InvictaMoto's On The Road Again!

The plan for the run back was to set off after breakfast and head towards the Afsluitsdijk and then south past Amsterdam, rejoining the route up around Utrecht. After petrol and a detour around Sneek we eventually found the top of the dijk. The reason for the detour was one of mapping and roadworks. I took a wrong turn at a newish roundabout that was shown on the Garmin but not with as many of the exits as exist now. In the end our position was shown with our marker in the middle of a blank area. After a few detours we got back to the A7 and headed off without any further mishap. The first stop to have a look and take a drink at Breezanddijk. Amazingly here, less than halfway across the dyke was a caravan park to go with the small harbours housing a load of pleasure boats. From that point it was all plain sailing (as it were) via the Amsterdam ring, then Utrecht, Breda, Antwerp and Gent. We had a few stops for petrol and water intake arriving back at Calais with an hour or ...

Where would you expect to get the best 3G coverage on your mobile phone? Hythe in Kent Central London, say for example Islington On a narrow sea wall dijk off the coast of the Dutch coast called Breezanddijk? If you answered 3 you would be right! What sort of shit are we sold by the mobile phone companies in the UK? In the nationa's capital I get one bar at 3G, but on a 100 metre wide dyke in the Netherlands there is a full signal on the phone.

Arrived hotel in Wapse. Very nice. Shower and time for a few beers.

When you go down to Folkestone Harbour for a walk and to see the little market by the Stade, it's only natural to try some local seafood. Chummies is the biggest of the stalls and now is sited in a permanent building backing onto the harbour. Years ago when I went from the ferry port I remember it was a small hut. Today's feast was a half pint of whelks. Whelks from Chummies

During a walk to get some fresh air came across this little pile of anchors on the fishermen's beach at the western end of the beach.

I managed to get the latest upgrade of Mapsource to work on the new laptop and work through all the Garmin files to get a better route. A week to go and the excitement builds...

It's over a year away but now is the time to pick a date and stick with it and so we have. We will be going to the Retired Greyhound Trust again and as we evolve the run we will have more than one meet and ride-in. Watch this space.

Rain was forecast. Had a good ride in and even found cheap petrol! Bonus!

When we arrived at the Stop 24 services there were three bikes waiting for us, Steve (VFR750), Brian (Bandit 1250) and Mark (BMW R1100S). We were soon joined by Neil on his XJR. At least there was one Suzuki present for the Suzuki Owners Club run! On the way to the meeting Claire and I had been most of the way to the kennels to check the road closure on Stone Street. As it was we would be turning left about 50 metres before the barriers and the diversion. Kent Pet Run , originally uploaded by Getzgirl . Me and Cee-Cee. Kent Pet Run , originally uploaded by Getzgirl . Me and Cee-Cee. I called run leader Graham to tell him and caught them as they left the first meeting place at the Oakdene Cafe. Kent Pet Run , originally uploaded by Getzgirl . Me coughing up into the collection box! After some of the group porked their way through a breakfast we adjourned outside to wait for the Oakdene group. Our six people on five bike...

Bugger. Must have jinxed Cameron Donald yesterday congratulating him on the fastest ever lap of the TT course... He fell off and dislocated a shoulder and is out of the entire week's racing!!! I'll stop whilst I am ahead and not jinx any others.

I wish we were there. Just watched ITV4's first preview of this year's TT... Awesome! Well done Cameron Donald the fastest man round the TT Circuit... and on the Relentless Suzuki by TAS!

Fingers cross for good weather. After a few days of "scorchio" we have dull and grey in London today. See poster at http://invictamoto.blogspot.com/2009/02/kent-pet-run-2009-poster.html for full details of the meeting places at the Oakdene and at Stop 24 services.... Report to follow.... pet food run

The Schuberth C2 has been a bane of my life.  The most expensive helmet I have owned for years and years. I thought I had a Shoei head, although years ago I had an Arai and it was a reasonable fit. The Schuberth is in a different league for fit though. It's hard to describe how well it fits the contours of my head and with the skirts under the ears and the chinpiece envelope my head. I guess this is the same for all of us converts. The bane though? I'd had it a few weeks and the top vent broke off and so it had to go back. Then more recently the left lock has failed on the chinpiece. I found a solution to this and will persevere and hope it doesn't go tits up full time. The ride home tonight was the nearest to nirvana I've had for ages... where a motorcycle helmet is concerned. Quiet! On the way up to London I couldn't really tell how much better but on the way home it was bliss. Another bane? I can't get the Scala bluetooth stuff fitted to it. If I am g...

After digging the C2 out of the back of the wardrobe to take it to Infinity, I had a play to see why the lock on the left wasn't closing properly. I noticed that the lock that goes over the locking posts at each side is in effect a hook. On the right side the hook is in one place, and on the left it is further away, sort of leaning back, so that when the chin piece is pulled down it clashes with the head of the locking post. I moved it back with a fingernail and it was fixed. Sadly, the fix is only temporary as when you open the chin piece it flicks back into the wrong position, so something is letting it move out of line. I gave it a run out to work today. At first I didn't notice the increased quiet in the helmet but overall it is a quieter helmet than my other choices, both Nitro's. I always wonder if other C2's have the same floppy visor? With the Nitro I am used to a stiff action that keeps the visor down, but the C2 is much easier to move up and down; far less ef...

Since moving down from a compact camera that looks like a "proper" camera to a compact that doesn't even have a proper viewfinder, I have been amazed at how good the pix are. I was however really surprised and amazed when I saw this pic of a bumble bee that I took at Sissinghurst today. I knew they were hairy but didn't know they had muscled wings!!