InvictaMoto's Döra the Explörer

I currently use an Oxford magnetic tank bag. It's a small enough for those days when you just need somewhere for your spare specs and wallet but it also expands. But it is the magnets that are my concern. No matter how much you wipe the base of the bag, the magnets will start to scratch the paint.  So before the Spain trip last summer, I started to look at the Givi tank-lock system. In the end I shelved that as I had only recently bought the new top box and and inner bag! So with Spring approaching (sometime any way!) I decided to have another look. Prices don't seem to have changed much, and when Googling, the overseas shops seem to have prices about 20% cheaper than here. With postage taken into account they are still cheaper. So, I ordered the Givi 3D604 bag from Motocard . Delivery takes about a week and that's okay as I don't intend to use it for a while.

The weather has been pretty cold on occasions and so with other commitments poor Döra hasn't been out of the garage for over a month. So it was with some trepidation that I togged up and rolled her out onto the drive.  Alarm off, then press the button. Boom. First time start. Where to go?  I was going to give her a ride around the Marsh to give her a run. It was 4.5°C when I set off along Burmarsh Road towards the west right to the end then round to Newchurch then Ivychurch and then Old Romney.  The roads were generally traffic free which is a good thing as often they are less than two cars wide. The most fraught thing is meeting cyclists, either direction, who seem to have no sense of which side of the road to actually ride.  In the UK it's "keep left". From Old Romney I joined a few other bikes on the A259, most turned off towards Lydd and Camber. I carried onto New Romney and back home along the A259. Not far, but by the time I got home it was...