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 Here are some images you could be inspired by

 I have always wanted to fly. It was first formed by the early cultural experience of feeding avidly on War Picture Library – A5 sized comic books featuring Our Lads in the Navy, Army and Air Force.  The Brave Boys with stiff upper lip would say “Tally-ho chaps, Bandits ahead, angels twenty”. 

After that, I became an armchair flying anorak, thrilled to see Hawker Hunters practising low-level dog-fighting over my school in Norfolk, excited by the drama of the shattering roar of near-vertical take-offs by English Electric Lightnings at RAF Battle of Britain air shows, awed by the might of V-bombers taking off in simulated Cold War scrambles.

But the realities of being a spectacled, colour-blind, not-very-sporty teenager made me realise that becoming an RAF fighter pilot was not a realistic ambition, and as learning to fly was very expensive, it meant that piloting a plane was to remain a dream.

Then life’s other priorities took over: jobs, mortgages, marriage, children.  Until one day recently I woke up and realised – I don’t need to worry about any of that any longer.  And I gave myself permission to do what I had always wanted: to learn to fly.

Driving licence? check. Sense of adventure? check. Helmet, leather jacket, boots and gloves? check.  Sense of balance? check.  So: you’re set then to ride away into the sunset on your newly acquired Yamaha or Harley-Davidson motorbike.

The urge to begin, or to go back to, motorcycling after hitting 50 is often a strong one, so here are some practical tips to get you on the road. 

As a motorcycling veteran from the psychedelic era, if your hero is not Lawrence of Arabia and :

 

You have to keep the brain cells in trim but Sudoku is so limiting. Why not play chess?

I played top board at school but stopped at university. The guys there were playing simultaneous or lightning or blindfold chess and sometimes combinations of all three.

 For those concerned about flabby brain cells, learning to play Bridge constitutes a heavy mental workout. However, unlike crosswords and Sudoku, it necessarily entails a degree of social contact which might deter the less gregarious.