Rides and Reflections

I revisit the three fords we saw in Pt1, in one of my first rides in spring of 2024. Setting off from my home near the coast, the weather was bright, warm and sunny. However, once I arrived at my favourite roads, you can see the countryside had had one hell of a deluge the night before. Usually, fields absorb even heavy rain, but here they were spilling onto the roads and into the burns feeding the three fords. 🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍 If you enjoyed and feel kind, my friends, here's a link to treat me to a coffee:- https://ko-fi.com/rar54 👌 you can also read some snippets, view & DL cool images while you visit. 👌 --------------------------------------------- My tried and tested equipment WOLFANG Action Camera GA100 https://amzn.to/4aQka7X SanDisk Ultra microSDXC UHS-I memory card 256 GB+adapter https://amzn.to/3Ufsk2B Lavalier Wind Muff https://amzn.to/3wcZWpN Trespass Adult Quick Dry Balaclava https://amzn.to/4aQQGXk OXFORD RB-Pi2 Insert Back Protector (Level 2) - OB101 https://amzn.to/3JMmP6M Alpinestars J-6 Motorcycle Boot https://amzn.to/3JFwgEY ShipeeKin 3-in-1 Plastic Helmet Curved Arced Extension Arm Mount Kit (7.5/13.5/19.5cm) for all GoPro Hero Series, , GeekPro and other Action Cams https://amzn.to/4a009dS Wealpe Adhesive Helmet Mount Sticky Flat Curved 3M Mounts https://amzn.to/4bdXzSG

One of my first rides out in 2024. Damp, so a gentle 15 minute ride to get back into the groove for better weather. And better times. Engine noise reduced, just the normalised, natural white noise of the wind mixed with a background accompaniment of Tibetan meditation music for an immersive ASMR. 🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍 If you enjoyed and feel kind, my friends, here's a link to treat me to a coffee:- https://ko-fi.com/rar54 👌 you can also read some snippets, view & DL cool images while you visit. 👌 --------------------------------------------- WOLFANG Action Camera GA100 https://amzn.to/4aQka7X Motorbike Motorcycle Gloves Leather Hard Knuckles Thinsulate Windproof Waterproof https://amzn.to/3xOhmJK SanDisk Ultra microSDXC UHS-I memory card 256 GB+adapter https://amzn.to/3Ufsk2B Lavalier Wind Muff https://amzn.to/3wcZWpN Trespass Adult Quick Dry Balaclava https://amzn.to/4aQQGXk OXFORD RB-Pi2 Insert Back Protector (Level 2) - OB101 https://amzn.to/3JMmP6M Black Rogue Adventure Mid WP Motorcycle Boots https://amzn.to/49V9jbF ShipeeKin 3-in-1 Plastic Helmet Curved Arced Extension Arm Mount Kit (7.5/13.5/19.5cm) for all GoPro Hero Series, , GeekPro and other Action Cams https://amzn.to/4a009dS Wealpe Adhesive Helmet Mount Sticky Flat Curved 3M Mounts https://amzn.to/4bdXzSG

Possibly my favourite dungeon in Skyrim. And one of my favourite swords awaits if I please Meridia and defeat Malkoran. First time I played, I entered with no follower, and became yet another victim of the mighty sorcerer, Malkoran. This time, I'm backed up not only by Eponia, a supreme archer....and constant moaner!......but together we also have also that supreme weapon, the doom of the most evil necromancers in the game.......skimpy armour.

Join me as I take a breath-taking pause during my journey to the fabulous B6357, one of the most scenic driving roads in the Borders region. I stop on the Kielder Scotland road for a break and get a drone's eye view of the unspoilt scenery.....checking for any Trolls under the bridge! Whether you're a fellow rider or simply an admirer of nature's grandeur, this interlude provides a glimpse into the majesty of the Borders.

Escape into a spirited, yet serene ride along as we sweep along through the great roads on the border regions of Northumberland and Scotland. With the engine noise softened, and the natural white noise of the wind made ideal for a calming, meditative session of vision and sound, lean into the twisting corners and sweep down the straight sections of perfect motorcycling roads. No distracting music, no narration, just you and the road unfurling ahead beneath two wheels, and the comforting natural white noise of motion. --------------------------------------------- WOLFANG Action Camera GA100 https://amzn.to/4aQka7X SanDisk Ultra microSDXC UHS-I memory card 256 GB+adapter https://amzn.to/3Ufsk2B Lavalier Wind Muff https://amzn.to/3wcZWpN Trespass Adult Quick Dry Balaclava https://amzn.to/4aQQGXk OXFORD RB-Pi2 Insert Back Protector (Level 2) - OB101 https://amzn.to/3JMmP6M Alpinestars J-6 Motorcycle Boot https://amzn.to/4b6sK26 ShipeeKin 3-in-1 Plastic Helmet Curved Arced Extension Arm Mount Kit (7.5/13.5/19.5cm) for all GoPro Hero Series, , GeekPro and other Action Cams https://amzn.to/4a009dS Wealpe Adhesive Helmet Mount Sticky Flat Curved 3M Mounts https://amzn.to/4bdXzSG

If at first you don't succeed......

Dungeons, deadly traps and deadly Draugr. Worth it, though....right? Not according to Inigo.

A stop off break from riding around the Northumberland countryside. We stop at Rothley Crags, and ascend to dramatic skies, with Rothley castle a hidden surprise on top. Music by: Solas x Interstellar - DNC Gabriel Albuquerque

Resist - think for yourself. Reject - we need a new way. We need a better system that truly serves the 99%. The current 'System' is ancient, malignant and mephitic to the core. It needs putting to the sword. We need heroes. Heroes that can equal the heroes of ancient Greek mythology, and the tales of other civilizations, handed down from ancient times, of good crushing evil. The rise of the internet, of alternative and independent news media, and the dawn of Ai, still open to all, are ridding us of the manipulations of the System serving mainstream, legacy media at long last and exposing the criminal and incompetent political class as a whole. Perhaps...perhaps there is indeed hope. Perhaps the heroes we need are ready to rise.

A fabulous straight, the only part requiring caution is the blind crest. For good reason.

Climbing the beautiful and dangerous roads of Skyrim on horseback, my teenage follower Sylvi let's Inigo and myself know exactly how she feels as we reach the crest and see the majestic splendour before us.

One of my final days of the season, on my favourite stretch of river and ideal for fly fishing. It is cold, though, and I have seen no sign of any fish. My thoughts turn toward heading back to my car to warm up and have some food and hot coffee. Still, just one more cast.....

This magical OS Grid virtual world location, The Little Prince, was a remarkable surprise when I landed on it whilst wandering, not unlike The Little Prince, himself falling to Earth in the Sahara where he met the aviator, stranded beside his crashed airplane. Let's explore and appreciate the people who made this magical, remarkable tribute to Antoine de St-Exupery's timeless book.

A 'Border Raid' into Scotland via the A68 to Carter Bar from Otterburn, Northumberland, where we ride two of my favourite motorcycling roads West skirting the border and safely back into England via Kielder. Do I make it back to base? Watch and find out. As always, thanks for watching.

An encounter I had as a ten year old schoolboy with something supernatural. A Ghost? An Entity? I do not know. Even then, however, I instinctively knew it was of another dimension, from another realm of the unknown. Nonetheless, a true tale. One I have never told anyone since 1972, with the exception of my Mother who served my dinner shortly after the encounter, folded her arms and told me she had heard monks had lived on that spot hundreds of years previously, to be close to the priory over looking the river mouth. She believed me. And that was enough. She had a Mother's instinct for distinguishing tall tales and the truth. The field where this happened has long since been built over with housing. The tree, however, is still there! Despite my inquiries, no resident has seen this Entity since. So far.

A salmon joins me briefly as I ease my mind from the stresses of this year as I fish a bracing cold Autumn afternoon on a river I have known since I was a little boy. These times are vanishing as swiftly as one incompetent government after another plague all our lives. We all need to escape to places like this, if only for a day. It recharges the batteries of the soul.

Ride with me in a wonderful headlong rush along some of my favourite roads in Northumberland. Image stabilisation is off, Wind noise is left in... this is what it feels and sounds like on a little motorcycle, powering out of corners and the visceral, headlong rush along the straights. The flashing green strobe of hedgerows on each side, the fields with hay bales rolled, drying ready for Autumn, and your eyes peeled far ahead when moving swiftly, the machine almost a living part of you.

At Spring and late Summer into Autumn, the sun is often low enough to cast striking shadows of yourself riding in front of you. I eventually catch up with mine along the top straight road.....or do I?

Chasing my own shadow again down along winding roads, enjoying the sensations, the sounds and the sheer vitality of the countryside. Memories of such rides and reflecting on each one help keep me alive as yet another gloomy grey English winter rapidly approaches.

A route that allows me to stretch the little Ducati along some winding curves and fast straights right over the top of moors, leaving my worries behind me.

A favourite small road of mine, with some nice curves, on a lovely autumn afternoon. I know every foot of these roads, and sometimes you can feel danger lurking just around the corner. The descending curves to the single track bridge mean a bike cannot easily change direction quickly, so I had slowed before the fool in the van barrelled across the bridge, a bemused Porsche a foot behind him. Amusingly, he clearly thought the road belonged to him, and despite his vehicle being too wide for these narrow country roads and the speed he was going, got a wake up call not to be such a bell end in the future. Was my positioning perfect? No. However, instead of beeping my horn like this bell end, I kept a cool head. I controlled the bike smoothly to the left as we met, as I knew exactly where the edge was and that any panic braking or anger of my own would have resulted in an accident or my going off the road. Be wary on two wheels and don't ignore your gut instinct to slow down when wise to do so.

In late Autumn, country fields are often a rippling mass of fine silken strands shimmering and drifting in the setting sunlight. These gossamer strands are produced by baby spiders dispersing to new areas. They do this by climbing to the top of tall plants, grass, and fence posts where they spin out a single strand of silk that when long enough acts like a kite and carries them to pastures new. Even the camera lens has a strand across it by the end of the clip.

Tractor trouble.

One of those alarming split second incidents where on a corner a cyclist, motorcyclist and small truck are directly in line. Ultimately, I was in the wrong, here. However, I was committed and reduced speed just enough to leave the cyclist as much room as I could in the micro second the truck and I passed.

Entering a roundabout does not always mean you will leave it one piece! The curves and shrubs obscured this particular surprise. Always look far ahead and moderate your speed accordingly.