InvictaMoto's On The Road Again!

On the recent "Part Un" where we didn't quite get to all of the planned stops, I am looking at another trip next year to pick up where we left off! The date is penciled in for 4th and 5th July 2015.  A few days after the 99th Anniversary of the mass slaughter on the Somme. More later!

A couple of write-ups. Thiepval http://invictamoto.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/the-somme-weekend.html http://invictamoto.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/somme-weekend-part-deux.html If you have an account of the weekend, please let me know and I can get it up here. Any pictures?  Then email them to me and I can create a page.

Sunday dawned quite early as it was very warm and humid overnight. I had the windows open but had to tie them together with my belt to make sure they stayed open but not blowing about. I packed and then went down a little too early for breakfast so took my bag out and loaded the panniers.  It was still alternating between warm and sunny and drizzle. When I went back in, David was up. He'd had a ground floor room facing the street so was unable to open a window. Amiens Hotel Breakfast at the Central & Anzac Hotel is dubbed continental, but it is far better than that might suggest.  So much to eat! Once Lainy came down we were ready to get going. The first stop of the day was to be the Australian Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux.  The run wasn't too far from Amiens and once again we were in waterproofs.  When we arrived there was a coach from Slovakia and a large group of tourists ahead of us. Tourists sounds a bit "sniffy" but no meant that ...

http://www.everymanremembered.org See who you can remember for their massive sacrifice? William Devall -  http://www.everymanremembered.org/profiles/soldier/21352/ Charles Devall -  http://www.everymanremembered.org/profiles/soldier/573221/

I had a long look through booking.com to get a hotel for the two nights after we arrive and before we go to the apartment at Fisherman's Village in Punta Gorda. In the end I have booked a hotel in Clearwater Beach that offers "free cancellation, pay later" terms. So many hotels in the US don't have these options. Most with free cancellations still take the first night up front. Between now and the cancel-by date this will change, a few times, possibly. After the apartment week we have a few more days to fill and places to see. Maybe a cross country trip to Spaceport USA?

The weekend went very well and we had a great time.  I have written up the blog on my "On the Road Again" blog-space so here are the links. http://invictamoto.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/the-somme-weekend.html http://invictamoto.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/somme-weekend-part-deux.html

We liked the Gulf Coast for the sunset and all the quiet resorts we looked at. The Atlantic Coast was okay, but we are drawn back to the Gulf..... I logged into RCI.com and did a search and found a two bedroom at Fisherman's Village had become available. Knowing Claire had said she'd go back. I booked it. It has been 5 days waiting for the official confirmation. They have allocated us unit 20. Not 37 as we had hoped but now we have to see where 20 is. Facing the marina or the bay? The timeshare is Saturday to Saturday. So we arrive on Thursday evening about 6pm and we have two nights to stay somewhere before we go down to Punta Gorda.  And more ideas to mull over for the 5 nights after the Punta Gorda week is over.

As we ended up with more places to visit than I am looking at Part Two in April next year. Planning to start soon.

It was an early start on Saturday for the ride to Dover to meet the rest of the group. Ken Fulton, who I have known for thirty years or so stayed over Friday night. The group numbered ten people; Alan and Sue, Frank, Cal, Ian, Ken, David, Elaine, Neil and me. The problem of keeping together never arose as everyone did a good job keeping an eye on the other bikes in front and behind, although we did occasionally get stretched out along the road. Once we had negotiated the ferry port and I then set the first part if the A26 cruising speed to approx 70mph, and then got through the tolls I upped to about 125kph or about 77mph. Keeping us below the dry speed limit of 130km or 81 mph.  In the wet the limit drops to 110km or around 68mph. In hindsight I should have plotted a route around Arras as we ended up going through the centre and the resultant traffic cost us valuable time.  The first stop was Serre Road Cemetery No2 to plant a British Legion Poppy...

I started writing this on Wednesday. The 16th July 2014. The 98th Anniversary of William Devall, last of Vauxhall in London and the 7th Battalion Shropshire Light Infantry, succumbing to wounds received in the Battle of the Somme. Tomorrow, Döra and I will go across to France again. Thanks to people like William and the next generation that fought in the Second World War we are able to travel with few restrictions. Something else we owe to the hundreds of thousands of (mostly) young men that went out and never returned to their families and their loved ones. On Sunday, four days late, I will call into the cemetery and plant a Poppy Cross to show that the Devall family remembers his sacrifice. Laurence Binyon's Poem "For the Fallen" "They went with songs to the battle, they were young. Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow. They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted, They fell with their faces to the foe. They shall grow not old, as we that are left...

My brother Neill and his buddy Patrick are on this tour around Europe. It's a big undertaking in Europe even in the summer. http://whet2014. blogspot.co.uk

A month away to our holiday in Spain. With about 5500 miles on the odometer, two things are on my mind. A) Tyres. Will they last a month here and then about 1500 miles around Spain, plus there and back miles? B) Service time at 10000! After hot weather in the UK I chose to wear the Joe Rocket mesh jacket in France and generally that was okay with the light waterproof over the top. http://our-spain.blogspot.com.tr

Got home from work and as it was sunny and dry I decided to take Döra out to put some air in the tyres and fill up.  The pressures are shown as 36psi front and 42psi rear; the same as the GS. Easy to renenber! The pump at Stop 24 costs 50p to start it, but according to the RAC and others, these are more accurate than free ones. Both tyres were a couple of pounds under which was not too bad.  As petrol is 7p a litre or 31p a gallon more than Tesco, I went down one junc on the M20. "Pay at the Pump" was the only option and with 205.6 on the trip I gladly filled up.  The yellow fuel light has been on a while and the "miles to empty" showed 10.  I need to check the tank size as it took 17.98 litres to fill right to the top!! So maybe there were a couple of litres still in their. Good for 25 more miles! On the way home I stopped at the kiosk by Seabrook beach before going home. I didn't want too many miles as I wanted a full tank for Saturday and the Somme Trip. http...

Or "Where the **** has it gone" Today's school visit to run an upgrade ended well but had begun inauspiciously. Firstly "digital signature failure" caused the download and install to fail. This is because security settings in Internet Explorer are set too high. The tech couldn't set them lower so we tried with cd. Popped the first one in the drive. Check it had come ready. No. Open drive. NO CD!! It had not seated properly and the closing drawer had pushed it between the drive and the bay wall. Nothing would move it. So we reverted to downloading the files from Capita, and mounting the drive with Daemon Tools Lite. Superb and job done. Panic over!!!

Sometimes good luck comes to those who make a stupid mistake. This time it was my turn to benefit.  Yesterday we took the train to London. For me a daily occurrence. Same train, same change to Underground.  This time I had  Jiří with me, on his way to collect a hire bike. Not his fault but in the hurry to get off the train I left my bag on the luggage rack.  I had just shown him where to go for his last (and solo) journey from Highbury when I noticed I had no bag. How? The darned thing hangs over my shoulder to rest by my right hip. I then tried to think when I last had it. Car? Yes. Slow Train? Yes. High Speed Train? Yes. Tube? Mmmmm can't remember.  I reported it to the London Undeground guy and he called to the station at the end of the line. Not handed in. So I decided to call Southeastern to ask what happens to lost luggage. No help at all. Takes 5 to 9 days to wind up in the Lost Luggage at another station. Back tracked to St Pancras.  Can you describ...

Today we had a plan. Kent Centre AGM, then off to look at the Ducati shop at Laguna for Jiri, and then Canterbury. In the end we did the first two, breakfast at the Blue and White where both Jiri and Claire came to the meeting. Only three of us were club members out of six attendees. After the meeting we set off the look at the Ducatis. I love the Diavel but £16950 is too much!! Then we went to the Battle of Britain Memorial and Jiri could look for the names of the Czech pilots on the roll of honour wall. Then we went up to the White Cliffs to walk along and see the port from above. Back at home watched the first Superbike race from Laguna Seca, and then the World Cup Final.

Really good day in London. Good weather,  and it was heaving with people. The area around County Hall and the London Eye needs some serious crowd control. The company that runs the sites just leaves everyone to push and shove and queue wherever to block the path. The day stayed sunny for the most part. We wanted to show Jírí, our guest from Brno, as much of the city sights as possible. He had his first Guinness as well in the Red Lion in Whitehall.  

Okay. Not everyone is tooled up with all the "must have" paraphanalia. So..... How will we avoid getting lost. On shorter local runs we use the "drop off" system. This employs a "marker" at junctions to show the way to go. Usually this is the second person in the string of riders.  It usually works pretty well. And I feel we need to give it a go after we leave the A26 near Arras. It will be more difficult on this trip with 50 miles of toll motorway at each end and a our 150 of French country roads in between. But we are men and one woman!! I suggest we agree a maximum speed limit on the motorway before we land in France. A speed that is comfortable to everyone. Personally I like to get a move on and with the toll road limit at 130km/h, that seems perfectly reasonable as the maximum speed. My cruise control will keep that, dead on! On the D roads we may encounter some local plod and I suggest we keep around the limit of 90km/h unless signed otherwise. As fo...

As the boat departs at 0735, Cal suggests that we meet at Dover Eastern no later than 0650. Yes it is early!!! We usually assemble just inside the entrance to the port after you come off the roundabout. This is convenient for the A2 and A20 as they meet at that roundabout. Ride in and the terminal building will be to the right. Assemble there for Group Photo 1!!  :)

Had a look at the hotel in Santander and noticed the address was first floor. I have stayed in hotels in Madrid where they are a floor or two in an older block where there are apartments above and below.  Okay when using public transport but I like to have the bike at hand. So I have made another change. The new hotel is traditional from the ground up, has parking and wifi and is only a few pounds a night more that the first. So now only five weeks away....

More research on hotels left me looking to replace another one. Maybe the Ávila, selection was a bit rushed but with parking always a problem in these old cities. In the end I opted to cancel the hotel and switch our allegiance to the Parador. Another one. The Parador is situated inside the walls and it comes with a car-park! And as older people we can claim a small discount. So. How many more changes? Dunno!!

How much is a life worth? 
Every day, a motorcyclist is killed or seriously injured on the road due to the actions of a driver who didn't pay attention, or even look out into the road. Nine times out of ten, the driver receives a pitiful sentence for careless driving, or worse still, nothing more than a driving ban; meanwhile, a family loses someone who cannot be replaced.  Sorry mate, I didn't see you! …is the most common excuse for a driver when a rider has been knocked off. It doesn't matter if the rider is wearing hi-viz, with headlights on or not. It's time that this changed! The purpose of the demo is to raise awareness on the theme that too many riders are being knocked from their bikes; that drivers are being mildly punished or getting off free, and that we – every day – see that the errors of other road users are putting our lives at risk, while we are being popularly held up to blame.  ...

Dear Mr Devall, The Royal British Legion invites you to take part in LIGHTS OUT, to remember those Commonwealth service men and women who lost their lives in the First World War. A UK-wide event, LIGHTS OUT is an invitation to everyone to turn off their lights from 10pm to 11pm on 4 August, leaving on a single light or candle for a shared moment of reflection. LIGHTS OUT will be one of the largest mass participation events of its kind ever seen in the UK, and will complement a candlelit service held at Westminster Abbey on 4 August 2014. TAKE PART IN LIGHTS OUT You can be part of this historical event in a number of ways: Watch our exclusive film which features Jeremy Paxman, Fiona Fullerton, Louis Smith, Twiggy, David Gandy and Chelsea ...

In the last post I said that we had only been back a few weeks and we were looking to next yeat... Well. It didn't take a lot of thinking.  So I booked the air fare. I have been checking Skyscanner for a couple of weeks and fares are hovering about the £610 to £625 level except one that seems impossible to book at £567. In the end we decided not to wait for that and booked LGW to Tampa with Travelup who we used last year and who handled the Air Canada up-cock very well. Gatwick to Tampa is a daily flight and so I am keeping fingers crossed that British Airways don't make any changes. To keep the fares down we have booked Thursday to Thursday.  On Friday and weekends the fares rocket. The strange thing is that Tampa is much cheaper that either Orlando and Miami? Next the job is to find a timeshare. This year we have only one week to use and so the other days will allow us to travel around see things. On the 2015 list are Epcot, Spaceport USA and maybe some of the mid-Atlantic c...

One of the problems being a motorcyclist in the UK, and indeed, anywhere in Northern Europe is the propensity for it to rain, or be generally inclement during the summer months. Sadly we don't live in the Enid Blyton idyll inhabited by the Famous Five when the sun shone from dawn til dusk everyday without question.  Maybe in the Mediterranean or Florida? Anyway, it means that wearing a mesh summer jacket may seem very silly indeed. My Joe Rocket has an inner waterproof lining. So in the rain the outer jacket gets completely soaked through.  I have never used it, but with a trip coming up to Spain, and some of it in England, I looked for an over jacket. I didn't look too far as I fancied the look of the Triumph over jacket.  Priced at £39 it looks a decent bit of kit and what's more fits over my JR! So I bought one. It packs into its own little bag that when worn is a pocket in the back on the outside.  It has a few reflective stripes to keep the Fre...

Slight re-alignment and removing a couple of waypoints for smaller sites that we can shave off to save time before the lunch stop at the Tommy Cafe.

Rather someone else tries this delicacy..