11. Brakes, lights and things!!

I have been very busy doing other things in the last week or so so not had much time for riding the bike. after my last trip out something happened to my rear brake, now putting my bike away in the garage entails me traversing a short but steep bit of road down to the garage.

As you can see the road is steep and there is a fence at  the end with a big drop the other side my rear brake failed on this steep bit of road and I nearly had to change my underpants but the worse part of it was it was my fault, when I fitted the rear hugger I didn't get the calliper fixed back in properly so it rotated hit the swinging arm and the brake line loosened..all fixed now. Since then the lights  I ordered have turned up, now I was told these are absolutely brilliant and very very cheap only 11 Euro each but the downside is they come with no wiring switches etc so I have some shopping to do, but I did mount them on the bike this was a bit tricky as they didn't really fit the light bar very well but got there in the end.

Not sure if they will stay there or not depends on how the crash bars fit which turned up yesterday so that will be interesting so just the risers to come and then the bike will be how I want it yaaa..

10. A ride out a friend and a Castle.

I woke up this morning feeling a little under the weather my back has been playing a bit recently I have one tooth out and have to have another one out on Tuesday so I had that playing on my mind as well a few of he bits I have ordered for the bike still haven't arrived etc etc. So I turned on my PC and found a message from my American friend Eric who lives in La Drova about 5 km from here, "do you fancy a little ride out today?" I didn't need asking twice so a quick wash and brush up and out to the garage, the first thing I noticed was the heat,going to be a good one today.It didn't take long to get to Eric's place and soon we were off for a ride around the countryside, me on my XT1200 and Eric on his GS.

New helmet and jacket, can you see me LOL 

I followed Eric out into the sticks round some twisties through some pretty little villages  into the mountains and eventually we came to a town called Xativa which seemed very busy lot of police around directing traffic as there was some sort of fun run going on we made our way up to a car park next tot he Castle which has some amazing history attached to it. We parked up and went for the obligatory cold beer as the temperature had now risen to around 24 -27 degrees, yes it was hot. We then went for a look around the castle which only cost a couple of Euro each if it had been England then £20 a person at least. The views were stunning.

A lot of people who visit Spain just think about beach and bars but this Country has so much more to offer especially if you are willing to stray away from the coast a little bit, you don't have to go far to find the real Spain and it is worth a look.I could have stayed at the little bar in the Castle all day but I had other commitments this day so after a look around it was time to leave. Eric and I will be doing more exploring in the near future. My bike! the more I use to the more I like it I am getting comfortable with her now and as the motor loosens up the more tractable it becomes and she does have a turn of speed if needed, I am really looking forward to more trips out on her  soon.

 Eric's GS

New Helmet

9. A little trip out to Denia....

Been a bit busy recently so not had much time to play with the bike, I have looked for some bits for her but I am amazed at how much third party manufacturers charge, so with the help of some of the guys from the forums and the Facebook page I am gong to try and use cheaper alternatives and when I say cheaper I mean Chinese etc rather than people like Touratech and Altrider. One example of this an ancillary light set for my bike is anywhere between £299 to £430,So with some advice form other riders I have ordered a set of LED lights for £26 just need a relay and a switch I'll let you know how this goes. Headlight guard over £100 from China £19 again we will see how it goes.

Anyway last weekend Lorni wanted me out of the house for a while she recommended that I go and have a look at Denia which isn't too far from here, I fired up Tyre and worked out a route trying to avoid bigger roads.

I am having all sorts of problems with my sat nav if I import a route as a track then convert it to a trip everything is fine but if the route imports as a trip then I have a problem in that it just doesn't seem to work. Oh well Denia wasn't that far so I made my way tot he Port where you can catch a ferry to the Balearic isles, and fortunately park for free.

As you can see I had to fight for a parking slot, I did have a taxi driver come over and start talking about  the bike in rather good English he owned a VStrom and also does a lot of touring and we compared notes on the two bikes. He told me that in another 4 weeks I would struggle to get up the road let alone find somewhere to park. The views were good though.

By the time I had arrived in Denia, early afternoon the temperature had shot up I mentioned this to Lorni who later sent me a screen shot of the weather app for that day and yes I was right it was hot well hot for me anyhow.

Remember this is still Winter and that temperature would relate to a decent summers day in the UK phewww!. I did get a snap of the castle  also I noticed that every road to my right ended in a dead end with the sea and the beach right in front of you.

Denia along with Javea which is next door is supposed to be on of the "go to" places in Spain but! what I found was a town that looked tired and if I'm honest a bit run down the outskirts are nothing more than row after row of holiday flats and I think they look terrible and even a little depressing, maybe it's because the place is still empty and not everything is open yet, the season starts in a few weeks time, I will go back later in the year and maybe I will change my mind.

I did mount my Go-pro on the bike to take some video but for some reason it didn't work, when I got home I found all my batteries were just about dead and it is a Hero 3 so ancient by today's standard, I looked up what a new one cost and was suitably shocked at the over £400 asking price for a new Hero 7 , so again thanks to some advice and a little research I am trying out an alternative which gets very good reviews and costs less than a quarter of a new Go-Pro, again we will see how this pans out.