Central Italy has been struck by yet another earthquake, this time a magnitude of 6.6. I’d just sat down at the computer with the first cup of tea of the day, when at 07:40 the house began to shake.
Unlike the two earthquakes last week (26/10/2016 – magnitude 5.5 & 6.1) that struck in the evening, this one set objects rocking, pictures and mirrors moving on the walls and all manner of strange noises emanating from the structure. I bolted for the door! It was most surreal to see trees, fences and power/phone lines and poles swaying and the car rocking on its suspension. Likewise, Jan had made it to the upstairs door at the same time having been rudely awoken!
As I write the injuries are few and thankfully no fatalities. Many of the villages at the epicenter were already mostly evacuated from last weeks events. Unfortunately, structural damage has devastated some villages such that they’ve almost been wiped off the map. In Norcia the basilica of San Benedetto has been destroyed. Damage has also been reported in Teramo, l’Aquila, Chieti and as close to us as Brittoli and Civitella Casanova – only a few kilometers away.
Yes I put my hand up …… it was all my own fault! I just had to go and mention the Sagem coils in the last post. A real tweak on the nose of Murphy’s Law if ever there was one!
Once back in the barn I had a look at the Innovv DV recorder – No stored video, nothing! What the hell? Then the penny dropped ….. The Innovv worked fine with the engine off, but fire it up and it had a complete meltdown and either turned off or froze. It looks like some serious interference at work. With the seats off, I realised there was a faint intermittent ‘tick, tick, tick’ to be heard over the exhausts from the battery/coil area but I couldn’t see anything. So I waited until dusk and tried again – bingo! – A nice intermittent flash of HT from a rear coil to the subframe. That’ll most certainly mess things up quite nicely.
After 22 days away on the Capo I returned with a little more than I bargained for, not least a crick in the neck and a stinking cold! On the way up I met Gianluigi at the Italian/Swiss border and talked some serious Capo bling for an hour. Then rode through sunshine, drizzle, rain and freezing fog before reaching Oxford. On the way back we were treated to high winds a stunning moon-rise and some amazing early morning scenes with low-lying mist. All in all, a real slice of what Europe/UK has to offer bikers this late in the season!
