Yamaha's Ténéré 700: at last, mud

Recruiting the assistance and advice of seasoned off-road rider Chris Moss, Charlie finally gets the Ténéré dirty with his first venture away from Tarmac

- Charlie Oakman

It's still there outside my garage, a gritty sheen of mud acting as a constant reminder that I should have washed down the driveway after having brought the T7 back to an acceptable level of cleanliness. I took a massive jump forward this month in my all-round Ténéré experience, grabbing some byway action with my good friend, and fellow MSL contributor, Chris Moss.

Granted this was not the toughest of rides, but nor could it be there are 'golden rules' to off-road riding which I am learning as I go. Now, I have not personally seen it written but am pretty sure that taking yourself well out of your comfort zone on 204kg of motorcycle on the same day as an ambulance and nursing strike would be relatively high on the list of no-no's. Especially when mixed with a week of sub-zero temperatures that left much of the ground rock solid and having to hunt out unfrozen puddles to realise those dramatic 'splash' action images.

Be that as it may, these were the conditions that I met Chris and our Salisbury Plain guide Will, the sort of guy who takes a holiday from his day job just to help out on a day of mudslinging. Will's experience paid off immediately; our initial route across the plain was canned, too icy or soft which his skills and KTM EXC could have traversed easily enough I guess, but not a nervous newbie on a big T7.