Vanity, thy name is woman

At the Soham Bikes and Bands event I made the slightly alarming discovery that although the Metal Mule topbox did rather suit the Africa Twin, it wasn't actually locked to the frame. If I'd taken the traffic calming with any more gusto I suspect it would have bounced free and gone for an adventure all of its own.

The rack on Ruby has a little tongue for the locking lever to bite. The new rack doesn't. So I spent some of yesterday wondering if I had accidentally committed myself to spending another 500 quid so that Ruby and the Africa Twin can have a top box each.

I called Metal Mule this morning and the good news is that I'm not the only person out there with more than one adventure bike but not enough money for 2 sets of panniers. A new clamp is on its way to me in the post, for about 480 quid less than the cost of a topbox. And why am I feeling vain? Because when Mr Mule asked for my name for the parcel he remembered me from my visit with Ruby three years ago, and asked if I was still on the telly. I like to be memorable :)

Passenger looks a bit ruff!

Norton outfit at Soham Bikes and Bands.

Conversations unlikely to be had by Kevin Ash #2

"Hello, I need to arrange an insurance estimate, I bounced my BMW off the side of a car last Monday"

"Was it a motorcycle?"

If it wasn't a motorcycle, I wouldn't be calling BMW Motorrad Norwich, now, would I?!

Strong correlation between bikers and Rush fans...

Did we all read Neal Peart's book?

I am being what I please

I need to write the words that go with the pictures from the Air Ambulance ride, but it's not an easy one to start. I am at risk of dire sentimentalism! I have done the trip three times now. The first time was while I was trying to come to terms with choosing to leave my husband, an act for which I still feel massive guilt. Last year the relationship I turned my life upside down for was in its death throes, and as we ate our chips in a sandy car park on Anglesey it was clear that I would be going home to start living alone for the first time. This year I have a new job which is going well, a by-line in RiDE (the fee for which paid for most of the petrol), and a small diamond-bright sense of optimism that finally, maybe, it is going to be OK.

Optimism which didn't save me from the terminal embarassment of bursting into tears in front of Steve, this year's travelling Aussie, on the last day, just like a 7 - year old who doesn't want to go home from the seaside. With all its miles, frustrations, crashes, oil panics, broken nights and downpours, it is still an amazing experience and one which I wish could go on for ever.

"And did you get what
you wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved, to feel myself
beloved on the earth."

At the Great North Air Ambulance

So cold i could cry....

Time to turn

Leaving Dingwall always makes me sad. From here each day takes me nearer the real world. Life on these tours is simple. Get up, pack, ride 300 miles or so with an Air Ambulance visit and a few RBR LMs en route, get rained on, make camp, have shower, eat, sleep. Repeat. Only twice more now.

Dunnett Head, most northerly part of Britain

He's called Boffin for a reason....

Andy's bike has a socket for 3-pin plugs.

Tuesday morning, 7am

It's a bit chilly in Dingwall so I've taken my coffee back to bed for a few more minutes toastiness. A successful detour to Barter Books (which preceded a slightly less successful detour into the side of a small car, I am fine, Ruby seems fine, the car has a BMW-shaped dent in the side) means I have the luxury of reading a book! (stuart Maconie's Cider with Roadies, for those who prefer detail).

Hoots Mon!

...or is that Hoots, Monday?

I am ready :) Ian is not ready...

Cornwall Air Ambulance

Ian's security crocs

At Lands End....

Gnarly!

10 minutes to Cavalcade

Thundersprint 2011

It's enough to put you off camping...in a schoolboy error I left my earplugs on the bike & thus was kept awake first by the sound of the rain falling and then by the howling gale. Rain inside the tent again - I feel like I must be doing something wrong. There was another tentipi on the football pitch looking much more stable than mine...

Enjoy The Silence

Stephen Moffat has taken some fire recently for making Dr Who too scary for modern kids.

For anyone worried about The Silence, I offer empirical proof that they are made up. If human evoution had really been guided by alien intelligence I can't believe that BMW would have developed a headlamp assembly that requires two thumbs on the same hand to change a bulb.

Still, it's a lot easier wrestling with the bastard clip in my garage than outside an RNLI station in the North East under the watchful gaze of the RBR Long Distance Touring Section....

LAMPF! FUEL!! ACTION!!!

Ruby has got a little teutonic of late and is now complaining vehemently that not only is she starving for fuel (not true, it's just the fuel gauge that's failed for the second time) but she's also gone blind in one eye. Changing bulbs requires the hands of a 7 year old and the patience of a saint, neither of which I possess right now so I will just have to concentrate on getting home before dark.

I am enjoying riding every day, it's not very far to work but there is a point where, after riding a dark and narrow lane between thatched cottages we burst out onto an open, rising road beside a field full of yellow flowers and under a clear blue sky. At which point I usually cackle like the loon that I am at the sheer bloody joy of it.

Also in the joy column, this morning we managed a perfect sweepy overtake - just a little one, but it was so poised and timed that even I was pleased with it.

And this evening we went to the barbecue bike night at Ultimate Bike Gear in Papworth. I am feeling a bit lonely at the moment (I think it was watching the Royal Wedding that did it!) so I am resolved to go out and about a bit more, for company and fun isn't going to find me if I hide at home. I sound very brave saying this now, but the truth is I nearly wimped out of going, it is daunting heading out to these things and not knowing whether you'll know anyone. Big thanks to Lloyd for not letting me be a wuss. Somewhere in my house there is a badge that says, "Talk to me, I don't know anyone here" - I used it a lot in my first few weeks at university, and maybe I should bring it out of retirement. In the meantime, if you're at a bike meet and you see a tall woman with purple hair looking a bit nervous please come and say hello to me.

Meanwhile this weekend I'm looking forward to being at the Thundersprint with Nikos and Mrs Nikos, and the prospect of a guest appearance from Clarky! Telegraph bloggers reunited :)

And next weekend I shall be at Lands End for the start of the Round Britain Rally AA Ride. The AA stands for Air Ambulance, not our anticipated road rescue service of choice. More info here.

PS The picture does not show Ruby. It reminds me that there was once a time I could manage a 10 day trip with one tankbag...