Had the road to myself a lot of the time. I expected a bit of snow around but there some points where the drifts still partially blocked the road and only one side was open. Lovely sunshine but only about 3 Deg. so I was glad of my Kevlar undies and thermals.
Really clear day, lovely scenery. Saw a few bikes, one sidecar combo and a LHD Willys Jeep
Had a chat with a bloke who had a "Costa" special edition Vespa.
On the way back I did get stuck behind a wagon carrying skips of dead things on a stertch with average speed cameras. I knew I couldn't overtake him for quite a while and no matter how much I hung back the stink was overpowering. It wasn't just a rotting rubbish smell, it was definately that "dead for a while" pong (like the bunkhouse still has since the Ugly Bunch visit last year.
I got caught out by a nasty thump, enough of a bang to make me stop and check everything was OK.
Felt like a pot hole but I had a look to check to see it wasn't somethin lying in the road and because I hadn't seen anything at all. It was a pot hole where a joint was damaged and the reason I didn't see it was that it was camouflaged by shadows across the road that lined up almost perfectly. I bet an hour before or an hour after it would have been really obvious. Anyway, I felt slightly less of a dummy for not avoiding it.
Everything seemed OK but who knows what these things do to tyres and bearings. Feckin roads are getting ridiculous.
Other than that it was very enjoyable and according to the bike computer the burger still did over 70 mpg even though I was giving it some beans over steep hills and bends. The middle section might have the makings of a ride out
