InvictaMoto's On The Road Again!

I have signed up for the Ride to the Wall again this year. We have signed up several times and have not yet attended.  In the end I have left my registration as a donation. It will be the same this year as I will have just got home from a trip to Spain for the Aragón MotoGP. https://www.rttw.org/catalog/product.php?CI_ID=53

The journey here was pretty straightforward, along the A259 from home to about a mile from the site. We checked in at about 4pm. We're in pitch 28. A bit of shuffling backwards and forwards to get as close to the pitch marker as possible later before we could hookup to the leccy. This threw up the first problem. The cable is just about long enough but not long enough to lay totally flat.  The electric point is two pitches away and a group share one. At Painters Forstal it was one between two and it was between them. After hookup we had a walk to check out the loos and then decided to have a walk through the bluebell woods to the pub. It's a nice scenic walk. The information sheet says 8 minutes. With Reggie enjoying new smells and a few photos it's about 25 for us.  A pint and a G&T later we came back to the Van. A bit of Kindle time and then we were back up there for dinner. The Two Sawyers is thoroughly recommended. Good beer and good food. None of it Slimming World a...

The target was 100 mile walking in April.  That's all done and dusted.

Thanks to the lack of decent weather and other things occupying my time I hardly added anything to February's count.  But still haven't broken into the top 100! I have a feeling that May might tip it a little in my favour... :)  108th!!! 108th on 2022kms

The Kappa K48N  box that came last year has been on Suzi almost all the time. I took it off when she went to Cheriton Motorcycles last year to have the tank cleaned out. It uses the same flap type system as the old Givi but in an attempt to make it more difficult to lever it open the flap is up under the handle. This does make it more difficult to lock securely! It takes two helmets and all kinds gear like waterproofs (essential in Northern Europe!) and of course, for those sunny days, the GT750 baseball cap.

Confident that Suzi would start I got my gear together and pulled her out of the garage. The first outing of the year was about 3 miles to the petrol station the other day. At the moment as soon as fuel is seen to be available dive in and buy it! Today for Meldrews' we decided to meet at the old regular meeting place at the Blue and White café at Smeeth on the A20. From there the destination was Winchelsea Beach Cafe. Cal led and as I am still running in the new engine I was restricting myself to 3500rpm. We meandered across the marsh and downs eventually popping out at Appledore, then through Rye. The bikers parking was about half full. We had breakfast. Quite a long wait but with all those caravans on sites it was to be expected that it would be full or approaching full.  Once finished we were off westwards. Me leading. I missed the right turn to Pett Village and we ended up almost in Hastings before turning back onto the A259. Through Rye where by now the bikers' par...

I have decided to offload the job to Vince at Cheriton Motorcycles.  Maybe laziness but also that the job needs doing properly. That means the right tools!  I think as well as removing the existing coked and oiled up baffles the pipes themselves will need the crap cleaned out. A dose of caustic soda or something like that. I forgot they were closed on a Saturday when I went on the way home from the station. I have dropped them an email. All booked in for May 3rd. Hopefully that will give the old girl a new lease of life and open up her lungs a bit...

Further to the last post we are nearly there. I should knock off the remaining few miles this and have a week when it doesn't matter too much at all. Sadly even though I set a very low bar for donations I have failed to meet even that.  Maybe time to forget about charity walks and simply spend the money I end up paying in to get it all going elsewhere. Miles up to 15:17 22/04/22 https://invictamoto.blogspot.com/2022/04/royal-british-legion-walk-100-miles-in.html

The first ride was on Friday 21st April. I have been out on the V-Strom quite a few times since the turn of the year. This time I swapped the bikes around in the garage and pulled Suzi out.  Choke down. Ignition on. Nice healthy green light. Press starter. Loads of cranking. No start. Move fuel tap to prime and repeat. Second press on the starter and we have life. I decided to fill the tank. At this point I couldn't remember when it was last filled. In Hythe BP it took just over 7 litres... Felt a bit squirrelly on the way back so checked front tyre. Only 12 psi! Pumped up to 36 with the electric hand held. Looking good for Sunday and the Meldrews' breakfast meet. Also just short of 76000 miles.

When I retired I imagined sitting in the sun in the summer. Not something I do very often. I can return from two summer weeks in Florida or Arizona almost as white as when I left home... Can't all be the factor 50 sunscreen! But Claire and I have a few things we do on our own. And that leaves on Friday as a day with nothing planned. Today, dog walk and coffee in the Cook's Table in Hythe via the library. Then back home to do nothing. A chance to stretch the legs and read my Kindle. The "new" Skechers bedding in nicely. Another pair bought on impulse some years ago and not worn very often. They are very comfortable. But the look enormous for UK size 10! 😀

I have decided not to renew my Arsenal season ticket, and instead let my brother move into my seat thus freeing his up. It was a difficult decision to make but I thought now was the best time to make the decision as newly retired and looking to get out travelling. So for my use them or lose them rewards points I spent them on a members scarf. It arrived today. Luvly jubbly.

Had a drive down to Dover to the garage by the Western Docks to fill the LPG tanks with gas. It's 0.99p a litre. After many YouTube videos I had a good idea how to do it and had the nozzle in. The pump didn't zero. Luckily another motorhome pulled in and the guy had a look.  Admitting you are a newbie helps as people are helpful.  Once checked we waited and waited for someone to come over and see why the pumps wouldn't reset. In the end it started to work and we filled with 22 litres. I also filled the diesel as well. Last time as it was almost empty we had only managed to fill to the £99 pump limit.  This time 24 litres. As we haven't done more than about 80 miles I guess the last time it wasn't quite full.   I entered it all into Fuelly  and the calculation only comes out at 28mpg. Over time it will start to level out. So we are ready for the trips we have away in May. In future we'll fill the tanks at shorter intervals!!

I have had this unit for over a week and have been testing it to see if I can actually use it!!! One of the problems is that it tries to suggest the spelling of places by highlighting letters on the keyboard.  So when you want to enter says London, once you get L then o typed the options are cut down. You have already selected UK. Oddly the default country is Albania.... To locate some campsites in France I had to find the latitude and longitude from the booking forms and enter those. As I said before it doesn't use something as simple as Google Maps, nor does it use a simple destination search.  I need to get the LPG tanks filled tomorrow and so maybe I'll test it on that run to Dover. Time will tell if it has been a worthwhile buy. At the moment it is a bit of a PITA. It's not easy to use. The maps are not that good and simply show the roads and no topology or places of interest.

When I weighed myself after our holiday last August and found I was a pound and a bit over 20 stone (280lbs) I agreed with Claire that it was time to do something.  So we enrolled at Slimming World in Hythe. Gradually I have started to get used to eating more healthily. There is always the day, it even the hour, where I could easily eat a packet of biscuits! Or a large chocolate bar. The results are so far pretty good. Today at the weigh in I came in with a total loss of 3st 1lb (43lbs). It's still not easy. What is good is something the younger me would have laughed at - group support. I would have run a mile if someone had suggested such a thing. But for someone that lacks willpower it is that little extra kick up the arse I needed and still need.  We have a few holidays coming up. And there will be the challenge. A 2000 mile ride across Europe to the Czech Invader Rally.... folloed by a fortnight in the van with Claire and Reggie in France.

Rather than double-up postings - here is the link to Travellerpoint for this trip.

I began this write-up on the planning on Travellerspoint blog page. It is one I have used many times before and although it is a little complicated at some times and not as type and it works as Blogger, it does allow me to send posts by email. Rather than duplicate everything as I have done in the past, I have simply tagged all the posts with "three_goto_france" and will tag them all the same as the trip approaches and we are away on it! The downfall with Travellerspoint is that photos don't turn up when sent in an email.  I was sure from the instructions that they were. Maybe I need another read! Anyway here is the link -  https://devallfrance.travellerspoint.com/tag/three_goto_france/

On the way back last weekend from Painters Forstal we had a contretemps with a branch and the left side indicator repeater went phut!  Well the glass broke. Caused I might add by a total arse in a SUV over the white line causing me to steer left to avoid a collision.   Whilst in Europarts to order a European hook-up adapter I ordered one and picked it up today.  Amazingly a simple job to fit and the two small crews that locate it in weren't knackered, either by the previous chimps or by myself. From the mirror edge you can see that over the years contact has been made a few times!

Veselé Velikonoce - Kraslice  

Since driving the Elddis aka "The Van with No Name" or simply The Van, we have been trialling an app on the phone called CoPilot. It worked once after a few hiccups but otherwise has locked up on me several times and to navigate we have used Google Maps on the other phone!  It helpful in a larger higher vehicle. So I had a look online and have risked buying a £70 satnav/GPS called an Ohrex. It's programmable for the size of the Van and is supposed to assist us in avoiding shitty little narrow lanes and even worse, low bridges.  It's a 7" screen and looks okay. The route planning isn't as easy as Google Maps or the TomTom program and apps. In the end I have set home as a favourite and the next three campsites. Only one of them could be set using the address lookup. The other two I needed to use the map lookup with Google maps open on the laptop. Only time will tell if it is any good. 

With one shakedown over and done with, it has given us a few pointers on what to expect. What we need to pack and what we need to leave behind The former is actually a longer list than the latter. What we did forget were chairs to sit outside. Maybe if the weather is a little better on the next one, I mean not hovering around freezing once the sun goes down (!), we could use them and also deploy the awning. We need LPG. I have watched several YouTube videos on filling. It looks easy enough. You just have to find someone stocking LPG or Autogas. There are only 7 places in Kent! I have an app that shows locations. Fairlight isn't that far away either. It's along the A259 west of Rye in East Sussex. It's a  Camping and Motorhome Club  site. We joined that when we bought the Van. They have loads of sites up and down the UK. It will be our first visit to a club site.

So our first trial trip in the Van is not all that far. To Painters Forstal in North Kent. The problem locally is that since the very wonderful middle east owners of P&O Ferries sacked 800 seafarers we have been pretty much stuck locally! With an estimated 4500 trucks queued up on major routes, all hoping to get across the France we are pretty much barricaded in to our towns!! So before we go to Brixham we need to get some overnights under our belts. If course as well as the trucks and ferry problem, we have shortages of fuel!! Who knows why! I chose  Painters Forstal Farm  as it is near enough to get to with what diesel we have in the tank! Although we went out yesterday and the third station had diesel and we filled up. Routing might be a problem with roads either closed because of trucks or unsuitable for a Van. So I have downloaded an app for my phone called Co-Pilot. The search isn't as good as Google Maps or TomTom but hopefully it will get us to the village and camp...

A little disappointed to only maintain today as fat club weigh-in. Still stuck on 2st 12lb (40lbs) loss.  However on the upside, Claire and are our group's Couple of the Year!  Most weight loss at just over 5 stone (71lbs).

Another volunteering visit today to Kent Greyhound Rescue. Today I had five fosters and two permanent dogs to feed and give some time to. As it was raining all the time none of them wanted to be outside. So exercise was inside the barn.  Above are two fosters. Paul the black dog is due to go to a home this week and Casey is being boarded for a while. Sam Jake Tyrone The last three pictured are looking for homes. https://www.kentgreyhoundrescue.com/ for details of these and all the other dogs.

We have had a run out already on Friday afternoon once we had brought the Van home and had lunch. Today we had a short run to Dungeness to see Reggie would get on. He seemed to enjoy it and laid down on his bed that we had between the rear seats. Getting used to the Van isn't just for Reggie, but for me driving it. The walk was nice until the train left the station and Reggie went mad. All in all a successful short trip.

I signed up for this and set the donation bar very low.  To do this in April will require completing 3.3333333 miles a day every day.   I am using the GloryFit app that came with my cheapo smart watch. From time to time it seems to lose the connection between it and the phone.  But is generally simply to reconnect.  One oddity is that often the stats on the app differ from the watch. The front page is a match but the stats don't match that either! Anyway to donate this is the link  https://www.facebook.com/donate/1096699247842940/ So far I have £5 from a very low bar of £50 donated. That was me!

Although I haven't quite tied up Day 2, I thought Day 3 might be easier. It's the drive down from Back of Beyond to the Garden House in Brixham. The problem is to fill the day. We have to be out from the camp about 10am. Can't  check into the Garden House until 5.30pm. There are a few places of interest I'd like to squeeze in. Clouds Hill, the last home of T E Lawrence - Lawrence of Arabia. Just down the road is a monument. I always planned to stop at Dawlish Warren where we had many family holidays when I was a kid. I last went there in 1976. More to add to fill up over 7 hours. Hopefully the weather will be good enough to park up and take in the sun.

So day 1 is sorted.. simply the drive to Back of Beyond and set up for the first night in the camp. We have two nights there before we move on. So for day 2 we need something to fill part of the day. I have been looking at National Trust sites. There are quite a few within a short distance, and a few that would be better off the next day as we head to Brixham. Waypoint 3 is Kingston Lacy . Another country mansion. Either side are two sights on the river. Waypoint 5 is Corfe Castle. I have never been there although in the 80's we used to go to biker rallies in the area nearby. I haven't finished yet as we need a visit to the sea whilst we are out. The start and end is of course the camping ground.

Everything was booked. The ferry crossing with P&O. The route in my TomTom The lunch stop The points of interest en route And then.. P&O sack 800 seafarers that effectively means that they have no crews to sail any of their ships out of UK ports to Europe and Ireland. They are trying to run the ships with agency staff and are failing. The UK martitime safety organisation has impounded several of their fleet at different ports as they are unsafe with the replacement crews. I had an email yesterday cancelling my crossing on April 9th and offering a refund. So it's Vimy no go 2022. I can't get a crossing with any of the alternative ferry or tunnel companies. Bugger.

We should pick the van up on Friday. Until we get it I am not assigning a name!  Or rather we aren't assigning it a name. I'll just call it Van for now. Once we pick Van up we need to get acquainted with it. It does mean with this expenditure that we will have to cut back in other areas.  It means unless we get very lucky the timeshare in Tenerife will need to go. When I say lucky I mean being able to book places in Europe that we can drive to in Van.  I have £180 invested with RCI.com from 2020 when COVID hit and everything was cancelled. Finding places that take a pet is more of a problem. There are some but Reggie can be territorial. Looks like the this year's week will be lost as we can't get an exchange that we want or need.