STORY BY NEALE BAYLY #196896 PHOTOS BY NEALE BAYLY AND PATRICK BAYLY
The days slide by with fish suppers, cur-
ries, day trips up and over the Rest and Be Thankful to Inverary, and slow, thoughtful rides to the small village of Kilmacolm, where I spent my teenage years. It was a wild time with a mixed bag of memories, from my first love to occasionally being caught in the religious hatred and violence that was prevalent in the late 1970s. Sitting holding someone’s face together with paper towels after he’s been stabbed with a broken bottle or having your head stitched up with no anesthetic leaves a few dark shadows, but the midsummer sunlight chases them away as I show my son the beauty of this area. He loves the old pubs that have been serving ale for hundreds of years and the magnificent churches that have been open- ing their door to the faithful even longer. Not much has changed in these parts, but my only connection now is to my family, and it’s a tough ride south as we say good- bye and roll for England. On this trip, Patrick will see his cousins,
his aunt and uncle, and his grandmother, who all make up parts of the DNA he feels but can’t touch. It’s his history, his story, his fabric woven with the predominant influ- ence he has from America. What is going through his mind right now as we ride through the peaceful countryside? Out here, the fields and hedgerows haven’t changed for decades, maybe centuries, a large number of landscapes identical to those I passed through as a child. My con- scious mind doesn’t recognize a lot of it, but deep inside, it connects to something stored internally like an ancestral code to navigate by that we lose piece by piece with our ever- growing reliance on electronics and elec- tronic voices telling us what to do. The words of my Incan buddy, Flavio, echo through my mind from journeys taken into the wild places of Peru: “There are no signs out here, amigo,” and I smile inside my hel- met. There are still untamed places on the planet, but they are shrinking daily, and I wonder what will Patrick have to work with at my age. Can progress possibly keep up this frenetic pace? As my eyes absorb the landscape, I realize
I will always see Britain with my early 1980s eyes. Punk rock evolved through the New Romantics, unemployment escalated, we went to war with Argentina, and Japanese motorcycles ruled the roads. A well-sorted Triumph Bonneville could still catch you out in an impromptu race along a country lane, but even their days were numbered as
my weapon of choice. The Honda CBX550 hit the streets, but BMWs were few and far between and until this time were decidedly boring, the preserve of mature, well-heeled riders who for some bizarre reason rode long distance. For a generation addicted to racing along the lanes and trying to pull birds at the pub, the BMWs weren’t
Left, Hadrian's Wall. Above, A cathedral in the city of Bath.
May 2016 BMW OWNERS NEWS
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