I can only park the bikes up for so long before the need to ride takes over and I point one of them down the road. Tonight it was the Tenere that was in favour and I took her round to Palnackie where the Waters of Urr meet the Solway Firth.

It’s usually a picturesque spot down by what passes for a harbour but tonight it’s a construction site and could possibly be a sewerage works sometime soon. I hope not because it was a lovely spot by the tidal part of the river where I’ve been known to stop for a photo in the past —

That is definitely an old picture of the Tenere as she is wearing an alloy deflector plate that I cobbled up in an attempt to stop the turbulent air whistling up behind the screen on long autobahn hauls. There was a downside to wearing that deflector as it made an already flighty Tenere in crosswinds even more so and could be downright dangerous so my handiwork was consigned to the scrap bin after one particular blustery ride which saw me fighting to keep her on the road at speed.

Tonight – after filling up with cheepo fuel at Dalbeatie I decided to follow the Urr up into the Galloway Hills with a stop or two for pics on the way. It was the wind ravaged tree that caught my eye on this occasion – she must suffer the same fate as my Tall Tenere on a windy day —

It wasn’t long before the Water of Urr dwindled to not-a-lot —

but there was a fine loch up here in the hills that kept the water flowing —

From this angle the Tenere looks as if she should have ‘Wide Load’ boards but she isn’t nearly as fat as some of the ‘Adventure Bikes’ I see on the road these days —

And why is she wearing her panniers? Cos I’m building up for a trek to somewhere – soon. It’s the first of July already and if I don’t get my act together I will miss this summer.

Was heading home at a rate of knots when I had a close call just up the road from where this next pic was taken —

A roe deer intent on committing hari-kari came bounding over the roadside hedge and wasn’t too far off my front wheel. At least I had my proper bike gear on tonight so I would probably have come off lightly even if the Tenere was to suffer a few blows 🙂

I enjoyed my ride and I’m pleased I didn’t sell the Tenere earlier in the year – she’s a good bike,

Tenere Tracks the Water of Urr