I dropped into the local bike shop to have a look around. Clay Cross Motorcycles is a large dealer with a cafe on site, where a lot of bikers go at the weekend. It’s near the peak district, with some epic roads and the famous Matlock Bath bike Mecca. So it gets a fair few visitors.

While I was looking around the boss came out to ask me about my bike. Ross had spied the Vic plates, the Russian writing on the tank and the caked on dirt that I really should wash off sometime! We had a good chat about the trip and he was quite interested. He asked if they could put it on display in the shop for a few weeks.

Of course! I wasn’t sure the local bikers would be interested in a dirty old Kawasaki, but when I saw it in the shop it looks quite good. With the pictures and blurb they’ve printed and the central location, it does draw people’s attention. Being a silent observer watching the customers milling around was quite interesting. (People do talk some bollocks!).

Next thing you know I’ll be doing after dinner speeches. Hmm, now there’s a thought. Would anyone be interested?