RNLI Lifeboat station tour

 I had issues with my ignition this morning as there was no spark when I tried to start the bike. Eventually I cleaned the brush from the magneto to the spark plug lead and a spark was restored. This did however set me back a few hours so had to rush through the rest of the day in order to reach my planned stop near Brighton. I was lucky enough to catch some volunteers and crew at Littlestone-on-Sea and spoke with them and took some pictures I then zoomed through the the other five lifeboat stations before stopping near Brighton. A little tourist steam train by the Hastings lifeboat station  There was a seal in the Eastbourne harbour, although you can’t see it in this picture  The view from the downs back down  to Eastbourne

 I moved off at around 8:30 in the morning for the longest day so far. A relatively long ride to Whitsable to start with a slow stretch up over the north downs. Once I got down to the coast it was blowing a gale and Whistable was seeming very exposed, apparently just to the east the coast line has an uninterrupted view to the North Pole so northerly winds are quite severe. A few views of the exposed coastline around Whistable A quick picture at the windy whitsable lifeboat station  Along the coastline and round the corner, there seems to be lots of golf courses near here, I got in to Margate. The sun continued to shine which made up for the high winds. The lifeboat station is in a very unique position, behind the Turner contemporary gallery. The bike in front of the station Where the station is located behind the Turner contemporary gallery Next stop was Ramsgate lifeboat station and when I popped in for a chat I found out the wind had been gusting to 50 knots so it was a bit of a stru

 The petrol station I aimed for this morning was shut so soon found myself out of fuel in London. Luckily the nearest petrol station was only a ten minute walk and mostly down hill. I also bumped into a friend so they kept me company on my way over. The entrance to Tower RNLI Now that I was back on the road proper, I quickly arrived at Tower lifeboat station. Slightly confused to find it located at Windsor bridge though! A slightly more interesting pic with a view in the background  Next on the list is Gravesend lifeboat station. I turned up just in time to see the boat head out on call which was very lucky. The lifeboat station here is located at the end of the second oldest cast iron pier in the world. The oldest cast iron pier is next door, 100 metres up river! Luckily there was still someone in the station and they were able to open up and show me around quickly. A view of the pier from the side And outside the pier entrance  I then pootled on to the Isle of Sheppey just as the win

 On the first day I planned to leave at 14:30 in order to take in Teddington and Chiswick lifeboat stations with plenty of time to reach my cousin before dark.  All was going smoothly until, going down Barnet high street I heard a loud pop and quickly realised my rear tyre had blown out. I pulled up outside a cinema and hopped off to assess the damage. A slightly deflated tyre This was a breakdown I had been dreading as there was absolutely no reason I couldn’t fix the issue myself and I expected it to be an absolute pain to fix. Fortunately the wheel came out and the tyre was off without putting up a fight, unlike fitting the fresh tyres in the first place, and I was able to look at fixing the puncture. The hole in the inner tube The bead had completely separated from the tyre Unfortunately it was wasn’t going to be an easy fix, luckily I wasn’t far from home and my Dad was able to zoom down on his Moto Guzzi with the old original Dunlop tyre and a fresh inner tube. My saviour with fr