Great write-up in Wrexham Leader, 6/8/10
Occupying just about all of page 3, no less! Click here to view the article on the Leader’s own site.
Day 46: West Arms Hotel tonight, before final stop
[Monday 12th July] There will be a quiet gathering at the West Arms Hotel this evening for friends and family to celebrate Tim’s return, before he goes on to visit [...]
Day 45: back to Birmingham, 6370 miles. Party!
[Sunday 11th July] Due to ongoing chain trouble and several days of compounded schedule setbacks, the bike has been returned to Birmingham for repairs, to be aided by consultant automotive [...]
Day 44: chain trouble, railway to the rescue
[Saturday 10th July] Primary and secondary chains both problematic. Some success thanks to spare links donated by Lynton and Lynmouth Railway. Cardiff next…
Day 43: Land’s End – shut!
[8.45] At Land’s End. Started at 6am, stopped for coffee in Truro, found Land’s End [tourist centre?] shut!
Bike going well, taken some pictures, now heading towards home.
Day 42: Dorchester, Peugeot prat, Roche
[9am] Good breakfast at J D Wetherspoons in Dorchester – thumbs up to the staff there. Will be in Devon soon, and Land’s End hopefully by tonight.
Special thumbs down to [...]
Day 41: On BBC WM radio at 11am! (7/7/10)
[8.45am] Currently half an hour from Portsmouth. Will be appearing live on BBC’s Radio WM at 11am this morning on Joanne Malin’s ‘mornings’ show!! Click here to listen live, and [...]
Day 40: still on the valve hunt
[9am] May be able to get valves from a vintage motorcycle dealer; may also get some manufactured blanks to machine to size. Got phosphor bronze to make a new valve [...]
Day 39: Sussex, somewhere; valve trouble #2
[9.30am] That rear exhaust valve again! Massive wear in the valve guide has been causing the valve to rock unbearably. Has lasted well since John O’Groats.
Aiming to get 2 valves [...]
Day 38: Kent, Sussex, and clutch bother
[9.17am] In Tonbridge, Kent, going to south coast, about half way to Hastings, arriving in about 1½ hours to have a late breakfast Pevensey with Philip, a friend of Marion [...]
Day 37: big bang #2, Ipswitch
[17.20] A second cap blowout took out the fuel [drain?] tap! Cap lodged between magneto and advance/retard cable. Found the tap on a roundabout on the A12 near Ipswitch. The [...]
Day 36: Fakenham, Norwich, Lowestoft
[9.50am] Missed visit to Andy T.’s for breakfast and unfortunately had to press on with journey. Good night at the Star in Fakenham, followed by kind use of sofa courtesy [...]
Day 35: big bang before Humber Bridge; 290 mile day
[10am] Phoned from Immingham, travelling down the Lincolnshire Coast, hope to be in Skegness for lunch or sooner.
Prior to crossing the Humber Bridge there was a big bang from the [...]
Day 34: at Humber Bridge, catching up a bit
[Weds afternoon] Currently at Scarborough, but ought to be in Dover by now!
Haven’t smoked cigarettes for the last 4 days, just the occasional pipe. Feeling great.
Moving on down the coast [...]
Day 33: R&R at St Abbs
[29/6/10 6.14pm] A healthy restful day. Long walk at St Abbs, near Coldingham, about 6-7 miles north of Berwick-upon-Tweed. Enjoyed a nature reserve trail about 2km long. Nice lunch, then [...]
Day 32: taking a break at Holy Island
[phoned 19:10pm] Brilliant day on Holy Island. Met Dina for breakfast, who is staying on until Wednesday. Tide timing was ideal, castle unfortunately shut, but explorations included St Cuthbert, the [...]
Day 31: Cheswick, Northumberland
[phoned at 7.40pm] Got to Edinburgh for breakfast, and found some scarves there in a Japanese-run gift shop.
Now in England. Staying tonight at the Cat Inn, a free house in [...]
Day 30: between St Andrews and Kirkcaldy
[Phone message 4.53pm] Spent a couple of hours exploring the castle and cathedral at St Andrews. The place is steeped in history, including the life of notable Calvinist minister John [...]
Day 29: at Catterline
… on the coast between Aberdeen and Dundee. Rang from the Creel Inn which was found quite by accident! Staying tonight at a campsite in Stonehaven; was originally aiming to [...]
Day 28: between Nairn and Elgin
[Phoned 6:45pm] Fixed the broken exhaust valve first thing this morning, was on the case from 6am. Valve was a perfect fit! Had to improvise a valve spring compressor using [...]