InvictaMoto's On The Road Again!

Looking at places to go. It's just over three weeks until we go. The site seems pretty good and the mobile-home we have is two bedrooms and and two bathrooms. One each then.... There are a number of beautiful villages in the area. and some are linked below. Must remember to take "proper" cameras this time. Domme

I guess we all have our own ideas of what makes a great hotel or restaurant, but sometimes I read reviews (before I go somewhere) and pick out places that I think we'd like to go to. Of course, you have to sift through and discount the reviews written so obviously by the proprietors best friend and at the othe rend of the scale, those written by someone in competition or simply hates them.  These are the usually the over effusive 5* or totally terrible 1* reviews.  Some are simply weird. Today I was thumbing through the Dordogne area, by town, for "dog friendly restaurants". We all have an opinion of that. Personally before I was a dog owner again after over 20+ years of not being a dog owner, I didn't really care. As long as Muttley was quiet and not causing a fuss. This guy obviously thinks it's a dirty European habit. Forget your heritage bud? Has he never been to someone's house where the dog is inside or maybe they own a cat?  As l...

I just had a look at the stats and am quite amazed that a road test report I wrote on the Suzuki Marauder has had over 15800 views.  An article originally written just shy of 20 years ago! I do this blogging lark as a bit of fun but I'm glad that someone has actually read something I have written and appreciated it. And here it is. http://invictamoto.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/roadtest-suzuki-vz800-marauder.html

It's been a while since the last update in the Saga of the TomTom .  It's not quite as long or as involved as the famous Icelandic Sagas, but the story has to be told. On the test runs in the car we had several problems where the unit turned itself off. Not simply going into "sleep mode" but actually fully shutdown. In the settings there is one that can be switched off that covers it going into "sleep mode" when it detects a drop in the power. Very inconvenient especially on a test where we didn't actually know where the destination was!  When it does that it actually loses the route that it was following. On the "front" screen it displays the status of the connections and the battery symbol know to all of us with a mobile/cell phone.  When connected to the car mount the battery shows no charging is taking place.  If the power lead is then connected to the unit itself. The battery shows the lightning bolt image....

I started using this ticket at the start of the year. For years we have been expecting Southeastern Trains (SET) to replace the paper tickets with a smart card. After all in London they have been using the Oyster card  instead of paper and cash for a number of years. In the photo you can just about detect the discoloration, bottom centre, where there is a little crack. The card now doesn't work at all. Unlike the Oyster it doesn't have an obvious microchip in it. I reported this on the 7th April and expected a new card in about a week to ten days, this extended in an email from them to two weeks.  I called them today as the replacement hasn't arrived and they had a look. Twelve days ago the card was being tested. Six days ago it was being tested.  Today?  Who knows? The Key from Southeastern Trains Until it went wrong it has generally worked okay. I buy a new monthly travelcard that covers train from Kent and tubes/buses in London as well. ...

Although I have supported Arsenal since 1965 when we moved down to the South from Oldham when I was ten years old, my first flirtation with football was with Oldham Athletic - The Latics. This was primarily as they were my local team, and when I say local, from my house less than a mile across the field next to Fernhurst (cotton) Mill. My Dad worked for the supporters club as the Pools Promoter and also helped out at the Bingo evenings they ran. These were very vital earnings streams in the 50's and 60's.   I started to go with him and then with my Aunt Linda and Anne,  a pal of hers.  For a couple of years I had a season ticket and  then we moved south to Surrey.   My Dad was an Arsenal supporter and many of the family were too. Over many years as an "exile" I have tried to get to games when they are in the south and accessible.  Although I have been to games at Wimbledon before, in their original guise as a non-league side playing in ...

And the adventure goes on.   After a disastrous run of games of late that have seen the assault on the league fade and fade with a record, under Wenger, of four consecutive away defeats, Arsenal were definitely underdogs on Sunday in this semi-final.  In the League trailing their opponents by a considerable margin, the one-off match to reach the final was a different ball game, to coin a phrase. After a dreadful mistake allowed  Manchester Oil Barons to go ahead in the first half. The Arsenal players managed to rally themselves and equalise through Monreal. The game went into 30 minutes extra time before Sanchez scored to win the game. The final beckons on May 27th.

The journey to the campsite near Sarlat is about 550 miles according to the route done on Tyre by Google maps. With Reggie onboard we decided to break the journey about halfway and so the hunt began. Once I had a route in mind that avoids Paris and the terrible Périphique and the slightly less terrible outer A86 ring.  In the end "halfway" looked to be Orléans or that area.  On booking.com I did a search and selected the Campanile at la Source just to the south of the city.  Given the time of the outward Shuttle I expect we'll be there in good time to give Reggie a decent walk on the nearby fields.  I emailed to find out how much it will cost for him and it's an extra €5 a night.  Amazingly, at this particular hotel he is allowed in the restaurant. Although the idea of dogs in restaurants doesn't appeal to everyone, a well behaved dog is hardly noticeable on the floor and is no dirtier than the shoes that people come in. In the end I have booked in there in bot...

Today we had a short drive to Dungeness to take Reggie for a walk. We go quite often to see the trains and for a walk on the shingle. Some info - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeness_(headland) As it was a sunny Saturday of the Easter Weekend the place was packed.  Now that some of fishermen are selling their product direct to the public and have small pop-up restaurants, the crowds have increased. We were lucky to park and then set off across the shingle inland to give Reggie a chance to smell down a few rabbit holes. Luckily for all concerned no rabbits ventured above ground. Shingle! The old Lighthouse The big square building is a nuclear power station!

That may be true. Except of course every Arsenal game is more of a nightmare at the moment.

The call I logged on the TomTom Support site seems to have fallen into that hole where difficult calls disappear to when no one wants to do them.  Maybe they think that if they ignore me long enough I'll simply write-off the money and forget I bought this piece of crap. Sadly, they are mistaken.  I have updated the call a few times and maybe asking for it to be replaced as it has never been used has caused them to go silent. I tried to connect again last evening.  This time I was able to login to My Drive Connect and it went through the "restore" motions and re-booted the unit. But it failed again... and again and again.  In the end I aborted. I have updated the call, again, on the Support site and also this time added a scan on the invoice from when I bought it on February 1st. So let's see where this takes us! P.S. The Urban Rider took me to the parking on the Vimy Trip without a hitch. UPDATE 12/04/17 11:00 This mornings update is that ...

The day started a little later for me as I had misread the booking for the Shuttle and set off to arrive at 0850 when I fact the train was at 0850 and I was supposed to be there before 0820 when that train closed.  Curiously the automatic booking system didn't quibble and still gave me the crossing I could never make.   As usual there was a delay. I don't think we have been over using Eurotunnel for many years where the train has left on time or at least as scheduled.  The last time was with Reggie and Claire when we went glamping on the Somme (80) coast last October.  Delays both ways. Anyway.  Once I had done a few laps of the parking I slipped between the barriers.  When I arrived with my "hanger" - a thing that car drivers can hang from their interior read-view mirrors - showing crossing K, the staff didn't say, "Go straight to the controls", instead I would have done a 360 loop of the parking had I not snuck through the barriers after 180! UK passpo...

A miserable story here. Ever since it arrived I have been trying to get it up and running. On the face of it the new software that was supposed to be a step forward seems in fact two steps backwards. Most of the best functions from the older systems have been lost,  but modern app like functions such as web connections through a mobile phone are better. Linked to an app on the phone it should mean sending a route to the unit is simpler and does away with having to connect to a computer. So far so good. Sadly the reality is not as good. The new software doesn't handle waypoints like older TomToms and even my ancient Garmin.  You can add stops though. When connected to a computer it shows up as a drive but unlike the older generation it can't be browsed. I spent hours today and all seemed good. I got the route set, and even amended it slightly on the unit itself. Then I fitted the cradle and Ram mounts to Pepe and put the unit on and.... it failed. N...

After missing out on 2015 after my heart attack and 2016 as it clashed with the Somme 100 ceremony, I am planning to Rocket up to Cambridge to join this year's run. The date is July 1st and is a Saturday again. The Kent RBLR group are meeting at Cobham Services on the A2 at 0845 with several stops on the way. It's a bit early for me to be up there as I am not planning to leave home until 0900. Maybe I will catch them up with my no stop strategy.

Once again Aldi have their bike gear on sale.   I'm not in the market for jackets or over trousers so I didn't bother going in on Thursday when it went on sale.   For those of you that don't know, Aldi is a German supermarket chain. They have become very international and you may find their stores in most European countries.   They started off being cheaper than the UK competition and has gradually moved up and with the economy the way it is, people are looking to cut their shopping bill.   Anyway,  as well as food they do household stuff and other goods from time to time. This week they have motorcycle gear. Next week caravan accessories.   Claire went in in Friday and bought me a Base Layer shirt. In XL it is a tight fit but apparently it's supposed to be that way.   Might give it a try out tomorrow if the weather is kind.     UPDATE: April 9th 2017    I wore this shirt on the Vimy run as it ...