Hi and welcome along! Over 30 years ago I lost a leg in a motorcycle accident, when I say lost I don't mean I misplaced it, rather it was removed from me without any prior discussion. Since then I've done my best to live my life as I would have done regardless and one of those things is my passion for motorbikes and travel and ,more recently, to try new things. I realised that I didn't document these things so I've started this channel as a bit of a hobby but also to put stuff out there in case anyone else would find it useful. I haven't lost my sense of humour so feel free to banter along and ask any questions. I currently ride a BMW R1250 GSA and a Kawasaki Versys 1000 .
I'm also on Instagram so find me here, instagram.com/half_man_half_pirate
Thanks, The Col du Tourmalet is in the Pyrenees so no 😃 Col de la Bonette is in there and so is the col d l'izoard. The balcony road at the end is the Combe Laval in the Vercors.
An enjoyable video thanks. We visited Rocamadour a few years back on the bikes. What a beautiful place. As I recall, we used la petite train or shuttle bus to get to the top. You definitely deserved the wine reward later for all that walking
Wow Martin, the scenery there was literally breathtaking..unreal mate!..really enjoyed watching that. I’ll have to give France a visit again sometime soon. Been thinking about it for a while. I’ve only been once when I was 16 so it’s been one or two (or 36) years now 😂…really well edited and put together that by the way, I doff my cap!..ps, my wife is called Jo too..coincidence…pps, we’ve all done the disc lock thing at some point I’m sure 😐…another I remember from my 125 days was that I forgot to put my side stand down..I went to get off the bike and bosh, down she went. Mad lol..anyway, really enjoyed that and will go back and watch the others too 😀👍
Cheers bud, yeah the disc lock thing🫣 I don't think I've done the side stand thing yet 😂 France has some stunning roads, though not so much in the North which you'll see in the other vids 😂 There's probably 2 more episodes in this one, then I have Switzerland to edit. Stay safe!
It was a bit of a wait, that one was after staying in Hotel Serendipity in Italy, I think half filling up in the evening is a great idea. The group was running late that day due to the crash earlier in the day so I think everyone bundled into the hotel for beers and food.
The military establishment (which is now flats) was the old home of the Royal Marines Band Service. It was also a Royal Marines Depot until 1991. This is where they trained/lived until The IRA targeted the building with a time-device in September 1989, killing many. 😢😢 The place ceased to be a military base from 1996 onwards.
Cheers for that info, sad history ☹️ but I like to hear history regardless of it's emotion. Thanks for letting us know. We'll probably go back and have a look around the castle at some point.
I think we have an advantage planning random rides. We're in the middle of the Midlands. A day ride to either coast is possible. Peak District / Lakes or Cotswolds.
Yay an open comment to stick my oar in !!!!!....Most vine yards allow 4 leaders though some still use 2 these are then laid horizontal on the bottom wire ,these will produce side shoots which will reach for the sun and when they get to the 3rd or 4th wire the tops are pruned as the grapes are produced on side shoots ,grapes are only produced on old shoots ie..last years ...some use the Guyot (UK)method some Royat (Bordeaux ,Burgundy )but most use the Lyre method,old vines give a full bodied grape(wine) but less grapes so (i believe ) after approx 20-30yrs the grapes are dug out and new shoots from the old grapes or a new type are planted (think this depends on trends!! you asked !....the vlogs are brilliantBTW ....
Oh Dear !Thats one of my favorite sausages (not sure for brekkie tho!) you could try tripes a la Caen (delicious)or when we were in Paris I ordered pigs nose in jelly ...(Cold) it was bloody fantanstic ......you might want to have a look under the cloche next time you are here hahahahaha....and yes I'm weird!!
Good review Martin. I went from a GS to GSA in December. Yet to do a tour on the GSA ( hopefully Tuscany in September) I needed new casings on my GS when the bike was 18 months old. Unfortunately I’m not quite sure what they did but it took 3 returns to the dealer to get the bike running correctly again afterwards, my gut feeling is the timing was not set correctly. I lost confidence in my GS after that but after trying others I went for the GSA. ( Paul Brown from the clan)
Hiya, Tuscany sounds good! How do you find the difference in the Adventure compared to the GS besides the extra 10litres? The engine paint flaking doesn't seem that uncommon which is a shame as otherwise it's a very good bike. It will be interesting to see how the 1300s fare on finish after a while.
When I first got the GSA I’ll admit I thought I’d made a mistake. It felt a lot bigger, tank and height made me really lack confidence on it. I’m not as tall as you so can’t quite flat foot it so I was pretty nervous. That and the first 600 miles upto first service all done on wet cold roads. Been out a few times now in the dry and getting used to it. Seems a lot more room for rider and pillion than the GS.
It’s not your eyes or age, (I just turned 59 btw), my front head light is just as bad. The LED low beam works great but only 10-15’ in front of the bike, high beam is ok. I added some Denali S4’s and that made things much better. Speak of lights, the B6 rear tail/break light is a game changer for safety…must have in my opinion
Nice one Martin. Good to meet you both . It was nice to relive the ride again. My first clan run out. Fabulous route and stop offs. The Northumberland boys, Steve and Paul did us proud. Well done chaps.
Great video, shame couldn't make this one but do hope to get on one in the near future. How have you got your comms audio in your video as can't see a mass of wires on your helmet like people normally end up with?
Great video, so pleased you both had a good weekend and enjoy being up my way. Thank you for the kind words about the ride and organisation. Sorry the weather was not the best, had it been this weekend the views would have been spectacular. Just means you have to come back up 👍🏻👍🏻
Thanks so much! I use Calimoto running on a phone, For holidays I generally plan the trips on the PC trip planner and it automatically syncs to the phone.
Ah thank you, I will have to check out the app, I was trying to figure out what nav was sitting in the middle.. a phone, makes sense, any plans to head to Portugal or Morocco in the future, you have the dream setup for both places
@@synergysynergy not this year, that's as far as I've got planning 😂 I have France in the Summer, all over for 2 weeks so stay tuned for that series. A long weekend to Swiss passes is in the planning stage for July and I have a French Alps tour again in Sept.
@@HalfManHalfPirate Sounds like you have plenty of great adventures planned ahead, the list never ends, look forward to upcoming series. I’ll stay tuned
@@oldmanonapan7678 you're welcome to hop everywhere and see how out of breath you get 😂 especially getting you bike on the center stand.... It's challenging 😁
@@HalfManHalfPirate i meant to say Martin I’m “not” a fan of top boxes! but appreciate yours. I’ve bought some soft panniers for my new GS for touring this year. I don’t think I need a top box although I do see their usefulness.
Brought back some memories that. Rode it in 2015, did all the big passes on that tour but for some reason this was the one that felt very very high. Good work Martin.
@@HalfManHalfPirateYeah thats right Martin. "Not the Highest pass as it doesnt actually go from A to B" as someone sternly told me once. lol. We chatted to a couple of German GS riders at the top. Couldnt belieive wed ridden there from the UK?
