She finally got one too!

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So I’ve been badgering my sister to get a motorcycle for an age. She did her CBT back in December 2025 and picked the bike up 12th March.

My sister is now the proud owner of a Yamaha MT125 2022

Shes had the bike a little while now, so I have taken her out a good few times. We have done a run up to Peterborough, the May Day Run, and a general all day out riding day.

Shes picked it all up fairly quick. She just needs to learn to get up to speed quick now. Once she has managed to learn that, she shouldn’t really have any issues.

I’ve added a few photos I’ve taken. Enjoy.

Suns out bikes out

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Yesterday was amazing. First time in a little while I’ve actually been out on my bike with no worries or issues. 179 miles in total!

Yesterday was the day that I decided that I need to get out and down to Broadoak Bakery. They do the most amazing Scotch Eggs and Sausage Rolls. Well worth going if you’re ever nearby, or not!

I picked up my munch and then headed up towards Tonbridge to grab me a Starbucks. As I pull up, I see in the distance a familiar face. In fact two familiar faces! My sister had gone out with her friend on their bikes, and a chap that I met while doing my day job. I said a quick hello to my sister and sat down to chat with the matey I met previously. He rides a gorgeous Harley Davidson Sportster S. I still need to figure this guys name out!

After sitting and chatting for a bit, I left everyone and headed over to Ashdown Forest. Annoyingly not really anywhere to park unless you want to pay! Wasn’t too keen on that if I’m honest, however I did manage to find myself a little lay-by. Parked up and just sat on the hillside overlooking the forest. Relishing in the sun. I sat probably around an hour. Taking it all in. Of course though, I had to grab a few photos.

When it was finally time to head home, I couldn’t simply go the quickest way. I headed down the A22 towards Polegate and stopped in the services for some “dinner”. An Asda meal deal from the petrol station! It filled the hole! After eating I took the long way home via Ashford! Straight across the south east coast. A27 – A259 – A2070 then back up toward Maidstone.

Obviously I had to stop to take some photos!

When things go wrong

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It’s one of a very few dry sunny days at the moment. So it’s time I went out on the bike for a little jolly!

Part of the route I was taking was to explore the roads I had not been on before. To try find a good road to ride. 140 miles and I found myself some nice views, but also some trouble!

I headed from mine down the A274 then working my way over to the A22. As I went along the A265 I noticed something strange. My bike wasnt handling as good as she normally does. I pull over and what do I discover? A puncture! No!!

Thankfully I come prepared for situations like this. I keep a repair kit under my seat and a pump in my bag. It’s always good to be prepared for this kind of thing to happen.

With the puncture repaired, I managed to get back on the road. Found a little place. No idea where and grabbed some photos of Lucy.

Somehow I ended up at Ashdown Forest. As I was driving around admiring it, I noticed an ice cream van. I had to pull over.

After my long ride out, I headed back to sittingbourne to see my mum for the evening. After leaving and heading back home, once again the bike wasnt feeling right. The tyre was going down. The repair was not holding. I pulled over in the pitch dark and pumped it up. It had to get me home, and thankfully it did. I eventually took lucy to get a proper repair done. That cost me £45.

Annoyingly a week after this, I ended up getting another puncture. So I forked out the £400 for a new set of tyres. Michellin Pilot 6. Expensive, but well worth it. Its literally the only thing keeping me attached to the road when I ride Lucy!

A day trip to Venice

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When flights are cheap, the world is your destination!

Both me and my son jumped at the chance to have a day trip over to Venice, Italy. £37.50 each return from Stanstead! Hell of a bargain, who could say no to that?

The day started at 7am. We headed up to Harlow. Had a breakfast, got some Euros and parked up at the train station. Jumped on the train and headed to Stanstead.

Of course after checking into the airport and going through all the security we headed to the nearest pub! Two pints later we nearly missed our flight, but thankfully made it just in time!

Finally arrived in Italy. Not a clue of what we were going to look at or do. Just jumped in the nearest taxi and headed to Venice. No plan, no organisation, just pure adventure!

Stumbled across an ice cream shop. Very friendly clerk in there. Perhaps the owner, I’m not entirely sure. Ordered our ice creams and tried to pay. No luck on the card because my wonderful bank blocked it, but thankfully we had cash. Smallest amount we had was a €20 note. €16 back in change with a warning to be careful using cash. There were a lot of pickpockets about. Oh great!

A couple hours later and it was dinner time. If I was travelling to Italy, I wanted to try authentic Italian pizza! So that’s what we did. We ordered two pizzas and had half of each. I think because we were in Venice and there was obviously a good market for fish products, most of the options had fish on them. I certainly ain’t eating a pizza with fish on it!

We had the typical chorizo pizza and a Margherita pizza. Easy enough. Now, I’m used to the typical type of pizza you get in the UK. Specifically deep pan pizza. This was nothing of the sort. The base was thin, crispy and tasty. It was fresh tomatoes, great cheese and all around bloody nice!

After dinner we wandered around some more. I had a great time. I will be doing this again. Nothing beats experiencing something great which is unplanned. Here’s to the next adventure!

Bucket List 2023

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My last post on my bucket list was back in 2020 with hopes and dreams that I would get some of the items ticked off of my list. Sadly due to the COVID-19 disaster everything had to be put on hold.

Even though we have had a pandemic and we are pretty much in a recession with prices sky rocketing through the roof for everything at the moment, I have managed to get a couple things ticked off of my list.

  1. Reach the summit of Scafell Pike. I managed to get this done on the 4th June 2021 with my sister. View the full story here.
  2. I got my tongue pierced again. This is officially the 4th time it has now been pierced. View the full story here.
  3. I stopped smoking in March 2020. I took the pandemic as the perfect sign to quit. I did however move onto a vape. I have now also finally as of 1st November 2022 quit vaping. I am officially nicotine free.
  4. I attained my motorcycle licence – AND
  5. I bought myself a motorcycle – view the full story here

The last 18 months in terms of goals have been quite good for me. Ticking 5 things off of my list is a good amount. 

Sadly in terms of health, things haven’t been so good. As of August 2021 I had a lung infection which ended up in 5 months off work. I also caught COVID-19 in February 2022, which appears to have given me permanent breathing issues. I have been to the hospital and had a multitude of tests done and everything is coming back fine. I’ve had a lung function test, angiogram, bone density tests, x-rays, cardiogram, echocardiogram, blood tests, various asthma inhaler testing and everything is coming back as fine. The doctors are now investigating the possibility of long-COVID.

Currently I am back at work, but very much on light duties. I am not allowed out on the road to perform inspections. I’m not allowed to drive a vehicle. I am to either work from the office or work from home. For the most part I have worked from home but this has proven to have other side effects. I have missed human contact and being around others, which has affected my general day to day mood. I have agreed with my manager that I now go into the office a couple times a week and work and or catch up with the other inspectors. I think once I am able to start interacting with others my mood will improve.

This year I am hoping to tick a few more things off my list. I am not sure, but there will be some travel around the UK which will give me the perfect opportunity to go visit some castles and possibly some camping. Everything is very much money dependant at the moment with the issues with the economy, so we shall see!

My two wheel journey starts here..

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As you may know attaining a motorcycle licence has been on my bucket list for quite some time now. I finally managed to achieve it this year.

I did the full thing. Something that’s know as a DAS course (Direct Access). For anyone over the age of 24 you are able to go from no licence to a full licence to be able to ride any size motorcycle you wish.

I have listed everything that must be done prior to undertaking this task.

If you have no prior experience with motorcycles I would highly recommend doing some lessons after your CBT in preparation for your MOD 1 and MOD 2 tests. I did 3 MOD 1 lessons and 1 MOD 2 lesson.

Prior to even taking the CBT I did what is known as a taster session. This was an hour with one of the instructors on a CB125, the very bike I would do my CBT on. I can pretty much say it’s not too dissimilar from riding a bicycle, which is why I feel it’s fairly easy to pick up.

After completing my CBT I learnt on a CB 650F. This is the bike I would be using to take my MOD 1 and 2 tests on. This is also surprisingly very similar to the bike I would go onto buy.

It’s a lovely bike and nice to ride. It’s also an inline 4 which means it screams as you rev it, which I much prefer over the triple or twins such as the SV650 or MT09 etc.

All in all I paid a total of £1289 for my theory, training and tests. I probably could of done it about £200 cheaper if I went with another school, however because the school is a “Honda approved” school, it meant I would get a £500 discount off a Honda bike so it made it worth it in the long run.

As soon as I had completed my MOD 1 I went into my local Honda garage and put a deposit down on a new motorcycle. The CBR 650R 2022 edition in red. I had to get several add-ons as well.

  • Akrapovič exhaust
  • Sports double bubble screen
  • Sports passenger seat cowl
  • Quick shifter
  • Heated grips

Sadly due to everything that is COVID-19, there has been an issue with microchips etc. This has caused massive delays for motorcycle and car manufacturers. I put my order in on 14th July 2022. The bike (Lucy) finally arrived on 10th December. Honda needed a couple days to add everything to the bike so pickup was arranged for the 15th, but then of course the weather took a turn for the worse. We had snow and then thick ice on the ground for around a week. Pick up finally happened on the 19th December. Next to my kids being born this really does rank high up on the list of awesome.

After signing all the paper work and a shake of the hand, I took Lucy on a long 3 hour ride. Unfortunately it rained and we both got wet, but I enjoyed it nevertheless. I have now ridden just under 900 miles and I’m loving each and every moment of it. I can’t wait until the summer!

4th time’s the charm?

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As a goal to fufill my quest to tick many things off of my bucket list, getting my tongue pierced again was on the adgenda.

It was my daughters birthday and I was heading to theirs for the weekend. I had been wanting to get my tongue pierced again for a while now and as I know where the shop is in Winchester, I thought that there was no better time!

We all headed into town and walked to the piercing shop. Funnily enough the lady who did it, did it the last 2 times as well. Lets hope this one stays in and becomes permanent.

Of course the whole thing was video recorded, so you may see it here –

Scafell Pike 2021

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I made it. I finally made it! I reached the top.

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Well I never!

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So as you know I have had an issue with water ingress into my mk3 Ford Focus and I thought I had fixed the issue. Turns out I was utterly wrong.

Water was still coming into my car. I started by checking some of the other rubber grommits under the rear of my bumper. Suddenly I was greeted with dripping water on my face and arm.

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What a load of crap!

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So today I was doing a safety inspection of the M20 and A20 through Kent. I stopped in one of the laybys on the A20 to call in a defect to the communications centre, and this is what I found. I wish I hadn’t.

Sadly this is the kind of stuff that the laybys on our network have to deal with; people not planning their journey properly and getting caught short, which then end up using the “outside toilet”. At least this one used something to wipe!

Needless to say I also called this in to get cleared up! Disgusting