Aston Clinton, Weedon, Maids Moreton – motorways bypass so many fascinating places. Maybe it is this that makes us an island of strangersI learned a lot driving to Hinckley in Leicestershire. I had some work there. That’s showbiz, folks. I didn’t do the journey as I’d normally do it – eyeballs out, gripping the steering wheel, fixating on the satnav ETA, on some motorway or other. If I’d done it that way, it would have taken less than two hours. For a change, I decided to take my time. And this change was as good as a rest. You’re unlikely to find London to Hinckley in any coffee table book about the World’s Best Road Trips, but this little odyssey lifted my spirits no end.It helped that I was on my motorbike. Wherever I’m going, I find motorcycling the shortest route to serenity. I think it’s partly an ADHD thing, with the relief that total absorption affords me. On a motorbike you have to be absorbed – hyper-focused, in fact – because your life is on the line. And while there’s road noise in your ears, there’s none of the other brain-wrecking cacophony of modern life. No phone, no internet, no news, no radio, no nothing. In its own way, it’s as peaceful as lying in a meadow by a babbling brook miles from anywhere. Continue reading...