28 September 2006

Tacheback - Two days to go

So only two days to go, the tache is probably not got much further to go before it will be time to remove it and consign the whole idea to the back burner until 2007!

Okay it's not as fantastic as the ones on the TV recently, but they were World Championship level competitors!

19 September 2006

Isle of Man TT 2007 - Club Meetings

Me and my big mouth!

Not only have I volunteered to help with a meeting for the IMTC but I stuck my foot in and volunteered to assist the BMW Club as well.

So far I’ve not had a lot of help from local members of either club and so it’s a case of check the web for places I know and see what happens…

For the BMW Club, I have booked the Liverpool Arms, Baldrine between Onchan and Laxey for the morning of the 7th June 2007 - Thursday. I thought it was best to have it on a day when there was no racing.

For the IMTC I've emailed another Commitee member with a place that has been recommended to me the Niarbyl Bay Café.

Tacheback - The Tache so far

After 19 days of the 30 I am contracted to my sponsors to complete the Tache is actually starting to show up. Okay, it's not quite up to Einstein proportions but it is getting there.

So far I have about £60 in sponsorship online and another £60 or so on the paper sheet that circulated at work.

Thanks to everyone that has sponsored me so far. I might "out" you all on here afterwards...

11 September 2006

Arrassing About - Aftermath - Day 2

After a leisurely breakfast the plan was to go into the town for a look around, then to Vimy and Lille for lunch.

As we were very leisurely things changed. Firstly as we left the parking the barrier came down so quick I got left behind as the others shot off. The guy in the control box opened it for me!

In town there wasn't much to see on a Sunday morning, and after a walk around to look for a chocolate shop we had a coffee and changed the plan. Still Vimy Ridge but Cassel for lunch rather than Lille.

So we set off on Plan B. Betsy was still playing up so it was me to lead again - b*llocks.

Despite the criticism of the day before - okay, I did go through a red light, but in mitigation it was as I was on the outside of an old t*sser in a car and saw the pedestrian light go green and shot off. No one got hurt - I led us out of the town, via a petrol station and then on the direct route to the Canadian Monument. I don't accept the criticism that I don't give way at roundabouts! Unless there's a stop sign, I watch the left (in France!) and if the other vehicles are a way off I go. If they are close, I stop! I don't see the point off giving way to empty tarmac.

All would have been well, and the route Doris planned for us is there on the Michelin map for all to see, if the highways people hadn't decided to build new roads, rebuild old ones and close others. After some very off-roading that led up to the top of an unfinished fly over.... We found the N17 (the way I would have gone without Doris' assistance!) then they managed to mention the "deviation" that took us in a huge loop to the monument. When we arrived in the car-park the entire thing was covered in white shrink wrap" plus the waking areas lined with the names of the 40000 or so Canadian troops killed on the assault of the ridge was covered up too.

Doris, using Nigel's map and waypoints, led up off the wrong way and looped around to almost where we had just left. The reason? We hadn't actually tripped the waypoint and so Doris was taking us to it. Some re-programming and we were off.

I am almost certain that between Vimy and Cassel that there are some major roads, or if not major, some without grass in the middle. Sadly, despite being set to "quickest" route, we had a magical mystery tour around rural Nord Pas-de-Calais.

We eventually arrived at the hilltop town where the Duke of York (not the current fat Andrew) marched his men up and down in the nursery rhyme. Despite the cobbles on the way up the town is very picturesque and motorcycle friendly. We went to a bar with a choice of hundreds of beers, but as it was lunch time we had light beers. But it is a place to go back to another time and stay locally so we can try them out. Some of the Belgian Trippels were 10 degrees of alcohol.

We then set off, with me leading again across country from Cassel through Watten towards Ardres and Guines, the last bit retracing our steps on the way out. This time not stopping at the Drap d'Or cafe, although it was open.

A trip we were given last time was to go through the Priority check-ins at Coquelles. They are self-check as the rest but tend to have no one queuing at them! It does work. Try it, but don't tell anyone else!!

We joined the queue for the 1711 train and less than an hour later Claire and I were being ignored by our cats and settling down for a nice cup of tea in our own house.

We both had a good weekend away and it has given us some ideas for other trips. There was some talk of the group taking a longer trip at Easter 2007. Maybe across to the Ardennes? We'll see. I just hope I don't have to lead again - too much stress.

Didn't take any pics today as I just didn't have time!

Arrassing About - Aftermath - Day 2

After a leisurely breakfast the plan was to go into the town for a look around, then to Vimy and Lille for lunch.

As we were very leisurely things changed. Firstly as we left the parking the barrier came down so quick I got left behind as the others shot off. The guy in the control box opened it for me!

In town there wasn't much to see on a Sunday morning, and after a walk around to look for a chocolate shop we had a coffee and changed the plan. Still Vimy Ridge but Cassel for lunch rather than Lille.

So we set off on Plan B. Betsy was still playing up so it was me to lead again - b*llocks.

Despite the criticism of the day before - okay, I did go through a red light, but in mitigation it was as I was on the outside of an old t*sser in a car and saw the pedestrian light go green and shot off. No one got hurt - I led us out of the town, via a petrol station and then on the direct route to the Canadian Monument. I don't accept the criticism that I don't give way at roundabouts! Unless there's a stop sign, I watch the left (in France!) and if the other vehicles are a way off I go. If they are close, I stop! I don't see the point off giving way to empty tarmac.

All would have been well, and the route Doris planned for us is there on the Michelin map for all to see, if the highways people hadn't decided to build new roads, rebuild old ones and close others. After some very off-roading that led up to the top of an unfinished fly over.... We found the N17 (the way I would have gone without Doris' assistance!) then they managed to mention the "deviation" that took us in a huge loop to the monument. When we arrived in the car-park the entire thing was covered in white shrink wrap" plus the waking areas lined with the names of the 40000 or so Canadian troops killed on the assault of the ridge was covered up too.

Doris, using Nigel's map and waypoints, led up off the wrong way and looped around to almost where we had just left. The reason? We hadn't actually tripped the waypoint and so Doris was taking us to it. Some re-programming and we were off.

I am almost certain that between Vimy and Cassel that there are some major roads, or if not major, some without grass in the middle. Sadly, despite being set to "quickest" route, we had a magical mystery tour around rural Nord Pas-de-Calais.

We eventually arrived at the hilltop town where the Duke of York (not the current fat Andrew) marched his men up and down in the nursery rhyme. Despite the cobbles on the way up the town is very picturesque and motorcycle friendly. We went to a bar with a choice of hundreds of beers, but as it was lunch time we had light beers. But it is a place to go back to another time and stay locally so we can try them out. Some of the Belgian Trippels were 10 degrees of alcohol.

We then set off, with me leading again across country from Cassel through Watten towards Ardres and Guines, the last bit retracing our steps on the way out. This time not stopping at the Drap d'Or cafe, although it was open.

A trip we were given last time was to go through the Priority check-ins at Coquelles. They are self-check as the rest but tend to have no one queuing at them! It does work. Try it, but don't tell anyone else!!

We joined the queue for the 1711 train and less than an hour later Claire and I were being ignored by our cats and settling down for a nice cup of tea in our own house.

We both had a good weekend away and it has given us some ideas for other trips. There was some talk of the group taking a longer trip at Easter 2007. Maybe across to the Ardennes? We'll see. I just hope I don't have to lead again - too much stress.

Didn't take any pics today as I just didn't have time!

Arrassing About - Aftermath - Day 1

Probably, for the first time ever we arrived with plenty of time to spare at the Shuttle terminal at Cheriton! But, sadly, the recently introduced "self check-in" was defeating the hordes car drivers that were unable to stretch their arms far enough to reach the touch-screens and who had parked too close to get their doors open to get out and do it.

It doesn't seem like rocket science to use the stats off the booking system to know the peaks and troughs of travel and to make sure that they have humans working at those times.

In the end we made it around to the terminal building where Nigel & Jane (Triumph Sprint) and Simon & Denise (Blackbird) were waiting. For once we managed to avoid the security check and went straight through to the queues to get on the train.

In the end, due to some problem that was never defined, the 0828 train was full despite around fifty cars and us with the right letter still waiting in the queue, so we got "priority" on the 0844. Priority? Not on a bike. It means that you can move from the queue to the side of the train and wait until they load the cars and then squeeze us on the back of the last carriage?

Once on the other side Nigel's "Betsy" took over leading us. Betsy is a Garmin Quest! For me, it was a pleasure not to lead. I have done it for years and I was quite enjoying my role as tail-end Charlie.

Another reason was that my Quest, Doris, after her problems on holiday where she lost satellites all the time, has been reset on the instructions of Garmin. She then thought we were in Garmin's US headquarters and was supposed to find the satellites to work okay. In the end it took her the best part of 8 hours (in three sessions!!) to find a third satellite to work properly.

Betsy took us the wrong way onto the A16 heading towards Boulogne rather than the opposite way. Then once up and running we had an easy run to Guines and then Ardres. Between the two we stopped for a coffee at the Restaurant du Drap d'Or, or the Cloth of Gold, which is situated on the main road near to where the Kings of France and England (see link) met to have some sort of discourse, but in the end ponced about that nothing got done.


The next port of call was lunch in St Omer. We arrived in the main square whilst the market was still on so we parked up with a load of bikes and left them there on the pavement. The nearest restaurant was "Les 3 Caves" where Claire and I have eaten before and we tucked into the €22 lunch. Bit of a belly buster, but in the end we mostly chose salads.

It was so hot that Nigel and I both needed some head cover... follicly challenged as we are, and guess what? A Buff folds to make a sort of pirate hat or even a bad-ass biker bandana... Now where's my Harley?


After lunch we had a round the houses escape from St Omer and finally got on the road to Arques where we found the boat lift. It's as you can imagine in an industrial area, after all that's the general idea of canals; to get goods about. The gippo site on one side of the towpath didn't fill us with much enthusiasm for leaving the bikes unattended with soft luggage on the Blackbird. We found that the boat lift, Ascenseur des Fontinettes, was open to the public but is no longer in use. Claire chatted to the lady that lives in the barge (you can see it in the pic on the linked website) about her cats and dog. We decided that now we had found the place, we'd fit it into another visit. So we set off with Betsy misfiring and leading us all over the place. In the end I took the lead and without Doris (or the Michelin map that was on the side of the bath at home) we had to try and navigate using road signs, none of which featured Béthune where we would turn off the N43 towards Arras. I have no idea how far we rode round and round before we eventually found the N43!


From then on plain sailing to Arras via the D937. This road takes you across two of the three peaks that formed the basis if the Battles of Artois in 1914 and 1915. Two were won back from the Germans by the French, Notre Dame de Lorette and La Targette. The third to the east is Vimy Ridge. Vimy Ridge was captured by the Canadians in 1917.


We stopped on the D937 at Souchez by a couple of monuments.

The first is a traditional monument to General Barbot who led the 77th Division and who very un-General-like was killed in action nearby.

Just up the road is the big French cemetery and museum dedicated to the battles for the three hills at Notre Dame de Lorette. We didn't have enough tome to call in and it was by now after 4pm. Another day perhaps.



The second was much larger and laid out with an eternal flame and a strange water feature, the white marble is inscribed with the the names of the French soldiers that were killed in action in North Africa during the independence wars that raged in the 1950's and 60's.

As we set off southwards the signs to the left were to the Canadian Monument at Vimy Ridge, although we couldn't see it from where we were.

On the road for the last ten miles or so there are cemeteries to the different armies involved, as well as the British, French and German, there's also a Czechoslovakian cemetery and one to the Polish troops that fought in the Foreign Legion.

http://pagesperso-orange.fr/memoiresdepierre/alphabetnew/s/souchezafn.html

Once in Arras, Doris, thankfully restored to working condition (touching wood!!), led us to the hotel. Finding the entrance was more complicated though. Once booked-in we parked in the underground car-park. Exercising our right to avoid paying for the car-park, we took on ticket and shot through together and parked in the motorcycle-only bays. The slippery floor had all three of us spinning the rear wheel as we shot away.



After some R&R in the room we assembled for a drink in the bar and then to go into town for a walk around and dinner. Nigel had a rib place in mind in the Grand Place. As luck would have it we had booked for the same weekend as Arras was having a Quad Festival, and the Grand Place was set up with displays of the four-wheeled vehicles and their owners...

As we ate the noise from the thumping disco was almost ear splitting and the screech of two-stroke engines added to it. We watched the freestyle solo riders doing their bit on two ramps and a massive pile of straw bales. Quite impressive before it all came to an end about 1030pm and everyone drifted away.


We had a turn around the town again before going back to the hotel for a nightcap and then to bed.

Pic (left) shows the town hall all lit up at night.

Arrassing About - Aftermath - Day 1

Probably, for the first time ever we arrived with plenty of time to spare at the Shuttle terminal at Cheriton! But, sadly, the recently introduced "self check-in" was defeating the hordes car drivers that were unable to stretch their arms far enough to reach the touch-screens and who had parked too close to get their doors open to get out and do it.

It doesn't seem like rocket science to use the stats off the booking system to know the peaks and troughs of travel and to make sure that they have humans working at those times.

In the end we made it around to the terminal building where Nigel & Jane (Triumph Sprint) and Simon & Denise (Blackbird) were waiting. For once we managed to avoid the security check and went straight through to the queues to get on the train.

In the end, due to some problem that was never defined, the 0828 train was full despite around fifty cars and us with the right letter still waiting in the queue, so we got "priority" on the 0844. Priority? Not on a bike. It means that you can move from the queue to the side of the train and wait until they load the cars and then squeeze us on the back of the last carriage?

Once on the other side Nigel's "Betsy" took over leading us. Betsy is a Garmin Quest! For me, it was a pleasure not to lead. I have done it for years and I was quite enjoying my role as tail-end Charlie.

Another reason was that my Quest, Doris, after her problems on holiday where she lost satellites all the time, has been reset on the instructions of Garmin. She then thought we were in Garmin's US headquarters and was supposed to find the satellites to work okay. In the end it took her the best part of 8 hours (in three sessions!!) to find a third satellite to work properly.

Betsy took us the wrong way onto the A16 heading towards Boulogne rather than the opposite way. Then once up and running we had an easy run to Guines and then Ardres. Between the two we stopped for a coffee at the Restaurant du Drap d'Or, or the Cloth of Gold, which is situated on the main road near to where the Kings of France and England (see link) met to have some sort of discourse, but in the end ponced about that nothing got done.


The next port of call was lunch in St Omer. We arrived in the main square whilst the market was still on so we parked up with a load of bikes and left them there on the pavement. The nearest restaurant was "Les 3 Caves" where Claire and I have eaten before and we tucked into the €22 lunch. Bit of a belly buster, but in the end we mostly chose salads.

It was so hot that Nigel and I both needed some head cover... follicly challenged as we are, and guess what? A Buff folds to make a sort of pirate hat or even a bad-ass biker bandana... Now where's my Harley?


After lunch we had a round the houses escape from St Omer and finally got on the road to Arques where we found the boat lift. It's as you can imagine in an industrial area, after all that's the general idea of canals; to get goods about. The gippo site on one side of the towpath didn't fill us with much enthusiasm for leaving the bikes unattended with soft luggage on the Blackbird. We found that the boat lift, Ascenseur des Fontinettes, was open to the public but is no longer in use. Claire chatted to the lady that lives in the barge (you can see it in the pic on the linked website) about her cats and dog. We decided that now we had found the place, we'd fit it into another visit. So we set off with Betsy misfiring and leading us all over the place. In the end I took the lead and without Doris (or the Michelin map that was on the side of the bath at home) we had to try and navigate using road signs, none of which featured Béthune where we would turn off the N43 towards Arras. I have no idea how far we rode round and round before we eventually found the N43!


From then on plain sailing to Arras via the D937. This road takes you across two of the three peaks that formed the basis if the Battles of Artois in 1914 and 1915. Two were won back from the Germans by the French, Notre Dame de Lorette and La Targette. The third to the east is Vimy Ridge. Vimy Ridge was captured by the Canadians in 1917.


We stopped on the D937 at Souchez by a couple of monuments.

The first is a traditional monument to General Barbot who led the 77th Division and who very un-General-like was killed in action nearby.

Just up the road is the big French cemetery and museum dedicated to the battles for the three hills at Notre Dame de Lorette. We didn't have enough tome to call in and it was by now after 4pm. Another day perhaps.



The second was much larger and laid out with an eternal flame and a strange water feature, the white marble is inscribed with the the names of the French soldiers that were killed in action in North Africa during the independence wars that raged in the 1950's and 60's.

As we set off southwards the signs to the left were to the Canadian Monument at Vimy Ridge, although we couldn't see it from where we were.

On the road for the last ten miles or so there are cemeteries to the different armies involved, as well as the British, French and German, there's also a Czechoslovakian cemetery and one to the Polish troops that fought in the Foreign Legion.

http://pagesperso-orange.fr/memoiresdepierre/alphabetnew/s/souchezafn.html

Once in Arras, Doris, thankfully restored to working condition (touching wood!!), led us to the hotel. Finding the entrance was more complicated though. Once booked-in we parked in the underground car-park. Exercising our right to avoid paying for the car-park, we took on ticket and shot through together and parked in the motorcycle-only bays. The slippery floor had all three of us spinning the rear wheel as we shot away.



After some R&R in the room we assembled for a drink in the bar and then to go into town for a walk around and dinner. Nigel had a rib place in mind in the Grand Place. As luck would have it we had booked for the same weekend as Arras was having a Quad Festival, and the Grand Place was set up with displays of the four-wheeled vehicles and their owners...

As we ate the noise from the thumping disco was almost ear splitting and the screech of two-stroke engines added to it. We watched the freestyle solo riders doing their bit on two ramps and a massive pile of straw bales. Quite impressive before it all came to an end about 1030pm and everyone drifted away.


We had a turn around the town again before going back to the hotel for a nightcap and then to bed.

Pic (left) shows the town hall all lit up at night.

Bike Luggage (5)

Darnit. Being away for the weekend not conducive to winning EBAY auctions and I lost the Caja Sahel by £159. Looks like it is back to the drawing board. The winning bid came to near enough £480 with postage and according to Phil at Caja Sahel they are about £500 new.... so who would buy off EBAY for secondhand... must have been the spanish bull sticker on one that did it!

I can leave the subject of luaggage now for a while. I'm not planning any long journeys on the bike apart from the occasional run to work (160 miles round trip door-2-door) and some club runs so none needing panniers!

The next big journey will be a week to the Isle of Man in June for the TT, and I don't think we'll need much "civvy" gear for that anyway!

8 September 2006

Petrol Prices?

Petrol prices?

If the so-called "price war" has meant the price at the pump coming down around 9p a litre locally to where I live, why didn't it happen sooner when everyone was on holiday?

Why the end of August when the kids holidays are almost over?

7 September 2006

Arrassing About - 9/10th September 2006 (6b)

"What a difference a day makes,
Twenty-four little hours
Brought the sun and the flowers
Where there used to be rain..."

And none truer than in the world of trying to arrange visits for a bike club run to France. No sooner do we add a place to visit, than we get word that they can't do it at the time we arranged and the timer they can do it is inconvenient.

So it has to be scratched. So, no distillery on this trip.

Bike Luggage (4)

Touratech "Street" Panniers

Still an option and today I had an email from TT in Germany to say that delivery would be two weeks and the price including delivery to a German address would be 697 Euros, about £475 at the exchange rate today.

Caja Sahel Panniers

Also still on the cards. I saw a set on EBAY and had a punt (no Irish joke intended). The auction doesn't finish until Saturday when I am in France so I'l have to wait and see. I've entered my max price and we'll see...

Did get an from Philip at Caja Sahel (philipmcgonagle@eircom.net) and the price is quite compatible with the TT panniers at £500 or so

Isn't it exciting?

6 September 2006

Sloe, sloe, quick, quick, sloe?

Tonight's spare time job was to start off a batch of sloe gin. The first litre using a Gilbey's Gin bottle and the second a habitat jar with a Grolsch type top.

Sloes out of the freezer

The Gilbey's bottle got 1/2 litre of gin and 150g of sugar, then the bottle (litre size) is packed almost to the top with sloe's that were collected at the weekend. Leaving enough room for a daily agitation for a week.

Filling the bottles
The other bottle got a half-litre of Aldi Gin, 150g of sugar and then it was filled to the top with sloes, again leaving enough room to agitate.

According to the recipes you are supposed to wait until after the first frost, but the trees are begging you to harvest now and many are so soft the break as soon as you pluck them. You can simulate first-frost by bunging them in the freezer.

In the end we collected almost 2lbs of sloes and used about 1.5lbs to fill the bottles.

Now we have to agitate the bottles daily to keep it all mixed up and the sugar from hiding at the bottom, then go weekly after the first week for a few months.

We are drinking a bottle that Claire's Dad started off in 2004 and it has matured in the bottle (it was in the Gilbey's bottle) and is the consistency of sherry... very tasty and sweet AND POTENT!



4 September 2006

Bike Luggage (3)

Darned internet. Darned UKGSer!

Just when I had made up my mind that Touratech "Street" panniers would be next Spring's wealth distribution project, someone mentions Givi!

When I bought the GS, had it not come with BMW System panniers I would have kept and used the Kappa items I had on the Bandit. The K40's were not that old and big enough for weeks or even years away!

The UK Givi people weren't all that much use as their reply to my email asking if the pannier rails (part no. PL189) would fit and leave me with the System box in place. They couldn't say but sent me a link to the fitting instructions. Better than nothing.

Then... Caja Sahel came to the discussion topics again.... I thInk they look alright in a chunky sort of way, and perfectly good for my needs....

Now I need to see how much they are as the website is a little unspecific, okay, it doesn't say.

3 September 2006

Arrassing About - 9/10th September 2006 (6)

We've added another place to the trip, on the outward run to Arras we have now added a distillery to the route.

The place is in Houille not far from Eperlecques and just off the N43 to the north of St Omer.

More details from http://www.genievredehoulle.com/uk/visite.html but you are suggested to have your own French translator, so we'll have to hope that Claire can cope with the lingo for us!

There is a film in English anyway and we really only want to have a free taste!

No one can argue there's no class on our trips!


Also planned an off motorway journey using N43 and D937 and this takes us past Notre Dame de Lorette, one of the French "bête noires" from WW1.