Its Adventure Time

[Rossco500]

Well folks - just to keep you sort of up to date.

Tim and Geordie's boat to Wales last Monday was cancelled due to the storm so they had a bit of catching up to do on the Tuesday. They rode from Belfast to Dublin, then on through Wales to near Cheltenham where they got a few hours kip under a tree at the motorway services - on Wednesday morning Geordie got new pads fitted to his GS at the local BMW dealers (Ouch!!).  From there they made their way to Portsmouth to meet up with the rest of the group and for the 5pm ferry to Spain . By Saturday afternoon they had ridden through Spain and reached the southern port of Algeceras for the ferry to Tangier. Not much fun on a 1988 Honda Dominator I'd imagine and to quote Tim "he was sick of the site of Spanish motorways".

Now 13 of them on the trip so there should be plenty of support if needed.

Will let you know if I hear any more info.

Tony

[themoudie]

Aye Tony,

Sounds like a hard slog on the Commie, but I suspect the ergonomics of the GS won't be much better! Corn plasters and zinc oxide cream for their backsides are the likely order of the day. Thank you for the update.😊

Good health and my regards, Bill

[themoudie]

Aye Tony, may I ask if there has been any further word from the wandering minstrels?

My regards, Bill

[Rossco500]

Hi Bill - Tim's mate Geordie texted the other day to say they were enjoying themselves despite having stomach cramps and the runs! Geordie that is - apparently Tim has been eating "All the s**te of the day" and has escaped them so far! Oh - and they can't get over the standard of hotel available for £20 per night.

Hope your recovery is going well?

Regards

Tony 

[Smithy]

Sounds like they're having a great time, notwithstanding the runs. I hope Tim is taking some good photos to show us when he gets back. I love the fact that he is proving that travelling to exotic places is not just for people on the latest incarnation of the GS.

Do you reckon we can persuade him to run a Thumper tour back to Morocco in the future?

Ian

[themoudie]

Aye Tony, thank you for the update on young 'Lochinvar's' travels. Turmeric in the diet maybe helping Timbo, or is it the ability to deal with "compo" rations from a previous life? 😉 Pleased to read that the Dommie is still doing the job, old air cooled 4stroke singles, with a simple carb and EI have an awful lot going for them, providing you keep clean oil and air to them.

As for accommodation costs, they are cheaper than YHA over here, if you can find any vacancies! 😕 And definitely better than the verge at a motorway services!😉 Telephone boxes and bus shelters were my favourites, if nothing else were available, but doubt if there are many of these in the Atlas Mountains.

Recovery is progressing, thank you, with full weight being taken on the leg and a peculiar 2 stick, 2 leg walking action being adopted. ☺ However, bruising still coming out of the bones and deep soft tissue, so little and often rather than big distances.

Good health to all, my regards, Bill

[tommy]

thanks for the update on the lads travels ,sounds like a good trip good to hear your a bit better bill tommy

[Rossco500]

Well Ian - I reckon if Tim was to organise a Thumper trip to Morocco he'd probably want to avoid any Spanish motorways and take at least a week to get there

I suspect he'll take some time to get used to the balmy temperatures of County Antrim in November when he gets back though!

Glad to hear things are coming along Bill. Our mate Shane who had the big smash and a ride in a helicopter back in mid-July is doing well. Up and about at home now and hopes to get the cage off the leg in December which is great given his list of injuries.

All the best

Tony

[themoudie]

Aye Tony and Tommy, thank you for your encouragement and the updates. My best wishes to Shane please.

Good health and my regards, Bill

[Smithy]

Well Ian - I reckon if Tim was to organise a Thumper trip to Morocco he'd probably want to avoid any Spanish motorways and take at least a week to get there

I suspect he'll take some time to get used to the balmy temperatures of County Antrim in November when he gets back though!

Glad to hear things are coming along Bill. Our mate Shane who had the big smash and a ride in a helicopter back in mid-July is doing well. Up and about at home now and hopes to get the cage off the leg in December which is great given his list of injuries.

All the best

That would do me fine Tony. I will have to see if I can twist his arm at the Dragon!

Ian

Tony

[BrendanO]

Sounds great! And you have the right bike (not too fancy if things go wrong, and Honda reliable so it will be fine). Admire your both-ends prep, much better than I would do.

Enjoy it!! Take lots of photos, and I agree about routine standard places on your person for small high value electricals.

[themoudie]

So! Is the young Lochinvar on the 'return' leg of the trip now?

Good health and safe passage to all.

My regards, Bill

[timbo]

Hi folks. Got home on Tuesday from my trip to the Sahara, and guess what. It was a long way away! I did nearly 7000kms, and was on easily the oldest bike, and the only aircooled one. I had a very worrying intermittent problem early on, which turned out to be the NEW plug I had fitted before leaving, and clutch problems on the way back through England. Would I do it again? Probably not, unless I was with similar older bikes, and we could take our time getting there. But it was definitely an adventure. Highlights would include,
The stunning roads and scenery
The abundance of old French cars and mopeds, eg Renault 4s and 12s, Motobecanes, Mobylettes, Berliot trucks.
Being shown around the traditional local market at Rissaani for two hours by a local Tuarag
The stunning hotels we stayed at
The Motor Museum full of mint 4 x 4s next to our hotel on the edge of the desert
The huge deserted fortress overlooking the date palmeries at Tamnougalte
The journey back up through Spain all on twisty more minor roads
Gibraltar. Fantastic day touring the Rock, then out on the piss that night.
 The downsides,
My bike was a bit old and tired compared to the others in the group
The grinding poverty and begging and hard selling everywhere
My plug problem, which it took a couple of days to discover
The crazy journey down by motorway.
Anyway, has anyone any suggestions where i should upload all my photos too, so that others may see them? Will they go on the Gallery on here, or do I need to down size them all first? Also, I kept a diary of the whole trip, and was wondering about maybe submitting the story to one of the magazines? Any ideas?
It would be impossible for me to cover the whole trip on this post, but feel free to ask any questions or comments 
Cheers, Tim

[Andy M]

Sounds good. Glad you enjoyed it and made it back safe.

Andy

[themoudie]

Aye Tim, welcome home, delighted to see that you and the Dommie have returned whole.

As for the questions about publishing the images and diary, might I suggest a word with Gino, he is probably publishing a book soon and as an experienced 'Blogger', with a telecommunications background, has a good idea of pitfalls etc of various media. 'WordPress' might be better than 'Blogger', because of copyright and your ownership of the contents of your blog.

Also have a look at this blog and see if you can have a one-to-one conversation with this man: http://thevintagent.com/  I don't always like the 'Scene'  that he publishes, but it is clear that he knows what he is doing with these sorts of blogs and media and often the images and the writing are knowledgeable and well laid out. Avoiding clutter and having a flow to the article/book/images, with a clear simple typeface and annotations, appears to make a huge difference.

Carefull reading, plan your layout and stick to it and retain your copyright.

I hope this helps, my regards, Bill