Hello everyone.
Sorry to have been a bit quiet of late, but currently on holiday with Mrs Dookes, and without Harley. We are staying in the beautiful Movan National Park in Burgandy, France. Unbelieveable weather to boot, 28 degrees yesterday!
This is Montreuillon Aqueduct, you know me just gotta show ya all some cool civil engineering!!!!!!!!!
What a cracking weekend we just enjoyed here in the sunny southwest.
Gotta admit that Saturday was largely spent tidying some of the expanse that forms the grounds at Dookes H.Q… There always seems so much to catch up on at this time of year. The raised vegetable beds were focus of quite a lot of attention, cleared three and planted out more leeks in another; you can never have too many leeks you know! Then came the grass cutting and…yeah OK, I know, enough about all this “Good Life” stuff…what about the biking!!!!!
Quite so; lets get down to business.
Harley and I slipped out on the road late Sunday morning, just as the early mists were burning off and the sun’s warmth was getting going. Our excuse was to pop out for some top-up shopping, well you can’t carry much on a bike, even a Harley, so better get good stuff to make it worthwhile; off to Okehampton then. Not many minutes later and about 25 miles away eastwards on the A30 we parked up and dutifully grabbed the shopping from a well know supermarket that is part of the John Lewis group (other supermarkets are available!).
Time for some twisty bits now, head for Hatherleigh then hang a left towards Holsworthy. West Devon was certainly looking good, the air was gin clear and bright sunshine bathed the landscape along our way. It occurred to me that not many of the trees have started to turn colour yet in this part of the world. Everything seems very green for the moment, which kinda disappointed me, but hey that’s something else to look forward to, I love those golden trees and the sweet smell of autumn leaves! Anyway, we had a super blast and at Holsworthy turned north, crossed back into Cornwall and aimed for Bude, which is quite a nice place, in a seasidey sort of way, but best avoided in the peak tourist season.
I couldn’t resist a visit to Widemouth Bay to see what the waves were like, cos it’s one of my favourite surfing beaches and I haven’t been out with the board for ages. Just as well I didn’t fancy a surf, flat as a mill pond and the tide out almost to Wales!!! 
Even worse, the ice-cream kiosk was closed!
Lovely run west along the A39 Atlantic Highway, enjoying the gentle sea breeze, virtually no traffic and the purr of twin cylinder Milwaukee Music, before cutting across Davidstow Moor and back to Dookes H.Q. In all about 100 miles, just enough to keep the old head sane and earn a cup of tea!
Hey, Happy Birthday Vifferman!
It’s all I’ve got to keep myself sane baby, so I just ride, I just ride…
Dookes
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!
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
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.
Striking birds eh?
Hope to get out on Harley tomorrow!
Catch you all later; I’m on the highway to hell…
Dookes
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! 
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….
Lots of other new models as well, with some really neat details. Fat Bob.
Forty Eight.
Anyway, enough drooling; we hit the road and headed north up to Lea Moor. Then on to Dartmoor which was as special as ever.
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
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!
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.
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…!
Blackberries, of course!
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.
Right ho, that’s all for now; I know it’s only rock n roll, but i like it!
Dookes
Hello everyone, first an apology for not being “On-Air” for a bit…but as some of you know this time of year is usually pretty hectic dealing with harvest here in Cornwall! Whilst that can be a bit of a pain, there are simple pleasures that it is nice to experience along the way, such as this superb sunrise over Bodmin Moor last Friday.
Neat eh?
So what’s been happening in my bit of the world of Harley Davidson? Well, for a start there has been the small matter of the annual M.O.T. certification and I’m very pleased to report that it was just that, a small matter; ride Harley in and ride her out twenty minutes later with a new certificate.
Next, as I’m riding away, Harley’s speedometer started doing strange things then gave up reading anything! Now one of the many nice things about a Harley is that you can interrogate the central processor for fault codes without the need of a computer, it displays in the odometer and a quick check revealed a speed sensor low resistance fault. I took the sensor off the bike and cleaned the terminals, which cured the problem, but I picked up a new sensor from the dealership and fitted it on Sunday, just to be sure. The obligatory test ride then followed….and well, I really had to test the full function of the unit right through the speed range, it just made so much sense! I love that bike!
The sensor is the black plastic thing held in by the Allen screw.
Whilst I was at it I also fitted a new inner headlamp unit, which H-D claim is 90% more efficient and brighter. Dunno whether it is or not, but it does look darn cool!
That’s all for now; It’ll be just me moving through, on my way to something…..
Dookes
Hello everyone, it certainly feels like regular British summer weather has returned to Cornwall….it’s raining like the clouds are fitted with hosepipes!
Today, I was looking forward to a Chapter ride out to St Michaels Mount in West Cornwall, but unfortunately this has been cancelled due to the weather. Too dodgy to control two dozen bikes in torrential rain and frankly, no fun!
Anyway, it’s always good for someone…so let me introduce the latest additions to the menagerie at Dookes H.Q., who are definitely enjoying the wet weather.
They are butterscotch call ducks, the drake is in the middle, flanked by his two girls. Cute little critters, eh?
So that’s why as the rain drums on the workshop roof, I’m in the Dookes “Man Cave” listening to Test Match Special and building a new duck run! Rain has just stopped play in Manchester now, sigh, summer really has arrived, again!
Dookes
The scorching summer sun is searing outside, a gentle breeze is keeping everything delightfully bearable as the current heat wave continues to please. Inside the blinds are down and the room is cool and still, I sit, sipping a cool mineral water and enjoy, on television, the penultimate day of “Le Tour 2013”.
The 2013 Tour de France is the 100th. It started in Corsica, whilst I was returning from my Goldfinger trip and was the first ever time that Le Tour has visited the island.
In it’s usual way the race has looped around France, taking in the classic scenery of the Pyrenees , Normandy and the Alps, all jolly good for the French tourism industry. This year’s Tour is to be the first to be completed on only French soil since 2003.The last week has featured a final set of Alpine stages that can only be described as brutal. They are tough enough on a motorbike, let alone on a pedal cycle! It included a double ascent of L’Alpe-d’Huez, the first time the tour has featured a double climb of this difficulty.
The Tour will finish tomorrow evening on the Champs Élysées in Paris and here’s hoping that Britain’s Chris Froome will still be wearing the famous Maillot Jaune!
As the sun warms the Cornish countryside, inside I am transported back to France and the cool sparkling rivers of the Drôme, the windswept dunes of Normandy and the high peaks of Savoie. This TV coverage is terrific, I recall as a youth with my cycling mad friends, desperately trying to get current information about Le Tour. Those were the days of our heroes, Merckx, Thévenet and Hinault, when in the UK the only reports were found tucked away in the sports section of the Daily Telegraph. In those days we dreamed of “ten speed racers”, “Campag” gears and double butted frames…how things have changed.
Then we were blissfully unaware of the problems of doping, even though Tommy Simpson had died on the slopes of Mount Ventoux with a pocketful of amphetamines in 1967. Then came the Nineties and the “Tour of Shame” in 1998 when Voet was arrested with a veritable pharmacy of illegal substances…followed on by the Armstrong years, enough said! Now, things are supposed to be better; Wiggins won last year and Froome leads today, both claim to race clean and most people believe them, I do anyway, but only this week two top track athletes were revealed as testing positive…
So excuse me whilst I indulge myself for a few hours as the Peloton heads towards todays finish at Annecy-Semnoz. Froome leads by 5mins 11seconds, will it be enough? We’ll know by this evening!
Dookes
OK, I admit that my blog posts have been a bit morose of late!
I put it down to losing four good people in the last four months and getting totally p****d off about it! I’m kind of funeral’d out.
So it’s time to celebrate life a bit, French style through food!
Here at Dookes H.Q. we are incredibly lucky to have a reasonably large and productive slab of Cornwall, it’s something I never take for granted either….even when I’m on the never ending task of cutting the grass!
Anyway, getting to the point, I just realised that just about everything I have eaten today has come from our plot of land, which is great and gives me a nice feeling somewhere between smug and humble.
So here’s the menu:
Breakfast; Soft fruit, raspberries and strawberries.
Lunch; Hard boiled eggs and salad. Yes we keep a few chickens as well.
Supper; Globe artichokes followed by more fruit.
Yes I know, I’m a lucky sod…but better go cut the grass again!
Dookes.
Hogrider Dookes 