Don't beat me up, I'll do it myself.

Well this is written as an apology for the last couple of boring posts - I mean who wants to read about someone going for a ride when that's what we all do, right?

So I'm going to offer up a couple of excuses. The first is of course that I'm pretty boring anyway, what do you expect from a reformed alcoholic living alone in a remote cottage in the Scottish highlands making wildlife videos for fun?

The second excuse is......shit, I've already used that one.

So what happened was that a few months ago I developed a problem with my left eye, which the pretty young doctor lady told me was due to my age. It kept me off the bike for a few weeks only, although it hasn't got much better I've just put up with it. Then last week the other eye developed the same problem. Now I don't know about you, but it seems to me that once is an accident, but twice is more than a coincidence. This time the PYDL (AMAZING...I've only had a German bike for a few weeks and I've started to think in acronyms) mentioned the age thing again, then added in stuff like extreme short-sight and detached retinas.

That's when I panicked. I don't know about you, but I like reading and writing and looking at stuff, especially if it means I can earn a living as well, so I'm not too comfortable with the idea of giving up looking, especially if it means not riding the bike. So (here it comes...) the reason why the last post was so boring was because I was wobbling along at 40mph trying to judge corners and not fall off and so didn't have time to take in anything interesting. Yeah I know that sounds even lamer than the first excuse, oh and please don't say I shouldn't have been riding because some boring bastard in my office keeps going on about it as well.

Highwaylass has been summing it up recently in her posts - riding makes you feel alive. I know I still have a grin every time I get on the bike, even if I can't really see where I'm going.

Better than staying in...

True to my word (see below) I've been using the bike no matter what the weather gods have thrown at us. Yesterday we had gale-force winds and torrential rain, but I still met a couple of the lads for a ride. Mind you, when we got to Ballater and saw the snow above the town we did turn around and beat a hasty retreat.

I'm pretty pleased with the GS, I'm using it in weather that I wouldn't have ventured out in on the Bandit, so thats a bonus. And it looks better all covered in mud as well. I also discovered that wet grass doesn't seem to offer much grip, even for knobbly tyres, so I'll have to stick to the mudslide, as I affectionately call my driveway, for access to the house.

Trapped

We had quite a heavy frost Saturday night, it looked like it had been snowing. Laying on top of the already iced-up dirt track down to the road, it was enough to make me decide not to go out for the Sunday morning ride - and anyway, Derek had just fitted new tyres to the fireblade so he wasn't going anywhere.

Looking on the bright side, that gave me time to fit some of the new goodies I'd bought for the bike. First on were the Tobinators (thanks for the tip, Nikos) which I'd hoped would be really complicated and trick-looking given their name, but turned out to be a couple of bits of metal with a slot in, but they fitted to the screen easily so that was a bonus. Next up was the carbon-fibre rear hugger which evidently weighs 1 oz, or maybe 10 oz, whatever, it was extremely light and sexy-looking and fitted well.

In fact it all went so well, including fitting the uprated bulbs, that I was soon faced with a whole day in front of me with nothing else to do. So..I cleaned the cottage!!! How sad is that. I even ironed a couple of shirts, made my dinner and watched X-factor on the TV. Oh and by the way what a twat that Simon is, he had a chance to get rid of Jedward and he bottled it.

So next week I'm going out on the bike even if I have to carry it down the track on my back.

a little light relief

How many Scotsmen does it take to change a lightbulb?

"Och, it's nae that dark!"

Not like in my day....

My goodness we've been having some awful weather up here - it's rained everyday for the last 3 weeks. So I thought it the perfect time to buy a new bike.

Having given up on my cunning plan to convert my bandit streetfighter to a touring bike, the penny finally dropped - that's it El D, buy a touring bike. So I bought this second-hand BMW 1200GS. And believe it or not, today dawned bright and dry so me and the bandit slid down the dirt track and off to the dealers to do the swop.

All proud, I took the afternoon off work to go for a nice long ride; pulled into a little petrol station up in the Highlands and the elderly attendant asked " Off touring then?" When I started to tell some story about where I was going, he stated "rubbish these modern bikes, too big, too tall, engines too big. In my day if you had a 500 you were top of the heap - best bike I had was a Norton Dominator, nice and low, threw a leather pannier on it and went of and toured switzerland and belgium...." shook his head in disgust and wandered away.

Exit one embarrassed El D.

The good news is we despatched the dirt track up to the cottage with ease, and I felt strangely happy to see mud splattered all over the bike. Bit noisy with the screen though, I suppose I'll get used to it.

city of light......

It seemed as if Saturday could be the last day of summer, so I decided to make a visit to Findhorn, up on the north-east coast near Inverness. Got up early and had a fantastic (if freezin') ride up over the Lecht, down through Tomintoul and Grantown-on-spey, up to Forres and on to Findhorn.

Arrived at the 'city of light' as immortalised Eileen Caddy's books, and Mike Scotts "Long way to the light" (http://www.last.fm/music/Mike+Scott/_/Long+Way+to+the+Light?autostart)mid-morning to blazing sunshine and blue skies.

"Hang on El D" I can hear you saying, "bikers and hippies don't mix". Well, I look at it like this - bikers love the idea of freedom, right, isn't that why we do it? So if you're into mechanical stuff, then living off-the-grid has appeal, all those windturbine gears and batteries and wires and stuff and dare I say it living outside the system ... And meditating is pretty much the same as riding a bike - 'empty your mind of all thoughts and concentrate' well thats what I have to do or I fall off!

Anyway, I had a wander around the eco-village, which is really what Findhorn is famous for - they pretty much developed eco-housing, self-sufficient living and community ideals, having first set-up back in 1962. It's a fascinating place, and I have to admit I've made a few trips there over the years. They've also got a great little cafe so I had a nice lunch in the sun and pondered all those questions like..what next? I haven't really got my head around being 60, I should be a grandad but I feel like I'm a grandson - if you know what I mean?

Whoa, this was all getting a bit heavy, so I decided to ride off and visit Loch Ness instead. Didn't see Nessie, saw some great scenery and empty riding roads and spent the rest of the day inside my head. Got home late, weary and saddle-sore, fell into bed and slept like a log. Suicidal Sunday, crap Monday at work; I'm thinking its time to move on from here. I'm still going to keep on riding though 'till the arthritis gets too bad. Must test ride a Harley, they're good for old men, right?

Another great biking day

Got up early today, rode up and over Cairn'o Mount down to the coast to visit an old pal. Then down to Forfar, back over Glen Shee to Braemar then home. The sun shone, my eye seems OK; all is well with my world. Loads of bikes outside the caff enjoying the sunshine, saw a couple of different ones. Another great biking day!