My brother and I set off form the south coast of England for a camping trip that was to encompass most of the British coast. Me on my '98 GS500, him on his '76 Yamaha RD 125. Now, I know what you're thinking: what idiot attempts to take a 32 year old bike on a 1500-mile trip? Well, okay, but it has been awfully reliable over the past few months so we decided to gamble.

We got to Leeds (200 miles into the trip), and the 125 developed a catastrophic oil leak from the crankcase. The breakdown company kindly repatriated that home, and we were left with the prospect of turning back, with my brother as my passenger. However, we had been planning this trip for the best part of a year, and  we were desperate to find a way forward. So we decided to ditch all non-essential cargo, and ride together on the GS. It seemed like madness at the time, especially as my brother is 6 foot 4 and well built, but I think a little madness is good for you occasionally.

We eventually visited Edinburgh, Glasgow, Loch Lomond, Stirling, St Andrews, Ben Nevis and Fort William, amongst other places, clocking up 1563 miles by the time we got back.

I am pleased to say that the GS coped magnificently with the unreasonable burden we placed upon it. The handling was affected but not ruined, and remained manoeuvrable at low speeds. It was quite happy sitting at 80mph (when I was able to see the speedo, that is) on the motorways, and had enough grunt to pull us up winding hilly lanes in the highlands.  I'm not saying it's the ideal bike for touring, of course not, but it will do it competently without complaint.

We had a great trip, camping somewhere different each night (although erecting and dismantling the tent every day became a little tiresome, especially when it was raining, which was pretty much all of the time). We did have a bit of a dangerous misadventure on the way back, however – see the last photos. I didn't take many, but I've uploaded the best of them below.


1.Setting off with a relatively reasonable load






2.This is a picture of Squires Cafe, just east of Leeds. There is lots of motorcycling history inside, a workshop and free camping. Most importantly, it attracts lots of cool and interesting people. We were tempted to stay longer because people were inviting us to bike shows and to come ride their quad bikes, but we had to crack on. I'm not quite sure why we're both pulling troll faces in this picture...




3.One of the locals drops by to disrupt our tent erection.




4. Departing fully laden.






5. Loch Lomond. Sadly the weather was miserable and the views were severely restricted,as you can see. For the moments when the weather did clear, the scenery was magnificent. A beauty that for some mysterious reason is not fully perceptible from a car.




6. Aberfoyle.




7. Tent up, time for a wash. The GS does look lovely with a sunset.




8. Dinner - "noodies".




9. Stopping to charge electricals and avoid a storm.



10. The beautiful Blinkbonny Wood, Lothian.




And finally...


we were crossing the border into England when a man in a Land Rover passes up, pointing frantically to the back of the bike. My immediate suspicion was that one of the panniers had come loose (I'm paranoid), so I asked my brother (via intercom) to have a look. He said it was fine.

"What about the other one?"
"Er, no, that one's not fine. It's on fire"

We pulled over to find the bottom of the pannier burnt away. The straps had come so badly loose (somehow – I was steadfast in checking that they were secure) that the pannier was resting on the rear tyre. The worst thing – and potentially a very serious error – was that I had packed the propane canisters in the bottom of this pannier. One had battered itself against the wheel so badly that it was bevelled and worn the entire way around, until it eventually pierced and caught fire, along with the rest of the bag. A lucky escape!










Lessons:

1.Do not take a 125 touring. Especially an antique 125.
2.Do not pack highly flammable items in panniers.
3.Avoid commercial camp sites. The little spots in the middle of nowhere might lack facilities, but you'll have a much better time.
4.Be brutal when packing. Will you really change your socks every day? Buy food locally.
5.Take a roll mat or a serious sleeping bag – the ground gets cold.
6.Get an intercom system. We used the Oxford Bike Mike 3, only £40. It makes the business of driving long distances much more enjoyable (if you like your passenger).
7.Don't worry too much about getting lost. People are really helpful when you need them.
8.Take a big tent. You'll need lots of space for your gear, and you'll want to keep wet / dirty things out of the main sleeping area. We found a 4 man tent to be just right.

Sweet! That looks like so much fun! Some day I'll take a road trip on my GS and it will be awesome...

Awesome! Thanks for sharing! 

Glad the fire didn't cause too much damage.  That looks completely awesome.  I would love to try a trip like that someday.

+1 on the GS handling long road trips.

I beat my baby round europe over august for 3.5 weeks this year with full panniers and tank bag (not two up though). Doesn't keep up that well (given its still restricted because im 19) on the autobahn, but the only damage after 4700miles was two blown bulbs and some dirt...

   thats so funny!!!  that can is mantle worthy, yup right above the fire place. lol!!

I love the pictures.. Good story!

<-- jealous. One day I wanna do the british isles on 2 wheels.

     <--------- at the propane can thing
Excellent post, beautiful pics, very nice experience for sure
I hope I'll do some long-distance touring like this too one day.
Great Britain must be wonderful to tour around by bike.

If you have the time to do the whole coast tour theres some amazing places to go. Ive done bits of the route here and there but not all in one go which i wana do. Only bad thing is up in Scotland you have to be prepared cos its cold and also when its not cold and its hot you get eaten by midges lol.

Great post, Thanks!

Fantastic post !

You know here in the USofA everyone would question your sexual orientation immediately. Brothers or not !

I love this shot, it reminded me I haven't been camping in over two years now:


And this shot is priceless, frame it, and tell the grandkids about it:


Thanks for sharing the story, you two would be a real riot to hang out with.

Ride on !

Awesome! Thanks for shairing 

I wish I could ride to more countries than Mexico and Canada 

Anybody else thinking of a certain Jim Carrey/Jeff Daniels movie?

"Just go man. Oh... that's really warm."

Just kidding you guys!  Thanks for a great post, and thanks for showing us what the little GS is truly capable of!  Great pics!

haha, that's right.

"wanna ride? I get 70 miles to the gallon on this hog."

WoW! That would be so great to do. I really envy you. 
You just can't say enough about these bikes, they'll do whatever you ask of them if you treat them right.

Those are some nice picture. I am glad you had fun. Thanks for sharing.

Quote from: ohgood on September 10, 2008, 03:15:41 PM
You know here in the USofA everyone would question your sexual orientation immediately. Brothers or not !

Well I'm not going to pretend it was the most comfortable riding experience of my life, with my brother's sweaty thighs clasped around me, but it was worth enduring!

you are VERY lucky m8 that that cannister did not 'splode, but yeah keep it as a LOLWTFWTH trophy, and we gotta find place for it in the calendar 

awesome story.   

 

Good job!  Thanks for the story and the pics.