Rob introduces...Dave Wicks

Well imagine my surprise, as I am stood waiting for my pizza in Budgens (what a great idea to offer mini pizzas at lunchtime) flicking through the latest edition of Ride Magazine.

There is Dave, our mechanic and photographer, staring out at me.
The chaps at Ride have featured him at part of their 'what's in your shed'
type series.

So if you want to get to know Dave have a read.

Rob gets in some practice...

Rob writes:

Well I suppose it is my fault but I have to say that Tom did not take that much persuading, just a shame about the Triumph but I guess we can all swap bikes for a few miles or so.
Due to the fact that we are taking the Rocket, and its 2.3l engine, Dave our mechanic and snapper, has elected to take an Enfield Bullet, just not the sidecar version. What we have been planning to only take five days could take years with a sidecar.
I had been thinking about how best to prepare for such a trip, I mean the miles we are covering, particularly the first day coming up from Norwich to Orkney, are not something you do on a regular basis.
My little commuting blast normally takes 35mins or so at a fairly steady rate of knots, so 12 hours clocked up on the first day, and that¹s even before the trip proper starts. I figured it was time to prepare a little.
Monday coming I am heading up to Tain for a little stay with the gang at Glenmorangie and shunning the usual options have elected to take two wheels.
The plane means a trip to Stansted and an early start and as for the train, well less said the better. Ok both options allow for a few extra moments kip, but at 70mph the amount of oxygen forced into your lungs is pretty refreshing.
So gonna stop off and see my dad and his other half in Preston and then push up to The Anderson at Fortrose for a dram and a good night¹s sleep before the last short leg up to the distillery.
So if you see me and my little 650 pack horse say hello,or make me a brew.

Boat booked, bikes borrowed, boots bought

The great Journey's Blend escapade will feature Triumph and Royal Enfield motorcycles. Or, to be precise, one Royal Enfield and three Triumphs.

This was to have been my opportunity to ride a Rocket 3, graciously lent by Messrs Triumph, and the biggest production motorcycle you can obtain off the (heavily reinforced) shelf. But the hassle of actually getting down to the southern wastes of England to pick it up, ride it to Orkney and then somehow, after a week, get it back to Deep South proved too much of a problem for me. Given that I'm broadcasting right up to and including Wednesday 3rd June, when the trip begins with a rendezvous in Orkney.

Plans to borrow an Enfield also proved problematic, in that it was to be collected from Langholm, in the very far south of Scotland. And returned there.

So instead, I've managed to get hold of an old Triumph Trophy tourer for the week (1200cc of fully-faired mile-muncher), joining Rob on a Bonneville, the Rocket 3 (now being ridden by trusty snapper) and a mechanic aboard an Enfield AND SIDECAR! So we won't be going hell for leather.

I've booked the boat, seen the label for the planned bottling, bought a pair of Harbro Dealer Boots and a Hi-Viz jacket and...it's happening!

A trip and a wee half!

It's all Rob Allanson's fault. He's the editor of Whisky Magazine, rides a motorbike and...well, I'll let him tell the tale.

"In June myself and BBC Scotland presenter, whisky writer and
motorbike nut Tom Morton (let's not forget he travelled to every
distillery in Scotland using an ancient sidecar outfit) are heading
out on a bit of a epic long distance whisky trip ­ entitled Journey¹s
Blend. To help out and document the trip a photographer and mechanic will complete the two wheeled entourage.
The idea will be to travel the compass points visiting the more
extreme distilleries and selecting whisky that will be shipped to the
hub of the circle to create a blended malt.

So starting at Highland Park, we head to Kilchoman, then Bladnoch and
Glen Garioch before finishing at Glenturret ­ taking about five days to do it.
At Glenturret, Edrington's master blender and whisky creator supreme
John Ramsay has agreed to pull the blend together. The result, just 50
bottles in all, which will be presented in a bespoke engraved
Glencairn Crystal bottle, will be unveiled at Whisky Live Glasgow, and
some of the proceeds will go to the Parkinson¹s Disease Society in honour of Michael Jackson."

(Tom points out, helpfully, to non-whisky connoisseurs, that this Michael Jackson is NOT the allegedly-still-living-singer, but the late and legendary whisky and beer writer.)

"Also to lend the project an air of sophistication, British bike
manufacturer Triumph has agreed to lend a couple of modern classics. I
have to say I cannot wait to ride a Bonneville. It¹s a bike I have
always wanted to ride, the essence of British motorbiking and
engineering. With its wonderful burbling exhaust note, I know it will
be hard to part with it after so many miles. Mind you the trip is also
a dream come true. ­ It's all about the bikes and whisky, both taken very responsibly, obviously."