InvictaMoto's On The Road Again!

I saw this in the " when it's gone it's gone " section in Lidl.  A big German style glass and a big can of bier... Or rather beer as we call it in England. 🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺

Who'd a thort it? Two away wins on the road!!!? Away at 5th place Chesterfield and 1-0 win. And tonight in North London at Barnet. This time coming away with a 3-1! It seems that Unsworth has finally got his substitutions right with Fondop and Clarke scoring the decisive goals. On top of that Magnus Norman in the Oldham goal saved a penalty that could have levelled the game at 2-2. It's 18 days until I brave the weather to ride to Dagenham for the next game! Come on Oldham.

What's the difference between a Staycation and an Awaycation?  Staycations are in the UK. Awaycations aren't. I have already blogged these on Travellerspoint and so here are the links.  They should open in a new window. https://invictamoto.travellerspoint.com/354/ https://invictamoto.travellerspoint.com/366/ Awaycations to follow.....

So here we are.  The start of a new blog - The Motorhoming Devalls . First of all let's introduce ourselves.  We are Paul and Claire. We have other blogs but not together.  The blog is owned by the misspelled Eldiss115 and we both contribute. We bought Suki the Moho in March 2022. Messanges Plage - December 2022 We had been looking at the idea for a number of years and didn't think we could afford it. At least not as long as we had a mortgage on our bricks and mortar house.  With that finally paid off, it gave us a little extra in our banks at the end of each month. Claire retired from work a few weeks before the Covid-19 pandemic struck. I continued to work from home after March 12th 2020, returning to my place of work in London just twice. Once to collect a new laptop and once to hand my laptop and other work owned stuff back to my boss!  That was two weeks before I retired on January 4th 2022. The pandemic brought many things into perspective. Just how easy i...

Today we went to the Hide and Fox restaurant in Saltwood near Hythe in Kent.  It's a Michelin starred establishment. We had the five course taster menu and to go with the Claire had a cocktail aperitif called "The Nutter" that involved two different rums and an assortment of other "botanicals". I had the Damm 0% alcohol lager. With dinner she had a local rose wine from Simpsons which is at Barham, also in Kent.  Shop and eat local. as I was driving I had a very small glass of the wine! As you can tell from the photo of the current menu this isn't a cheap lunch. It's an experience.  Each dish is put together with a burst of flavours, textures and tastes.   We both love it there. The service is perfect. Not too much but always informative about what you are eating. We will be back but not for another six months!

I know I know. I could be sitting at the Emirates to watch Arsenal play Crystal Palace in the Premier League on the Sunday.  But instead I choose to travel to Dagenham to watch Latics play away in the National League on the Saturday before.  No fear my ticket for the 19th will go to a good cause. My friend and bike club colleague Phil will have my Arsenal ticket. So that's £16 spent. Hopefully, as there is a rail strike that day, it will be decent enough to ride up on Vera and park somewhere safely near the ground. The next job is to drop the club a line to see if I can park in their car-park. There's a rail strike on the 18th!  F**K!  It looks as though it will be me and Vera on our first trip to an Oldham game since last autumn.  

A few pounds spent on two purchases this week. Firstly, Puriclean. Odourless and tasteless water tank purifier for fresh water. Suki is fitted with a 100 litre fresh water tank and this should treat that. Second purchase is a gas sniffer. This is used to check for leaks in the LPG system in the van. Not a legal requirement but handy to have after the gas gas been used and after a fill-up.

The Motorcycle Action Group (MAG) announces a new offer to help protect  bikers facing the expanding ULEZ charge.  MAG deal offers members a  risk-free method to check if their older bike is compliant. MAG urges  riders not to scrap serviceable bikes without first checking whether  they are actually compliant. MAG fiercely opposed the ULEZ charge for motorcycles from the day it was  first suggested.  Motorcycles help reduce overall emissions by reducing  congestion.  MAG proved that the majority of pre-Euro 3 motorcycles are  compliant with the actual emissions standard for exemption from the  charge.  Sadiq Khan relented and agreed to a system to allow individual  vehicles to be tested for their actual emissions level and registered as  exempt if they meet the standard. Pre-2007 motorcycles can meet the emissions criteria.  If a bike  produces less than the 0.15 g/km NOx limit Transport for London (TfL)...

We went to the Isle of Wight in the summer last year as an extension to a trip we did to Cheddar and Glastonbury.  So whilst I was idling around looking for a Staycation I checked out the ferry.... As a tester i chose a Monday to Friday, out of school holidays in the first week of July.  Okay it's only two weeks after we get back from France. Two adults and an under 6m motorhome, plus dog. Wightlink. Portsmouth to Fishbourne (45mins) - £285.25 Red Funnel. Southampton to East Cowes (60mins) - £289.00 To be quite honest I was stunned! For such short crossings! So i decided to compare with P&O to France. We are going with them in September. For the test using similar times and the same dates and it's a 90 minute crossing from Dover to Calais  ... £203.75! Gulp! So once we get Reggie a Pet Passport instead of an AHC we can save a bit more! It looks like the Isle of Wight is cancelled! ❌

Another purchase to be taken with us in Suki. We have seen a few motorhome vloggers using these at home and whilst away and they seem to be compact and work well. Outside of course. Claire decided we needed one and so she has bought it. I'll pay half at some stage.... The offer was cheapest from Cuckooland plus a £10 first order discount. Making it even cheaper.  We chose this company as this offer comes with the charcoal and the special fire lighter gel included. It comes in loads of colours but we bought red. https://youtu.be/I8d_PtyJgLY

In the week it looked as though we may be heading back towards average temperatures for February, so I fitted the quilt lining back into my Frank Thomas Aqua jacket. One of the positives of losing nearly three stones (42lbs) in weight is that although the XXL sized jacket fits, a little loosely, with the lining it's nice and snug. Of course, when I left home there was weak sunshine and 7°C on the dash. So the lining seemed a good idea. With around 25 miles to go for the trip to get to 15000 miles I took a longer way round to the breakfast meet. Chipped another couple off the target. In the end there were four of us that arrived. A good chat and then we went our separate ways. To get to 15000 where I could stop for the milestone photo I headed along Stone Street to the M20 but took the more winding A20. This stretch might not be very long but has some nice stretches and bends. The surface isn't too bad but one section is like baby MX berms! Suspension compressed and then out aga...

This afternoon was the first ride out this year.  Probably the first decent day. The temp gauge on the dash hovering between 9° and 12°! A ride to Seabrook to jet wash the filth off. The ACF50 applied in the autumn seems to still be working. Then I thought I'd have a run to Dover to blow the water off. White Cliffs road closed. Great idea to close access to a popular tourist site during kids school half term break... Then I thought a quickish run to Gibson's for a coffee and some cakes for post fat club weigh in tomorrow. Two Bakewell tarts. One trad one iced... Then home. At the double... The cakes.... Bakewell Tarts....

Since the last update a few weeks ago we have a third Meldrews' member sign up and book the ferry.  It would seem that Vera is going to have to share the P&O Ferry with two huge BMW mile-munchers. In addition to Phil and his 1250RT, my brother Neill has signed up. He will be aboard "Ginny" the six-cylinder BMW.   I have made little or no progress with a lunch stop before we decamp for Vimy itself.  As it is Easter/Pâques Sunday, restaurants are hoping to be filled up with French families hogging down on whatever nosh they can. I had one say that they wouldn't accept groups. There were TWO of us! The plan is to head down the non-toll route to the huge French cemetery and ossuary at Notre-Dame de Lorette and then maybe have lunch at the attached cafe restaurant.  Then moving onto the memorial at Vimy in time for the traditional 3pm start. Every time I have attended apart from Vimy 100 has started late as the VIP's need time to finish their lunches before mak...

The Motorcycle Action Group (MAG) has confirmed that vanishing  motorcycle licence entitlements are thankfully rare. MAG asked the DVLA  questions following recent news stories of a motorcyclist being denied a  licence for over three years thanks to a mistake they made. The story of the three-year wait to resolve a mistake and the  compensation received by Paul Olsen was covered on a number of media  outlets in early January.  Coverage appeared in MCN, VisorDown, The Sun,  and Metro.  This coverage led to MAG receiving emails from concerned  riders.  The need for Mr Olsen to resort to the Parliamentary and Health  Ombudsman to get the case resolved is certainly not a good look for the  DVLA. MAG's Director of Campaigns & Political Engagement, Colin Brown, said:  "Unsurprisingly, losing your right to ride your motorcycle due to an  administrative error is not a situation that riders want to face.  Stories ofte...

A new app I have been recommended to use when on trips - Relive. There is a free version that you can use and of course a premium version that allows you to add music etc. Here's the test I did today on part of the dog walk in the Lyminge Forest. https://www.relive.cc/view/vmqXBVyoAoO Once we get out and about in Suki or maybe on the bike I might use this app more. It seems easy enough to install and you can add photos along the way easily.  The problem I had was remembering to turn it off or pause it when stopped!  :)

Claire has been looking at these for a while and so we bought some from CarSeatCovers-UK on eBay.  Some idiot though didn't read the advert properly and ordered two. When two pairs arrived today I was nonplussed. Checking the order I saw I had clicked two, that's right, but each one was a pair!  DOH! I have emailed through eBay to admit we cocked up and asking for a refund if we send one pair back (at our expense) ASAP. Waiting for a reply....

They are taking the piss.  £101 per year to use it on the road. Had to pay it.  To do six months and bearing in mind it is all electronic now (no tax discs to display) to do six months is £55.50!  Over a year that's £11 extra for doing nothing. Robbing bastards! I get 56-60 miles to each and every gallon and pay way more than the car that manages 40!  Got back from a dog walk along the White Cliffs of Dover. Went out to the garage and fired her up. First press on the button after more than three months not being used. Let her run for a few minutes to warm u a bit. I was dumbstruck!  That doesn't happen all that often! I need to get out tomorrow as it is mildish for the season. Today allegedly 11°C according to the weather forecasters. The car showed 10°C briefly in the weak winter sunshine when we climbed back in at the White Cliffs. I think tomorrow it's a quick run to find a jet wash and then back home dry off and squirt on some ACF50 on the paint and plastic ...

 This is the latest purchase we have made for the van.  It is a versatile piece of cooking equipment that we can use on the gas or electric rings in the van.  It doesn't work on induction cookers.