Riding home
I'm home: Here’s the track of the whole trip:
After buying my frozen beef for dinner and stashing it in one of my panniers, I headed off via a couple of diversions and a stop for petrol where someone in what seemed to be the hugest white van (converted into a mobile home) reversed at speed inches away from my bike. I made the decision that an extra hour or so (4 as opposed to 3) on the slightly less boring A1 compared to the thoroughly boring M1 was not worth it so headed off for home down the motorway. I made one stop at Watford Gap Services with a mass of humanity:
Nearly everyone was wearing masks here - encouraging - and I found some shade next to a bush to eat more sushi and drink coffee-flavoured milk.
Driving down this motorway takes you suprisingly far into central London so its possible to keep a bit cool in the breeze on a hot day. But I don't ride through London on a motorbike enough to learn which roads to take and which to avoid. Getting down to the Euston Road was not too bad but things slowed down to a crawl there. After spending an age on the hot (it was 35 degrees) Euston Road underpass I made it home by 2.30. And my meat was still OK, thawed out but fine and tasty that night.
Before the trip I had bought a camelback type thing for the cleverly made pouch in the back of my jacket - BMW Rallye Pro from a few years back. I couldn't resist seeing what these are like to use - and some motovloggers swear by them as the way to avoid dehydration on long journeys. My verdict is that they are a way of taking medicine to stave off dehydration but do not approach actually providing a refreshing drink. This is for the obvious reason that after probably less than an hour in hot weather on your back, the water is now more like blood temperature and with a distinctly rubbery/plastic taste. Also the drinking tube on the brand that I bought, though designed for this jacket is too long and flies about getting in the way.
I will take it along on another journey, especially to warmer climes, but it is pretty much for emergencies only.
Looking back
As a stand in for what would have been a more satisfying trip to Spain (I wanted to ride some of the TET in Spain) this short staycation was OK. Camping in Europe is always more exciting just because you know you are somewhere unfamiliar. For my next trip a new bike would be a good idea... Maybe by the time of my next trip possibly in Summer 2021 there will be a vaccination against Covid-19 and the world will be breathing a slight sign of relief and there will be few restrictions on travelling. At the moment most things seem uncertain making it hard even to imagine what that trip might look like.
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