The Barber of Salamanca. It’s been so hot I had to get my hair cut. Short. Nice easy ride today 100 miles to Segovia. Its been good going slow! Massive irrigation systems most of the way today. Not the greatest picture zooming on an iPhone but Segovia looks great as you approach on the CL605 View attachment 158075
It pissed it down this morning, got soaked. Saw Dulcinea’s old friends in Bilbao. Now at the port about to be bored on board the slow economy boat back. I hate the economy boat, no decent food or facilities, longer imprisonment. No option though. Plenty of time get up to date with my posts though.
Just past Brest so went on deck to try and get signal. Needed to send birthday greetings to our daughter. Perfect timing, within a minute two Eurofighter Typhoons flew past at eye level. Just fantastic. Then they came round and did it again past the stern. They were so low. Don’t know about Happy Birthday for my daughter but it made my day. No chance of a photo, it was all too quick.
Kept seeing these all over Spain. Started to wonder what would have happened if I had met one on the road, on the wife’s Ducati? It is red.
And by 11pm were back. I’ve updated some of the latest posts from the last few days, from the puncture onwards. The tyre fitting episode etc. and I’ll post up more pics. Salamanca was beautiful. It got difficult to post as we were chasing the time.
Conclusions. There’s no point doing massive mile munching. Better doing it Chiz’s way, shorter distances and see more. Sometimes we had to do the distances. Motorway’s get you there but bore the arse off me. Sometimes we had to do it though. After nearly 4 weeks, I wish we’d had more time. To stop, experience more and take more pictures. TomTom could learn a thing or two from Google maps and Apple about simple operating software. They should start again in my opinion. Apparently Garmin are worse. More than once I considered punting it into the nearest field. The glove friendly screen was not friendly towards the reasonably priced winter gloves from Lidl but was friendly towards the fancy Ducati summer gloves. Both have leather fingers, I don’t get it? Also I’m sure it’s working slower since I updated just before departure. Maybe they have learnt something from Apple. It’s last years model. My home made carbon fibre sat nav adapter mount with rubber shock absorbers worked perfectly. Having the nav mounted high was far better than anywhere else. The panniers and yes I must admit the top box worked. They made luggage carrying easy but getting on and off difficult. Women have more luggage than men, fact, but Dulcinea did pretty well. I’d bought specially made pannier liners. Good but they waste a lot of space around the edges. Dulcinea and I had a real set to before the off. She had two ultra thin travel bags, the size you could could carry on a plane. They fold away to nothing, cost next to nothing from Boots or Sainsbury’s and were really flexible. We compromised. I took the specially made one that fitted around the exhaust, she took the flexible bags. I have to say they worked really well and maximised the use of space. Some kind of pannier liner is a must. Leyroy Merlin (Continental DIY shed) are open on Sundays in Portugal not Spain. They do a really good set of Allen keys including a 3/8ths. Result. I lubed the chain every riding day. Wurth dry lube, I figured it would retain less crap than thicker lubes. The centre stand made it much easier. I took two types of puncture repair kit, glad I did. Wouldn’t travel with less. Halfords Giz in a can which inflates your tyre. Guey plugs and Co2 canisters. Both work. The Givi tank bag is the best I’ve had. Clips on and off easiest and is the perfect size for passports, wallet, tickets sunglasses etc. If only the zip worked properly. The Multi performed faultlessly. Cruise control, heated grips and suspension adjustment all great on a tour. Although I can’t wait to get out on my Panigale. I’ve learnt how to get on and off but its still slightly difficult, easier in Urban mode. I just don’t know how shorter people manage. You don’t need all that suspension travel, a slightly lower bike would do it. I’d also prefer to be lent slightly further forwards, not so sit up and beg. It made my back ache between the shoulder blades. The design of the fairing does make it much noisier than my Panigale and Monster. I wouldn’t dream of riding it without earplugs. I’m considering making my own carbon fibre screen, lower but also wider. Not seen any manufacturer produce that. We’ll see. The wind came off the screen smoothly but was turbulating by the time it reached Dulcin’s ears! Hence a wider screen might work. A Sports Tourer version would fit the bill. Just like my old ST4 in fact, only modern! Lower, better screen/aerodynamics, slightly leaning forwards. 1200-1260cc. All the toys, abs, traction, modes, skyhook, quickshifter, cruise, etc. etc. Or like the Supersport but bigger. I couldn’t have done that tour on a Supersport. Honda do them, Kawasaki do one which I find myself looking at, now there’s an admission! It’s green, I can’t do that! Listen up Ducati. The intercom was perfect for us. Mainly because we never plugged it in. I somehow left the charger on the kitchen table.The whole way round I didn’t hear her scream once.
Blimey, wasn’t expecting that. Thank you. I hope others enjoyed it as much as we did. It’s also interesting to hear about other people’s adventures, In words or just pictures. I have a few more pictures from the post puncture to the end section which I’ll put up later.
Holy crapshoot Sam!!! So tied up in my own lil world I've not really looked at other threads in ages. It doesn't help that yours was started a few years back by el toro? It confuses Me!! But blimey I have some reading to do!!! Just caught the last page and am addicted!!! You write really well also. I like that. I don't know what to focus on now, your trip or the count of Monte Cristo!
What a great read that was.Thoroughly enjoyed it.With this and Chiz s tales we are really lucky to have such great contributions. I’ve toured Europe extensively for nigh on 40 years but never recorded anything really so you have given me some inspiration. Lots of good advice in there too for anyone considering giving it a go,particularly cutting down the mileage and seeing more. Thanks for your contribution
I love the way yours is Chiz, it’s more immediate. No matter it’s all good stuff. Stay focused, Monte Cristo, the posts, the road. It’s really cold wet and dark back here, I wouldn’t hurry if I were you.
