29 December 2015

Cabin Fever!!

It's been a mild winter so far this year. But since I got back from Ostend, Pepe has sat in the garage unused.

With work and then Christmas, allied with miserable drizzle, I've not been out.

This needs to change.

During a routine in-garage check I found one of the grub screws had gone AWOL from one of the screen brackets.

Dashing off a quick email to Skidmarx resulted in a couple of spares arriving g in the post.

Now maybe I can get out for a ride before the end of the year?

Happy New Year everyone.

Decembeard 2015 Beardy update!

Day 29

Well, day 29 of Decembeard is almost over and this is where I am at beardwise. Although I did get it trimmed a week or so before Christmas, otherwise it would be more woolly.

The justgiving page (https://www.justgiving.com/Paul-Devall-Beardy) has achieved 120% of my target. I know I set it a little lower than I wanted but it looks better this way.

Thanks to everyone that contributed.  :)

The picture shows me in a Motörhead T-shirt in memory of lead singer Lemmy Kilminster who died today of cancer.

Planet Rock made today Lemmy T-shirt Day.


#decembeard #lemmytshirtday

Panto

Finale

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves at the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury.

Another excellent production again.

12 December 2015

Somme 2016 - Thiepval Ballot

With a limited number of tickets for the main Thiepval commemoration we were going to be lucky to get any. So when our group was successful twice, winning four tickets, it was amazing.

Now there needs to be some working out who will go with Cal and Trevor.

I have begun looking at other commemorations in the area for those of us not lucky enough to get to Thiepval.

More to follow.

Somme 2016 - Addition to Team Meldrew

We already have Ian and Paul joining the group and now Trevor Rice has signed up.


11 December 2015

Decembeard 2015

Movember has been and gone. So why stop there when you can do Decembeard instead.

So far, the beard is coming along okay.  I took one at the St Nicks last week and another today.

Fund raising not going that well so far.....  So click and donate.



And I have set up an SMS donation system as well.   A suggested $1 but hell, you can choose any amount.




JustGiving - Sponsor me now!

Google Nexus 7

After the trials and tribulations of the Hudl last year, this year I went a step further and bought a Nexus 7. Again powered by Android.

This one (for my sins) is a factory reconditioned model despite this upgrade not being out that long. The drawback against the Hudl is that there is no micro-sd slot to enhance the disk space and I am stuck with the 32GB onboard memory.

Although compared to the iPhone 5S I currently have the apps seem smaller and run more quickly. The problem is that many of the iPhone apps I use aren't replicated for Android.

The unit is very well made. It feels more substantial and better made than the Hudl.  The screen colours are far better and the operating system seems quicker.

As it is Google a lot of the things, like Blogger, are available. The app though isn't that good and has many shortcomings whereas the iPhone app is far better. Work that one out!

Let's see how we get on with this!

5 December 2015

Sinterklaastreffen 2015

Friday.

I like to prepare for a trip and usually lay my riding gear out the day before to look for any defects. So this was a job for Friday. We were both home as the night before we had been to see Deep Purple at the O2 in London, getting home in the wee small hours.

Claire then had provided the extra hands it takes to adjust the Skidmarx windscreen. Loosening off most of the fittings needs a pair of hands to hold it in the right place, and another to tighten the bolts and Allen bolts. In fact I did the holding as the new position meant my hands were too big to get into place to tighten up the lower mounting points.

Once completed,  I was almost ready for the run to Belgium the next day.

Saturday.

I had everything laid out for a 7.30am start but as usual I had forgotten some things. The alarm went and Reggie was up wanting to go out. After a night on the bed he needs his "garden break" before his breakfast.

I double checked the Givi tankbag. All the bike's documents and a spare key were in place. Passport and printed ticket in my jacket breast pocket. What else? Oh, small wallet with Euros! And spare spectacles.

It was about 0725 when I rode off. I filled the tank in Hythe and then headed up to the Channel Tunnel to meet my Meldrews club mate, Cal Price. Luckily it is only about 5 miles from home and traffic was very light. I chose a manned check-in as it is usually quicker. And it was. 

Meeting time was 0800 so for one of those rare times I was early and first to arrive.

I was just locking the tank bag and stuff away in the saddlebag when Cal arrived. It was already quite cold and the gold glow of the dawn had already gone. Now it was grey but clear. All the portents of a cold dry day.

We had time for a coffee and then headed off to the border controls. British police and border agency looked at passports. The French office was empty. Maybe this should have been a warning.

It's probably easier to get through now as everyone has to fill in online the Advanced Passenger Information form.  It has been a requirement when flying to the US for some years but started this year for the Tunnel.

With five trains an hour instead of the published four our booking didn't really mean the specified train, but we were quickly loaded along with a couple on a 1050 KTM. 

I always take a photo on the train or ferry. Ritual I guess.

On the Shuttle

Once across we set the controls to 70mph, and we were away eastwards along the A16.

The screen adjust has made the ride quieter although there is still some wind noise but less buffeting. It also means that I can maintain a higher average speed! 

After the terrorist attack in Paris on 13th November, security has been increased, and that manifests itself with French borders being closed and controlled. The A16 was no exception.

We joined the back of what turned out to be a five mile queue to the last junction before Belgium. We slipped down the side of the traffic until a couple of trucks blocked us off. After a little waiting I cut through the traffic to the hard shoulder (emergency lane) but Cal was blocked by an official van. I waited before the point all the traffic was made to go off for him to catch up.

We couldn't see our way back onto the motorway so we ended up going through a village to the "old" pre-motorway route along the canal. Here the French post was manned by more troops. The Belgian post is about 400 yards away and unmanned.

As this took us past the Adinkerke tobacco shops and we decided to drop in rather than leave it until the way home. I bought 500g of mixed truffles at the attached Leonidus shop.

500g of truffles

We re-joined the motorway for the last forty or so miles to Ostend. 

On the run along the road into town we discovered a road closure due to a big hole in the road. 

At the velodrome we found only a few bikes in the parking area and some hardy souls with their tents alongside the marquee. 

My fingers were cold and I was hoping that my spare Belstaff Hypora waterproof gloves would be warmer on the way back home.

It was here I discovered I had forgotten a hat. When you have more skin on top than hair, a hat is a definite plus.

In the end my Oxford neck tube doubled up made a hat. Maybe I should get one of those outlaw bandanas that my brother favours? I now have a "kit" that goes in the bike that includes a baseball cap for summer and woolly hat for winter!

It was worth a selfie.

It's a beard!
My ears seem to have gone too!

Pano of Rally site

The rally site

Strange square picture of rally site

The velodrome is no longer in use and part of it has become a skate board park. The graffiti level looks to have increased. 

We had a look around the parking and took a few pictures and then we togged up to ride to where Nick comes ashore, and parked up. 

This Indian caught my eye, not just because the rider was only about 5ft 6ins tall....

Indian!

Old Harley

The organisers said it was the square opposite the Aquarium. It was. It was also right by the long length of motorcycle parking in front of some fish market stalls. The fishy run off wasn't too slippery! And it was cold enough for the ice to stay unmelted for a considerable  time.....

Along the Fish Quay (Visserkai) are the stalls selling fresh fish and also friteries selling chips and cooked food, like bratwursts and other meat products. I do like a braadwurst. We opted for a restaurant with an indoors! In fact, I like all the deep fried stuff you can get from the friteries in Belgium. As for the double fried chips (fries to my Septic readers)

We retired to Brasserie Maritime for lunch. We both opted for steak. Beautifully cooked and without any fat or gristle! A first for me.

We had almost finished when we saw the the lead bikes and Police arrived.

Unlike the Ring of Red where Essex couldn't provide any escort, Ostend manged six bikes and two cars to act as the escort.

Nik arrived with several Piets. This year lady Piets as well as men.

Nik and his Piets

Nik again

In England this can't happen as the politically correct would go mental. It is a tradition that goes back to the Reconquest. Google it!!

Pano of the rdz

Bikers....

We needed to be away for our return train and so when Nik was still talking to kids and handing out sweets and it was past 3pm we needed to go.

We set off leaving Ostend behind, choosing the coast ride over the motorway.

As petrol is much cheaper there was no option but to fill up and save a few quid. We will use it anyway! 

We re-joined the motorway near Nieuwpoort and the wind that had been chilling us all day was much colder as the sun started to descend. We had a loop around a roundabout at the first junction in France and then back onto the motorway. Once again the police and army waved through lots of trucks and vans.

We arrived about an hour early for our train and opted to take an earlier crossing. We lucked out even more when the guy on duty waved us through and we got an even earlier train. It was so cold by now that we didn't need to be hanging about.

It was good to be home again.

All the photos I took on the day are on Flickr

2 December 2015

Movember 2015

Charidee Mate
I didn't take part in Movember this year. I have directed my fundraising towards heart related charities as a result of the heart attack I suffered in April.

I did however make a donation,  but of course, I don't like to talk about it.


1 December 2015

Somme 2016 - Hotel booked

Over a period of weeks I have been in email communications with the hotel in Amiens booking the rooms, directly instead of using booking.com.

The hotel is fully booked and we have most of the rooms currently:

Central Anzac currently:

David Robinson - single
Ken Fulton - single
Calvert Price, Neil Dalton, Ian Gardner - triple
Elaine Constable   & Ken Sole - twin
Paul Devall & Claire Devall - double
Ian Jenkinson and another - twin
Trevor Rice - double

Thirteen of us going. The largest turnout ever.