I had a bit of an eventful day today. Set of to hike up Pen y fan , had to find a way out of town as there were was a road closure and ended up going a way I don’t usually use. Somewhere on that trip I must have ridden over something sharp. By the time I got to Leominster about 20 minutes away I felt the bike being unstable.
Moving to Herefordshire was one of the more challenging things to do but its lovely to see how beautiful the countryside can be.
All Saints’ Church, Brockhampton
Near Bromyard
Malvern Hills, Ragged Stone
Had a great trip to the Algarve recently and rented a Honda Shadow motorcycle for a week. On one of the last few days of my stay there I planned a trip to the south-western tip of Portugal - Cabo de São Vicente and Sagres. However all did not go well from my start in Albufeira. As I knew I was going to be on the road for at least an hour, perhaps 1.
As the year has been coming to an end and winter seems just round the corner I decided to fill some of my inter-locuming days with a bit of biking. Hired a bike but this time something a little more comfy for the longer journeys - a proper touring bike with heated arm rests and seats would you believe it!! This time I rented a touring bike from the same Manchester rental company I used before .
Map of everywhere I stopped or slept. Don’t have a full record of every road I took as Google Maps didn’t have that feature working very well back then.
I would admit the headline is a little sensational but at the time of driving through Oregon I did think there was something odd about the Beaver state. In my many years of driving round Europe and now the USA I have found that all petrol stations have turned into self-service affairs. You get there, you you fill up your tank, you pay and then you drive off.
But in Oregon - oh nooooo.
End of the trip in Chicago, Illinois
Today marked the first week since I hit the road. It seems like ages since I departed Chicago and I must say the trip has given me the desired effect and changed my perspective on biking and bikers. Long I thought them to be criminal gang associated thugs. But the truth really is far faaar from that misconception. They are a really friendly bunch of people that will always help each-other in trouble.
Distance travelled: ~8,000 miles (just under 13,000 km)
The 17 states that I had a chance to see:
Illinois Milwaukee (briefly) Minessota (briefly) North Dakota South Dakota Wyoming Montana Idaho (briefly) Washington Oregon California Nevada Arizona Utah Colorado (briefly) Nebraska (briefly) Iowa (briefly) People met: loads
Technical issues with the motorcycle: almost none, substantial oil addition in Utah at about 6.125 miles into trip. When I wrote this article I seemed to have completely forgotten about my problem getting the bike started on Day 1, when I was still on the Eaglerider carpark in Chicago.
Chicago river from Lower North Lakeshore drive
Drove from Morris, Illinois in the morning straight downtown. Although sometimes glitchy the built-in Android turn-by-turn satnav saved the day by giving me good verbal instructions to guide me to the Monaco hotel where I stayed until my flight on Tuesday. Left most of the luggage there and then drove to the Eaglerider shop at the Chicago, Countryside Harley-Davidson branch. Very thrilling ride but not that difficult.
After completing my wish of seeing the Grand Canyon I realized I need to start towards Chicago. The day before sort of already was a travel east but it was more south-east than northeast which it should have been. I started from the Colorado town of Grand Junction . The previous day travel was not pleasant at all. More like excruciatingly hot. It felt like I was in a stove and the air just kept getting hotter and there was no way of getting out.
