I think I may have also annoyed a lorry driver as I got fed up of riding along at 50mph on a section of road with a double-white line down the middle, so I decided to overtake on a clear section of road that was straight for about a mile. This resulted in hooting and flashing lights from the lorry but what do I care, I was long gone!

Getting closer to Weymouth and the bike proved how, despite being big and heavy with two people and lots of luggage, it can still weave in and out of traffic.

At the ferry we met a guy who was taking his bike back to Jersey. It was a gorgeous BMW R1100S in Boxer Cup replica colours. He had been keeping it in a friend’s garage but need to move it. The day before he found out he need a battery for it and, having managed to get hold of one, discovered that you need to remove the whole of the front fairings to replace the battery. Luckily for him he managed it in time and made it to the boat in time. I’m glad to say that changing the battery on the R1200GS on requires removing the seat and a cross-head screwdriver.

Whilst it was not uncomfortable riding on the motorway, it’s not really that interesting either. So, after a two hour lunch at the Bristol IKEA, we decided to do the rest of the miles on the minor roads over the Cotswold.

For the return journey we had already been planning on taking the scenic route which, as it turns out, was fortunate planning on our part. In the morning a lorry carrying hay on the M5 had caught fire, closing the motorway and causing damage to the surface of the road. Thankfully, my Uncle is very knowledgeable about the local roads and was able to direct us along some small B roads, meaning we missed most of the traffic jams.

We meandered down the Cotswolds to Bath, over the Mendips to Wells where we stopped for Lunch, along the bottom of the Mendips to Cheddar and then back down to Tiverton. From filling up with petrol at IKEA on the way up to Cheltenham to returning to Tiverton I managed to squeeze 220 miles out the tank, with the display saying I had 8 miles left before I ran dry. I’m sure I could do better as this included some fast motorway riding but it’s better than the 170 miles I got out of my Bandit 600, not that you’re ever that far from a petrol station in Europe.

The first stop was Dunster Castle, or it would have been if it was open. Instead we walked around the village of Dunster and into a few jewellery and art shops (since getting back into photography I’ve become quite the critic!) and went for a coffee in a Victorian tea room. This was the first time that I’ve walked into a room with all my bike gear on and everyone in the room stop talking and turn to look at me, they must have thought I was up to no good and was going to rob them all.

Next was a trip to Porlock. On the way we skirted around Minehead, although I’ve since found it that the old part is quite nice to visit – just don’t go near the caravan park!. We stopped in Porlock for lunch, a bacon bap , in a cafe that doubled up as a book shop. After a bit of confusion we discovered that motorbikes can park for free in the municipal car park in Porlock. I’m still trying to get the hang of where you can and can’t park a bike in the UK. In Guernsey it is simple: no motorbikes in Disc Zones or Yellow lines, pretty much everywhere else is fair game, apart from town where you need to use one of the many motorcycle parks.
After leaving Porlock we headed along an old Toll road. I presume this is a private road as you still have to pay a toll to use it. The charge for cars is £1.50 but it’s only 50p for motorbikes The road could do with a bit of repair work but that makes it all the more fun to ride on a 1200GS – it’s almost like riding off road!

Lastly was the Exmoor crossing, and it was considerably shorter than I had expected it would be. The highlights of the moor included my first river crossing. I was a little nervous as I didn’t know whether the section in the river would be slippery or not, as it turns out I had nothing to worry about. Also, one of the roads went through a farm yard, in which were a couple or terrier dogs. I started off being careful so as not to run them over, but then one of them tried biting my foot (thankfully I was wearing biking boots), after which I stopped caring and sped up – I don’t think I ran them over but I didn’t stop to check.

All in all it was a fun day out and proved to me how versatile the R1200GS is. It’s just as comfortable riding through the towns as it is tackling river crossings, although the latter is more fun by far.

After arriving in Weymouth we had a 65 mile journey ahead of us to Tiverton in Devon. Normally this would be a gentle cruise of about an hour and a half but we arrived at midnight and, after crossing the hill out of Weymouth and into Dorchester, we entered thick fog. What should have been a nice ride turned into a freezing journey into hell and back. The visibility was so bad I had a maximum speed of about 45mph in the clearer bits. As a result of travelling at less than 50mph the fog was sticking to my visor so I had to ride with the visor open.

Put all of that together and you get a very tired, cold and irritable rider. Things took a turn for the worse when I took the wrong exit from a round-about in Honiton and start heading in the wrong direction, towards London. I didn’t notice for a while and, when I finally stopped to check the map, figured it was best to carry on the way I was going and jump onto the motorway at the next junction in Taunton as it would be better than head back along the country roads.

The motorway wasn’t much better as I had to ride dangerously close to the vehicles ahead of me to be able to see where I was going and to try and avoid anyone hitting the back of me – lorries have lots more rear lights than bikes do! Finally we reached Tiverton only 45 minutes later than planned but a lot more cold and tired than expected. I’m sure the only thing that kept me sane that night was the heated grips that I had turned up full!