InvictaMoto's On The Road Again!

Ukraine this week. Next week?

Home day. After a really nice time away, we were up bright and early to get packed up and away  We had to be out by 10am, but with super speed we were off at 09.18am! We decided on the M1 route home and then the west side of the M25. There was a bit of confusion as we headed east as the satnav wanted us to head away from the signposted M1 (South). We followed the signs and joined at J26. Progress was good with the cruise control at 70mph for most of the way. I do wonder why some drivers wait until you are in an overtaking lane, then speed up. This leaves you stranded! A minute later you sail past them. First stop was at the Watford Gap services. There is some grass for Reggie to exercise his feet and have a pee. Claire bought coffee. We were there no longer than 25 minutes.  Then off. There is a reduced speed limit on the M1 from there to almost Milton Keynes. They are obviously building a smart motorway. But for thirty or so miles no actual sign of work. Not even any equipm...

Day 3 Part 2 After lunch we set off for Chatsworth..it's about 8 miles from the Stables. The house is closed but there are plenty of walks and for local school half term the children's play area is open. We had a little walk and then went to the estate farm shop. Some local stuff bought, but no pudding this time. We had dinner in the cottage including some Staffordshire oatcakes. Lovely. Day 4 We decided to go to another National Trust house at Kedleston Hall. We knew that Reggie couldn't go in the house but that was okay. They have a refreshment truck and loads of walking trails. First stop was coffee and then we set off on the short walk. It turned out very muddy and so we set off on the long walk that is all hard surfaced. Well until about 3 miles into it when we get down to the lake and there was deep mud. At least we had the right walking boots. Could have done with wellies for that section. (Photos to follow) After a loo break where I managed to clean most of the mud ...

The National Motorcyclists Council have produced a document on their ideas for the future of motorcycling. http://www.britishmotorcyclists.co.uk/the-future-of-transport-policy-the-nmc-sets-out-the-next-steps-for-motorcycling/

Today started off pretty well. Ilam Hall and Dovedale to start with. Nissan Connect was actually able to locate Ilam Hall. We arrived in good time and parked up. The car park was free as we are National Trust members.  The sun is shining and it was a balmy 8°C. First stop Manifold Tea Room. Reggie not allowed in as he isn't an assistance dog. We sat outside and it would be right not to have a bit of Bakewell Tart.... Paul, one of the volunteers advised us against walking to Dovedale due to the local flooding of the Dove and the mud. He gave us a short walk along the river there at Ilam. Plus a bag of treats for Reggie. Walk acheived we drove to Dovedale. The car park was a vast sea of mud. It was packed as locally this week is half term. Plus Paul said that the famous stepping stones may still be submerged as they had been a few days earlier. We aborted. Set Nissan Connect for Chatsworth House. Or so we thought. It took us through Ashbourne towards Derby! Chatsworth is near Bakewel...

The Motorcycle Action Group (MAG) has announced that it will be collaborating with the Motorcycle Industry Association (MCIA) to develop the Action Plan for decarbonisation of powered light vehicles (PLVs). The Action Plan was launched last Wednesday.  MAG will be holding an initial meeting with the MCIA on 9th February. MAG pointed out to both MCIA and the Department for Transport (DfT) that the opinions and interests of riders must be a key component when designing the future of motorcycling.  MAG is keen to work with both industry and policy makers to ensure the best possible outcome for riders in the UK. MCIA Chief Executive, Tony Campbell, said: "Following the Motorcycle Actions Group’s Press Release in reaction to the launch of the joint Government / Motorcycle Industry action plan, MCIA acknowledges MAG members’ passion and enthusiasm for motorcycling, and MAG’s commitment to protecting their freedom of choice. It must not be forgotten that MAG members are also our cust...

We had a bit of a broken night. Firstly it was freezing. It was raining when we got back from across the street at the Druids Inn. As a side note I can thoroughly recommend the pub for its food, friendly welcome to us and Reggie. For half the night we shared the bed with him. Then he went and either slept on the sofa or the floor in the lounge. Back again about 6.30am. So as we were up we had breakfast and set off for our first port of call, Bakewell.  We parked on an island in the river Derwent. It's a big island.  The river was a raging torrent and earlier in the week had burst its banks. The flood barriers in evidence all along the walkways. Of course, with no great sense of direction we walked the opposite direction to the town. As I had forgotten gloves on the trip we saw a Farm and Country shop - Torne Valley Limited, Haddon Road, Bakewell. A real Alladin's Cave. Anything you might want they seemed to stock. Plenty of gloves. I bought a pair. They are really...

Set off a little before 11am for the proposed 4h30m drive north to the Peak District and our stay for the next 4 nights at the Stable at Druids Farm in Birchover. With the car packed up we set off on a route to avoid the Dartford Crossing. This entailed the M20/M26/M25/M40/M42. We had a stop for Reggie to have a pee and we got a coffee. Plus a Slimming World busting biscuit. Both between us. Once we got onto the M42 after pretty much a cruise-control run from home, it all ground to a stop, then stop/start.   Nissan Navigation seemed to try and avoid the traffic and instead took us up some dead end seeming road. In the end we made it to the M42 further up. Southbound was solid for miles. We made a second stop at Tamworth Services. A chance for all three of us to have a widdle, and for the humans to get something to eat from M&S. We then had a magical mystery tour via Burton upon Trent and then to Derby. The back roads to Birchover took us along quite a few roads where we sa...

I checked the email to see when the balance was due and it is next week.  I decided to pay it today before we go to our staycation in Matlock. Once that was done the full address and details became available. That's one thing out of the way. We'll have to see which way to go. Google Maps shows several routes. But maybe anything that avoids the ridiculous bottleneck by Stonehenge is to be taken!!!

It's a bit early but with us having a long weekend away with Reggie to the Peak District I will not be able to score any more miles/kilometres towards the Kilometerfresser competition this month. So I updated the forum page today with 15758kms and the photo of the odometer. Total for the month is 203kms. I must do better in March!

With the My Ride app on the phone playing up since the 14th February, I have thought about trying something different. It had worked perfectly well until the ride out I had on the 14th February. I had a ride towards Canterbury and then alo go some shitty back road that brought me out at Wincheap, then A28 to Ashford and A20 home. I posted on the V-Strom Club UK site and asked for alternatives. Amongst the suggestions was Detecht. It was easy to set up and add both bikes but I can't see how to differentiate between the two when out on a road trip. When installing it asked me to set the battery optimisation to "off" to allow the app to run in background. I then checked the same for My Ride, it was set on. It's not something I had altered manually. I changed it back to "off". I won't be able to test it until next week sometime! Maybe as late as the 6th when we have a Kent V-Strom breakfast meet at Jo's Café in Brooklands.  I...

MAG have today announced they are leaving the National Motorcyclists  Council in favour of setting up a new forum which will be known as UK  Motorcycling (UKM). The objective for this new discussion forum is to  create a collaborative meeting environment where all stakeholders can  share views and opinions on what will be a challenging few years ahead  for Motorcycling in the UK. E xplaining the move, MAG National Chairman, Neil Liversidge, said:  “We are more than capable of communicating with Government without a  third-party interlocutor, and we need to spend our resources efficiently.  MAG has good working relationships with all current NMC  partners and the industry representative body, The Motorcycle Industry  Association. Our aim is to direct all efforts and resources towards  lobbying the Government, and any lobbying effort, to be realistic, must  include the industry.” “We are therefore looking to build on our existing...

The January mileages have been entered into the system by the Kilometerfresser team. Although I have overtaken some of my closest rivals, I am still 106th!!!!

My latest buy.  For cleaning the bike and the car.

I wanted to get something not yellow. I had a look on eBay and saw one for a reasonable price. It's the standard seat. It does mean that I can have one of them looked at and maybe have a gel pad or something installed. It arrived on Thursday and I unboxed it on Friday. It is brand new. If we weren't stuck indoors due to Storm Eunice and the 80mph winds I would have fitted it. It looks superb.

After little cockup where I entered the wrong mileage, that gave an unbelievably large mpg, it corrected itself when I entered the right one the next time. The second was correspondingly low. So I removed the last two. Added the litres together and entered the last mileage and it comes out more realistically.

Photo courtesy of the Canadian Veterans website I have had confirmation that the commemoration will take place on April 9th as usual. This year it is 105 years since the Canadian troops assaulted the ridge and captured it. So unless Covid restrictions come into play the trip is on. https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/vim y More about the battle can be found on a variety of sources but Wikipedia seeks to have it covered. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vimy_Ridge

The band were back at the Leas Cliff Hall in Folkestone. This is the first time since the pandemic. Unlike most tribute bands they don't try and look like the Eagles but they do a great job of sounding like them! Another great show.

I have outlived my old Flickr account and so I have started a new one. I have storage for 1000 pictures and that should see me through my ownership of Vera Strom.  I have started off with a few photos and was surprised that I have so few, then again, I've not really been anywhere! At the moment Vera is somewhere in the photos posted, but this will change as I get to travel again. It will morph into Travels with Vera ! Drop in a have a look at the photographic genius that is me!   😂 Anthony is my middle name BTW! https://www.flickr.com/photos/veravstromman/

Today after I got back from greyhound rescue and after lunch, I togged up and headed to the jet wash.  I needed to get the Valentine's Day mud and crap off the bike. despite riding on main roads it was still covered in mud and looked like I have taken part in an enduro race! Once cleaned Vera need a blow dry and I ended up at H's again for a coffee.  Nice and dry by then.  I came back via Alkham Valley. Yamaha My Ride was effed again. I set it this end and when I got to H's come 28 miles away it hadn't started.  On the 14th it did part of the journey.

Photo taken from Canadian Veterans website After a few years where the commemoration has been cancelled for covid-19  and resulting rules and regulations have barred us from going I am hoping that 2022 sees some form of normality. In an earlier post I suggested I might invite friends and fellow riders from Old SOCS and the Meldrews along on the run. I posted on the Meldrews FB page to see if there are any takers. A day trip to France? What could be better than a lunch somewhere (not McDonalds by the Lens football ground! Again!) and then down to take part in the ceremony?   I also thought my brother Neill, might like to come, but as it happens, Arsenal are at home that Saturday and as we are are Gold Season Ticket holders I expect he will go there instead. I need to put my ticket on the ticket exchange system. This year April 9th is a Saturday.  I have emailed the Canadian Government Veterans agency to see if they know if the commemorations in France wil...

Not very eco friendly having to sit on the drive with the engine running and in P! Eight minutes.

Jake here is coming up for rehoming very soon.. You can find out more about him and the other dogs that are being rehomed at Kent Greyhound Rescue.

Not a colour I would have picked but it was the only one they had that fitted him. Something warming on those freezing cold days. Microfibre and towelling.

I am pretty sure it says scan on the printer!! (Photo re-taken on 14th as previous got deleted!) It used to scan but since an upgrade of the HP Smart app and even a re-installation of the app it now says that this printer doesn't have scan capabilities. HP support have been about as much use as a chocolate fireguard. Their virtual assistant says use "camera scan". All well and good but lighting the subject is a massive problem. If only they had a human....

The box from Parcelforce arrived today. Maybe I should shoot a short "unboxing" video?  Maybe not. It's come from Sweden and XLMoto.  The delivery date was given at 14th February onwards.  So that was even better. It's also very well packed. Now for a warmer day to get out in the garage and get it fitted.  It doesn't come with any additional bolts so I guess it uses the Suzuki OEM mounting kit.

The boots arrived yesterday. I only opened them today and they are a light black. In fact I'd probably call it grey! Still. They look.good. Feel decent and hopefully won't show the dirt as badly as the tan pair.