Today I managed to just about complete my chapter on critical theory, Marx and critique and to burn my legs in an hour lying on Chesil Beach. Apart from a telephone call with H just now I have not interacted with a single person today.
Miles 21 down through Abbotsbury to the car park by the beach and back via Dorchester Tesco.
Average speed 26mph
Maximum temperature 28 C – phew
I slept well last night on a slightly soft mattress. I love breakfast and have some delicious rye loaf and nice jam. And there is a toaster here that takes one burnt slice to work out how to set it just right. I wrote for about an hour and tried to summarise Marx’s ideas. After that I packed up the bike – it is so easy with all my stuff to hand and the bike just outside the door – and headed off. My aim was to find my way through the network of narrow winding lanes to Litton Cheney.
Its not far as the crow flies but the roads are enjoyable but mostly single track with tall hedges on either side. I vaguely remembered the layout of the village (from forty-one years ago believe it or not) and parked up in the pub that I remembered was next door, and over a small stream from the youth hostel. The building has been refreshed in the intervening years and a timber addition built on the left. I had forgotten that the roof is shaped as the top half of a cylinder. It is a very attractive building, with the front door left open as if inviting me to pop my head in and start to explain to whoever was inside: ‘Oh, I worked here in 1974…’
Having studied the photo of me posing on Edward Goring’s brand new BMW back in ’74, I recognised the stone wall backdrop and the railings on either side of a small foot bridge over the stream that appear in the photograph. I had wondered about arranging my bike in the same spot and then asking a passer-by to take a pic – but didn’t embark on this rather tricky manoeuvre – and anyway there were few people around. (I am tempted to try it)
I rode off down a lane toward Bridport, then turned off at Swyre to pick up the nice coast road with fantastic views down to Chesil beach and the sea. I did find one sloping gravel car park but couldn’t find a place where I felt the bike would stay upright so, rather uncourageously, left and rejoined the road. I kept going and found my self on a busy ring road around Bridport carrying traffic down from the A35 toward Devon and Cornwall – quite a shock to be a part of this heavy traffic and a little depressing. I headed west for a while then took a detour around Charmouth and headed back. There were quite a few motorcyclists on this road. Too many to nod at.
I carried on through Abbotsbury to Weymouth, where I am sure I have been before and just when parking looked impossible found a bike-only space next to the harbour full of bobbing boats. Once off the bike I realised how warm it is, especially with heavy motorcycle gear on. I crossed a bridge on foot and walked along the road crowded with holidayers and found a not entirely promising café where I settled for a pot of tea and a salad, surrounded by families, many with crying children. As a lone traveller you notice this. I am surprised how little some parents interact with their children apart from to tell them off. Maybe I was the same.
I headed back to my favourite spot – air-conditioned Tesco Dorchester and stocked up on tonight’s dinner and Chablis as well as the best granola I could find. Already the route back to the barn is more familiar and I ride with more verve.
Back here after a shower and a nap I wrote more about Marxism and its critiques. Its slow going but I am writing. I need to spend a whole day to build up momentum (as we Labour party members say).
Miles today: 61
Average speed 27 mph
I changed gear 442 times and applied the front brakes 233 times and the rear 734. How’s that for style?
My GPS tells me that the temperature varied between 20 and 22 C but I know it was warmer than that.
Nearly 200 miles from my garage in Cambridge to East Rew Cottage. I got up before 7 carrying my two bags down to the garage to squeeze into the panniers and headed off before 8am. Much of the ride is a little tedious but necessary, with queuing on the M25 and at the beginning of the M3 which is being turned into a ‘smart motorway’ according to the signage. Slowing to a crawl, stopping and starting again is tedious with heavy luggage on the bike. Coffee and cake at Fleet services (these services are always full of humanity-hardly surprisingly) and then a blast down here, arriving at Dorchester at about 2.30 to stock up on some food for the next day or two. Tesco Dorchester has an array of fountains outside. It must be the grandest Tesco I’ve seen, though inside it is identical to the others.
The road got attractive suddenly after Salisbury and stayed calmly twisty up until the motorway-like ring road around Dorchester. By the time I got down to Dorset I was a bit too tired to appreciate the lovely roads. I save that for the next six days.
Comments on Nexx helmet: I tried the drop down sunvisor for the first time. I think if all else fails it is helpful but it is not optically that great and does not come down far enough so I am very conscious of the lower edge in my vision. I don’t know whether other helmets implement this better. So this extra feature over the Arai Tour x that I also considered is not a winner. I also found it hot and the ventilation is a bit poor though with a head squeezed up against the lining of any helmet ventilation is never going to be great. The fact that you can fix a camera mount to a detachable plate is a plus though. BMW Ralleye Pro suit: again with so many vents in the jacket and the trousers and a basically light design makes it preferable to a leather suit/jacket in weather that got up over 25 degrees today (that’s just the south of England – imagine southern Spain in summer which is why they have made the jacket, that and African countries).
Dorchester is very close to here. It will be easy to go back there are look for some wifi to upload backups of my manuscript and download some information from the net for my writing. With no Internet here, and no radio, I just have to plough on with writing. Sometimes it feels like a hard slog. The weather until Wednesday is looking good and I am looking forward to some riding around these lovely lanes. The air is thick with the sound of sheep baying (or it is baaing?) and birds singing. And the sunlight is beautiful.
The cottage is good – simple, with very basic ugly stuff but fine. Just what’s needed – a simple kitchen, bathroom with an electric shower over the bath that is impossible to get at the right temperature and double bed with something frilly on top, Ikea wardrobe.
Miles: 197
Average speed 25mph (!)
Temperature: 14 C to 28 C
Tomorrow morning I leave for another motorcycle trip. This time there is a slightly different approach, less ambitious perhaps. I have a book contract due in mid September, my critique of the promotion of resilience, so have decided to rent a cottage and divide the time between writing (mostly) and riding ( two or three hours a day maybe). I am going down to Dorset to stay a few miles from Litton Cheney where I worked in a youth hostel after leaving school. This was also the ground where I first discovered the fun of motorcycles and part of this trip is to retrace the ride I had back in 1974 on the back of a BMW R80 (I think) from Litton Cheney to Bath. This time I have a couple of nights in a hotel there (and not staying in Royal Crescent as I did in 74) before heading home.
So out of the panniers go – all the camping equipment – and I am travelling still with panniers, topbox (it would be great to travel without it but it is too useful to pick up groceries and to keep a helmet in when I leave the bike) and tank bag, but lighter and with more space for computer and a few books.
Dorset is a beautiful, rolling county with some lovely coastline. Its about 190 miles away, via the dreaded M25.
A lovely sunny Sunday and what could be better than a ride over to Norfolk to visit friends who have recently swapped a one bedroom flat in the Barbican for four acres of land and an amazing rambling victorian house. I can’t remember the last time I said wow so many times (the photograph does not do it justice).
We talked about Brexit and the madness of the price of property in London and the rest of the country.
Garboldisham had 721 residents at the 2001 census. The ride today was good, particularly on the way back through Fordham avoiding the A14 whose tentacles firmly surround Cambridge. As ever, I am sad when every ride ends. My Hideout Leather jacket is good. I’m getting used to the close fit (I even need to remove my wristwatch for it to fit properly). I feel highly protected but for hot weather I would prefer something with more ventilation.
I’ve been toying for a while with the idea of buying a good quality leather jacket for riding. I’ve had two very cheap jackets in the past which would not have helped much in a crash. I have visited Hideout Leather when I was riding around on the advanced riding course and have always wanted to drop in again. Its one of those places where they offer you a cup of tea as soon as you step inside – which is a nice welcome. Can you imagine that in John Lewis or the Apple Store?
I had no intention of buying anything (honestly) and the small shop was crowded with large motorcyclists (mind you, everybody looks large in motorcycle kit – even me). After casually asking about Knox’s clever layered gear I realised that it was not for me and before I knew it I was trying on one of Hideout’s Touring jackets – size 40. It felt immediately tight but owner Kate assured me that this kind of protective kit actually needs to fit closely. (They describe themselves as ‘experts on fit’ and I wondered about all the other kit I had bought without any of that kind of advice.) The penny dropped so that we both realised my falling-down-sloppy leather trousers would be hopeless in terms of protection. The knee armour is half way down my shins. So with back armour also fitted to the jacket I was fishing for my debit card before I knew it, wondering whether to throw out my collection of old jackets.
Their unimaginatively named ‘Touring’ jacket is short (apparently its long) and sturdy. Needless to say it looks incredibly well made and will – I hate to say it – probably easily see me out.
I’m looking forward to riding in it. I wonder how it copes with rain.
As usual I got lost on the way to the shop, my GPS, like an irritating passenger seemed to tell me to turn just as I was sailing past a couple of junctions so it was a circuitous route down single track roads to get there – but a nice ride on a dry but overcast day.
