David Wadley, one of the photographers that takes wedding photos at Grafton came and took some initial photos so that they could go on the website. There are three generations of the Morris family riding to Tan Tan, the gateway to the Sahara - John Morris, who will be 76, Stephen Morris, 49 and Henry Morris will have just turned 16 when they leave. The two motorbikes are both BMW’s and those of you who have watched Long Way Round and Long Way Down with know that these are the best bikes for long tours.

We also had a meeting with Ed Hughes from Hughes Media who created the website you are now looking at. This job was undertaken by one of his guys who knows a lot about motorbikes. Thank you Ed for supporting us. We’re going to have a meeting with Ed in the New Year to learn how to be ‘bloggers’.

The preparations for Halfway Down continue, today  we are testing the communications systems on the bikes having had the bike to bike intercoms repaired (yet again). We are also trying out the GPS systems for the first time.Dad, Henry and I are going on the Capel Y Fynn, a run round the Black mountains and Hay-on-Wye run by the Vintage Motorcycle Club.

So imagine my surprise when I look out of the bedroom window to find a snow-covered, winter wonderland. He who hesitates is lost, so I decided just to go for it and set off.

Since the last time we were out on the bikes we have fitted a Garmin Gps to both bikes. The systems are the old Street Pilot 111, which are somewhat out of date, but do have many advantages for our trip. The system is very tough, completely waterproof and big and clumsy, which of course makes it big and easy to read. Two new ex-display systems were available on EBay for under £100.00 each. Thus giving them the added advantage of being cheap! Sometimes I wonder if I should try and get Ebay to sponsor us– by the time we go my bike will almost be an Ebay special.

You’ll know by now that Dad, Henry and I just LOVE being out on motorbikes, so it will be no surprise to you if I say it really was great to be out in deep country on the bikes again after the winter. The ‘extreme weather training’ went particularly well as we did that looking out the window of the Crown at Longview with a cup of tea! Who cares about driving snow, when you are tucked up warm and cosy in the pub?

The bike ran faultlessly and we had a great day. But as for the point of the day – the intercom failed again. This is a real shame as it is made in Redditch and we would really like to use it, as it is almost the only local piece of kit we have. Rider to pillion is fine, bike to bike– nothing. The Gps worked quite well apart from a voracious appetite for AA batteries and some basic errors all caused by inexperienced operator input. (Me.)

Oh well just have to go and try it all out again!

Stephen

You will know that getting money is hard; everyone knows that, everyone has to work, but getting someone to GIVE you their money, that is even harder and that is Lyn Winters job at the Primrose Hospice as principal fundraiser. And what a fantastic job she does.

Sometimes it’s a ‘good day’ and sometimes it isn’t. When Richard Archer got in touch with Lyn it was a really good day. He said he had read about Halfway Down in the Bromsgrove Standard and he wanted to ‘do something ‘ as well, so instead of having a mid-life crisis (he is 40) he’s going to try and do a fantastic cycle trip to raise a sum of money for Primrose Hospice . On a bicycle. NO engines, that’s really impressive.

The trip will start from Nice and finish off in Rome over 5 days covering a total distance of 500 miles. On average 100 miles per day, Richard is doing this with 6 friends and a back up vehicle. He is the only one who is cycling for charity; the others are there to push him along!

Don’t think for one minute he is one of those super fit guys who you see in Lycra along the A 38, he is not a cyclist and this is quite a challenge. Richard started training in November 2007 having had to give up rugby in 2000 because of injuries. He has found this new challenge hugely inspiring.

We hope you can inspire him even more by donating and helping him to raise a huge amount for the Primrose Hospice. Having lived in Bromsgrove most of his life, he felt it quite important to raise money for a charity that is in his home town. For every mile he cycles he knows he will be making a worthwhile difference to a family who, because of cancer, will be going through more pain than he could ever imagine, on this trip.
Good friends, Bernard O’Hara and William Devane-Porter, who have known each other for many years, also got in touch with Lyn when they recently combined forces to support Primrose Hospice. They told her they had had ‘a bit of a do’, in fact a Charity Dance which was attended by around 270 people was held at the Energie Fitness Club on Saturday 8^th March 2008.

Bernard and William are members of the Squash Club and the venue and disco was kindly donated free of charge by Richard Collins (the MD of Energie). The evening was further supported by local band – The Breakfast Club, who played superbly, lead by Chris Evans. A fantastic total of just over £2.8K was raised which included kind donations from DMC Consultants, and Legal & General.

So thank you, all you guys for doing ‘your little bit’ to help.

Just brilliant!

Lyn has been working like mad and has news:

BMW R100GS

This is what I would like to do to/fit to the GS between now and when we leave on 19^th October. Some will get done some will certainly not. They are in no particular order and the list will certainly get added to as the project progresses.

The main factors deciding what happens and what does and does not will be budget and just common sense as in an ideal world I would just commission HPN to turn the old girl into a replica of Gaston Rahier’s Dakar bike!

1 New Wilbers front fork springs.

2 New seat (either Corbin or Tourartech)

3 Touratech sump guard

4 R100gs gearbox with kickstarter

5 Touratech Lower footrests

6 Migsel Handlebar risers

7 Set of Zega Panniers or Maybe Caja Sahel In alloy

8 New HT leads

9 Wilbers Rear Shock

10 Wunderlich Float bowl retainers

11 Up grade fasteners to allen bolts

12 Voltage regulator

13 Duplicate set of cables throughout

14 Wunderlich right angle tyre valves

15 Touratech central oil cooler mounting kit

16 Ortlieb dry bag.

Oh well you can always wish!

  “Punctures are the most common breakdown you will experience on your trip. Before you leave you must know how to fix them yourself . Practise at home before you leave so that when the inevitable occurs you can be sure that the operation will be done smoothly” Chris Scott The Sahara Overland 2004

Mmmm… yes well brilliant advice no doubt from an accomplished desert veteran and talented author, but like so much in life much easier said (or written) than done. The rear tyre on the GS has been suffering from a slow puncture ever since the plug inserted by a French car mechanic began to fail on the Med in July last year. It was a very slow leak and seemed to seal itself when the pressure got down to 20 psi so not so bad if you keep you eye on it, but not the way forward in this country.

So on a sunny Sunday afternoon armed with a new 400/18 inner tube and three motocross length tyre levers I set out to practise in order to ensure a smooth operation when the inevitable occurred. Dear reader I will spare you the gory details smooth operation it was not. The biggest problem being breaking the bead. This was achieved with a special tool bought from the US last year, the only problem being that I wasn’t going to take it on the trip as it weighs a ton .

After two hours (I kid you not) swearing, pleading,  and bitter recrimination the job was done. The moment I turned of the compressor off all was quiet except for a a gentle but a persistent hiss. I had with my usual mechanical dexterity managed to a make a slow puncture into a quick one!! Off to Paul at Droitwich Tyres and Exhausts again.

Rest assured in the desert I shall just keep blowing the bloody thing up.

It occurs to me as I am lay on the drive outside our shed that for a desert adventure HWD has involved me in more wet and cold motorcycling than I care for. I am trying to fit the elbow to the tyre valve on the back wheel of the GS in rain that is so cold that it almost has lumps in. What makes it worse is that I am sure that I am letting out more air than I am putting in.

The GS has got to be at the Manor for a photo shoot  and again it is wet and cold. I am no use at this mechanic bit and give up with the rear tyre, so I use the jump starter to overcome the flat battery and after a load of difficulty trying to fix the bike in the rain at last we are under way in the safe knowledge that Droitwich Tyres and Exhaust are on the way to meet us and will do everything they can to fix the blasted tyre.

The morning is all normal hotel/wedding work, but includes a meeting with Carl from Worcestershire Life magazine who promises an article and more coverage for HWD .

The afternoon is almost all taken up with two photo sessions and interviews with the Birmingham Evening Mail. Firstly we do still shots with the photographer from the paper then though these do involve us in some riding. Then we do an interview and make some video footage for their site which you can see here. More riding this time without helmets in the (private) lane some of it with the camera man on the back . Lack of light eventually means we have to give up at about 5.30pm .They have promised us  more coverage during the prep and will run live links and updates from the trip.

Thank you all the staff at the Evening Mail especially Paul who wrote the article.

 You may have never thought about what is involved in raising money for charity, or if you have maybe it has been when watching Terry Wogan on the television doing his bit for Children In Need. Terry Wogan makes it all look so easy – one minute they have nothing – the next minute they have millions.So what does Lyn Winters have to do to raise money for the vital work that Primrose Hospice does? Here is the list of what she has been doing since she came back from her Christmas holidays:

I guess there will be lots of this, but today, in the shed, Stephen is fitting some fiddly bit to the bike. I think it has something to do with heated gloves, which will be needed, because although it is hot in the desert they will be riding back right at the beginning of November when the weather in Britain is cold.

Stephen cleaned the BMW.He hates doing this, he thinks motorbikes are for riding, not messing about with. He’s obviously worried about the photo shoot!