Winter is coming!

The weather has been extremely mild of late.

With that in Mind, I asked my boss for a week off. 

Our holiday policy seems to be : Use 'em or Lose 'em.

The day after I had my time-off approved, the temperature dropped about 5 degrees UK-wide.

I've come to expect the unexpected and the weather here can be reliably, unreliable.

At least I've got some time off.

I could jump on a plane and jet off to Tenerife, Or Morocco, somewhere hot. 

That would be just too easy.

Instead I'm off to visit a mate of mine in Sunny, Warm, tropical Scotland.

As long as there's no Ice, I don't mind.

I've never been to the Isle of Skye and am quite looking forward to it.

At least there's no snow, yet.

But Seriously, Who the hell goes on holidays in November, in the UK?

I received an email from an Australian government department yesterday, my import application has been approved.  Yay!

This means that I'm free to Import Melinda to Australia. 

How awesome is that.

One less thing that I need to deal with later on.

I'm super happy about that and one step closer to getting home.

Oh, did I mention I'm back on the Island?

Just spent the past week and 1/2 in London.

Got my daily dose of indoor climbing and cinema.

I think that they are the two things I like most about London.

With not drinking or smoking at the moment, there's not a lot to catch my attention.

No drinks for 26 days and no smokes for 39 days.

Although, to tell you the truth, I notice very little difference.

Shouldn't I feel better, stronger, healthier, cleaner? 

Think I'll celebrate by having a few drinks on my time off.

The perfect touring machine?

Unless it's custom built or made to order, no bike will do exactly what you want direct from the factory.

At least that's what I've found. 

I've attempted to build the perfect bike, for me!

When I bought Melinda, I thought she was a pretty good bike. Even being voted "Bike of the Year - 2013" by Bike magazine.
And she was great. My first trip, 4,500 miles took us across France, Germany, England, Scotland and Wales.

Although the first thing I did when I got to Germany was to get some luggage. 

You can't tour without luggage.

Nearly one year later, I managed to get some time off for my second trip. 

A little longer at 5,500 miles. Again across France (beginning in the Channel Islands, this is unavoidable) then Germany, Austria (50km), Denmark, Sweden and Norway. 

By this time I'd added a few more creature comforts - Extended hand guards, crash bars, (cylinder) head protectors, Driving lights and guards, headlight guard, Extended nose piece, motorline stripes (B&W), rear luggage rack, alloy frame plugs, lower frame protectors, driveshaft protectors, rear hugger, crud catcher, intake and radiator guards, Side-stand foot (for soft ground), brake-pedal extender (the original tends to hide away in moments of anger).

After this trip I realised there were still a few items on my "wish-list".  

Firstly, was a taller, wider and darker screen. Not that the original screen was bad, turbulence around the helmet was a minimum but noise was an issue.  A week after attempting my last IBA ride (FHB-48) I could still hear the rushing of the wind in my ears. Recently I've also developed neck and back pain so am hoping that by installing the larger screen these problems will be reduced.  

As for the dark tint, it makes the whole thing look more bad-arse!

I've had her one year service done, no cake was offered but we were 6,000 km overdue.  

New tyres fitted, I wasn't exactly thrilled with the factory fitted ones, I managed to travel only 16,000km.  These new ones are now the next generation of my favourites that I ran on Nicole, on 3 consecutive pairs I managed to travel 25,000km each.  

Better the devil we know, right?  

Lastly, I replaced the rear brake pads myself, they were down to the backing plates after only 16,000 kms. 

Go figure?

All-in-all I think she is now the perfect bike for the type of touring I plan to do in the next 12 months and beyond.

The thermal playground and desolation known as Iceland, the remoteness of Lapland, down to the rocky outcrop that is Gibraltar, the Isle of Skye and all that lies in-between. 

After all that European-ness I guess we'll have to have a look and see just how long it takes to ride from Bris-vegas to Perth. 

Bigger and better than the original (Photo by Charl) 

Rear rack, countries visited, tank pads and Motorline stripes

Crash bars, Driving lights, intake and radiator guards, Cardan protector

Bigger Screen, Hand guards, Nose, Headlight grill

Stoptober...

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I've been on here.
My how time flies when you're having fun.  Am I having fun?
I guess I am.
It's been a busy couple of weeks since I got back from my short European Tour.

I dropped Melinda off for some new Tyres and Have had her 10K service done (only 16,000km)
Last week I visited Guernsey, Picked her up from BMW and replaced the rear brake pads.
Super quick and easy, took about 15 minutes.
There were down to their backing plates, can't remember previous ones going so quickly.
I always forget that I've owned her for more than a year now.

When I bought her, I didn't plan to buy the bike of the year but it seems that I did.
And I continue to improve on the German excellence (if possible) and make Melinda even better.
Hey, due to the fact that Germans over-engineer everything, I now have a bike that will comfortably travel at over 180km/h, fully loaded, along German Autobahns, in Cruise-control.
I challenge anyone to try doing that on a Harley, Husqvarna or Ducati.

Deutche ordnung is Awesome!

There's probably one more thing that I want to get done before 2015.
I need to replace the original screen for a larger touring one.
Thinking back to my latest trip and the wind wasn't too bad, the helmet wasn't bashed about like on other bikes but there was still noise, A whole lot of noise.
There will always be noise when riding a motorcycle. It doesn't matter what you do and I have done everything I can to reduce it. I have bought one of the quietest helmets on the market, I wear a balaclava and neck scarf, but the noise is there. It's inevitable that when you do long distances for many hours at high speeds that you will be affected by noise.

Why is it a problem?  It can affect my concentration and eventually reduce my hearing.

What's the solution?  I've decided that next trip I shall wear noise reducing ear-plugs but also I'm upgrading my screen. By mounting a larger screen it will further reduce wind and rain to my upper body and helmet and reduce the noise.  Thus, making the ride more comfortable and even more Awesome.

As I get older I am becoming boring, focusing more on health and safety, being cautious.
But not too cautious, I plan to ride around Iceland (volcanoes permitting) and from Nordkapp to Gibraltar in 2015.

I haven't just done bike stuff.

Recently, I spent 2 weeks in London. It may sound strange but living at the Ritz can be tiresome.
Everyone monitoring what you're doing and noticing every little thing.
I'm sure it'd be lovely to be there for a weekend as a guest. (I wouldn't want to do that)

I did get to go Climbing (bouldering) and spent many hours in the cinema, catching up on everything and anything they were showing.

Surprisingly, the highlight was catching up with Danielle, Laurence and Oskar. Friends of mine from when I lived in Kassel and Berlin. Due to work opportunities they've moved to London now. It was as if no time had passed and we were able to catch up on the years in between. I can't believe it's about 7 years or so. I guess that happens to us all as we get older.

The week ahead looks like it'll be a busy one.  Currently Tim and I are on the search for my replacement.  It took quite some time and proved to be more difficult than expected to find me for the position and we don't want those problems this time.  CV's have been coming in, although many are unsuitable.  I'm sure that we will find someone sooner or later, preferably before I have to leave.

Next week, I expect to find myself back in London...Just because.
For now I'll make the most of having my own space and get some study done, passed assignment 7.
And while I'm here, I've decided not to drink and I'm too lazy to get my tobacco so I've stopped smoking, once again.
They say it takes 3 weeks to break a habit, it'll be that long on Tuesday.  Well done me.