Herts and Minds – Day 2 in Hertfordshire on the Honda CRF450L – Simple Lanes but Bags of Fun!

Herts and Minds – 2 Day Loop into Hertfordshire on the CRF450L – Camping at Dobbs Weir

This was a lovely 2 day loop, the second day had some stickier sections which beginners might find testing

Thanks for watch, please get in touch if you have any questions

GPX File
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/dh2b6x4rmtoqi2qevwiqi/HertsandMinds-2.gpx?rlkey=9simip99ln0rlicz5crh5kwbl&dl=0

Campsite
https://www.visitleevalley.org.uk/dobbs-weir-campsite

Altrider Bag
https://www.adventurebikeshop.co.uk/soft-luggage/altrider-hemisphere-saddlebag-/

Tank Bag

Acercis Shorts
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274644250800?var=574870463676

Clarks Shoes
https://www.clarksoutlet.co.uk/atl-coast-rock/26170316-p

Radio

Stove
Swirling flame – OP-100

Tent

Saw

Hello and welcome to another adventure. So, it’s day two obviously. Uh it’s the morning of day two and I’m just starting to pack up. I’m just going to have a coffee and um yeah, get my bike loaded up and get up on the road. It’s coming up to about 7. So, I’d like to be on the road by about 8. So, I’m just going to have a coffee or two. I have got a dried meal with me. I bought two meals with me in a bag. So, I’ve got two dried meals in here. One evening meal and one breakfast, but um I didn’t use the evening meal. I actually just had a sandwich last night. A few Pringles, couple of beers. Yeah. So, I’m just going to have a coffee and then get on the way. Didn’t have too bad a night sleep. It was windy in the night and we did have a fair bit of rain, it seemed. It’s drying out now. Obviously, sun’s come out now. Uh going to dry it off, but um yeah. So, I had a lovely comfortable night’s sleep. So, what I do when I’m on a trip like this, like minimalist trip, I bring just this real minimalist setup. Look. So, I’ve got this. This is a toes 550 sort of mug pot that comes with a lid. Uh, and so that is my mug. So, I’m going to make a coffee now. I’m going to boil it in there. And then I’ve got this. This is just one of my favorite bits of kit, which is this uh Goss Hawk stove. It’s got a strange name, so I won’t try and um give the name of it, but I will put a link in the description to it to to it on their website. Um I like this stove so much I bought a second one just, you know, cuz they they’ve got a lot of stoves on their website, but they’re all sold out. So, they’re an Australian company and um you have to buy them from Australia and wait, you know, a week or so for them to be shipped over, but it doesn’t cost a lot. So, don’t be freaked out when I say that, you know. So, but it’s it’s a great bit of kit cuz it compacts down to nothing. So, I’m just going to get that going. Right. So, that’s lit. So, I’ve got this compact stove. And what I like about it, cuz it’s an alcohol stove, it’s got a sealed lid so you can have a bit of alcohol in it ready to go. You’ve got a lid and then this sort of windshield comes stand for travel. You turn it the other way around and it becomes much more compact and then it easily all fits into there. So I’m just going to put that onto there. Look. And then the lid on the top. So that’s going to boil my coffee. And then what I do is I put one of these around the edge of the mug once it’s hot. And these are called hot lips. So you get these from um from various places made by Snow Peak. Um so you just put that on the top cuz obviously the mug’s going to be roasting. And then I’ve got some of these um uh coffee bags, you know, so it’s like a tea bag but coffee. And then a bit of sugar just to chuck in there. So this is like what I use as a pot grab. This is just so you go in any sort of pound shop, you’ll find these like silicon cake molds and things. And so I’ve just cut them up to make like a pot grab, a pot stand. Um, yeah. So when you’re cooking and that, you don’t burn anything and not burning the grass or whatever. And I always bring a chopping board, but that’s just as a stand. It’s, you know, obviously you could use it chopping board, but like I bought it today just as a stand. So, it’s like a minimalist table. Um, if you like, cuz obviously when you’re on grass, your stuff’s always falling over. So, and then look then alcohol-wise, I’ve just got that. So, and that setup is less than sort of bringing my lightest gas stove and a canister. Um, and it’s costs nothing. And it’s obviously unlike gas, it’s easy to refill up a bottle of alcohol than keep faffing around with gas canisters. So, um anyway, so that’s that. So, I’m going to finish charging off my uh charging up my GoPros so I can get on the road and I can do some filming. Um yeah, finish off doing my admin, get packed up, and get going. and uh look forward to day two. Right. Okay. Catch you in a bit. Pick up the mic. Come on. You know you want to. Oh, come on. You silly bloody camera. There we go. It’s picked up the mic. Right. As ever, last check of uh L tent pegs, all that sort of thing. Yeah, we’re golden. Right. So, first I’m going to go and get a bit of fuel first. I only need a little splash and then I can get on the way. And uh Is it automatically open on exit? I don’t know. Yeah. Yeah. This is Sainsbury just around the corner. So, if I um nip there, get some fuel, maybe as a squirrel bar to stick in me bag for later. Right. So, I got a bit of fuel and a couple of chalky bars. Like squirrel bars were like £150 for a bloody squirrel bar. Whenever I go into like places like B&M, I come away looking like a a flapjack addict. Right. Okay. So, we’ve just come past um or just come over the A1 as we’ve come out of Hodddon and uh so just come past Hodon Wood to the west of town. So, we’re just sort of heading sort of south westish now. Westish heading towards Hatfield. So, pick up our first lane just um just around a corner. BL byway. Yeah, it’s obviously still quite early and so it’s not warmed up yet. Um, so I’m just the wrong side of perfect temperature- wise. I have got a jacket in my bag, just a little waterproof, but it’s probably going to get warm soon. So, well, definitely yesterday was was pretty easy. There was one or two lanes where they were just a little ruty but generally very easy going good bit big bike territory sort of a lot sort of just like this. So, if you are a bit of a novice rider or you’ve got a um massive bike, you’re looking for something simple to do, then so far this has been uh been pretty easy going. We do love a tractor. So, what we got here then? What we got? What we got? Don’t know what that one is. Could be a massive fus. Oh, see. Look in that one in the back there. It’s a David Brown. For those that don’t know, David Brown um make tractors and DB Cars, that’s where it comes from, David Brown. So, it went from making tractors to making flash sports cars that James Bond might drive. Right. Okay. Um, might be a ford down the bottom of this bit of a steep hill. This is pretty beautiful. It’s very beautiful. Very nice. Yeah, down there it is. Look. actually in there. All the drivers are in there top film unit. H site wrecky for what I wonder. That explains the buses grally stuff again. Go on, squirrel. This is a bit loose. Heat. Heat. And now onto the road. It’s cooled off a little bit since this morning. I s put me jacket on. I was just whizzing along there and I noticed a sign that or a cafe that said cafe open. Yeah, Sunshine Cafe. Let’s go have some breakfast, cup of coffee. Where am I? I am on Hatfield Road. Just off Hatfield Road, St. Alburn’s. Well, I can definitely recommend that Sunshine Cafe. It’s bloody lovely. Is that it? Yeah. Public byway. Oh, it’s a bit rotty. bit of a gnarly one. This is definitely the sort of trickiest lane we’ve done so far. I mean, it’s not, you know, for an experienced rider, it’s not particularly tricky at all, but if you’re a novice, I’ll stop and point it out at the end just in case you did want to avoid it. It’s not bad at all. If you’re going this way, you’re going down the hill, which is always easier with those little drop offs. When you get to those little things, you just just give a little tweak of gas just to keep the front end a little lighter and higher, then you’ll uh you’ll be fine. Might got to go up there. Can’t be right. Does this go then? All right. Yeah, that is that is quite tricky for a novice. Um, where am I? Please do not cross. Ah, it’s like they’re investigating something. Let’s have a nosy. Interesting. There’s a few police cars down at that end. I can’t help but think of that classic line from Hot Fuzz. Now,
yeah, accidents happen all the time. What makes you think it was murder?
Because I was there. Yeah, it’s been lovely so far. It It always just gets to me, you know. It pisses me off when you uh Here we go. Here we go. Up up up up here. When you uh come down south, all the bloody fly tipping everywhere. It’s getting a middle for diddle. But apart from that, yeah, it’s been grand. I think my M just said that this was the Chilton way. So, what’s this then? H fascinating, right? Looks like the next trail goes up a hill. Possibly a Ford down here. Oh, now there’s the water. Wait, that made the back end step out. So, can you hear the revs on the bike? It’s It’s sort of in a nice sort of easy zone. I’m not making the bike work too much. So therefore it’s it’s easier for me to control it. Bit tricky that one. Oh, this CRF just wants you to ride quick, man. Right, the media gods are just pissed on my chips because my GoPro’s gone missing. Um, which is what I sort of do all my nonbike shots on. So thankfully I downloaded just cuz I wanted to have a look at it one shot I did yesterday to Ford. Um but the rest I’ve lost which is like all the opening sequence from yesterday. Uh but not a lot else. It was a nakedole GoPro. Um so I’m not going to cry too much over it. Oh, what a bastard. Right. So, we’ve just come through Balduk. The wind’s proper got up now. I mean, I’m not particularly high up here. Yeah. So, just come through Balduk. Sort of heading over towards Royston now. Miserable Jesus Christ. like downtown Beirut here. What’s going on? There. Yeah. Right. So, I reckon we’ve got about 30 miles left to go. Still a nice few lanes to do though. All right. So, that must be uh M11 over there. Heat. Heat. Heat. So, I think it’s Newport that we’re heading into now. First one in a while, this. Let’s see if it’s doable. So, what I’ve got is this. Look over. It’s a little hand saw. Um, it’s from Amazon. I’ll put a link in the description. So, I used to carry a little, you know, like a little gardener’s hands saw, but um, it used to take forever to cut through things, but this is pretty good. Let’s do it there. There you go. Didn’t take too long at all. Woo. Right. Good deed done for the day. Heat. Heat. Right. So, this is Baxter and this is um definitely a pretty pretty little town to stop and have a bit of a wander around. I mean, look at this old medieval church here. Lots of old medieval buildings and it’s probably most famous I think it’s called the town hall. It’s just down here on the right. I shall point it out. Yeah. Beautiful, beautiful little town. Yeah. And here it is. Look. I mean, look at this. So, I was reading somewhere the other day. I was um Market Harbor and it said they had the bit underneath so people could gather there. So beautiful. Right. I think we’re just about to get onto the last lane. Yeah. So, not far from House now, which is a good job cuz me fuel lights come on. So, I’ve done about 100 miles today. Um, good for another at least another 30 miles, so not worried about that. Is that a deer in the middle of the track? Is it death? Hey, you Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed these uh this couple of days out on the bike on the trail. I was desperate to get out in the tent, do a bit of camping. Not been for a while. So, yeah, I thoroughly enjoyed that bit of it. I probably enjoyed yesterday a bit more than today. Although the trails in places were better today. Uh I’ll I’ll be honest, I’ve not enjoyed this loop, let’s say, as much as the last one round um the Robin Hood loop, but it’s been good. I think the difference being is cuz I’m on the CRF and you just don’t enjoy the road as much on the CRF. And there is, you know, as you’d expect, a fair bit of road. So, um, yeah, but overall it’s been great. Definitely nice to get out and camp. I’ve got to say those Aurish shorts that I was on about that I’ve been wearing, I mean, no doubt they give you some good protection, which is why I bought them, but the cycling seat bit in them is not making much difference at all with this um uh this saddle that I’m on at the minute. absolutely killing my backside. I’m ready uh ready to stop and ready for a beer. Right, so that’s that that’s the last bit of trail down here now into Halstead. Yeah. So, as ever, anything I think that’s useful, I’ll put a link in the description. I’ll put a link to the um GPX file so you can go and download that. You don’t need to sign up to Dropbox and if you can’t do it, you’re doing something wrong. Um yeah, and other little things that I might have mentioned uh and other bits and pieces, bits of kit, the tent, uh those are cherby shorts, etc. I’ll stick a link I’ll stick a link in. Uh any questions just you know whack in a question about a kit or anything else and uh I’ll try and help as much as I can but um obviously just appreciate you know you know I I’ve got a job I do work and uh but I will get back to you as as soon as as soon as I can. Right. Okay. Hey, so this is me and petrol stations at the end of this road. So, um I’ll say my goodbye. So, thanks for coming along. Don’t forget to like and subscribe if you’ve enjoyed the uh the vlog and the videos. Hopefully, I’ll see you back on the channel again soon for some more adventures. Or if I don’t see you back on the channel, then maybe I’ll see you out on the trail riding your bike. So, from me, from Mike, from Housstead, and from doing the um bit of a Hartford chaloop, I’ll see you again. Okay, bye for now.