27 April 2016: Mabel…Noooooooot again……

After a peaceful night sleeping in the woods, we packed up and shipped out towards Port Renfrew. We have heard that this part of the island has some spectacular riding with not much traffic.

We had a quick stop in at a Tim Hortons, we are becoming addicted to their 4 cheese bagels, to update emails etc. From there we followed highway 18 which went through Port Renfrew and onto Victoria.

What a ride! What a road! What scenery!!!!!!! Full of twists and turns, small hills and rivers.We stopped often at little lakes and small tracks.

There was scarcely any traffic and it made for some fantastic riding. This is what we came for! Though we were both surprised at the scale of the logging here. Still, the scenery was incredible!

We stopped for lunch on the beach at Jordan River and stared out at Washington on the other side of the channel.

After another short ride we noticed traffic building up again. All too soon we were back in suburbia as we neared Victoria. We were tossing up about staying at a camp called Goldstream tonight, but it seemed the prices there could be really steep. Mabel's clutch had slipped a bit today so I was keen to have a sneak peak inside her engine tonight, so off to Goldstream we went!

Just as we pulled into the park Mabel cut out. She was red hot to touch and twice as hot as Rosie. Uh oh. Looked like her seizing was finally catching up. After a minute of cooling down she started right up and sat there idling away, as happy as a pig in poo. What is going on here????

We set up our camp and I started to pull her apart. I cleaned her oil screen, which was pretty spotless, so that’s a good sign, and cleaned out her clutch oil slinger. I put her covers back on and checked her plug. It was pure white, she was running way to lean, hence her higher temperatures. So I richened her carby up and gave her a kick in the guts.

Not good. RATTTTTTTTTTTLE RATTTTTTTTTLE. A nasty noise is now coming from her clutch area. After spending the next several hours pulling her apart and putting her back together I have decided to admit defeat. Luckily there is a motorcycle dealer close by and I’ll limp her there in the morning.

Sorry Mabel. I wrecked you. 

We have our little TV interview tomorrow, and maybe Mabel won't be there for that one. I can't ride her like she is now. Fingers crossed.