index

Through the spokes of the motorcycle I see Chris's sleeping bag on the picnic table, twisted all around him. He isn't stirring.

The cycle looms silently over me, ready to start, as if it has waited all night like some silent guardian. Silver grey and chrome and black - and dusty. Dirt from Idaho and Montana and the Dakotas and Minnesota. From the ground up it looks very impressive. No frills. Everything with a purpose.

I don't think I'll ever sell it. No reason to really. They're not like cars, with a body that rusts out in a few years. Keep them tuned and overhauled and they'll last as long as you do. Probably longer. Quality. It's carried us so far without trouble.

Plans for another bike tour for 2010 are now in the initial stages. Bare bones of it so far is that in July / August young Ben and me will board a plane to Vancouver where we'll be hiring a couple of bikes - maybe Harleys - and taking off on a Canadian road trip which will take in a good part of the Canadian Rockies and the Fraser Canyon.

Update: We've been in touch with a bike hire place in Vancouver who are willing to do us a deal on 8 days bike hire. The only Harleys they have are Road Kings. We don't fancy lugging one of those around for 1700 miles so we're going with something a bit lighter - to be arranged. The plan now is to fly out to Vancouver around 1st July 2010, then take a day or so to get over the flight before picking up the bikes. The basic route will be: Out of Vancouver on the Sea to Sky Highway (Rte 99) first nights stop in Lillooet. Then a run to Clearwater for the second night, Jasper, in the Alberta Rockies for the 3rd and Lake Louise 4th. We then start the long loop back to Vancouver heading down to near the American border & stopping over at Creston. Next leg will be to Nakusp and the lakes and the following day to the last nights stopover at Penticton. The final day's' run will be back to Vancouver via the small town of Hope. We still have to look at accommodation for the places we plan to stop over, so there may well be a few changes depending on what's available

To see photos at their best To see my Ridgeway Guitars Website
Click here Click here

The How, The Why,
Where and the What

1 Page

How we did it, why we did it, where we did it, what we did it for & who
we did it with........and other pointless questions answered.

Landscape Photos

2 Pages

A few photos we euphemistically call "Landscape Photography" .....Utter shite but worth a quick peek if you've now't else to do on a rainy Wednesday afternoon!

Scotland 2002

1 Page

Where all the daftness started, our first tour together up to exotic Wick
in the far North of Scotland. Crappy photos but the best we could do
with Wick under the circumstances!

Scotland 2003

2 Pages

We never quite managed to drink Scotland dry in 2002 so we went
back for another go in 2003. Better route this year, up through the
Western Highlands via Skye and our first visit to Ullapool

Europe 2004

4 Pages

Time for a change of scenery, a great tour of Europe. Lots of countries
lots of miles, lots of wine and ale. What more could a chap ask for? The Dagenham Girl Pipers to keep us warm at night? .....Nah we had Dez!

Andorra 2004

2 Pages

My missus,"Wee Jimmy Krankie" and me do some of the best roads in
the world .........In a Diesel hire car. Good grief what was I thinking
of? I've taken the pills and I'm fine again now!

Scotland 2004

1 Page

A little end of Summer jaunt up to Scotland for me and my lad Ben and
I never got rat arsed once. Bejeezus......I'm such a responsible Dad!
More or less the same route as 2003 but gave Skye a miss.

Spain 2005

1 Page

Dez, Steve Howard & Jack spend a week riding around Spain.
There was a Monastery, Hake Cheeks and a new Wheel Bearing for
Howard's ailing VFR750 en-route

Scotland 2005

2 Pages

Best Scottish run yet. It rained...a lot! But, nice to get back to the
Mountains, the superb McEwans 80/- beer and those excellent roads
you can only find in Scotland. We discovered Squirrel Batting too!!

Europe 2005

5 Pages

Wesley & Morticia with Wee Jimmy Krankie and Li'l ol' me, do 3 weeks
touring Europe on the Hondas. Ricard, Leffe light beer and lots of lovely French red vino and superb roads.............Heaven!

Latvia 2006

2 Pages

Let's go to Latvia for a pint" next thing we knew our cheap Ryanair flight
was touching down at Riga International Airport. Great people, great
country, great bars, and crappy taxi drivers!

Killin 2006

1 Page

A snowy weekend break in Killin near Loch Tay in Scotland for Wesley, Morticia, Wee Jimmy Krankie and me. We discovered the coldest place on Earth and slept in it.

Barcelona 2006

2 Pages

Wee Jimmy and me spend a few days on the Costa Brava visiting our
friends. We took a run to Barcelona with them, we ate all their food,
drank all their booze and then came home.

Austria 2006

2 Pages

Dez, Pete, Howard, Steve and young Chris go to Austria. The
usual round of madness and stupidity. I was gutted I couldn't go on
this one. Some great on bike shots here courtesy of Dez and Pete.

Europe 2006

5 pages

Wee Jimmy Krankie and me do a monster European Roadtrip in the
Eunos Roadster. 3 weeks with the Missus & GPS man in a 2 seater
car. An experience not to be missed! ......Nagging in stereo!

Poland 2007

2 pages

This one shut us up! A few days in beautiful Krakow with a trip to the
Nazi death camp at Auschwitz thrown into the mix. Very sobering and
incredibly sad.

Linton 2007

1 Page

Now't to do with bikes, cars or travel.....The Linton Blues and Beer
Festival held in darkest Herefordshire. Great music and lots of strange
people getting ratarsed and doing daft things!

Europe 2007

7 Pages

Wee Jim and me do the best Euro tour yet. Stunning scenery in Italy
and Slovenia, Nightmare of Venice and we meet a German Basil
Fawlty !

Australia 2007

2 Pages

A little hop over to Oz for my lad Ben. Well - he told us that's
where he went but he didn't bring back one photo of a kangaroo - most
disappointed in him!

Milan 2007

2 pages

Steve gets drunk and nicks someone's dinner, Dez comes out of the
closet about his breast fetish, Howard and me are incredibly well
behaved. ..We went to the Italian motorbike show

Portugal 2008

1 pages

Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain
Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain - lots of wind and a bit of snow and ice - Oh ...& stormy seas. Pete chucked!

Canada 2008	5 pages	Makes a bit of a change from Europe as we pop off to British Columbia to visit No1 child - the clever one! Loved it ........wanna go live there, always wanted to be bear bait
Bremen 2009	1 page	A couple of days in Bremen, Germany to celebrate a Wrinkly landmark birthday. Usual round of drunken debauchery,
Cannes 2009	1 page	A little "Run to the sun" for Dez and his little (ever growing) band of Merrie Men. Slightly better weather than last years Easter Portugal run
Yorkshire 2009	1 page	A nice weekend in Yorksheer.....we had fish 'n chimps and sunshine
France & Italy 2009	3 pages	Another Euro Bike tour. There was a storm, a Datatool alarm and cat meat curry ......mmmmmm nice!

Days Out

4 Pages

Sometimes we take time off from supping ale and scoffing curry and
head off into the big wide world for a day out. Not often mind, but
sometimes......here you'll find some shots of those rare occasions

Misc Photos	2 Pages	Some just plain daft, some serious. Most of the daft ones involve Reverend Pete so we'll quite understand if you give 'em a miss. The photos that didn't make the albums.
Temp & Misc Stuff	1 pege	Page for things nobody loves or that don't fit anywhere else - I'm in the far left corner!
Yamaha Fazer FZS 600	1 Page	Recently found photos of my old Yam Fazer 600 - with me and Ben Not a pretty sightt

Yamaha
FZX750

1 Page

Yamaha FZX750.........Gone but not forgotten!

   Honda VFR 750

1 Page

My Honda VFR750 - everything the V-Max isn't ......except
for it's V4 engine!

   Honda SP-1

1 Page

Ben's Honda SP-1.....Now he can go play at being Colin Edwards

Honda VFR800	1 Page	My gorgeous VFR800 Fi-X - now sadly sold
Honda VFR800 V.Tec	1 Page	Another Viffer, this time a V.Tec. I've owned all 3 now!
Harley Davidson Dyna Glide	1 Page	Finally succumbed to ideas of tassels and chaps!

Other Bikes 'n
Wrinkly Stuff

3 pages

Kawayamahonukiguzbeem .....Eh?

   Accommodation
   Reviews

4 Pages

The truth about places we've stayed. It's not pretty but it has to be done!

Links

1 Page

Nothing at all to do with places where Chinese people go skating!
Here you'll find links to guitar, motorbike and car stuff.......Amongst
other nonsense.

Contact

1 Page

Let us know if the site has any glitches or gremlins. If you find any of
the content offensive you're best finding a site more suited to your
sensitivity.... Here may be a good place to start looking - also
answers the question, "What does Pete do when he's not riding bikes?"

                                                        We are now                                                                                          OGB's
                                                         You Tubed                                                                            Ridgeway Guitars Website

Custom Motorcycle Seats
by Andy Fowler

E. mail andyfowleruk@msn.com

*Note: Andy has asked me to remove his 'phone no. as he's been inundated with enquiries. If you need to contact him about seat work then please e.mail him and he'll get back to you asap.

Ta - OGB

I'm not usually moved to include business ads on my website, but on this occasion I'm pleased to make an exception. My V.Tec seat was re-covered / gel padded by Andy and I was blown away by both the quality of the workmanship and of the materials used. Give him a call if you want your seat sorted, you'll be amazed at what he can do - and at very reasonable cost.

Disclaimer

If you're Welsh, Scottish, English, European, Asian or Middle Eastern - Muslim, Catholic, Protestant, Buddhist, Atheist or Jain, or in any other way religious - Black, White or Yellow - Straight, Gay or swing both ways and easily offended, then now would be a very good time to bugger off somewhere else! I'm an opinionated Oldgit, but I'm neither racist nor prejudiced of religious or sexual beliefs, I am however sick to death of the current wave of "political correctness". Travel brings you into contact with all manner of people, and stupidity, rudeness and intolerance is to be found in all all walks of life no matter what label it carries - and the piss will be taken where warranted ! I call it "Life's Rich Tapestry".

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