After months of planning I finally sail from Harwich tonight over to the Hook of Holland and then the rest of the week biking in Germany around the Mosel area. I have spare lightbulbs, bandages and a folded triangle that sticks out the back of my luggage. Accommodation is booked and the daily rides are not ambitious – the first day is about 350k though and rain is forecast for tomorrow. I also have a Garmin GPS which I tried out in Spain last week and I have learnt that it can really help in situations where you are totally lost – though it did give a few odd directions, like the wrong way down a one way street. So baring breakdowns (I have Cover) and accidents things should go well. with a good book – Austerlitz by Sebald (in English) which I have lost – and a pack of Camel, this should be enjoyable.

Read most reviews of the Triumph Sprint ST and sooner or later you will see two things – first, that to change the headlight bulbs you need to dismantle half the bike and, second, that many owners add some electronic gizmos in order to undo the silly arrangement where only one of the two headlights comes on at a time. I spent some time searching the net for instructions and searched through my Haynes manual. In the end, a list of which screws and bolts to undo from the net in hand, I set about sorting both tasks – to change the standard bulbs for supposedly 30% brighter xenon bulbs and install two relays to get both headlights to come on. I approached the task with my usual pessimism but two hours later and with a significant lack of problem the front of the bike was off, and bolted and screwed back on again, the work having been done. Here are some pictures.