Taken near the Mere at the bottom of Olivers Mount

Tues 14th 2020

After the long journey to my parent's house in North Yorkshire, see Part 1, I had the rest of Sunday off the bike and then the Monday too, to catch up with them and rest a little.  By Tuesday though I was itching to get the bike out and go exploring my old stomping ground and visit my daughter and family.  I also had a visit to one of my UK banks to fit, in to sort out a non-functioning debit card amongst other things.

Getting the bike out and seeing it covered in almost 2,500km of road grime, I had the urge to wash it but had no time as I had to get to the bank in Scarborough and then to my daughters for a late breakfast.  My Dad helped me oil the chain before setting off, as I had neglected it a bit on the journey, it was done the night before I left and was starting to look a bit dry with an odd squeak.  After a good dousing, my Dad has a BMW and is not used to chains, I set off into Scarborough and the bank.

At the start of 2020, I had all sorts of ideas for bike trips and possible tours but we all know how that went.  Sitting at home in Spain with little to do apart from thinking about what could have been, got the better of me at times and I, along with many others, just wanted to get out and ride.  As lockdown started to ease and we were allowed to get back to some sense of normality work took over from thoughts of bike riding and everything was put on the back burned for possibly the whole year.

However due to an unfortunate family issue, I had to return to the UK for a short trip, luckily the quarantine situation in the UK was removed for EU citizens and plans could be made.

After months of hot sunny weather, today was supposed to be filled with rain and thunderstorms, although I only found this out once I'd posted a ride for our Facebook Page users.  Fingers were crossed and weather reports checked until late on Saturday the ride was called off as most of us would rather not get wet if we don't have to.  Waking up this morning to beautiful blue skies, with an odd cloud was something of a surprise after the forecast, but the weather can change here.

There have been many pictures of beaches appearing in the media showing them empty in Spain and busy ones in the UK.  I thought it would be nice to go and have a look at these "empty beaches" as they are always full when I am there.  It also gave me a great excuse for a ride.

The traction control system is an acronym for TCS. It is a system that controls the traction of the driving wheels of a vehicle. Such systems have been part of the automotive industry for several years. However, in motorcycles, they are in continuous development, even though they have recently made their way to various motorcycles.

During the winter of 1999 - 2000 I sold my Honda Fireblade and was on the lookout for something new, something better than the Honda.  Many would say this was an impossible task as the Fireblade was/is such a great bike, however, I found it quite boring.  Don't get me wrong it was a superb motorcycle, doing everything I asked of it in a typical efficient manner you would expect from a sports bike from the big H, however, I found it a bit bland, a bit too easy.