Omens ???

Not an auspicious start to what is potentially my longest ever solo trip! OK, I wont be on my own all of the way, but I have no idea how long Taz and Joel will be able to put up me yet, so it could still be a long way on my own.

After spending the weekend and early part of the week trying  (and failing!)to identify an electrical problem on the bike which is causing the battery to go flat whilst using my twin HID spots, only 10 minutes from home it became apparent that my GPS was not picking up the satellites very well. I also realised that the anti-glare coating on the screen was breaking up yet again !!! Yes this is the 3^rd Garmin 2610 that I have had this happen to, the previous ones had been replaced under warranty but this one, purchased second hand on eBay, was well past it’s “repair by” date. On top of that the nice dry, sunny weather I had woken up to at 5am had been replaced by … rain and lots of it. Oh yes a great start to my trip!

A quick stop at Brecon to Cotswold  Outdoor found me making another discovery, Cotswolds were no longer supporting the Scooters in the Sahara Project with a nice fat discount and at their full retail prices an nice new Garmin Montana was somewhat out of my budget.  However help was at hand; a quick call to those nice guys at Adventure Spec saw a new Montana winging its way to meet up with at niece Helen’s place by overnight courier.

As I’d previously ordered some new alternator bits from Motorworks to meet me there, I’d already changed my Eurotunnel crossing from Thursday to Friday afternoon as “just in case” time so that gives me today to sit out the rain (hopefully!) in nice comfortable surrounding with good company and also to play with and set up the new GPS when it arrives.

So first day on the road and as usual the unexpected bites. No big drama though and if that’s the worst I encounter you won’t hear any complaints from me!

Otherwise the ride down was uneventful other than lots and lots of heavy traffic, but then that’s fairy usual along the south coat. The bike is handling like a complete pig and I may well have to re-think my loading strategy. I’ve always carried the relatively heavy cooking kit in the front panniers to help offset the weight of the boxes at the rear, but the front feels very unsettled and vague, and the Airhead is not exactly renowned for it’s handling at the best of times. However, I’ll probably leave it until my first nights camping when hopefully the weather might be a little warmer and drier and everything will have to be unloaded anyway… Meanwhile another cup of tea beckons !