Bye Bike!


Well this is a week late so shoot me. After a very tedious motorway-based ride down from Edinburgh to London last week and a couple of good piss ups, we took the bikes to Ideal Forwarding in Essex on Monday. For someone used to Scottish traffic, the London stuff was something else, apparently a moped rider dies every day in London and I can see why. Riding a lardy GS through that lot with even wider metal boxes certainly makes for an entertaining ride. In fact there's nothing quite like several 'near-death experiences' to keep you on your toes.

So after taking off my screen and lowering the handlebars, and virtually no paperwork we left the bikes and our hard luggage to be crated up by people who seem to know what they're doing. They are due to sail on 5 October and all going well, should arrive in Buenos Aires 19 days later, roughly when we do.

I still haven't got a tenant to rent my flat but with just over three weeks to go, I'm quietly confident it will sort itself out any day now... so no pressure then.

Hmm, I'm crap at doing these updates aren't I? I'll get better though I'm sure.

Last week it was my mums birthday and we were lucky enough to get the use of a holiday house in Boat of Garten from one of her friends. Mum and Anne went up on the thursday while I took the bike up on Friday night.

Apart from being a nice place to stay for a couple of days, I took the opportunity to do a spot of last minute bike checks in advance of the fast aproaching'big shipment'. I've pretty much got all the spares, tools and fitted all the bits and pieces I'm going to fit now so am now just looking forward to catching up with Michelle and Iain next weekend and seeing Iain's brand new bike which should arrive any day now (so no pressure in getting it ready then!). After a uncharacteristicaly warm day and a bit of canoeing on Loch Morlich, we ended the day with a fantastic meal at The Boat restaurant, which served a wine called 'Tierra del Fuego'. a good sign if ever there was one.

When I got back to Edinburgh on Sunday night, I figured I'd better get my luggage sorted out a little bit more and this is the result. Now what have I left out...?

Ps It's 10 years to the day since I passed my bike test- yay!

And erm, 36 years to the day since Jimi Hendrix choked on vomit (his own)- Boo!

Scottish (very) Mini Rideout 31.8.06

So the original plan was to get a couple of days camping on the west coast but thanks to the Scottish weather, that was never going to happen and a suitable backup plan materialised in the form of a night in St Andrews at Mike Anderson's place. Matt Cartney and myself rode up on thursday taking in the sights of the East Neuk of Fife on the way up. After a few beers in town, lots of great stories and some rather good spag bol at Mike's place, Matt had to head home but Mike and I ended up going through several bottles of vin rouge while looking over maps of South and Central america until about 02.30am. Mike gave me loads of great tips and advice on where to go as he's done it all before, and in fact the next day he was heading off down south in advance of shipping out to Buenos Aires a month before Iain, Michelle and myself head out there.

So all in all, a good night was had and many thanks to Mike and his generous hospitality.