Tomorrow night BBC2 shows the third in the latest series of Ewan McGreggor and Charley Boorman driving large BMW motorbikes from the top of Scotland down to the sounthern tip of Africa. The previous series showed them driving from London across Asia to Alaska and the US to New York – an impressive trip. One recurring theme from the earlier trip was their annoyance at being recognised and treated as celebs when they were yearning for anonymity and just being the two ‘mates’. This time, we see them with t-shirts with their names writ large and clear on the back, not the best route to anonymity. Its a shame the style of these shows is unmistakably ‘reality tv’ because this genre insists tediously on making more of things than there is. The usual way they do this is by talking up some personal tensions between the people they are filming and there is a liberal helping of this spread across Long Way Down. It makes Charley and Ewan just come across as spoilt: having set up this venture with large sponsorship and filming deals, we see them complain about the schedule, the support people, etc etc. The fun part, for bikers at least, is the challenge of the journey and some vicarious thrills about the lovely kit, but you have to survive the other stuff for a few minutes of that kind of pleasure. I wonder whether I will get through to the end of the series. The BBC website on the series is good with some nice links to the BMW site.

Here it is outside my house. I’m still not quite sure what all the knobs do and have odd anxieties about the chain wearing a groove in something. I also still need to get better clutch/throttle control – its different to the Honda I learned on. Its fun though. this pic makes my street look terrible. Also its too big…..

Now that I am the smug holder of a full motorbike license I have been obsessively glued to ebay looking to start practising this pastime. Having not won a reasonably priced machine (Bandit 600) partly through inept bidding, my sights drifted toward a 1200cc Bandit in Hitchin, in an optimism that I could cope with the weight and power. But the insurance premium is over double the price for a 600cc machine so maybe not. Maybe the hike in premium reflects a hike in claims…
But the fading summer, and the end to my holiday on Friday, has put some urgency into this but I think patience and focus probably are the way to go. I’ve also ordered some interesting looking books: one is Noble Eightfold Path: Way to the End of Suffering by Bhikkhu Bodhi. Others are Adventure Motorcycling Handbook by an author I can’t remember and Ted Simon’s Jupiter’s Travels, about his biking around the world in the early 1970s.

What a rollercoaster. I can’t believe what emotional highs and lows I’ve been through over the last week, feeling hopeless on Monday about ever passing the bike test to really quite confident before to convinced that I had passed as I sat down in the test office just after, even made a joke about sitting down to hear bad news – and I did. I had failed for not making progress and for hesitation. The news was delivered so quickly. I really couldn’t believe it. Four of us took the test that morning and one one passed, the very confident man after me who had a brand new bike ready to pick up that afternoon (I haven’t even shelled out on a helmet so as not to tempt fate). Two women both failed. The next most painful stab was paying for the next test and accompany to test quickly signing away another £170. O if only I had taken that roundabout more quickly, I’ve been thinking, just that one could have tipped the balance and I’d not be going round with my head in my hands, and hating the site of my leather gear hanging around my bedroom.

Next test is about 3 1/2 weeks. However in the meantime, a friend has lost her husband in a motorcyle crash on the M5. See here. This is sobering and does make me wonder why I am doing this. In the next couple of weeks I’ll be hiring a 125cc to get some practice at going faster! What a time….