Foreign Lands.

The new 1200 Adventure is getting better and better. I'm getting used to the differences between the 1150 and the 1200 a bit more. The main difference in the handling is, at risk of sounding like a complete wanker, the bike responds much more if you move around the bike a wee bit and sort of steer with your arse. The other big thing is the massive tank. 33 litres of fuel makes for quite a difference on the brakes from full to empty.

We've been having some great weather here recently and I've been on a few spins both on my own and with some of the Massif. Last weekend Aidan was wanting to go for a spin somewhere different, so I had a wee squint on google maps and came up with a route taking in a foreign country, England!

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Aidan, McNally and myself met up at BMW Motorrad Central in Dalkeith where there were giving out some incredible burgers and bacon rolls for the launch of the new F800GS Adventure. The F800GSA looks pretty good, not as good as the 1200GSA , but pretty good. Rolls eaten and coffee and teas drunk, we set off.
The route followed the A68 all the way down through the Scottish Borders to where you cross into England at Carter Bar. The A68 is a fast flowing road but can sometimes be quite busy and there can be speed traps littered around the place, often just at the part where you want to overtake that slow moving caravan or truck.
We stopped for a photo at Carter Bar where there's a rock showing the border line and McNally had a piss for some German tourists who had pulled up on their bus.
Sorry about the photos, I've been using my phone since I fucked my 18-70 lens for my SLR. Bastard.

New F800GS Adventure

That's one fucking expensive anchor for that gazeebo.

Broon from Motorrad eyes up the burgers.

Broon will sell ye a GS faster than ye can eat yer roll.

Carter Bar

Thats England over there, it didn't even smell too bad!

McNally has a pish in England

The last bit of the A68 in Scotland has a few fast, open hairpins, which are great fun on the bike. The good road continues into the north of England. I say the north, but we were the north of England in the true sense. Quite a few folk from England say that the city of Manchester, in the middle of the country, is in the north. A bit like me saying Fort William is in the north of Scotland. 

Anyways, we carried on south on the A68 before we split onto the A696 for a short while before turning onto the B6341 to Rothbury. The Rothbury road was really nice, cutting through the Northumberland National Park, with some big open panoramic views and some nice twisty turns. We stopped in Rothbury in The Turk's Head pub for some juice and chips. It started to piss down just as we got into the pub but the sun was shining again when we got back on the bikes to join the A697 to Coldstream. 

The sunny streets of Rothbury.

The A697 becomes the 698 and heads from Coldstream to Kelso and England back to Scotland, with more fast flowing corners with the occasional tighter twist to keep you on your toes. After Kelso we were chased home by a few spots of rain. 

Fucking braw day oot.

I've had a few nice solo evening spins after work, usually just my usual blast down the coast for an ice cream and I caught up with my uncle Greaser and got a few snaps of his classic BMW R60/5 when he turned up at Faithir's when I was washing the GS.

Greaser's Bike.

Here's a wee video of Greaser's bike.

On a completely separate note don't ever drink this shit. It's fucked.

Ever.