Travel Reference
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in hot weather because that's when people are more liable to have their windows open
and so can't hear the indicator clicking above the noise of the wind, engine and tyre roar.
And of course hot weather is usually bright weather, so noticing the tell-tale on the dash
is harder in the glare, too.
Approaching a vehicle sitting in the nearside lane which is indicating it's about to pull
out in front of you when there seems no need for it to do so is slightly worrying when
you're in a car - is this bozo going to suddenly put themself in my way, or is this just a
seasonal Random Indicator Event? - but when you're on a bike it's much more anxiety-
promoting. You're not worrying about your bodywork, you're worrying about your body.
Then you have to decide whether to flash your lights at them, or honk the horn as you
pass and use your own indicators to suggest they might like to check the state of their
stalks.
A roundabout on a bypass. Big queues ahead. Who does the road planning around
here? I head gingerly down the gap between the two lines of traffic. This will never feel
entirely natural to me. In fact it feels a bit like cheating, but on the other hand when I'm
in my car and a biker threads their way down the central channel, I don't mind; it doesn't
lengthen the amount of time I'll have to spend in the jam, after all, so why should I resent
it? However I do feel vaguely embarrassed to be doing this. Just all those years of being
a car driver, I suppose. The only thing more embarrassing than heading down the central
channel is not doing it, queuing up behind the stationary traffic, and then having a fellow
biker pass you and disappear towards the front of the jam while you sit there like a prune.
Through Dalkeith; the place specialises in traffic jams and today there are roadworks
as well. Sitting in the bright sunlight in my black leathers, I start to get quite hot. Then
finally it's open-road stuff again, taking some wee daft roads to Glenkinchie. The route
includes a ford, which is something you don't see every day, certainly in Scotland. In fact
I can only think of one other ford in Scotland on a public road, on a wee road near the
Carron valley reservoir. This ford has a steep exit over badly pitted tarmac, and when the
VFR splashes through the water I feel the back wheel slip momentarily as I get up a bit of
speed to carry us over the cratered surface, but we get out without any further nonsense.
I always seem to end up doing stuff like this on inappropriate bikes.
The first bike I had after I passed my test was a CB 500, which - I read in the bike
mags - was an all-rounder. Somewhat idiotically, I took this to mean you could use it
like a trail bike and kept taking it up farm tracks and down muddy paths, over rocks and
through streams and stuff, and so fell off a lot, tumbling over the handlebars on at least
one occasion, though at such low speeds all that ever got hurt were the bike's extremities.
Inappropriate bike, see? Should have done all that sort of stuff on a trailie.
On the other hand, the old 500 proved perfectly fine for going through disused railway
tunnels. There's an old railway line which passes by Glenfarg on the way to Perth; you
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