Image Gallery

Photos from:

• Day 30
• Day 29
• Day 28
• Day 27
• Days 25 & 26
• Day 23
• Day 22
• Day 21
• Days 19 & 20
• Day 18
• Days 16 & 17
• Day 15
• Day 14
• Day 13
• Day 12
• Days 10 & 11
• Day 9
• Days 5, 6, 7 & 8
• Day 4
• Day 3
• Day 2
• Day 1
• Before the Trip

Photos from Day 30

Babbacombe Bay.

The Yamaha ended up looking a little like these by the end of the trip.

Chesil beach - a Bren Gun perspective.

Almost tempted to wonder if the bike has a bigger engine.

Beware of the cat.

Chesil Beach.

Last night's host - Chris. A big XR fan.

The joys of tippex.

The Dorset hills. Some of them, anyway.

Lyme Bay.

Another memorial.

Pillbox on Chesil beach.

Apparently Langton Herring is a rough village.

Salcombe Regis.

Kids these days have probably never used a phone booth for making a phone call.

Lulworth Camp.

Photos from Day 29

Scary.

Probably the last of the ferry journeys.

An good name for a community centre.

Denied, again.

Welcoming.

Southsea.

Oh, good. It's not paranoia, then.

Seems there are tolls everywhere these days.

Photos from Day 28

Sounds slightly french.

Ticklish, are you?

Apparently you love the Pier.

Rye.

Photos from Day 27

The helpful people at Azcari.

Famous cliffs.

Romney Marsh.

Photos from Days 25 & 26

They don't make 'em like they used to. [Not since floor tax was abolished, anyway - Ed.]

Chatham.

Authentic markings.

Dartford Crossing.

Deal Castle.

Funton Wreck. Might not be seaworthy. [I'm not convinced it's field-worthy - Ed.]

Maggi Hamblyn Sculpture.

Heaven.

Heaven.

Heaven.

So that's where Jimmy's farm is.

Margate Winter Gardens, and Jimmy Carr behind bars.

Martello Tower, Jaywick.

My nephew and great-nephew.

Another sculpture from Andy and his co-workers.

Another sculpture from Andy and co.

That looks trustworthy.

Shell Ness houses.

An Emblem of Britain.

One of the sculptures produced by my friend Andy and his colleagues.

A close-up of the Maggi Hamblyn sculpture.

Photos from Day 23

I'm not sure the car is that old.

My tent looks as comfy.

The Unbridged Ford is conquered.

How slowly is slowly, anyway?

Nige and Sarah. Sarah is in the car somewhere.

Another lovely sign.

An important choice.

Southwold.

No trespassing. Rule enforced by tanks.

Don't drink and cycle.

A wonderful name for a pub.

Photos from Day 22

Bridlinton - proud of its heritage.

Bound to happen sooner or later along the coast.

Luckily the picture clears up potential misunderstandings.

A strong sentiment rather strangely expressed.

A pillbox in Aldbrough.

Part of today's route.

An excellent re-enactment - right down to the dinner.

Real roadsign of the day.

All the new gear is in Afghanistan.

Withernsea Lighthouse.

Photos from Day 21

Stealth-rider.

An appreciative crowd.

Kathy - Land's End to John O'Groats and back on a 125.

[I'm beginning to wonder if the SatMap is broken - Ed.]

A simple explanation.

A Pillbox from back in the days when we put up pillboxes and disguised them as old cottages. Druridge Bay.

Robin Hood Bay.

Saltburn by the sea.

Tees Bridge. More useful than it looks in the photo.

Photos from Days 19 & 20

Bamburgh Castle.

Bass Rock.

Budle Bay.

Back in England.

Yes. Phoenix Shop. Which, presumably, sells phoenixes.

Forth bridge. Guess what happened to the other three.

News travels fast.

Lindisfarne Ford.

Wonderfully precise.

I am here.

Good old milestones. Useful back when people walked everywhere.

Pettycur Bay.

The plane is actually tiny. Those trees are just really far away.

Tasty tasty goth.

Preston Pans.

You can't argue with a sign. Well, you can try, but you'll look pretty silly.

Scremerston.

Tantallon Castle.

Fastest tyre change in the North, I'll warrant.

Photos from Days 18

Suitable name for open fields.

Dornoch.

Not many geologists make it onto signs.

Another stellar digger.

Some placenames are just wonderful.

One hell of a drinking fountain.

Another hell of a drinking fountain.

How welcoming.

Lovely sign.

My hosts: Eric and Murray.

Beware of puddleducks.

Rememberance.

It's a barrel of laughs in the navy.

Portsoy.

Friendly-looking scarecrows.

Every village has one of these.

Only a short detour.

You have to trust street signs - it's the law.

Photos from Days 16 & 17

This is not just a road, it's an A road.

This is the traditional spot. There wasn't a cairn there at the time, probably.

Sunrise in Scotland.

Another good sign.

Because without bureaucracy they'd just disappear.

The Advertising Standards people go after placenames, too.

Little house on the sea-shore.

Another day, another loch.

The day's route.

They left out being caught and eaten.

Fine white sandy shore.

Catch of the day.

Turns out the Skye ferry doesn't fly.

They should have these signs on Heathrow runway.

Badcall Bay.

Possibly the most dedicated bench in Scotland.

Is that a warning or an order?

Sea, Sky, Fields, And Factories.

My kind of shop.

Heartwarming.

I'm not sure she's seaworthy, Cap'n.

One of the signs of the day.

Some fairly hefty slates.

One of the many signs of the day.

Don't know which I'd rather sleep in. The tractor looks safer, but luckily I brought a tent.

They clear quite a few trees for these things.

Photos from Day 15

Keep back 500 feet. That's right, 500.

Loch Airol.

Brutalise bridge.

All of the other favourite roads I've taken pictures of are now downgraded.

Spirit of Courage - currently mothballed.

I like diggers. Who doesn't?

Fun with antlers.

The man (me) and the bike (the bike).

Sign of the day.

Animal Welfare Pest Control. When animals get the vote, these people will be the only pest controllers in the business.

The perfect campsite.

Salmon farming.

Me working hard.

Snow and Whiskey. Wonderful.

Like me, it's feeling a little spruce.

Gerald the Waterboy.

Photos from Day 14

Giving the Welsh place names a run for their money.

The bike needed a minor adjustment.

Conservative Forestry.

Roadkill dinner.

I guess we're going the long way round.

There was a reason for this pose at the time. I'm just not sure what it was. [Makes two of us. - Ed.]

Freshwater. Slightly green, but fresh.

Loch Fyne.

Paps of Jura.

This isn't Milton Keynes.

Dinner.

The route.

Who needs a tumble dryer?

An interesting sign. I wonder how it tastes...

Tea break.

Pretty cute for a 50-foot wolf.

Photos from Day 13

Breaking camp.

Another night in the tent.

A stunning view of the loch.

I lived in a lighthouse once, but it floated away.

The sign says it all, really.

I'll be seeing a fair few of these expansive lochs over the next few days.

CONCH are opposed to coal power. Unless the alternative is nuclear. Actually I'm just making this up, but I liked the sign.

Today had a lot of back and forth.

The route for today.

More useful to cars than bikes, but courteous nonetheless.

Mystery sport. Please leave a comment if you can identify it.

Isn't it all? [Photo from day 12 - Ed.]

A rather unruly beast.

Some very well behaved trees.

Washing Day.

My kind of shop.

Photos from Day 12

Proof that I'm still near the coast.

Separation of church and estate.

Not the best graffito I've ever seen, but it must have taken some brass.

Signpost of the day.

I kept my appointment with The Wicker Man.

The MoD own quite a bit of land.

[This was sent with the caption 'Pulling Mussels'. So I can  honestly blame Mike for that pun. - Ed.]

Newton Stewart.

Now that's a road. The coast is somewhere close. Promise.

Thar be wreakers round these parts. Arr.

Photos from Days 10 & 11

Blackpool tower.

Ah, chainsaws. Feels like home.

If you can see this sign you're okay.

Flooding with paint stripper, apparently. Though if the water got that high you'd probably notice.

Great Orme.

The best sign of the day.

It's a matter of perspective.

Just glad I didn't try to do this on horseback.

Trying that mood-lighting-style photography. Seascale, Cumbria.

Morecombe Bay.

The last stop on day 10.

Playtime's over.

Rollercoasters and Roadworks. Welcome to Blackpool.

The route for day 10.

Depends on which way you look at it. Either way, there's shotgun romance in the air.

The Ghost Train of Sellafield.

Another wonderfully vowel-saving place.

The large metal thing stops it from falling out of the sky. It's a new approach for aeronautics, but I'm not sure it'll catch on.

Beckermet Tower.

Bless the tabloids and their calm reporting style.

Looks like a friendly sort of place.

Photos from Day 9

The route for day 9.

At that casualty rate it's probably a bridge too far.

Roadsign of the day.

Nelson in Menai Strait. I'm sure he's been in more dire straits, though.

Photos from Days 5, 6, 7 & 8

[Due to complications with the mobile phone Mike's been using, the photos from days 5-8 arrived lumped together. - Ed.]

The Coast Rider goes back to school courtesy of BMW.

Professional photographers always get their own shadow in the picture. Honest.

'Let me show you the back garden'

The lovely coast of Wales.

Another bike, another day, another adventure. For another person (sadly).

[This photo was sent to me several times due to the complications above. Each one had an awful pun about gardens. - Ed.]

More of the Welsh coast.

The SatMap in action.

The SatMap doing its thing again.

It's alright, I'm with Combat Stress.

A reef under construction.

That looks more like a suggestion than an order.

What a strange place to leave  a bike.

I don't remember arriving in Utah.

A miniature tractor. For pulling miniature trailers full of miniature hay bales for miniature horses.

Could I maybe have just a little go in the tank?

Objects in the mirror may appear smaller than they are.

The secret lair of the lesser spotted tellytubby.

Do you have to pay for the bike if it's on a trailer?

Helpful chaps, Touratech.

Next time I'm taking that thing. All the comfort of a bike with the speed of a boat.

Photos from Day 4

Hinkley Point, Somerset

My nephew James, top dog at the naval base. And his dog.

I think this is a bomb.

A Motor Gun Boat. Looks sweet when it's not trying to kill you.

Don't drive on mud. It's just silly.

The Mud Horse

The Mud Horse Man

Non-specific, indefinite notices of discouragement. It's nice to feel welcome.

Once upon a time we made longbows from this stuff.
[Yew wouldn't believe the pun Mike sent this to me with - Ed.]

Photos from Day 3

Might work even better with a bigger sign.

The road goes somewhere over the ridge.

The weather turned and suddenly it felt a little less like summer.

Breaktime.

Still riding the coast.

Apparently there's a road there somewhere. An Unmetalled one.

What can I say? Tresuck.

As opposed to all those metalled roads.

You don't know if you don't try...

Almost looks like the Pacific in that weather.

Some poor soul walking 600 miles in 30 days. Pity the bike's full or he could ride pillion.

Photos from Day 2

At least the tent is roomy.

Cornwall's rural charm.

True coast riding.

Not as easy as it looks. At least not for me.

The tent is probably more comfortable. Drier, too.

So many caption opportunities...

Photos from Day 1

That's the kind of road this trip is all about. Well, that kind of road and Combat Stress.

Ferries will be necessary from time to time.

Time and tide wait for no man.

Miki and his bike joined me for the start of the ride.

There are less appealing methods of circumnavigating the coastline of Britain.

I don't know what this is all about. Someone adept in the art of stone balancing, I should think. -Ed.

Photos from Before the Trip

Another shot of the bike. This time with its beauty undiluted by the rider.

That stuff will fit, sure, but what about the donations? Luckily they can go straight to Just Giving.

The panniers and top box from Givi with stickers from Tavy Signs. Check them out via the sponsors page.

Another handshake, but this one almost cost me the bike. Plymouth, Devon.

A handshake by the harbour. Plymouth, Devon.

Thanks to westcom for helping with the remote blogging by supplying a Samsung Tablet. Plymouth, Devon.

The first look at the bike with all its bells, whistles, panniers, and stickers. Tavistock, Devon.