Back to Cyprus & another trip planned with Exclaim motorcycle tours. Back in October, when I got married in Cyprus, me & few mates all had a day out with Richard, Fabrice & David (who make up Exclaim) & had a superb time.

So a week in Cyprus had to include another go.

Richard, who runs the tours, wouldn't be joining us on the tour on his bike as he was recovering from a broken ankle. As soon as I saw him on crutches I was expecting a tale of a spectacular crash somewhere up in the mountains but no, he was teaching one of his sons how to do long jump, well people will take part in these dangerous sports…

Richard was going to catch us in a few places along the way with his Dad in his 4wd which meant the tour was being led by David (a Scotsman who has an ability to cram an incredible amount of swear words into every sentence) & then followed up by Fabrice (a Belgian who can ride far too quickly off road). On tour we had Clive, Declan, Jurg, Andrew & of course, me.

What I like about these tours is that you don't mess about, you get straight to it at a good pace. That's not to say you would get left behind if you're not as experienced as the other riders as one of the guy's acts as a "tail end Charlie".

This trip seemed to involve a lot of climbing, which is great for exploring the throttle response of the bikes & we soon found ourselves at the top of the first peak where we could enjoy a great view.

From there we obviously had to go down but very soon we were climbing again until we ended up looking at a massive climb that the guy's had named "K3".

I'm not sure how many hundreds of feet this climb was but we had already been told that it was a 3rd gear climb even though it was very loose & steep enough to mean you would probably need all fours at some points to walk up it!

So after watching David go straight up with not too much bother I gave myself enough run up to get some speed & launched myself at the big hill. These bikes are amazing! It just seems that as long as you point them in about the right direction & keep the throttle pinned they will go up just about anything! The KTM I was on even rewarded me with a little jump at the top of the climb which made David chuckle.

Richard met us a bit later for a lunch break where we learned that Fabrice had taken tumble, much to the amusement of his colleges.

After a short break we were back to it & took in some fantastic tracks that we later found out were part of the route the World Rally Championship uses when it visits Cyprus. At one point, as I was chasing David along one of the tracks, I took a glance at the speedo & was a bit surprised to see it reading 100! Of course I'm still thinking in mph not kph…

When we came in October the guy's took us to a place they call "Bikers Paradise", a superb piece of land that has all kinds of hills to have a go at. The biggest climb there was introduced to us in October & as much as I wanted to have a go at it there was no way Jeremy (my best man) was going to let me & I have to admit to thinking better of it as I was getting married just two day's later.
Lucky for me we ended up back there so I could have go, after K3 this was just a bump!

So another great day out where I got to see more of the Cyprus scenery, although sometimes it flashed by a bit quick…

Next stop Cadwell Park for some instructing, can't wait!

Budge