¡InvictaMoto!

It does seem strange to have put that in print. It is still actually over two years away but it hasn't stopped me thinking about what I'd like to do. For Claire's landmark we are off to Florida for two weeks in May '14. I guess to international jet setters it's a little "provincial" to be planning a transatlantic trip.  Hell,  I know people that go every year to Orlando, sometimes twice; never tiring of going to theme parks. So special then for me is not so special for others On a biking trip. Route 66? PCH? Or maybe further afield.  Or away from biking altogether and enjoy a cruise? On the biking front I looked at a few websites that hire bikes, and others that do tours, both fully organised or self-guided.  The PCH on self guided is £1950 per person, and that includes booked hotels, hire of a Harley and some basic insurances and a road book. On top of that we have about £400 to increase insurance to...

Donations have started to come in for Movember. My personal Mo Space is mobro.co/invictamoto Tache growing starts with it all off on Thursday night ready for 0000h growth start.

Another early date for the diary. The AMRR will be on June 28th 2014 and as usual the meeting place will be the Cambridge  Service area on the A14, to the west of this famous University city. Our local group plan to meet as usual at Nell's Café on the A2 at Swanscombe near Gravesend to leave about 0930 or so.  Depending on the traffic through the Dartford Crossing it only takes about an hour to cruise up there. The last couple of years have seen plenty of hot dry weather. Let's hope for more of the same in 2014. Compared to the Ride of Respect, the AMRR is a more intimate affair. Having done the first three ROR's at Wootton Bassett, I much prefer the smaller run to Cambridge. Same idea though to raise money for our ex-servicemen and to pay respects for their sacrifice. It's NOT about glorifying war at all. 

I am hoping that the weather behaves itself this year. last year there was snow that ended a lot of biking activities, and put paid to any ideas I had of riding 40 miles across the county in the cold and slippery white stuff..... Anyway, this year the run is the 30th Anniversary Run. It should be a bumper occasion and I am hoping that more people make the effort. It is certainly impressive to see the 300 plus bike, trikes and out fits hit the road. The Kent Centre will meet for brunch at the Blue & White Cafe (our usual monthly meeting place) and then motor over to Whitstable. If you see this and want to come, look out for the odd Suzuki and loads of other makes outside the cafe. We'll be there from about 11am and leaving the cafe about Noon for the ride over.

A little more successful retail therapy, the tank pad.  Fitted on easily once the Triumph warning decals were removed. Looks good. eBay - Triumph-Explorer-1200-2012-Black-White-Tank-Pad

The plan was to meet outside the Armoury at about 4pm. There was quite a group there already and I had that dread feeling as I was not only the oldest there but was one of the few not recruited from fairs in University Freshers Week! The organiser, John, led us round to the Learning Centre,  that in Islington ICT we know as Arsenal Red Zone. The first hour was taken up with John outlining the different schemes that AitC run. All of them ally learning with football. At 58 (soon) a career in football coaching might be a tad too late.  I did it for a while. I learned that parents are terrible and even the worst player gets a game if his dad has a car for away games... I'llbe more suites to literacy but a bit off footie as well? Why not. We had to fill in the DBS firm so they can check with the police that we are safe to work with children. I have a brand new one at work as I visit schools all the time, but Arsenal require their own. Once the options w...

I have planned the route in Tyre. To get to the Somme area in reasonable time, I have planned to use the A26 in both directions. There is a small toll free payable for bikes at either end at Arras and again at Ardres. There will be those that don't like autoroutes. I have done the trip to Thiepval several times using the N and D roads and the time taken in traffic and in villages wastes so much of the day.  Ideally, we could go N43 and N19 to Arras but time is important. I will provide the route to everyone that wants to go, both in GPX and ITN formats, so Garmin and TomTom satellite navigation systems are catered for.

It maybe a little premature releasing that I have been accepted for the volunteer training with "Arsenal in the Community< http://www.arsenal.com/the-club/community/about-arsenal-in-the-community >" scheme, as my first session isn't until tomorrow evening. As an employer Islington likes to have staff volunteer for things that improve the lives of local people, although there is a limit to the hours that they will pay you not to be at your desk, so if I am accepted I will have to fund the time from my own pocket and work extra hours in the office to build up flexitime to be spent on volunteering. Although my footballing days are over..... I am hoping that there are other things I can do on the educational side of things. Gulp.

It's on. I booked Eurotunnel today for the car to go on the Saturday very early (for us!) and return on the Monday late.  Monday is actually my birthday so hopefully we'll get chance to stop off somewhere and have a decent lunch, forgetting Slimming World for a few days. Sixty one days away apparently. The journey is about 380 miles form home and we should be able to knock that off easily enough in the car. Now I am praying that there is no snow before Christmas.  At least the hotel can be cancelled at no cost, but we'd still have to use the Eurotunnel crossing! And the hotel is: Hotel Traube .

Unfortunately, the Touratech part didn't come up to the spec I need. The central bar for the RAM mount is way too thin to be any use so I need to send it back. They have agree to take it back but of course it will cost me the postage, both ways.  Touratech UK very efficient and same day as the return they refunded the money to my PayPal account. So back to square one of where and how to fix the RAM mount so that I can get full right lock when required. C'est la vie.

It's a bit early to start wishing everyone a " Froehliche Weihnachten", but it is essential to the planning that is currently taking place. Please do not snow until after Christmas. That's all I ask. Claire has always wanted to go to a proper Christmas Market. We have them in the UK but maybe a nice German square would be better than a faceless shopping arcade in London? We'll see. I am looking at the one on the Rhine at Rüdesheim. I have made a pencil booking on a hotel on the river front with booking.com and that has the usual cancellation policy. Rüdesheim Booked the C arathotel Traube Rüdesheim in the end but still with the cancellation option.

Although never a fan of the overuse of stickers on bikes and those "I've been everywhere" covered panniers, I have a love for the humble Toro. And this silver one is the daddy of small pannier friendly bulls! Döra is yet to explore Spain but I have and the Givi toolbox has over 250000 miles under it's belt, with many visits to the Iberian peninsular! 2014?

The report and photographs from the Thankful Villages Run. http://www.theridersdigest.co.uk/newsite/thankful-motorcycling-munificence/

When we got back to the Malagacar offices there were so many people out front I ended up driving in the out door as it were and parking inside the warehouse.   On handing the key back to the guy on duty, I told him about the problem we had.  "Oh the battery has gone" he said.  "Yes, I know, it hasn't worked since I picked it up" I said. He shrugged and said that they'd get it fixed..... Still, the entire rental cost €138 in the end, at the exchange rate that make it about £17 a day including petrol. Pretty reasonable. I bet Florida won't be as cheap next year! So would I recommend Malagacar.com to anyone. Most definitely.

The countdown started with the alarm going off at 8am. By 9am we were up, breakfasted (a noun into a verb) and tidying the apartment and sorting the rubbish. Transferring some stuff (the dirty bag) to my little case to pack around the Arsenal boot bag (electrical stuff like chargers etc) and the Acer notebook meant that the big case would weigh a mere 19.5kgs. Once checked out and email/facebook/blogger checked on the wifi we made slow progress to Playamar to have a coffee and read the kindles.  Time usually drags but with the current two-hour before flights stipulation, we needed to be getting a move on.  TomTom took us to Malagacar and we dropped the Aygo off. I mentioned the key buttons didn't work and they just said the battery had gone.... In 7000kms?  Not good enough Toyota!! Once on the shuttle bus it was a matter of minutes before we joined the queue for the check-in. Pretty painless it was too. Security was a doddle, Claire's hip failed to set off any alarms and ...

So once we rejoined the A7 we thought maybe one last visit to La Cala. This time we parked in the Main Street and walked through to the ice-cream parlour. First job was to top the car up. The Aygo needs to be returned as empty as possible. And we were down to the last flashing bar (of six) on the gauge. Not knowing what this will give us, I put in €5 worth. The car must be doing 40mpg if not more, so 3.5 litres put in should give plenty of miles to get back to the hire office at lunchtime tomorrow. In the centre is the Arab Tower. Built like many along the coast as watch towers. Our last dinner is back at El Bombo. Calamari and chips and a salad. An appetiser of bread and garlic mayonnaise. The waitress brought us a sardine each "on the house". Very nice. Too full to walk! Once we have finished we have the walk back to the apartment to pack and maybe get a few minutes of the England game on TV. Up early tomorrow.

One discovery made late in the week is that the Aygo has a USB socket under the dash that can connect to the iPod. Without a manual is was difficult to get it to work as it seemed to choose anything from the 30gb I have on the Classic. With the iPhone it did play what was selected!!! So not all bad....

The last full day of the holiday. I was awake all night with a gut ache to match even the best curry night afterburn. A couple of codeine-phosphate had it under control in a few hours. We didn't want to waste the day so we set off for Torremolinos. In the end I felt a bit duff so we turned around. Stopping for a coffee at the Cafestore at Arroyo de la Miel grew into lunch. Plus they have free wifi so we could catch up with news and Facebook etc.   Next stop?

Still no Malaga day. Instead we went the other way and went first of all to La Cañada shopping as Claire wanted to have a look around. She bought some face cream and we had a look in the Apple store. I'd like a pad but wanted to see if you can connect a camera to look at the photos, none seem to have that capability. Oh. We had a coffee and unsuccessfully tried to connect to the California coffee shop's wifi! Outside is a curiosity, a fully relocated German Wurzel stand.... German Wurzel stand I suppose the English have "tea like at home" bars... We then set off for Estepona along the coast. TomTom said that it was a toll route but didn't give any options for not going that way and that is very unusual. Down here there two versions of the autovia, A7 free and AP7 toll. Why TomTom opts for the toll route is anyone's guess. If I knew how to send map updates I would as the speed limit on the A7 is 80kph along the entire length from Fuengirola to Marbella but TomT...

Down by the beach. Turn your back and the killer whale starts attacking you with water....

Time still flies. Today we went out to Fuengirola, parking in the underground car-park at Las Rampas. Our mission today was to find a shoe repairers. One of Claire's sandals had a problem with a flap broken.  Could we find one? Could we heck. In the end I bought a silver bull to go on pannier for the extortionate amount of  €2. We had a coffee and decided to go to Coin. A white village some 25 kms to the north. TomTom was programmed and we set off through previously unseen Fuengirola until we recognised a bit of the route. Now a beautifully EU funded stretch of paved road to Alhaurin. In 2010, the last time we had a car, we had several off road and gravel tracks to negotiate around the road building programme. The journey to Coin took much longer than 19 miles ought!! We parked outside the town near Antonio's motorcycle shop, and walked back into the square. Jesus at one end and a fountain at the other, with a bandstand in between. We had a coffee and then set the TomTom for h...

Had a late night last night and so struggled to get up when the alarm went off at 08.30 for us to get into Malaga at a reasonable hour. Oh well, leisurely breakfast and more kindle! The maid arrived just as we were getting ready. Really nice girl and we had a chat about the Fiera which is this week in Fuengirola. Me in pidgeon Spanish helped on by her fluent Spanish of course! Still it was fun. Once Paul was ready we aygo'd off in the direction of Fuengirola and ended up in the hills at Mijas.   It was not too busy and we found a parking space fairly easily.  Had a coffee in the cafe close by and while Paul was paying I strolled over to the leather shop next door; 15 minutes or so later after trying on several jackets, aided by a very willing salesman, and encouraged by Paul, I left with a lovely brown leather jacket.  I was offered the choice of a "free" leather purse on my way out!! We did the tour of Mijas admiring the view, stroking the donkeys and avoiding any more s...

The mozzie bite I got on my ankle on Sunday, unremarkable at the time, has continued to irritate and get worse. The red area around the original wound has grown to about 2" by 1" and is very red and painful. 

Why? Okay that is harsh. I read in a car magazine that a good way to find out if you like a car was to hire one and see how you get on with it. On trips to Spain I always hire the cheapest car. Not because I am tight with my wallet, just that small cars are fun (!) and we don't need a big guzzler penis extension car. So when I checked the Malagacar Group One box the options were Ford Ka, Fiat Panda or similar. We have had both of these before. I like the Ka but not enough to buy one. I love the Panda and may yet buy the latest incarnation, having owned one for the best part of 140000  miles... But similar meant a Toyota Aygo. Tiny boot (trunk to the colonials) but can seat four human adults. Tinny, not very powerful but good for what we need. The hire car has a few problems: The key has the padlock symbols but they don't work. To lock it requires the drivers door button depressed, outside handle lift and slam. Same as my 1975 Ford Cor...

A few pictures from our days out. Lunch in Marbella. View from apartment balcony Panoramic view from the balcony. Paul at El Bombe restaurant.

Monday already. Day 3 of 8!!  Time seems to go much more quickly when you are on holiday!! It's our 13th wedding anniversary today. Today we had another leisurely morning. Breakfast and reading over coffee and Bimbo toast! It was gone noon before we stirred ourselves to get washed and changed to go out. I set the TomTom for Playamar (Torremolinos ) and we aygo'd there.  Once again the TomTom route is a little different to the way we normally go. Yesterday we missed the Marbella arch over the road, twice. Today we avoided the coast road that we usually grind along. Our first stop was a Mercadona supermarket where we wanted some lunch stuff, maybe bocadillos? Thwarted we bought some beer snacks and set off. Exiting the car proved a Challenge. Capital C challenge. To get out you need a bar code to show you have shopped. We didn't have a bar code... Reversing back down the slope and re-parking we were able to get the ticket checked and a bar code receipt issued!  Phew. We the...

Today started off lazy. A short lie-in and then leisurely breakfast. Another bright sunny morning. The balcony gets the sun all day. I bet when they planned to have them slightly SSW rather than S facing everyone scoffed. The result is about 9 hours of sun! The white walls make it a blinding experience as well as like sitting in an oven We got the car out for a drive, ending up in Marbella old town. We parked underground, cool, and then walked down to the seafront and all along the promenade. Lunch of salad and garlic potatoes was superb. Then more walking to burn off the salad... ;) We had a slow drive back.  The Aygo doesn't do fast in any case. The speed limit on the coast road, formerly the N340, is now 80kph. The Aygo can just about manage that although one time we hit 85! I overtook a bus but it re-took us on a hill!!! After our traditional kindle session, and siesta, we were up and out for a dip in the pool. It is right in front of us after all. Dinner was at the restaurant ...

Our Spain blog page.   Started last year and continued into this and who knows how much longer. http://devall-espana.blogspot.com

Lot's fresh fish. But what are these? They look like something odd  pulled from their shells....

Here we are again in Spain. Almost a year after our last visit and this year we are staying in Torrenueva near Mijas Costa. We stayed in this resort a few times before and have always enjoyed the quiet and calm. The resort has very little in the way of amenities and that is pretty much okay with us. How it actually scores 3* on the RCI site I have no idea.  This year we have apartment 510 overlooking the pool area. We have stayed more often in the 700 block a little further around. Our flight over with Norwegian was pretty good, arriving Malaga about 15 minutes ahead of schedule.  Once we had retrieved the big case we were off in search of the car hire rep.  A couple of laps of the exit area and we eventually found her. A short walk to a minibus and a very short drive off-airport and we picked up a Toyota Aygo. A little tin box with four doors and a boot area that would be a tight fit for a chihuahua. The big case went on the back seat. As it was barely 2pm,  I set t...

Velo Solex at junk shop near work