Monthly Archives: September 2013

Lovely!

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Despite my best intention, I didn’t get out on Harley at the weekend. Which was a shame, but I did ride to work yesterday and today!

Tuesday was a bit foggy. On a motorbike this is a pain, cos your visor gets covered with a layer of fine water droplets, as if someone has sprayed it with white paint, resulting in zero visibility on top of the fog! If you ride in rain, the water droplets are bigger and the slipstream round the helmet is enough to force the water out of the way and you can see where you are going, at least, that is if you are going fast enough! In fog the droplets are just too small and will not wash off, unlike you car and truck drivers, bike riders do not have windscreen wipers, hope I am making sense!

Anyway this morning was simply lovely; gentle autumn sunshine and really quite warm. Traffic was light, which meant I could relax a little and really enjoy the ride.
I’ve said it before, but I have a lovely commute, especially when the weather is good…just look at the photos and you will see what I mean!

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Not bad eh?

This evening it was a tad murky, but hey I was riding my Harley… life is always better then!
Harvest is nearly over now, so time to catch up with one or two friends, you have been warned!

See me ride out of the sunset, on your colour T.V. screen!

Dookes

Jingle Bleedin’ Bells and Barn Owls

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Hi good people!

I popped into the local Tesco store earlier; would you believe it, they have Christmas stuff on sale already!
For goodness sake, the bleedin’ day is over three months away….I suppose Easter Eggs will be on sale next week!!!!!!

Is it just me who feels that the winter bank holiday has got totally out of control?
Such are the demands of our consumer driven society….

On a much brighter note….

Exciting news at Dookes H.Q. today. We have Barn Owls! I’ve never seen one in Cornwall before so I was really excited to see one working the hedge at the back of our field this morning.

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Striking birds eh?

Hope to get out on Harley tomorrow!

Catch you all later; I’m on the highway to hell…

Dookes

Coast to Coast

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Today, an autumn gale is drumming on the window of the Dookes Man-Lab, Planet Rock fills the spaces between the staccato of the cold rain and the howling wind. This is also Battle of Britain Day, when we should remember the events of 1940 and the heroic exploits of “The Few” who fought and died in the skies above us and why you and I are free to write and read this in English not German. Yesterday, however, the sun shone and it was time, time to ride.  A nice leisurely mile munching ride, to get the old head straight again. True I had to look in on a couple of work matters, but lets forget that stuff, here’s to two wheels and a pulsing engine between yer knees!

I called into the Harley Dealership in Plymouth, hell, I say that a lot don’t I! The new 2014 models are in…oh boy am I smitten!  This is the new Electra Glide Ultra Limited, I’m not sure about the paint scheme on this particular bike, but the developments that H-D have put into the design are stunning. I’m booking a test ride very soon! DSCF2831

Yes, I know, it’s massive, 398kg to be precise, but it does have a 1690cc twin cam engine, linked ABS brakes, re-worked front end and loads of extras!!!! Just the thing for long distance touring….DSCF2833

Lots of other new models as well, with some really neat details. Fat Bob.DSCF2840DSCF2842Forty Eight.

DSCF2844DSCF2846Anyway, enough drooling; we hit the road and headed north up to Lea Moor. Then on to Dartmoor which was as special as ever.DSCF2852 DSCF2853

Pushing on north we followed the A386 through Torrington all the way to Bideford, coast to coast on the same road, through some of the finest countryside in the South West.  Harley and I popped in to say “hi” at Vifferman H.Q., (Thanks for the tea Mrs Viff!) before heading back to Cornwall via Holsworthy. About 150 miles in total, a nice relaxed ride out.

Catch you all in the fresh air; I believe I’ll ride ride on down the road, as far as I can go…

Dookes

 

Mists and Mellowness

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Just for a change, we have certainly had a proper summer this year! Here in the extreme South West corner of the British Isles the harvest is almost over, sure there are still some crops to get in, but largely it’s all done. Quality and quantity in this part of the world have been tremendous. The silo sides are creaking under the load of the settling grain and the machinery is almost able, like me, to take a breather! I am really looking forward to the chance of getting out on Harley for a relaxed pleasure ride, rather than a quick and frantic commute across Bodmin Moor; not that there is anything wrong with my route to work…wouldn’t swap it for 22miles across London at all!

Back at Dookes HQ we look set to enjoy a bumper harvest of our own. The trees in our orchard are laden with the most amazing crop of apples and medlars, whilst the hedgerows are full of blackberries, rowan and sloes. Just take a look at these beauties!DSCF2825

This is a Medlar, very popular in the time of Elizabeth the First, you have to let them go almost rotten before you can eat them! They taste like a baked apple with cinnamon.

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These fellas are pretty special and rare; Cornish Gilliflower apples, first discovered in 1813 near Truro. Happy 200th birthday you beauties. I grafted this tree myself, no, not 200 years ago either…!DSCF2820

Blackberries, of course!DSCF2830

The mornings are getting colder now and a myriad host of spiders weave duvets of silver webs that catch the dew in the grass each morning. Autumn is steadily arriving. It really is a wonderful time of year. John Keats called it “the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness.” I think he got it about right too. Riding a motorbike your senses get bombarded with the smells of any season, this time of year they always seem so much nicer!

I posted a sunrise picture the other week, how about a sunset this time?  This was the view from Dookes HQ a week ago, pretty stunning eh? No filters, it really was that colour.
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Right ho, that’s all for now; I know it’s only rock n roll, but i like it!

Dookes