Spoke to Mike at Cardiff Motorad this morning just to bounce my electrical ABS and breaking gremlins off him – thanks Mike (you must dread these expeditions). Arrived in Sorrento yesterday for some R&R – my wife and daughter arrived from Naples at around 7pm, really nice to catch up with them again after time away from home. Planning some additional tours from this base to include the excellent mountain passes at Stigliano and Bellosguardo. Acclimatising to the heat is crucial – even the locals are struggling with mid to high 30’s and 60-70% humidity, sun rises at 4:30 at the moment and its wonderfully cool and clear at that time of the day.

Travelling south on the A1 the brake warning lights on the GS started to do their Christmas flashing routine. Pulling over into the shade of the services and musing over a iced tea I checked the bike over – nothing obvious but seemingly voltage related as the lights and GPS are playing up as well. I decided to press on and that night in the shade of the rest stop in Preto I stripped out the CanBus and doubled the power feed to the lights and Sat Nav via the battery charging system. Its amazing what you can achieve with a few lengths of wire and some tape – being confident and familiar with your own bike is the secret – wonder if this would have been possible with a new 1200 (of course 1200 owners might argue their bikes never misbehave) – Day time temperatures are in the mid 30’s at the moment so early morning and late afternoon travel is called for.