So the Connie's big birthday kind of snuck up on me.  The first reminder I got was the bill for its registration - yay!  But I had to do more than just affix an expensive piece of paper to it.  There were some E-bay purchases (still to be blogged about), but the important thing to do was to get out there and prove that she still has it - not that I doubted her for a second.

Brand spanker's with zero farkles...With the anniversary occurring during winter it was always going to be a bit of a lottery on just how carried away I could get with the celebratory ride.  I ended up booking Monday (the actual big day) off as annual leave as I figured even if it rained all weekend and on Monday I would still have to do something.  Then I just kept an eye on the weather with a small poorly formed plan rattling around in my skull...
On Thursday I needed to make my decision as I had to book the hairy one into some luxury accommodation or not.  The weather forecast that night suggested fine on the West Coast on Saturday and then again on the East Coast on Sunday.  Well, that looked ok and also firmed up my plan by giving me a clockwise direction for a quick blat around the island.  Friday night saw me dropping the pooch off and packing my bags.

As predicted (accurately for a change), Saturday turned out to be a bit of a cracker and after filling the bike up I was pointing North West just before 9am (not a sleep in, just giving the frost some time ...