¡InvictaMoto!

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!

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 Originally uploaded by pauldevall . 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...

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...

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...

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 08...

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 08...

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!

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?

"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.

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?

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...

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.

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.