Home and Strontian!

 Well I think i speak for the two of to say we are glad to be home, a crap experience flying with BA, almost 3K for 2 one way tickets in Premium Economy, treated like shit and left 10 hours between meals, terrible, not even the offer of a cup of tea and then the Joke that is Heathrow. The big problem is these days you cant complain because the staff will say you have been abusive and then you are banned from flying. Why anyone wants to fly those days is now beyond me.

Brother in Law Peter kindly picked us up from the airport, top man, greatly appreciated and after 20 hours we were back home, a long day indeed. Saturday was spent opening a myriad of threatening letters from the BBC for cancelling our TV licence, state harassment! Then opening letters from the Taxman to say I will be paying more tax to keep the great unwashed living comfortably, welcome home! And then all my bank cards, its great to have access to your own money again!

We slept a lot, jet lag seems to be getting worse but we had to get organised for Strontian the following weekend, I decided to take the Airhead as quite frankly I couldn't be arsed getting a Norton ready. A trip to Cultybraggan for a blether with Iain and the staff made it better and a test of the V85's to make sure they are OK and then Friday up to Strontian on the BMW with Alex, Budge and Johnny T and a meeting with Swiss George who I last saw in Santiago Chile in 2013. He got in touch on the Thursday night saying he was in Scotland so we told him to meet us in Strontian, strangely I ended up right behind him on the Corran Ferry, small world!

The usual laughs and stories, great to catch up with everyone but not so good to have the temperature dip below freezing, welcome home, Fiona was still not up for a weekend camping on the bike so she took the support van which was great.

So thats it, still digesting the trip and having a small rest before we set of for Europe shortly, keep on keeping on!

Laurenne and Liz

Budge and John

Friday night meal ( Fi didnt take photos on Saturday )

Alex borrowed Fionas hat

Sadly that was the complete Norton contingent

Swiss Georg

A wee wander in the Sun

Flowers are out

Frosty

Airheads convention

Stunning but cold

Almost Home

Japan, almost done, Asia goodbye

 So after spending a couple of days photographing Mount Fuji from every angle we set off in the pouring rain for Fiona's tour of the more Northern or central part of Japan. It worked well in the postie pat car especially when it was pouring but as soon as we got a good day we were thinking the bike would be good . We were very lucky to see so much of the real Japan so we could get a feel of how people lived. we visited some stunning lakes on our grand tour, much like Scotland , the bikes were everywhere as long as the sun was shining. We basically did a loop back round via the Honda Museum and back to Tokyo.

The Honda experience was very corporate but good to see, once again surprised at what bikes were not on display which seemed to be a theme. There was a car race on the circuit and in a other part of the complex a car meeting and what looked like an autojumble.

Back into Tokyo, 34 million people and all queuing at the same traffic light, it takes forever in the big towns to get around which is why everybody uses the Trains but in my opinion if you are coming to Japan driving a car gets you into the rural areas and away from the bulk of the tourists so just bear with the traffic, eventually you will get good roads.

Some things to note, the locals although reserved are polite, the rules are obeyed and there is no graffiti. Kids walk the streets in safety unlike the UK because the punishments are harsh in Japan and people have respect. 

Asia has been difficult, living in a different Hotel every night for 5 Months is a mental challenge and not being sure what you are going to eat is also stressful, and can anyone tell me why anybody thought it was a good idea to eat food with two sticks instead of a knife , fork and spoon, answers on a postcard please .

We will both be glad to get home for a rest until the next part of the tour begins, Photos as always tell the story better.

Keep on Keeping on!

This  triumph Rocket 3 and sidecar was outside the Honda place

Postie Pat Van

A rainy day

Colourful

Fi and Budda

A nice day

Fiona exercising

Big Hills

Big Hairpins

Any mail Postie

Loch Earn

Nice

Snow on the hills

Brake Brake

Funny, the tyres make a sound on the road surface

Rural Japan

Very Nice

Snow ahead

No we didnt

Bikers having a break

Brewery

Good view

This made my Day

The Boys are back in town

See ya

This is about 5km from the massive Honda complex

Car Race

OK back to Honda

Surprised to see this, they acknowledged that MV were so far ahead that Honda had to learn from them

The Innards of the oval piston bike, amazing

Fellow Scot Alex George gets a mention

A Beast

Cool, a cafe just outside the Honda Complex

Night time Tokyo

Our neighbour

Orderly

This is a kids play park, they teach them road rules on their bicycles, including traffic lights, and if you go crazy there's a park ranger to slow you down 

The Play park, nothing destroyed

And again

Police Pushbikes