My missus was born on the Isle of Bute, so it was time to tour her homeland.
First day we made our way to Cockermouth through the Lake district, allways a good area to ride through.
Next morning we made our way to Bute along some superb lanes, via Dumfries and Ayr, to catch the ferry from Wemyss bay.
Stopped in Rothesay that night at the Backpacker hostel (reccomended).
Next overnight was in Oban, where we met up with pals for a good curry.
From Oban we made our way to Ullapool via Fort William, Kyle of Lochaish and Lochcarron. We booked into the Arch pub for two nights, great beer and food, this gave us a complete day to visit Cape Wrath, Durness and Tongue, wondeful roads and scenery to marvel at.
From Ullapool we made our way to Inverness then did a touristy day along Loch Ness to an overnight at Fort William. This meant i could ride through Glen Coe and along Loch Lomand to an overnight at Croftamie with relatives.
The last night we stopped with pals in Jedburgh. This area of Scotland was a revalation to both of us.
To sum up, i spent time picking routes that gave us time to enjoy the wonderful scenery Scotland has to offer, the highlands really are as beautiful as i imagined.
But don't ignore the west and east coasts, they have so much to offer to motorcycle tourers.
We spent eight days on this trip, but really needed a couple more, but is'nt that allways the way?

Seven of us decided to take an autumn break before winter sets in.
Booked two nights at The Tan Hill Inn on North Yorkshire moors, highest inn in UK, and what a remote and bleak location, stunning!
Spent a bit of time planning a good riding route "up north" using mainly B roads across Peak district and Nth Yorks moors. It really was a great ride up, one or two stops for refreshments, arriving at pub late afternoon, just in time to put a few beers away and have a laugh with the lads.
Sunday we decided to take a trip to the Lakes, Windemere and Conistone. A fabulous area but rammed with caravan towing trippers. Still the visit to the small museum in Conistone was enjoyable, just to read about Campbells Buebird and subsequent sad crash, very moving.
The route home was planned, taking in some of Saturdays ride up but with a few changes to keep the interest going.
On the Yorks moors i noticed something odd with the bike, bloody rear wheel bearing! only done 2000 miles, bit of an Africa Twin achilles heel. We did a bit of head scratching, then one of the lads remembered an old trials riding mate has a garage in Kettlewell, just 8 miles down the road!
A steady ride to his workshop and he came up trumps with the right bearing, soon got it fitted and away we went.
Riding a bike is'nt just about the views, it's also the smells, as we passed a cottage on the moors i noticed the aroma of a log fire, very emotive, a reminder winter is on its way, the point of the trip.

The usual crew of six went to Spain in early May 2007 & 2008. Yes we've been here twice, it was so good first time. Left Plymouth on the long ferry to Santander, some of the guys said "should'nt we be riding to Spain" but a day/night on a comfy ferry with bars and beds is a good start to a trip and bypasses the long boring ride across France.
We stick to the northern area, Pecos, quiet roads and wonderful scenery, unspoilt coastline.
No camping as B&B is so cheap and we aint getting any younger.
It's so easy to pre-book accomadation via the interweb this is what we do, all excellent places.
Each day we plan for 150 miles of riding about just enjoying the views and amenities (bars).
On the 2nd trip in 08 we had a couple of days rain, torrential, good way to test ya gear, mine passed.
Had a rear wheel bearing collapse during the first trip, middle of nowhere, couple of the lads rode on and within a mile!!! found a little workshop with some farmer type quads and tractors, they spoke no Spanish and the two mechanics spoke no English but with sign language we worked it out and "hey presto" some sort of machine they were working on used the same bearing, new one on the bench ready and waiting when i eventually got there, great guys had to force some euros on them. Rode away waving, bikes make friends.
Have a look at the pics, gives a flavour of this area.

Honda's true adventure bike, rugged and reliable really will go anywhere.
There's four models in the line-up, the original RD03650 RD04 750 RD07 750 RD07A 750. The later bikes have best spares situation but there's plenty of parts about.
A very strong engine backed up by a good chassis, many have reached 100,000 miles and still going strong. There are weak points such as corroded wheel rims, easily rectified with a rebuild. Fuel pump can fail, easily replaced with a Facet 40105 cheaply and fit & forget.
Plenty of after market parts about, such as crash bars and luggage systems.
Lots of informed help can be found on http.xrv.org.uk an enthusiasts forum.
The only big problem is finding one, we don't sell 'em, we keep 'em forever!