...Somewhere in deepest Somerset

..... Well and truly in the Mendips - arrived at the 2nd site very early I so may even get a chapter or two read of  "Grumpy Old Men" ....... Haven't found anything I disagree with yet - Maybe at near 60 I am a GOM. ........... Yes I know I am!   but I didn't get any of the book read in the end but we two Grumpy Old Men sat and "grumped" a bit and put the world to rights....  before popping over to the bar to make a list of all the things I needed to sort before the two week trip in May.  Another bloody cold night and heavy mist and fog in the morning.....  had a light breakfast this morning - could not eat a cooked breakfast every day .... will have to get youghurts and fruit I think..... or end up a fat BMW rider after two weeks of eggs, bacon and suchlike....

Things that didn't work were - USB lead to charge phone and free loader battery, the power cable to the heated waistcoat and the air mat (which had sprung a leak)..  things to sort were - install a power lead from the bike to the 240v inverter so that the phone and net book could be charged inside the top box while riding...   Note:  never assume you can leech into the mains power supply at a pub - just could not find a socket anywhere at the 2nd site....    Here is a picture of David with his mini tent that folds up and fits in a match-box.....

The new bike was fine and I hardly noticed the load on the back - the acceleration is still impressive even when fully loaded...  I must remember that on a BMW when accelerating hard that the fuel gauge is connected direct to your bank account.....  I was not happy with wearing a small backpack - so strapped it onto the top box.....

The following morning had a very late start and left the site at 10am and headed through the morning fog for coffee at Compton Abbas airfield and arrived in glorious sunshine...   Then off to Ringwood and for Dave onto the A31 and M27 and home.

After about  3 hours - all the kit was dry and repacked, the bike cleaned, washing into the washer, cables sorted for the charger and inverter, and I renewed the cable to the heated waistcoat.   Just going to have a look at the Garmin track to see just how close I was to getting the route right !!!!!

All in all a good weekend and a needed exercise before the Croatia trip.....  many thanks to David for joining me - good riding and good company - it was a bugger that Colin and Graham could not make it but I managed to get away with just two pints a night... with them I am sure it would have been more and the pace a little faster too....