Back in the UK

At the end of last year I concluded that I’d quit biking for a while – or maybe forever? I sold my Triumph and haven’t replaced it. I’m getting older and roads are getting busier and speed limits are getting crazier. So, unless I ship the bike to a distant and empty place it’s not the fun it used to be.

And, I’ve got some new adventures to enjoy before falling off the mortal coil. This year it’s a trip to New Zealand and then Hong Kong en route home. I’ll give you more detail soon – but the flights are booked!!

In spring I decided to ‘get the job done’ after putting off working in the cold winter’s days. So I took out the fuel tank, fitted a new fuel pump and refitted the tank (a pig of a job). She started straight away ……

Then full service and a bit of work on the rear brakes before the MOT. She passed first time. Now to enjoy her in the summer months.

Here we are in another lockdown – what fun. Well my new partner brought with her a cat, some fish and an old MR2. The cat’s settled in nicely, the fish have all now expired (they were quite old) and the car’s quite tidy. However it needs a new fuel pump which is a real pain on these cars – fuel tank out etc – to get it running. But what the hell. And then I can start on really tidying it up. But what else have I got to do?

Here we are in October 2020. There’s a Coronavirus pandemic in full swing and I haven’t done a bike trip in over a year! However, on the positive side, the ‘friend’ I met has become my partner and we live together at my house. And we’ve been having lots of fun, even though there’s been a national ’lockdown’ and numerous restrictions on peoples movements in this time. Currently we’re in Cornwall at a rented cottage in Cadgwith Cove. The location is glorious as you can see from the picture. Bye for now.

Shortly after writing the last, very sad, entry another twist in life’s crazy and unpredictable road occurred. Through the volunteering work I do I met a very nice lady – and we’ve become close. She’s not a ‘biker chick’ yet, and believes they’re dangerous contraptions. But I’m hopeful for her ultimate conversion. Anycase, she accepts I come with the ‘baggage’ of enjoying lengthy holidays on the bike. And she’s comfortable with that. So the serious planning for the Poland trip will soon take place in far better cheer!

On returning from my trip in 2018 I found a very ill wife at home – she hadn’t told me!! Off to hospital we went and within a day she was in the operating theatre having a large tumour removed. Sadly she was never going to get better and I had a heart breaking end to the year looking after the person who’d been my partner and best friend for over forty years. She died in January 2019.

I’ve spent most of this year learning to live again without my ‘rock’. And with the support of some very good friends and my sister I’ve been getting there. Life will never be the same again, but my wife would have wanted me to get on with it and enjoy the years I’ve got left. She also fully supported my biking sojurns.

In June ’19 Andy and I went to France, Spain, Portugal and back through Spain and France to Blighty. Fortunately I found I could still enjoy riding on the continent with my mate – and it had a certain healing quality to it too.

Currently I’m planning our next trip – to Poland. And I’ve got a new bike to take with me there. A nearly new Triumph 800XRx. And I love being back on an explorer bike again. More soon ……………..