Ireland to Wales

Mum and Dad on the machines

Kilhorne Parish, where I married the girl of my dreams

Coast of County Down, past the Mourne Mountains

On the ferry from Dublin to Wales

Coast of Holyhead in North Wales

Me having some fun with Steves pic :)

  Johnny, when the water subsides, would you go out for a pint of milk?

(I don't think these people like neighbours :)

The GPz 550 Cafe - Jacobs' Ladder :)

 

And... The Legend Himself - Pete (Kozak) from the GPz 550 Forum, or should I say, Dr. Pete!

What a pleasure to meet this man, who seems to have all his priorities well sorted, and is just a top bloke! He treated us to a right feed (... sorry Pete, I just could not resist the Lemon Cake)

Belfast, Northern Ireland

We took a chance and rode up right to Stormont without being stopped by the police, brilliant!

The view downhill

Move over Rossi!

Barbeque in the back garden with Uncle Godfrey and Aunt Claire

Double trouble in the garden!

... and now off to Dublin via the coastal bendy roads...

Starting out from Ulfs' place

Slowing down the traffic by playing Mr. Traffic Officer - brilliant

Great chow at a US diner

a field in Scarborough 

How I woke Steve up...

 Scarborough Town 

Getting a new tyre in Scarborough. This man is a legend and a giant so I was nice to him :)

He sprayed disc cleaner into the tyre and used a blow torch to explode it to seat the bead, but it did not work on this occassion. He has a LOAD of GPz 550 spares and promised them to forum folks for a REALLY good price, as nobody wants them.

Border of Scotland

The pic we had to take... 

Bikers came past us on this bridge and I did the "I'm not worthy thing on my knees. I think they nearly fell off laughing :)

Here's tae us

Wha's like us

Damn few,

And they're a' deid

You! Come closer and I will turn you into Beef Curry!!

Mmmmmmwaaa!!

Huntly Castle

Yobo!

Yobos!

Nae, I maent a wee viser fir me Shoei!

The cause of running rich and using loads of gas on the one bike was blocked air filters. I had not thought of this, and then came a Scottish hero to the rescue, by the name of Kenny. He said he had 2 600s and a 750 at home, and we were welcome to help ourselves to any spares we needed, he dissappeared then came cack with a can of high-flashpoint disc cleaner to spray th filters with, and this got the bike running like an ace again. Kenny, wherever you are, may the sun always shine brightly upon your fields!

(We have his address, and shall be posting him a taste og Denmark upon our return)

Loch Ness

Monument to the fallen. I very quietening place that puts ones' thoughts into perspective.

Very sad stories of wee kids, wives and family writing letters to the fallen. This made me cry. Rest in Peace.

Fort William

Ben Nevis

Loch Ness

Some road repair fun past Glasgow... all of a sudden the speedo stopped working, I wonder why?

Thanks again to the Scots for their incredible friendliness. No sooner had we stood there, when a fellow offered us his garage (not necessary, but a very kind gesture)

Repairs to a dead bike on the docks of Belfast, Northern Ireland

 The cause of the problem (Putting the tank on without routing the ignition cable correctly, which wore through a wire - silly me)

Through Inverness to Ben Nevis

We are in North Berwick.

Yesterday started eventfully. On the way up to Scarborough, I stopped off at Wikful (I think it was called) R.A.F base to shake the hand of the guard at the gate and to thank him for his service to the good people of Great Britain. We took pictures of the last Harrier jet ever to have been in Her Majesty's Service, but Guard Richard advised that we did not touch it, as it was a cursed jet, having misfired a 250lb bomd, and having the canopy detach itself into the sea on a flight to afghanistan to drop aforementioned bomb, so we did not touch it.

Perhaps even looking at the jet was the cause of a 1" nail through my rear tyre. Cursed it was!! That got fixed in Scarborough, and delayed the trip. I changed out the rear tyre, as the centre stand had pressed the exhaust stopper against the sidewall, which had started shredding it's way through, so perhaps the Nail was a Godsend!

After having frozen ourselves off in a field in the middle of nowhere in Scarborough, we had a gas-cooker fried breakfast, and thereafter we packed the bikes up. 5 seconds after I bragged to Steve about how I had this packing down to a fine art, the whole lot came down on me, bike and all. THAT is heavy, with an extra 35kg on top!

Scarborough to North Berwick is some of the most breahtaking scenery I have ever dreamed to be possible. Just coming across the Scottish border literally gave me vertigo and breathlessness at the sight!

If you have not done this, do it.

Half way to North Berwick gave us the chance to experience a sort of TT ride through small country lanes where we kept the speed up (not silly though) and I became MUCH more comfortable with the riding. I now have a 110 tyre on the back, and it's actually quite good! Cheng Shin (before they became bad quality)

We stayed the night with a chap I met in Portugal and we are now on great terms over the past few years and went to bed at 02.00, the crack was that good. Now we head north with no particular agenda, where we may head up to Fraserburgh (no, actually fraaazuurbuuurrruuuuuuggghhaaaahh), or we may cut north west to muck about at Loch Ness for 2 days.

So far we have used 1 liter of oil between the 2 bikes. Yesterday we swapped bikes, where the weight is equal (my bike, which is heavier was using 20% less gas), and guess what, now they use exactly the same, therefore MY BROTHER HAS A FAT BUM!!

That a wrap for now! North we go :)

Pics are hard to blog, as my brothers data connection is limited, so picture updates will be given in 4 or 5 days :)

These bikes are going REALLY well.