4 Weeks today and we should have been in the saddles for around 5hrs(ouch!!) on day 1, so hmm this is coming around fast
Well as usual time is passing by so quick and we seem to be constantly doing something for the trip, Barrie falling off his bike!! hahha and was on stop!! but we have been on radio Cymru, speaking welsh with a dictionary along our sides(not quite but not far off) , Had front page publicity on the Evening Post, and also in the Llanelli Star, so this has definitely helped the money side with people actually coming on to us to give donations, still no where near where we would like to be but it is rolling in. Many thanks to all those that have already donated much appreciated, we have sent letters to numerous companies that we hope can also make donations its all gratefully received.
We are in The Llanelli Elli centre on the 19th April with a stall again to raise money by guessing the proposed mileage, with the signed rugby balls as the prizes, and prior to this we are due on The wave radio station to raise awareness. We did received some great news from Wedi 7 the Welsh Television Studios who are going to film our departure and spend the day with us on the last leg returning through Wales,
So all in all we are more or less ready to go, Barrie has had a trial run filling his back box with clothes, or should I say two pairs of pants, because they don’t hold much more than that, think we need to have another look at what we are going to use for carrying clothes.
Many thanks to the boys in the Silver Seat Ibiza in five roads who tried to knock me off the other night, just loved that and that’s before we leave!!
The bike are more or less ready to go but we have been trying to get the jetting sorted out, they have been running lean and we are still making adjustments, Barrie’s suspension springs im sure have come from a Bic pen, (Brave man) , Nick our 3rd man support / camera / you name it nick will have to do it man has made an excellent effort in raising money throughout Carmarthenshire County Council Offices, Thank god for the Skip like top box he has fitted to his ZX9 so that we can carry some extra pairs of pants in!!
So looking forward to the Elli centre please call in, we have managed to rope the wives attending to the stands with a night out arranged after.
15/04/2008 at 10:47 pm
Guys,
I note you’re not rideing the northwest and north coast of Scotland. Change your plans, do it- by far the most stunning part of the ride. I did a similar trip last year, 3300 miles in 13 days on a c90, loaded with full camping gear and a a fat bugger. The very high northwest and northern coast is just too good to miss- do it, you won’t regret it.
Cheers and all the best for the journey,
Chris.
16/04/2008 at 10:11 am
Hi Chris thanks for you’re comments and we totaly agree with you but we are limited with the time that we can have off from work etc. When we were planing the route we intended to do exactly what you suggested but because of other commitments we have had to cut the mileage down therefore some of the coastal areas have been missed out.
3300 miles in 13 days that takes some doing what route did you take? If youre journey was anything like our little running in trips I bet you laughed all the way round.
Regards Barrie / Gary
17/04/2008 at 05:59 pm
There were days I laughed, and days I nearly went mental. Like your good selves I had wanted to do it with someone else, sadly no one else fancied the challenge! Things that were incredibly frustrating or felt like the end of the world at the time would have seemed so much less important if I hadn’t been travelling solo.
Are the pair of you intending to turn up at Rhayader this July for the annual Cub90 meet? The dates are the 11th, 12th and 13th of July. Just an informal get together- I missed last years’s idiocy, but intend to make it this time round.
When all is said and done, my body and mind seemed to have forgotten the bad parts of my trip, and I’m already scheming for a follow up in a few years time. Trouble is, where do you go from here?
Good luck with it, the pair of you.
Chris.