InvictaMoto's On The Road Again!

On the map it looks like a pretty straight line. Get off the train in France and then point the front wheel east and 260 miles later arrive at the hotel. Simples? And that is about it.  Had the Arsenal drawn Anderlecht from Brussels or Lille from er.. Lille, then maybe the journey would have been shorter, but Gelsenkirchen is defintely doable in maybe 4 hours? Some years ago, maybe even as long ago as the mid-eighties, we did a trip to the bike show at the Messe in Cologne.  There was me on my new 1000 Katana, Tony on a BMW R100RT and his mate Jim on another BMW.  "Three figure touring" Jim said.  Once up to three figures on the A3 it was the last I saw of either of them for an hour.  In the end I stopped at the side of the autobahn and they eventually caught me up!  It took as just over three hours from the Port at Calais to Cologne outskirts and another hour to get to the place we were staying in Leverkeusen. If we make the trip to Gelsenkirchen for th...

The draw for the group stages of the 2012-13 Champion's league was today and Arsenal haven't fared too badly. Could have been much worse.  Some pretty long journey's and really only one close enough to get to by road. Arsenal Schalke Olympiakos Montpellier Let's see what the ticket situation is like.....

After reading a few of the madder reviews of places I have been, and having just come back from a trip to France I decided to inject a little less plain text into a few of mine and see what happens. Maybe share YOUR favourite reviews! “I am not a number.....” Reviewed 28 August 2012 NEW As soon as we turned off the road into the parking looking for a coffee store, we found Starbuck's, we realised we had entered a parallel world where designer shops were the norm and normal people were excluded like the snot nosed kid looking at the giant Easter Egg that he'll never afford... The Village looks like the set from the remake of The Prisoner; fully expecting No 6 to walk around the corner......As we sat outside drinking our latte with Armani opposite and two different Burberry shops around us, having passed Ralph's polo shirt emporium, I fully expected to see some millionaire footballers or film stars. Instead the car park was full of pre-2005 Peugeots and...

As I am easily bored I changed the cover picture again. This one was taken in St Rémy de Sillé in Normandy. It is tribute to the farmers that spend their lives growing wheat, the combine harvester dirvers that cut it sown again and mainly, to the guys that drive tractors all day and every day with piles of bales on the back! Why it needs to be transported across the countryside seems a mystery.  Every field seems already jam packed with the bales, some round, some rectangular, but all seemingly in the wrong place! Near St Lambert sur Dives

Virgin may have lost the West Coast Railway, but free wifi for the summer is good! it features ion quite a few London Underground stations for free, and afterwards at cost for non-Virgin users.  It started before the Olympics. Sadly, they didn't think that Highbury & Islington warranted it, despite it being a junction for three different rail services, one, London Overground, has a direct service to Stratford, where it just happpens they built the Olympic Park is situated! Superb when it works! The iPhone shows a full wifi signal, but the browser doesn't work and email doesn't work! This happens pretty much on and off all week. Maybe with the Paralympics starting today service will get better.

When I go away, whether for a night in the UK or longer abroad I tend to look for an area and then check out the reviews on TA and also on booking.com. You have to laugh at some of them!  Some are downright offensive and you have to take a ruler and strike off the most glowing and the most ridiculous off before you make a decision. In May when we went across for the MotoGP I looked at the Campanile in Alencon. It was full, but we did have dinner there one night. So, TA, has remembered I had previously browsed. I had a look through the reviews and came across this one.  Okay, it's not as mindless as the free wifi is too slow or that you can't get baseball on the TV.... But has this women never been to France before? Restaurants are like homes, dogs are accepted. ""Dog in Restaurant!" 3 of 5 stars Reviewed 5 July 2012 The room was a typical Campanile but in need of a refurb - the catch was broken on the window so we could not leave it o...

I dug the bike out of the garage. After a few weeks off I always feel nervous, despite a new battery, that I'll press the button and nothing will happen. I shouldn't have worried as she fired up no problem. Maybe thanks to the Odyssey fitted in the Spring. I set off along Burmarsh Road to the end, then left towards Dymchurch, then back on the Marsh towards Newchurch.  It was here I came across a grave along the side of the road. I don't remember seeing it before.  It is the grave of Pilot Officer Arthur William Clarke. Aged 20. Killed in action nearby on 11th September 1940 during the Battle of Britain.  Grave of PO A. W. Clarke I stopped to pay my respects. A reminder of the sacrifice that our young men have been giving for years and still are.  After the stop at the war grave, I set off back across the Marsh a little more and up to the petrol station near the M20 to fill the tank up. Once back at home I did some googling to find more in...

After a few days of doing nothing since we got back from holiday apart from a few days relaxing and only shopping trips, including collecting Claire's new specs and an iPhone 4S, we had a proper trip out. Sissinghurst is one of the nearest National Trust sites near us, and we love the gardens. This is our third or fourth visit of the year.  With the changing of the seasons, the planting changes in the gardens change to make the visits different. http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/sissinghurst/ We usually take a picnic and park right at the back of the car park where there are picnic tables for visitors to use. Sissinghurst Castle Back of the outer courtyard From the rose garden Osteospurmum Planter Dahlia Dahlia Castle Tower Dahlia Orange Garden Cottage Sissinghurst Oast Houses  Dahlias  Dahlias

Desperados I was looking in the Carrefour for a different beer to bring home. Found this. Desperados. A beer with the flavour of tequila. I saw a few people drinking it in a bar in Rouen. But once the bottle is opened rather than tasting a little sharp, it tastes like shandy. Strong shandy though at 5.9% ABV, but not really tequila tasting!!  

The last day. Up late after having a lie in to make up for the valley of a bed in Room 2 at the Arts & Seine hotel. Breakfast and out on the road. I set the TomTom to take us home with the toll road option turned off.  We would need petrol before home and decided to divert off the toll free A28 towards Forges les Eaux but at Buchy a few miles down the detour we saw the signs for a Carrefour and immediately changed our minds. In the end we bought lunch; baguette, ham and several cheeses, plus lemon tea (and a beer for home!) Then Claire thought we should buy a bottle of Vodka for our neighbours looking after the cat. We checked a few and opted for Polish - not the cheapest but a good looking label! After fuel we decided as we had about 6 hours to get to the Shuttle we would head north to the coast and work our way along, find a picnic site and have lunch. I added a "via" to the route home. On the A28 we seemed to be getting nearer Abbeville and sti...

Once the car was secured in the car park behind the hotel we had a few minutes rest before going out to look around the city centre tourist bits and have dinner. From the hotel it was a short two block walk to the Tourist Office and the Cathedral.  Rouen Cathedral Cathedral Old Market Square Statue on bridge over the Seine As we got out the cameras, Claire's Sony AS started making strange noises when turned on and again when off. From deduction it looks as though the sensors that work out when to switch the viewfinder on is causing a problem. It seems to fix itself only to start again later.  We took some pix of the Cathedral and then walked around to the Gros Horloge and then into old Market Square for a beer and then to decide on dinner. I fancied pizza until I saw the pizza place and then in a fish restaurant I saw moules!!! Claire chose Soupe des Poissons and a fish casserole from the "menu" and I had a green salad and moules in white win...

After a better nights sleep in the Domaine, breakfast was a quiet affair with home made jams and plenty of French bread. Domaine de la Tour Domaine de la Tour Domaine de la Tour The sun is out and we are now packing for the day. At €70 a night this is the most expensive stay of the trip but included breakfast. Https://Www.domainedelatour . Another of the guests was on the Harley. Custom Harley On the way towards Montormel, we came across a set of French and Canadian flags that turned out to be the observatory outside St Lambert sur Dives, where Major Currie won the VC. The Observatory at St Lambert sur Dives The next stop was the Donjon at Chambois. Chambois also has the the monument to the meeting between the Poles and US troops that was the symbolic closing of the Falaise pocket. Chambois Donjon Chambois Map The pocket Allied Monument to the Falaise Pocket http://www.normandie44lamemoire.com/versionanglaise/fichesvilles...