2020 - The year of adventure

I've been meaning to write a summary of my plans for the year ahead for sometime now, however as you may have guessed already, life has already had other ideas coupled with a slight laziness on my part.

I have recently returned from my visit to Sweden for work (above), the first time I've ever had to travel for work, and let me tell you, it ain't all what it's cracked up to be. I was sat in my (prison) hotel and begun to write this very article on my work laptop until the adventurer inside decided it would be better to explore the hotel and go for a mozy about the area, as such I never did get very far, and on top of this I'd saved the first splutterings of this article on my work laptop which I currently have no access to, so as a punishment I'll begin again from the top, more on Sweden later...

So, drivel over, back to the good stuff - bikes! I'd like to think I have some kind of grand design for the year ahead with my newly acquired Himalayan, however I think I have more of a rough sketch and I'll fill that out as the year unfolds. Main events so far consist of a couple of trips away in the UK (maybe on overseas, more on this later too) and the coup de grâce of the long awaited trip to Morocco to see out 2020 and sing in 2021.

My hope is that I'll get out to more events on the bike this year, whether this be formal events like bike shows or ride outs, or informal like getting out more for rides to random places to fill a day of a weekend and last minute plans with friends, the first of which has already taken shape, poised and ready to go at the end of the month.

The first 'proper' trip of the year has been pencilled in as a weekend away in the Peak District, I have been on trips up this way before and it occurred to me that I'd never ridden up this way on a motorbike, a quick check on Google maps confirmed I've been crazy all these years not to make the 2 hour or so trip and thought I could put this right. I went ahead and opened up three types of maps on the PC and went ham searching for a chance to exploit any off-road opportunities whilst still hunting for some winding roads.

It wan't too hard to plan a route off the main roads, and with a little imagination being able shoe-string in off-road segments, though ever-chasing the 'perfect' ride I spent hours checking across the various maps to ensure I hadn't missed a hidden gem of a road or a chance to explore off-road. My good friend Steve Braybrook put his hand up quicker than a school class boffin when he heard of my plans, so will be joining me on this trip on his lovely new-to-him Africa Twin (which we went on an epic 350 mile road trip in the car to view and collect), so of course I've plotted in some distractions for us to stop off at en-route, but I won't spoil this too much and will write up the trip later, but suffice to say we will have ridden all across the Peaks once the weekend is over.

Preparations for the trip to Morocco at the end of the year appear to be coming along nicely, Steve now has the bike he intends to do the trip with which appears to be fully kitted out with fog lights, custom seat, guards, up-rated bash plate and all sorts of doo-dads, though both Paul and Steve are currently at the Motorbike Show in London as I write this, looking for accessories to bling out their bikes with luggage as well as other bits and bobs. Lee has a bike in mind and is playing the waiting game as he awaits better weather to sell his current bike before making the switch. Myself, I have invested in all sorts of gear we might need in an emergency, a power pack that is slightly larger than a mobile phone which can be used to jump start a bike, another power pack of similar proportions which is actually a pump to inflate a tyre in an emergency and other such like kit I hope I never have to use.

Of course I've been riding the Himalayan non-stop since the start of the year and have been commuting in all weathers and I am still really enjoying the bike and really feeling at home on it, I have even been scratching foot pegs on wet roads which goes to show how comfortable I am on it now. Even better news on this front is the fact that I've now got the Himi fully loaded with luggage and more!

I decided to go classy and chosen to get Kriega OS 32 panniers and Givi Trekker Outback top box to ensure I have plenty of cargo space, is reliable and will last. I finally got the plates and racks fitted by the guys over at Cooperb, who I proved don't have every accessory for the Himalayan when I rolled in with a cold can in a drink holder as a laugh. It also gave me the chance to take their loan bike of a Suzuki GS500 for a day, which made me realise just how comfortable the Himalayan is and how much I miss the power of my old motorbike, even though the GS500 isn't exactly a pocket rocket. I have to say I think the Himalayan looks the part when fully kitted out with luggage, I can't wait to give it a shake down in the Peak district fully loaded with luggage, fuel can and tools all on it, I'll also find how sluggish it'll be going up hills with all that extra weight too...

The bike has been prepped, perhaps a little late, for the muck of the year of adventure ahead with a local company MKProValet stopping by to pamper my poor Himi, who has already had to deal with more grime than London's music scene. They have left the bike squeaky clean, ceramic coated and ACF50 treated, we'll see if this pays off in the long run and if it'll be any quicker/easier to clean. They have even managed to get the exhaust shiny silver, rather than the out-of-the-factory cooper hue that it usually has, whether this is something to be worried about or not we will have to wait and see, however I think it looks ace in all it's silver glory.

So, about that trip to Sweden with work, I'll keep it short, but the whole time I was travelling and even when I got there I couldn't help but think about how much better the experience would have been on a motorbike and has even perhaps ignited some embers to revisit under my own direction sometime later in the year. This is because I did manage to escape the posh Hotel Tylösand prison (OK.. the food and decor were great, they even had an Indian Chief in the lobby, but in the off-season the area and hotel is pretty dead) and made a B-line in to the nearby town of Halmstad where I did a mini pub crawl on the towns West side where I ended up spending most of the night drinking with a retired high-level footballer (Dickson Euthu) then finishing the night conversing with the owner and locals of what I imagine is the best pub in Halmstad, 38an, before sneaking back undetected for the last day of work in Sweden.

Just goes to show, no matter where you are, if you open yourself up to opportunity, you never know what you will find. I could have easily stayed in the hotel and had enjoyable conversation with some lovely work colleagues, but would I have remembered that night as fondly as I will as another great escape?

Reading this back, it seems that I really don't have many plans... maybe the best plans are those that are unplanned? Either way I have some seeds sown, things to look in to and at least one trip in stone before the big Morocco meander. I even have a travel article to write up from a trip a couple of years back and will be reporting back on the Peaks in March.

Ride safe, see stuff, do things.

(Pictures by Tristan Harding & Steven Braybrook - yes Steve I pinched a couple of yours!)

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