Off On A Bimble

Days 1 and 2 - Wembury to Givet - 451 miles -  4 th  to 5 th  July Well, the big day had come and after finally finishing off my packing at about 1030 on the day I was to go, it was actually time to go on the biggest and most anticipated motorcycle trip of my life. Taking the Guzzi to visit Mandello. Setting off the bike felt pretty heavy, and it was loaded up a bit more than usually, so I had to be careful coming to a stop, as I do have ducks disease…short legs. The hack up my commute road the A38 was just that, a boring hack, and so was the run up the A30 and the A303, which during my 18 months commuting to London I was all too familiar with. Eventually I found the Stonehenge youth hostel, where I was given a 14 bed room and bathroom all to myself. I chose to stop here as a run to Dover from home was not really feasible, having to arrive at the ferry terminal at 1300 at the latest. Well not for me anyway. Turned out to be an inspired stop, the hostel had a great restaurant

First, if anyone is actually interested in what I have to say, I'm sorry I haven't said too much lately. Theres been a Big Ride on my mind, and now thats done (finished 2 weeks ago) I'm mulling it over and digesting it, and then there will be 3 or 4 blog posts about it. Suffice to say it was the finest ride/tour of my life so far, filled with so much awe and joy, new places, new experiences, that I can't wait to go back. Anyway, I've pretty much been a custom leather trousers and textile jacket guy for 15 years. Very occaisionally 5-7 years or further back I would wear my old Walden Miller leather jacket (circa 1990 I estimate), but I got too fat for it and got used to the utility of a touring jacket - all those handy pockets. But today.....it was warm enough, Ive lost 22lbs in weight, the jacket fits OK, and dammit I'm going to wear my 501s. Held up with braces of course. So 140 or so miles later, crossing Dartmoor west to east, and then going the other way