Posts by JimRidesThis!

  • On The Go card reader

    I bought an Apple one (actually work bought it for me, very nice of them 😬) SD to USB-C. It was a damn site more than £4 though - £30 springs to mind, but knowing Apple it could have been a bit more than that. Actually it might be SD to Lightning I’d have to check. Haven’t used it for ages.


    I now transfer just about everything (photos and video) from my phone or tablet onto a portable Samsung SSD drive (1 or 2Tb, I can’t remember) because video files were filling up my iPad at a rate of knots. If I need to access the photos or edit video files I just plug the SSD drive in (to my iPad or iMac, I don’t edit on the phone) and Bob’s yer uncle.


    This makes me sound like I know what I’m doing. I don’t. But so far this system seems to be working okay for me. I could do with working out how to put GoPro footage directly on the SSD drive too. At the moment it has to go onto the iPad and from there onto the SSD Drive, a bit messy but it works.


    Having said that, I haven’t taken any bike photos or videos for quite a while now. I need to get my act together ready for my Easter jaunt around the UK 😂

  • This week I have been listening to

    Quote from opuskilt

    I think I like these guys more for their visual creativity more than any of their music. As I recall, one of you is/was a design teacher/professor and you may esp. appreciate what they get up to. If nothing else, its a bit funny (and the retro stewardesses are cute!). Check out their other vids on youtube...incredibly imaginative. Incredibly...they have the same level of joyful mind-bending visual effects in their live shows, using all types of media at once (I saw them once).

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    OK GO! Haven't heard them for years! This Too Shall Pass was my favourite for a while. Love the Rube Goldberg installation too - a homage to a Honda ad from many years ago, all done in one take. Clever stuff.


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  • We have a winner

    Do you ever enter online competitions and then forget you've done so? I'm not talking about scuzzy, scam-ridden competitions, only ones from reputable sources. Well, at some point last year I must've entered a draw on the UKCampsite website. It's a great site for scoping out new campsites as it has lots of filters so you can really narrow down your search options. I've been a registered user/member for nearly 20 years.


    Okay, on with 'the reveal'


    I got an email from them to tell me I'd won one of their draws, for this...


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    Now, this is both spooky and serendipitous because, much to Mrs Jim's dismay, I've been on the lookout for a free-standing back-packing tent, something a little smaller than my pyramid tent for my compass points trip in April and m/c one-nighters. A tent that I can easily carry in a pannier or on my back, because when I retire in the summer, I intend to get back out on the hills again.


    It's not a bad spec either...

    • Height: 105cm (41.33'')
    • Length: 225cm (88.58'')
    • Width: 190cm (74.80'')
    • Packed dimensions: 45cm x 10cm x 10cm (17.71'' x 3.9" x 3.9'')
    • Weight: 2.2kg
    • Flysheet Hydrostatic Head: 5,000mm
    • Groundsheet Hydrostatic Head: 10,000mm H/H
    • Poles: Alloy

    I can't wait to try it out and I thought I'd share the joy! 8)

  • Hello from Canada! Moving to Scotland.

    Quote from opuskilt

    That's a good reminder to be wary of the nuances of local culture. "Fly" has many different connotations in U.S. urban/hip-hop culture and "long spoons" in the religious parable actually are meant to symbolize generousity (https://sofoarchon.com/heaven-…rable-of-the-long-spoons/) Time and effort will be needed to really learn about Scottish culture/history.


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  • Hello from Canada! Moving to Scotland.

    Quote from opuskilt

    …

    but now I'm a-feared I won't understand the language...

    30 years ago 😳 I took a party of my design students on an educational visit to Barcelona. Instead of using an educational trip company I block-booked a with a standard holiday company. There was us, and eight independent (and unfortunate) elderly holiday-makers some from from Derby, others from Luton... all a long way south of the Scottish border, a fact pertinent to this tale. I guess they were expecting to share a bus with similarly aged pensioners, not 18yr old art & design students! 🤪


    It’s a long shlep from northern Uk to Barcelona, about 24 hrs, and the coach was driven by a couple of guys from Glasgow. As it was such a long trip, they laid on some ‘entertainment’ in the form of bingo, the problem being no one could understand a word they said as the numbers were called out 😂. As my ear was attuned to the Glasgow accent (accents differ all across the UK) I performed the vital task of translating… legs eleven, two fat ladies, etc. 🤣


    Footnote: Actually the holiday-makers told us that they’d had a brilliant time with us. We made sure to invite them along with all of our activities, from gallery visits to evening get-togethers. Many, many jugs of sangria were consumed 😂.

  • This week I have been listening to

    Thread resurrection...


    Here's a recommendation, something I'm enjoying at the moment. It's a bit 'left field', not really what you'd call 'biker' fayre...


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  • My motorcycle camping gear #8 | Snugpak Jungle Blanket

    As I said in my brief review of the Snugpak Navigator Sleeping Bag, "I'm a fidgety sleeper, I really don't like mummy style bags and I also sleep hot so most of the time I don't bother zipping it up - a properly designed quilt would actually be of more use to me".


    I began contact Snugpak over the summer regarding a quilt, but other events in my life took over and halted proceedings. In the meantime I invested in a Snugpak Jungle Blanket XL.


    51772462993_b3e9d495c2_b.jpg


    While I haven't used it for camping duties yet, for summer camping I think this will fit the bill (or should that be fit the Jim) nicely! I have used it inside quite a few times and never felt the cold (that's in my old, drafty, poorly insulated house!). Combined with my insulated jacket I think might be possible to extend it's use into late spring/early autumn.


    Pros:

    Small pack size (see pic) and weight (900gms for the XL)

    It's a blanket rather than sleeping bag

    Water repellant fabric

    Decent size (224 x 183cm for the XL)

    Snugpak's Travelsoft insulation

    Much warmer than I expected

    Price. I paid just under £40


    Cons:

    We'll see. I'll let you know if I freeze my 'nads off! :/


    https://www.snugpak.com/jungle-blanket

  • Hello from Canada! Moving to Scotland.

    Quote from opuskilt

    This website is an awesome find. I am a long time motorbike lover and have done a few tours of Western/Eastern Europe. Was born in the U.K. but have spent most of my life in Canada and the U.S. I intend to move to Scotland in the coming year and eventually get a bike or import one of mine from Canada and enjoy the beauty of Scotland. Though I am no stranger to cold weather, I don't seek it out preferentially. My research suggests the Eastern border towns as well as the areas East of Edinburgh are the warmest? Is this true? I've lived in big cities and smaller towns in the course of education/work and I can work just about anywhere...so I'm kind of wide open as to where I can live in Scotland. I'd actually prefer a smaller town...have been in the heart of Toronto for near 14 years now. I don't see an absolute necessity for city amenities.


    As for the biking part, believe it or not, I did the 20,000 odd km in Europe on a 1988 BMW K100 through asphalt (at times covered in snow), rocky mountain roads, and sand. Not that the sand was the fun part...memorable...but not much fun. As you probably all know Romania and Bulgaria have some fantastic roads...highly recommended. I'm not sure if the old girl is still available...left her with a buddy in Germany...but would love to show her Scotland...though I'd be perfectly happy to get a nice mid-sized (more capable) bike...but first got to get there and get settled.

    Welcome to the forum opuskilt. I live in a wetter part of a wet part of England 😳, just a stones throw from the Scottish border 😉 so I’m of no help regarding climate enquiries (or much else for that matter 😃).

  • Hello from Canada! Moving to Scotland.

    I think you’re right Ian, while the numerical miles might not add up to much, factor in the infrastructure of the roads and quality of views and you’re probably looking at an average of 30mph off the main drags.


    Just apply ‘The Scotland Protocol’; 1 Scottish mile = 2 (inferior) standard miles 😂 … and that’s without applying the ‘midge drag factor’ 🤣

  • Bit breezy out there

    Our power went off on Friday about 8pm - no heat, no phone, no internet, etc. Time to break out the camping gear again, if only for grub and brews. It just came back on this afternoon (Sunday) just after 3pm. I was wondering about you guys in the red warning zone because it was really bad here in the yellow zone.


    I was supposed to go into work yesterday but all roads out of the village were blocked by fallen trees, so instead we helped to clear the eastern route out with the farmer next door. Good fun and the Dunkirk spirit kicked in with the neighbours, but I'm glad the power's back on.

  • Must do better!

    Aye up Steve!


    My brother, sister, cousins, and old friends all still call me Jamie, I don’t mind, it’s my name. I was re-christened Jim when I started work on a newspaper when I was 17. It was all to do with the length of the byline on my first front page photo. It just seemed to stick after that.


    Coincidentally, Ted Simon worked on that same newspaper, The Barrow News & Mail, but many years before. He wrote about it in the forward of Riding High and I mentioned the connection to him at an HU meet about 10 or 15 years ago and he was quite happy to reminisce over a beer or two.


    I’ll PM you as plans firm up 😉.

  • Must do better!

    Quote from Three Dawg

    Sorry to hear about your health problems. Can offer a room and some grub (we have one for non paying guests!) if you are passing through Inverness in April. Price is pretending not to be bored I I start rabbiting on about how amazing riding in Africa is. :D I've seen the people whizzing around on their RFH bikes in Zambia, doing good work no doubt.

    Cheers 3D, hope you’re having a great time and are bearing up okay in all that warmth! I’ll never get bored of travel stories, promise! 😉