Norton 2

Not satisfied with one Commando, I now have a potential second one... if my mechanical skills get me there.

Yamaha Brakes

My first ever attempt at refurbishing hydraulic brakes.

Norton

Leaking Gearbox Oil

After having topped up the gearbox oil recently I noticed a puddle of it on the garage floor the next day. It was steadily dripping out through the kickstart spline. As usual nothing was straight-forward. Three of the bolts on the cover appeared to be 5 or 6mm Allen bolts

Cleaning the Carbs

I now know all about the jets of the Amal 900 series carburettors - pilot, needle and main, and am quite a dab hand at taking them apart. Haha

My New 1972 Norton Commando

My first bike was a Triumph Thunderbird 650cc from 1960. I owned it from 1979 until about 1982 during which time I seized it a couple of times through ignorance (lack of oil mostly), but learned to wield a spanner and other tools and managed to strip and rebuild it.

Knives

So I guess I really have enough knives to for every occasion and to last more than my lifetime. I will not buy any more... unless there is a beauty and I get it from the artisan.

4 Weeks Cycling the European Divide Trail

The trail was put together by a chap called Andy Cox who admits it is not a geographical divide like the American one which follows the watershed down the western side of the country, but more of a route crossing the many cultural, economic, political and environmental divides in Europe,

3 Days in the Mürztal

How lovely to get out of the city and see some wonderful landscapes, even though they should be snow-covered now.

Sailing Croatia 2022

The largest group yet for the annual VISC Adriatic week. 13 boats with 65 crew. Light winds but great weather.

Seascaping in the Adriatic

4 day's sailing with my Seascape 18 on the Adriatic. My first adventure...

Bowie Croatian Week 2021

This years VISC October week was on a fleet of 10 Bavaria 41s out of Pirovac, all named after Bowie songs. It was mostly light wind sailing all week but with plenty sunshine. We won the racing and the Bob Pitt Memorial Trophy.

The Mamma Mia Cruise

Originally planned as a flotilla cruise in the Sporades with the Vienna International Sailing Club [https://visc.at/] and Sail Charter International [https://www.sailcharterinternational.com/] this was postponed from May 2020. Of the original 8 boats only 2 of us took part in the 2021 version. As soon as

Zentralalpenweg Day 8 (19km)

Learned a new word today from the trashy free newspaper Heute: Graupelschauer. Graupel is something in between snow, hail and sleet, and as the paper also says, it was certainly Saukalt with max 3°C. The most-read "newspaper" in Austria, but only because it is free and on

Zentralalpenweg Day 7 (24.5km)

Public transport worked like clockwork today and we made it to Wiener Neustadt in time to get the single-carriage Sopron-bound train to Mattersburg. From there a half hour taxi ride took as to the metropolis of Kobersdorf to begin our hike. It was as cold and miserable there as it

Zentralalpenweg Day 6 (19km)

My faith in the Austrian public transport system was shattered when we got to the station to find our train to Mattersburg had been cancelled!  We very nearly went home in the huff, but the thought of eating our sandwiches with a flask of tea in the kitchen persuaded us

Zentralalpenweg Day 5 (25.6km)

We got the train back to our previous ending point in Müllendorf and set off through vineyards and fields towards the hills in the hazy distance. The countryside was pleasant enough but never far enough away from busy roads and motorways to feel and sound remote. It's incredible

Zentralalpenweg Day 4 (26km)

This was another pleasant forest walk through the Leithagebirge. More undulating than the previous day but very peaceful with pleasant bird song and many more snowdrops.  We didn't see a soul until later in the day when approaching Eisenstadt, which, given it was a Sunday was surprising.  The

Zentralalpenweg Day 3 (20.9km)

Officially day 3 is 33km from Breitenbrunn to Großhöflein near Eisenstadt. Add in the walk to and from the railway stations would have made it nearer 36km so we decided to split it into 2, although that still made for 20km after descending to the railway station in Donnerskirchen. We

Zentralalpenweg Day 2 (17km)

40 minutes by train took us back to Parndorf to continue our walk across Austria. There were some nice moments with a pleasant, misty & frosty atmosphere at the beginning. The snow had thawed and frozen a few times which meant the tracks were often sheet ice and we had

Walking Across Austria Day 1 (25km)

Boredom from Covid lockdowns made me realise I really need a longer term project. I've always fancied the idea of doing a long-distance walk, though could never decide between walking and cycling. A bike is so much easier on the knees and can cover so much more ground.

Covid Sailing in Croatia

The annual Vienna International Sailing Club autumn sail was supposed to have 8 boats with 6 crew each but due to Covid we were only 5 boats with 4 crew. But the enjoyment was still there.

Scotland Coast to Coast

Robert Burns said "the best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley". So it was with our long-planned coast to coast trip. Though the one main influencer was Covid-19.

4 Day Tour of the Steiermark

Set off for a few days on a non-existent mountain bike tour in the hottest days of 2020.

Three 60-Year-Old Scottish Blokes Cycle the Divide

We had done some cycle tours before, usually a week to ten days long. Committing to being 4 weeks together in the wild west of North America was a daunting prospect. All worked out fine in the end and we cycled for 24 days from Canmore, Canada to Last Chance

Sailing in the Aegean 2019

On the 30th June - the day after Pascale's last day at school ever - we flew to Kos with Isabelle, Julia and Tudor to pick up our charter yacht, a Hanse 40e ("e" is for "epoxy sandwich" construction which apparently saves lots of