¡InvictaMoto!

Entry sent off a few weeks ago and I have been checking the post ever since. In the end I emailed the Clive MCC and doh! Homer Simpson Devall had forgot to put the sae in the envelope! My entry number is 25.

Usually we go away for Claire's birthday, to Bruges or somewhere. This year we chose to have a night in London, and once again we stayed in the Marriott at West Quay. We didn't get an upgrade this time and were stuck with an ordinary room for £119 B&B. As before we used Tesco Clubcard points to pay for it. With VAT and taxes it comes out just shy of £140. Once parked in the car-park opposite we decided to have a look at Greenwich. Taking the DLR towards Lewisham and getting off at Cutty Sark station. Boing! First mistake. The Cutty Sark has gone, at least what can usually be seen on top! Masts etc! We wandered back through the town, past the chuggers to where Goddard's Pie Shop used to be. Closed down! Becoming a burger bar or some shite. In the end we lunched across the road at Noodle Time, a sort of modern Chinese restaurant! Noodle? Check! Fried Rice? Check! Sweet and Sour Chicken? Check! After suitably fed on a bowl of some noodles we set off back to Canary Wharf ...

Usually for our wedding anniversary, Claire and I tend to add to the carbon deficit of the world and fly somewhere, usually short haul, as I am far too tight to put money into the pockets of the likes of Richard Branson and his Virgin airline. I can often be found failing to get on "Airline" on the TV as a customer of Easyjet. Preferring to put my money in Fat Stelios' pockets instead. I have flown Ryanair before, but prefer to arrive at an airport somewhere near to where I want to go! Easyjet manages that quite proficiently. The reason we do this rather than be real bikers and ride everywhere is that I have owned a weeks timeshare for about 15 years now. I bought it at a reasonable price and have enjoyed quite a few holidays across Europe and once my ex-partner used it in South Carolina. On many occasions we have ridden to it, Hungary for example, the French Alps for another. A couple of times we have sold the week to friends to use instead of us to save losing th...

Since the original post the IMTC meeting will be held elsewhere and is not being hosted by myself. A relief I guess as I'm not going to be an active member for much longer. There is no change with the BMW Club Natter-Meet at Baldrine. All I need is some divine guidance to make sure it works.

Add-on to Part 3. A suggested meeting place in Ardres for those going by ferry to meet the Shuttleers. Click on the map to see it full-size.

Short update - 22nd February Nigel and I have removed the run from the IMTC and so we are running it totally as a Kent Centre Run. I've also plugged it again on the BMW Club Forum to see if there are any takers. Travel on the Day Ian Gardner asked about travel across as the return Shuttle is apparently full. If anyone want to use the ferries instead that is perfectly okay. We can always arrange to meet anyone that wants to use the ferry en-route. To save any backtracking for either party, Shuttle or Boat, we can meet easily enough at Ardres. We have done this before when meeting the Sussex Centre for a run to St Omer and La Coupole. GPS Route I have planned a route (as per Part 2 see link below) and have it mapped into Mapsource and I can create a .gdb file for anyone that uses a Garmin GPS. If anyone wants a copy I can send it, just email me . As for those with Tom-Tit or Navman (or whatever!) I have no idea how to get the map into your units! But there must be a way. Link to Wi...

We have decided on the times for the Shuttle for this trip. Outward - UK to France - Friday 6th July 2007 at 0920 Inward - France to UK - Sunday 8th July 2007 at 1920 We will decide what will be the destination of Saturday's organised run at a later date.  At the moment the favourite is Amsterdam, although there is a suggestion to look at a motor museum.  On Sunday we plan to leave after breakfast for a leisurely run back with a lunch stop in Antwerp so that the ladies can dream about diamonds.  Link to previous post.

Seemed like a good idea to join this bunch of chaps and chapesses on the 'Net. Now is the time for the MBI Annual Awards and anyone that visits my blog can take part. Click on the logo and then go to the public voting page. I've had a few goes as a member and the blogs etc that appear in each of the categories were whittled down from a cast of thousands or maybe hundreds.

Okay, I admit I went to the bike show in the car. But in mitigation it was because both Claire and I wanted to shop around for new helmets. We have become quite good at parking up and getting the tube and used this to good effect over the last few weeks, firstly for the "Vive la France" Show at Earls Court when we parked all day for a fiver at the car-park at West India Quay in the newly "upmarketed" docklands. But the DLR is quite slow when compared to real Tubes. Then last week we had a run up to London again for the Arsenal vs Bolton FA Cup 4th Round game and tried a different tack and parked for £3.00 at North Greenwich, by the Dome. Not only is it cheaper but the Tube is much quicker than the DLR! So to get to Excel we did the same. It looks as though we really need to get an Oyster card as North Greenwich to "Custom House for Excel" is one stop on the Jubilee Line and two on the DLR and all for £4.60! As fate would have it, Claire bought a new Caberg...