With only a few days until we pick up our bike it felt right to get in the 'bike' frame of mind.

We decided to visit the Triumph Factory at Hinckley as it was only a 30 minute drive from where we stayed in Leicester. We have visited the factory previously but not since 2007. After that visit, Greg went home and bought his first Triumph. We have had 3 more since that first one - needless to say, Kerrie was a bit nervous about today's visit, it could turn out to be an expensive day!

The factory opened at 10am and we arrived about 10 minutes after opening time. We had tried to book a tour of the factory online without success so had convinced ourselves that all we would get to do would be to visit the museum as part of the Triumph Experience. When we arrived we were greeted by Neil and Kerrie immediately smiled and asked him if there were any tours of the factory available. To our surprise he invited us to join his 2:30 pm tour as it was not full. BONUS!

We paid our 30 pound fee to tour the factory and then set off to explore the museum and shop. With that done we decided to go for a drive until our tour at 2:30. Greg found a nearby motorcycle accessory shop so we went to check it out. We bought nothing as we thought the prices were way out of our price range - and lets face it - we have pretty much all we need in the motorcycle accessory area. An example of the prices was a pair of Draggin jeans that cost $249 in Australia were 249 pound here - with the exchange rate that is double what we would pay at home home!

After returning to the factory we had lunch while we waited for our tour. The cafe was buzzing with riders from Belgium. We checked out their bikes in the carpark while we waited.

We started our tour about 20 minutes early as everyone who was booked in was ready to go. We put on our fluro vests and ear pieces for the tour narration and set off. No photos were allowed on the tour - sorry. Our guide, Neil, was informative and knew lots of technical stuff as well as anecdotal stories to keep us interested. We thoroughly enjoyed our 2 hour tour before returning to our hotel for dinner.

While having dinner, we had a message from Peter Eaton, Craig's d*** on's friend from Liverpool, asking us if we were going to the Carole Nash International Classic Motorcycle Show at Stafford on the weekend. Having nothing else planned for Saturday we decided to go and have a look. Stafford was about an hour's drive from our hotel so we didn't leave too early.

There was a queue of traffic to get in to the event when we got there but parking was free and easy. This motorcycle show claims to be the biggest Classic Bike show in the world - and we have no reason to doubt the claim!. There were more than 500 stalls ranging from clothing, accessories, bike parts, bikes, books, models and tools. We wandered around the outside stalls and then ventured in to the Hall where there was more to see.

To our untrained eyes, some of the goods on offer looked to be nothing more than junk. To the trained eye - like our friend Chris Pearson - there was treasure everywhere. Some of the helmets were bargains and a good pair of boots could be had for 30 pound.

We met up with Peter Eaton and his dad, Michael just before we left. Our friend Craig d*** on met Peter in 2015 while travelling from Hull to Amsterdam on the ferry. They have stayed in touch and introduced us via Facebook. Peter has a collection of 23 bikes, 18 of which are in pristine condition. We meet up with Peter again in June after our week on the Isle of Man. Peter has offered to show us the sights of Liverpool and to introduce us to some of the great riding spots around his area. We hope we get to see his bikes as well!

Back to The Oak Hotel for the night and tomorrow we set off for Felixstowe to collect our bike on Monday morning.