Pedro

Yes, they're very common in Morocco as military vehicles. They were patrolling around a gas or fuel pipeline station or something like that, some parts of Morocco are always a little more alert to terrorist attacks and their own internal struggles.

Haven't the Afghanis lived through enough shit?

I have been told by an educated person; young, all yoga and enlightened, earning her money off the books from the UK and paying rent off the books to a british person, who ows thousands of euros worth of tolls on purpose, drives a long expired mot british car that hasn't been home for years, that the portuguese should think themselves lucky people like her are here because it inspires the locals to be more advanced and better. She told me this not as an insult but like something that totally makes sense to her. This reality isn't really just from brits, it's also from germans, dutch, and swiss, and is not really connected to people looking to move country and end up retired there like it's the topic in this thread, but more with young people in their 20s up to 40s that really noticed Portugal over the last few years as a good surfing destination where there were no enforced rules for wild camping or van life. So they turned their surfing holidays into a few years of living cheaply in a way that they wouldn't be able to if they tried to pay any tax or be in the system. They turned quiet great locations into their own rule free paradises, which I think is an escape to the strict behavior they are expected to adere to when at home. Portugal is to blame, really, but some think we do profit from it so to each their own. I do like the "lack of rules" here, but they will ruin things for all. I dislike how these youngsters are creating country animosity where there used to be none, but I can understand how a restaurant owner starts disliking people fitting a certain look and age after repeatedly kicking off groups of people taking a 4 person sea view table to order one coke and proceed to eat snacks brought from a supermarket, who then pretend to be innocent and ignorant and leave bad reviews online when asked to move on. Or people who get tired of having black waters dumped from caravans in town parking areas or beach accesses.

You stay out of politics, and I'll stay out of voicing my opinions on that yet again

No, I deleted it because I know that's how it's seen. However, day of the dead also happens in Spain, it's literally two different things happening at the same time. One is a rememberance of the dead, first the kids then the adults, the other is a celebration in honor of christian saints.

Perusing old travel photos today

Happy for you Pete!

Me neither, not even the newer one, it always felt like you could stop on a dime regardless of surface or whatever. I think it's a really well balanced bike, quite heavy too.

Cool looking wheels on those scooters, though

So the more problematic people are, their town names get more and more difficult to pronounce?

It's 2021, to each his own...

WTF were you looking at before, on the bottom left of that picture?

I wouldn't expect to enjoy riding such a bike except for nostalgia on a slow posing ride to a sunny sunday morning coffee and back.

It's the tastiest bit ...

I felt pretty confident as I was taking that picture that the view and location would do it

I was hoping for a ride report from you, I posted this while you were out on your trans-UK ride only to produce a single picture out of it.

I suppose it's probably an amazing bike to ride fast on rough roads, a sports bike on stilts, but I just dislike the look of this kind of bike with 17 inch front wheels.

I loved mine: I gave up on it because it kept being a nuisance but I loved it

I never got to that stage

no excuses needed, @Tym, when a man wants a toy he can have it

God help them all!

Pretty confident from that woman to jump in between and taunt them

Were you ever dismissive of heated grips, though?

Not really a black or white thing, Pete, by using it you start exposure to a big part of the elements that start deteriorating it. It's all relative, but if never worn and stored properly they surely have a big shelf life.

I love google maps to search for which roads to take while out there. Not exactly using it for step by step navigation but more like a paper map that you can zoom into with a built in compass. For traveling longer distances and motorways, waze is useful to have running in the background because it'll warn you of speed traps even if you're not using it for navigation.