Falkirk to Cornwall, I loved the trip. Wife never.

The reason I bought my Pan. Back in October 2021 we decided that for the October break we would take a little trip down south for what we hoped was going to be better weather. We found a static caravan down in Newquay cheap as the school holidays were not on. A little background to us, I owned a Honda Deauville 650 and had mainly been riding this with the odd shot of my Dads ST1100 pan which he kindly let us have for the week, the wife (Lymara) has only had around 3 hours total on the back of a motorcycle. So, for the challenge of Falkirk to Newquay was going to be fun. I have only ridden with a little weight or just the wife, not 5 days’ worth of clothes and the wife so this was going to be a learning curve. We set off from Falkirk on the Sunday afternoon for a leisurely ride down to Bristol, 390 miles where we would stop over. As soon as we hit Glasgow, we received a nice light shower of rain which was off and on until we got to around Carlisle then we got blue skies for the rest of trip, we stopped twice, once for a burger king, fuel and toilet break and the other for just fuel. Lymara was feeling a little tender by the time we stopped but was not too bad, I found the pan faultless and comfortable all the way down there, when it came to filtering the first time with all the weight, I was a bit hesitant so took it easy as there were a few road works on the way. Once we stopped in Bristol, dumped all the luggage in the hotel room and away to find a shop for some crisps and juice or pop as we got told down there, it was only when we got back on the bike, I felt it hard to get my leg across it, think the tiredness had kicked in. After a good night sleep, we got our breakfast then took off for the rest of the journey, only another 3 hours ride until we got to the place, we set off on a really nice morning enjoying the scenery, not long after passing Exeter I said to the wife I will need to get fuel shortly as seen the gauge getting lower. She soon heard me on the intercom somewhat starting to panic as I never seen any signs up for a petrol station on the A30, the fuel light was not on, but all things start to play on your head like, what if the bulb has gone and I am going to run out, luckily, we see a sign for services in 10 miles. It was only when I stopped and put the bike on its side stand for the wife to get off the light came on. A quick splash and dash we were back on the road and in Cornwall shortly followed by a tour of Newquay which we quickly found is just giant hills which when fully loaded was fun… After we got into our caravan it was clear we picked the right choice of vehicle for getting about Cornwall, we visited Bodmin for the day where it was shorts and t-shirt weather as well as big motorbike boots as only the jackets, helmets, trousers, and her boots that fitted in the box. Talk about sweety feet! Getting about Cornwall on the bike was great as the roads were perfect with some cracking views! Time had come and we were heading home on the Friday, we set off at 9am and as soon as we left it was just traffic followed by more traffic. When we were on the M5 heading towards the M6 we got diverted and the satnav which was on my phone playing through my ear took us back south again before taking us on the dreaded M1 which takes us up the wrong side of the country and this was followed by…. More traffic to even complete stand stills. We stopped for another Burger King and looked at the ETA time which was showing 9pm. We got back on the bike trying to make up time when it came to traffic and get through it and then we hit the A66 which I thought with it being later and dark by this point we should get through it not too bad, well this was another stand still situation, luckily, we were on the bike so when we could get past stationary cars and truck we took advantage of this. Lymara decided to chat via the intercoms on the A66 instead of listening to the music, but she never said very much but I thought it was down to tiredness, I felt fine but knew she was feeling sore, we decided to stop at Southwait services just as we got back on the motorway and then it showed how she felt. When we stopped, she struggled to get off the bike as her hip and right leg was killing her. After we were both off the bike she limped in the services and could see by her face she was struggling, this was around 7pm and still had another two and bit hours ridding. We found a seat and I gave her a hand to get her shoes off and her bike trousers off to get comfortable. As I went to the toilet, I even had a guy ask how she was and said, “that’s the reason my wife only manages an hour on a bike.” After a break for about 45 minutes, she managed to get back on the bike but by this time the misty rain and darkness had come. We set off trying to make progress for the time lost but found my visor was getting bad with steaming up, think it is time to invest in a pinlock sheet, so I had to ride with it up a notch and this can only be described as a bad idea as my nose was in pain as well as my throat. As we got the exit for Larbert in Falkirk I could feel my fingers not waiting to play ball and the last 5 mins of the journey was the hardest part of it. We pulled up in the driveway where my dad had been watching on the tracker, we fitted on the bike to see where it was and had the garage open waiting for me to get the bike in the garage. As soon as we stopped in the driveway Lymara was off and away to lay down on the couch, 13 hours after we left. Overall, would I do this trip again, yes, in a heartbeat, I really enjoyed it even though it was full of boring motorways but just showed how comfortable the old ST1100 is and how reliable the old girl is. After we got home, I was on eBay looking at bikes and have now purchased a ST1100 ex police bike for myself. Hopefully this year me and my dad can go away on our pans together. I am also aiming to do the iron butt challenge for blood bike Scotland charity. If you have enjoyed this, leave a comment or tell me what you would like more. Would be much appreciated!