When I arrived in the UK, my first stop was Dover, to see the famed White Cliffs. Which are lovely.
After that, it’s been a bit of a debacle. My first night here I spent nearly five hours looking for a hotel room, finally falling into an available bed at nearly 4am after riding until the sky began to grow light.
I’ve already reconciled myself to the fact that I probably don’t have time to get to Jura, where I hope to visit the Shaw homelands.
But now? Now my motorcycle is due for a 6000 mile service (mostly oil change), and can’t get an appointment until at least Tuesday (in Nottingham, where I am currently), and at some dealers not for 2-3 weeks. I’ve been advised by a service manager in Edinburgh not to do the oil change myself, since there are apparently other checks as part of the 6k. I’ve also been advised not to stick with my Scotland plans with hopes of getting an appointment in London next Fri or Sat, as said plans will probably put me another 1000 miles or more past the interval mark.
Argh!
At this point I’m tempted to call all the dealers in London and see if any of them can help me out tomorrow. If so, I may just head there, get the needed service, and spend a few days in the southern part of the UK, blowing off Scotland plans entirely. Which is a disappointing option for me, admittedly, but I do need to be good to my trusty steed if it’s going to carry me as far as I plan to go.
Or, I could just drink a delicious alcoholic ginger beer and figure it all out later.
Comments
7 responses to “Not Sorting Out At All”
Well I would ride a thousand miles
Yes I would ride a thousand more
just to be tha man who rode a thousand miles for an
Oil change at your door
Ya da da da…
I hope the ginger beer played a part in your decision. I do.
Yes. I’ve decided to fuck off today (including ginger beer), change the oil myself tomorrow, and head north. I’ve got to see Scotland.
I don’t treat service intervals as precise requirements. Personally, I would change the oil myself and let the other maintenance items (various lube points, most likely) fester for another 1000 miles — trade off having fun on your trip vs. potential accelerated wear on some parts of your bike.
— Geoff
Good choice to go see Scotland. Yay for self-maintenance, inside and out.
ooh, and (since I’ve only done one drive in all of the non-north-america part of your trip), if you can do the run up to http://www.kinloch-lodge.co.uk/, the whole route is hella pretty. plus, you can eat at the awesomest MacDonald’s (sic) ever.
Probably won’t make it that far up (see the time problems with getting to Jura) but strongly suspect I’m going to see some ridonk countryside in the route I’m putting together.