26th Nov 2017
Its only 4 weeks to Christmas and its 4degs C outside. The roads are cold, wet and covered in muck..the GS is sitting in the garage on trickle charge. Time to look back on 2017 adventures and plan for a great 2018.
Miles ridden in 2017 approx. 12,000 covering 11 countries including Thailand, Myanmar, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain, Portugal, USA and Wales, Scotland and a fair bit of England.
The standout moments include Myanmar in February, a 3rd World country with poor people and challenging roads. It was a great trip on a Suzuki 650 Vstom with a good group of people seeing and experiencing things I never have before..this is why I go motorcycle touring 🙂 Great to get some hot sun in February!
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- Buddhist Shrine
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- 30+ Kms of red dirt
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- Had to be done
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- Valley of 1000 Pagodas
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- Party time
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- Poser
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- Looking good
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- Cute village kids
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- Keep focussed when riding across
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- I can still pull the birds
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- Pagoda in the mountains
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- Young monks at the Golden Rock
In March I took a few days to visit the Ardennes area of Belgium. The roads here are surprisingly good, very little traffic and easy to reach from UK. I’ll definitely be going back.
One of those moments
April was a chilly trip to Wales, 8 of us had a great time hooning round some great roads. The scenery is as good as most of Europe and you can get a proper curry 🙂 I was riding the 800 GS Adventure loaned to me while my GS was being repaired after my encounter with a Pheasant that wrecked the side panels and radiator. Great bike, very underestimated.
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- Cold in Wales
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- After the Pheasant encounter
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- 800GS Adventure
May was mostly day trips locally, but also did a 2 day tour of the East Coast around Norfolk to visit places I’d never been. Good fun, but it rained on the way back.
June was back to the sun. 6 of us went to The Picos in Spain and down into Portugal..the mercury hit 34 degs C. Great roads, little traffic and cheap wine..what’s not to like!
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- Waiting to board our ferry
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- Happy bikers on our last night
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- The Duro valley wine region
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- The locals said it was a bad idea to take this road
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- At the top of the Picos
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- Rest stop up in the mountains
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- Ham, egg & chips Spanish style
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- Road winds through the mountains
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- Mountain roads
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- Look at those mountains
In July I went back to Wales to find some new roads. Did over 1000miles and had a great time on my own stopping where and when I liked for a change. 🙂
August off to the USA visiting my son in San Francisco. Met up with Jay from the Myanmar trip and had a great day out with him on a borrowed 1980s BMW R80 Dakar. Great roads up in the mountains near San Jose and it was HOT.
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- BMW R80
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- Water stop
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- The two amigos
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- View from Mt Hamilton
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- Waitresses at our lunch stop
September was Scotland, the Nth Coast 500. Four of us braved the rain and made it all the way round to John O Groats and back down the East coast via Yorkshire Dales and a detour via Wales. Great trip, great roads and stunning scenery. Maybe I’ll go back one day when its not raining!
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- To and from Scotland
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- Plenty of these
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- Loch Lomond
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- The road beckons
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- Wet but happy
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- The Ibruprofen chapter
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- Great beaches..2 people
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- Ullapool
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- We made it to John O Groats
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- Yes Colin really is that short 🙂
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- Believe it
In October had a few day trips and then the weather turned as we started November. Cold, wet and nasty roads…time to switch to my other toy! Decided to upgrade my Mercedes SLK 350 to the SLK55 AMG..a 5.4L V8 beast. Sounds great, nice and warm with heated seats and 0-60mph in 4.5 secs. Plenty of fun to be had even when its cold burning off the hot hatch boy racers 🙂
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- Black Beauty
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- SLK55 AMG
Planning for 2018
I intend to make 2018 a big year to celebrate my 70th…age is just a number 🙂
February is already booked for a return to Chiang Mai in Thailand and another trip with Duncan from TBB https://www.thailandmotorcycle.tours/ This time it will be 11 days riding in Northern Thailand and through Laos..new roads not ridden before. Duncan sent me these photos of part of the route..looks great up through the mountains 🙂
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- The shop
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- Looking fwd to this
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- In the mountains of Laos
In March will probably go back to California..another chance to ride with Jay?
I’m sure by April will be ready for another Welsh adventure.
May could bring another trip quick to the Ardennes and maybe a longer one down into France.
In June we are booked for 2 weeks in a fantastic villa in Tuscany with the whole family. Probably no riding, but we are flying into Bologna..I feel a visit to the Ducati factory coming on 🙂
July could be the month I go back to Eastern Europe. Really enjoyed the last trip to Romania to ride the Transfagarasan and Trans Alpina highways through the Carpathian Mountains. Currently researching how to transport the bike as far as Bratislava in Slovakia to cut the miles and spend more time in Romania and then into Bulgaria and the Black Sea coast. New places to visit and roads to ride.
At the end of August a trip is already planned and booked to visit Spain and ride the full length and back of the Pyrenees. 6 or 8 of us will do this trip, should be great one.
September could see a return to Scotland..if its sunny, or maybe France 🙂
Its all still in the planning stages, but 2018 will be another year of Adventure ..that’s for sure 🙂