minimum speed on mainland Europe’s motorways, @Slowlycatchymonkey, and that there are uphills on some of them…

Not smelling badly, not totally derelict, maybe a cafe on one of the stops, a place where people stop and think: “this is nice” or “this is nice, I might come back” instead of “this smells like sewage, oh look, a decomposing dog!”

You never stop anywhere nice, do you?

I find red haired women sexy! Are they ginger? It won't change my fancy, but just wondering ... Also, although my hair was always dark brown, my beard is slightly red depending on sunlight and season

Is ginger just that weird carrot color, or all red haired people?

Yes. There's grapes in wine, too!

I have hope for Honda, they did ok with the Africa Twin, plus there’s no shortage of brands showing them what a good idea it is, Yamaha with the T7, Aprilia with the Tuareg, Ducati with the whatsitsname, all after BMW’s 800, 750, 850 name mess, so they might just pick up on it. There’s nothing like a nice Honda, though. Even Suzuki is like a coma guy twitching a finger with their naughty VStrom talk

Try and put that tankbag on the bike, with all the rear stuff in place, then next time you get on and off it with your riding gear remember my words, BIG CLUMSY MESS!

I like camping, haven't done it in ages though, nothing against it and I do know that quietly waking up in a tent is a nice way to start the day. However, I hate carrying a big mess, like yours, on a bike. I'd much rather have a lightly loaded big bike than a loaded light bike. Regarding going wherever you feel, that's what I do except I find a place to sleep at the end of the day. Sometimes it doesn't work well but most of the time it does. What kind of adventure are you going if you stress about stuff like that? Worst comes and I'll either have to sleep in a crappier place than I'd want, a more expensive place than I'd want, ride till later, or sit down and just sleep with no tent. I've never been in a place where I couldn't find a place to sleep anywhere in Europe, slept a couple of nights in a car in Sweden and Norway but that's pretty much it. I do enjoy being able to have a nice shower at the end of a hot riding day, and then cold wine feeling all fresh and clean. Not to mention swimming pools. My opinion on this isn't of an experienced traveller though, on a motorcycle I've only been a few times to Morocco and apart from that never went big distances outside of Portugal.

This is the way, vario cases in their smaller tucked in version were enough for two up touring for 2 weeks. The smaller exhaust side case carried the overalls and everything bike related, the left bigger one carried clothing and was taken to the room. No camping, obviously. There was still place for souvenirs, to carry food or whatever. If the two plastic bottles carried for survival aren't enough and you want proper booze, the cardboard wine bottle boxes sit nicely on top They extend, which is great for supermarket runs, but then they get wider than the front and the front is wide enough already.

Such true excitement, brilliant!

Every bike he looks at sideways is the best bike there ever was, hipster idiot!

Good moaning!

Don't be needy, Bob, people get scared with needy Bots too!

Picture taken just now: Still worked on it's last test run, have got a cassette with a couple of old mission impossible and macgyver episodes that works like a charm. A charm with a little bit of interference, but a charm

If a warm bathroom sounds like sex to you, then yes

I was escorted to a cashpoint in Spain once. Here they'll do that to foreigners too, or impound the vehicle and leave you to walk home. My dad was once stopped by a swarm of spaniard motorcycle officers, pretty angry they had to catch up to him. They couldn't come up with a reply as to how he was supposed to know they were following if they were firstly hiding by the speed trap and then so far behind he couldn't see them

Might be an obvious thing to say but I'll say it anyway: you're supposed to turn them on before going into the bathroom when it's really cold ... so it's not cold when you go in.

I like how you plan 4 or more hour long rides, Chris. I never do that and it's either a short local ride with no plan that can turn out to last anything from 1 hour to 3 or 4 including lunch, or something that ends with overnight stops somewhere else. Cool looking forest road, too!