Oldies On Tour

Up early, breakfast by 7.30am, wow!! so many people about this early.!! We then dressed in thermals, ski socks, leggings, anything to keep us warm, we left the Hotel by 8am, and we were walking the dogs shortly after. It is so cold..
At 8.45am we were joined by the instructor, who set out the course, we began with a cuppa, very sociable, he explained what we were going to do, then out in the cold again. The bikes were explained to us, and we were shown how everything worked, then off we went, figure of eights, right turns, left turns, emergency stops, all very good, but we were still in an enclosed area.
Back into the classroom, another hot cuppa, by which time we were freezing, so it was very welcome, we did some highway code, then back outside, and on the proper roads.
We went up and down side roads, following each other, with the instructor, talking to us, via a radio system, he was giving instructions from the front at first, but then I had to go first, it was very good. We carried on to a busier part of the town, and then onto Poole, mixing with the heavier traffic, at times we were reminded to stop indicating, and look more, but I think in general we did ok. We stopped for lunch at a Costa in a garage, had a little chat, then Geoff lead the way back, I was in the middle, and the Instructor was at the back.
We both thoroughly enjoyed the day, we both past our test, and now I want one for myself, so providing we can carry the weight that is what we will do. We want to be a two bike family ‘his and hers’ after all, I now have a very smart crash helmet, white with little pink flowers, and a floral display. Geoff has a boring black one.
Back at the Hotel, we are now thawing out, and happy with our achievements, it is over 40 years since we have been on motorbikes.

Christine and I had a separate weekend as Jane had a Dressage competition on in Essex and Christine was having a “Girlie” weekend. As the competition was early Saturday morning I travelled up Friday with Sooty after we had a nice walk along the cliff top at Barton on Sea with Sooty & Bella and then finished with a cream tea, “lovely jubbly”
Up early Saturday morning as we had to have both horses loaded and ready to go at 0715hrs, ouch!!!!!!! Not being used to these early starts anymore, it was a shock. We arrived at the competition centre with sufficient time to get “Herbie” or using his posh name, “Urban Knight” ready and warmed up for his first class at 0835. Bearing in mind it was only Herbie’s second proper competition, he did reasonably well, in fact his score was good enough to give him second place, well done Jane and Herbie, and after all he is still only a very young horse. Unfortunately his next class wasn’t quite so good, he had had enough, oh well he can only get better.
Next up was Sky, this is one of the horses Jane & Dave bred and again it was only Sky’s second outing, unfortunately on this occasion Sky had a mind of her own; but as I said about Herbie, she is also a very young horse.
The earliest major they can now plan for will have to be the 2016 Olympics being held in Rio De Jareiro, we will have to start saving!!!!!
Christine:- I had a lovely quiet morning, showered, and then read some of my book, after lunch Michelle and Lucy came over, and we walked with Bella to Boscombe, we stopped for tea, but sadly after 30 minutes we were still waiting, so we gave up, and walked out, walked back to the Hotel and had a lovely cuppa there, and Michelle left with Lucy.  On Sunday Trace came over, we had a lovely evening, we decided on a weightwatchers meal instead of going out, opened the wine, and off we went, unfortunately the biscuits came out as well, so bang goes the diet again, still we had a good night catching up.  Next morning we walked over Hengistbury, and although it was bitterly cold it was brilliant, lovely to see you again Trace. Thanks for coming over.

A quick look at Yellow Pages, sort out where all the local motor cycle shops are, put some postal codes in tomtom, and off we go. First stop was Boscombe, where we met a lovely lady, who told us everything we wanted to know about the rules and regulations of owning and riding a motor cycle.Fascinating!!
Next call was to book ourselves onto a CBT course (Compulsory Basic Training) apparently these days, we can ride a 50cc bike, but with L plates if I am on the back, well that would be ok, but we are not sure that any 50cc bike would be able to carry our weight, so we needed to look at something bigger. Booked on the course for next Wednesday, should be fun.
Onto the next shop, Geoff had seen this one on the internet, we walked in and it was chaotic, so much going on,the boss suggested to Geoff having listened to what we wanted that we went for a ride on a 50cc, well that was funny, Geoff looked so big compared to the bike, but sure it will be ok, but need more cc, when he got back a representative actually came and served us, obviously she was biased, but she was very helpful, she even made us a cup of tea and coffee, then she remembered a bike that was not in stock, and she showed us the catalogue, it was exactly what Geoff wanted, big wheels,110cc and light weight, which of course is very important when putting it at the back of ‘Hector’, not very stylish, but very practical. We only went out to look at what we could get, but have now purchased ‘Bertie’ to join us on our journey, should pick him up next week, so that we can play in the car park of one of the Hotels. Watch out everyone!!