¡InvictaMoto!

Humberside Police offer to form a motorcycle theft focus group at MAG’s Fight Motorcycle Theft meeting in Hull.  Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner, Jonathan Evison, and Operation Yellowfin lead, Chief Inspector Derek Hussain, are both backing this engagement having heard the concerns of local riders at the meeting. The meeting, held in Hull on 21st October, was the fifth in a series of meetings being organised by the Motorcycle Action Group (MAG) around the country.  A turnout of over 40 riders at the meeting saw some honest opinions being expressed about the fear and intimidation faced by local motorcyclists.  Many expressed their unwillingness to continue riding into the city due to the level of criminal activity targeted at them.  Riders expressed a desire to feel safe when riding and parking in the city.  Emotions were high with perceptions around insufficient police response and fears that Operation Yellowfin is an operation “in name only”. Both the ...

The picture is a screenshot from my Motorola G50.   "Voodoo Chile" was the first EP I bought with my own money. It only came with three tracks on 7" and on the CD version they added "Crosstown Traffic" as it was being used on an advert at the time. Back then I had an eclectic music taste than ran from conventional 60's pop idols such as The Beatles through reggae to heavy metal and to prog rock. My tastes are pretty much the same but I have added country to my list.  I admit to listening to "Smooth Country" on the car and moho DAB radios! Although I do like classic tunes that are aired on "Greatest Hits Radio". If anyone in the UK knows how to locate "Planet Rock" on the DAB system tell me how you found it.

One word. SHITE. Another company that doesn't really give much of a shit about customer support when things go wrong. The support site from when you login in no longer allows you to log a call and wait for someone to answer. Instead you get a bot.  The bot is programmed to not actually "listen" to the problem but to just chuck out useless questions and never get to the bottom of the problem. The problem I have is that when you click on the TomTom MyDrive Connect icon on the Windows desktop it opens a webpage.  As expected. Except: Can you tell the bot this? No.   It asks what the problem is with - then lists a load of things.  Eventually you get to the problem. Then it closes the window. Had it logged a call?  Who the **** knows. Then they direct you to another website..... A pattern here?

With the abysmal weather currently battering the UK we decided that we wouldn't be using Molly, and so we took her to the storage yard. Let's hope the mice have had their fill of rubber and washer fluid!  The storage place closes on November 6th so we need to get it out anyway.

With the weather being so awful recently, my attention has turned away from the two Staycations we have planned for November and December, to looking at Northern Spain for this trip. It's 200 days away as I type! Once we arrive in Bilbao, at around 8am (estimated), we have quite a few hours to travel to an overnight stop. After being on the boat for around 30 hours (!) I am sure we will all want to stretch our legs. Do we stay nearby? Or do we move west a little?  I will be hitting Search4sites hard to find a stop. We have only a single journey booked so far, so I need to look for a return crossing to the UK! The options will be P&O with the pet lounge or Eurotunnel! I had a quick look online and the difference between both services is only about £20 for the single journey Calais to UK. That's including the dog levy.  We need to decide what date to come back and I can get it booked and out of the way. It also means booking well in advance that it's all paid for long bef...

We seem to have escaped from the worst effects of this storm that brewed up in the Atlantic near the US eastern seaboard and came across in a north easterly direction. It was supposed to hit the west side of the UK and Ireland, and head up to Scotland. It seems the UK Midlands and East Anglia has seen torrential rain. The campsite we are going to at Chatsworth in Derbyshire in three weeks is alongside the River Derwent. Chatsworth Park, Derbyshire The nearest village of Baslow is showing floodwater from the river rushing down the streets,. and the access to the camping site is also inundated. Of course we hope that it all subsides, not for our trip, but for all the people affected by the water ingress into their houses and businesses. We can always cancel but they have to live there every day and repair the damage. Campsite access road....

“Riders want a licence to ride” is the comment from MAG regarding the MCIA’s “Licence to Net Zero” framing.  The actual priorities of motorcyclists - not the Net Zero agenda - should inform reform of the motorcycle licensing regime.  MAG has long called for reform but seeks to ensure that the interests of riders remain the real priority. Earlier this week the MCIA called for reform of the motorcycle licensing regime in the UK, describing their proposals as “a licence for Net Zero”.  The campaign is supported by the Zemo Partnership and the National Motorcyclist Council.  MAG points out that, as the largest representative body for motorcycle licence holders in the UK, they were not invited to help draft the campaign framing or its proposals, which has resulted in the organisation expressing concern about the framing. MAG opposes Net Zero being framed as the primary driver and goal for motorcycle licence reform and has long been calling for licence reform for the benef...

A new date has been announced for the postponed Leeds Fight Motorcycle Theft meeting.  The previous arrangements were postponed due to the availability of West Yorkshire Deputy Mayor, Alison Lowe.  The rescheduled meeting will now take place on Saturday 11th November. Motorcycle theft in the West Yorkshire Police area continues to increase.  According to PNC data, bike thieves were 16% more active in the first half of 2023 compared with the same period in 2022.  West Yorkshire has seen double the national average increase. MAG aimed to hold a public meeting with DMPC Alison Lowe and West Yorkshire Police earlier in the year but unfortunately the meeting had to be postponed.  The rescheduled date has now been announced: Saturday 11th November. MAG’s Director of Campaigns & Political Engagement, Colin Brown, said: “I do believe that these meetings help to raise awareness and understanding of the scale of the issue riders face.  There are local variations ...

Another year has passed. We are no nearer finding out where Timothy and his fellow Irish troops are buried. They have no known grave. At le Polly there is a monument to the dead.

I started volunteering two mornings a week at Kent Greyhound Rescue after seeing and advert on Facebook. This was in January 2022. I am still going. I don't know how many dogs have gone through the foster where I go. The last few weeks we have had 14 dogs to feed and exercise. There are no paid staff and we exist on volunteers and donations. This is Tyrone.  He is one of the longer stay residents in foster. After breakfast and a run around it's nap time. Greyhounds do napping really well.

Just a short walk in October sunshine. Despite this it was only around 7°C and chilly. I took the Samsung WB30F with me. The camera was dead as a dodo, and I had to charge it before we went out.

Now that we have a few Staycations planned for the fading end of 2023, my attention is turning to the longer summer trip to Spain. Where to go?  I have several guidebooks from Rough Guides and Lonely Planet to sift through.  With the weather liable to be on the hot side of warm, I have to consider Reggie in all this. He is 13 and had begun to feel the weather. Unless we get an aircon fitted to Molly, then I think we need to think about staying in the north of Spain. We will arrive early morning in Bilbao and so there is a chance to move westwards.  I need to find out how moho-friendly Bilbao and surrounding area is going to be.  If you know. Please comment! I have a vague plan to head across the north towards Santiago de Compostela and then loop back through the Picos. Some of these might be in the plan.

Not the cheapest way to buy water, but the aluminium bottle is recyclable and is a multi-use bottle.  I picked this one up off the table at the café at Sissinghurst Castle Garden.  We had a plastic water bottle for Reggie's water and I thought this might be better for the environment! The plastic water bottle went into the recycling bin at the café.  We have had this one now for around six months. I was half full when I picked it up and I trusted the people that had vacated the table for us to sit down hasn't slipped a mickey in it.  Reggie drank the UK sourced mineral water. Since then, this bottle has been on two trips to France. I dropped it and dented it, but it is water tight and we can continue using it for a long time to come.  We will it from the tap before we go out and it fits in the backpack with all the other stuff a dog needs!

The APPG for Better Roads are calling for central Government to reinstate effective ring-fencing and multi-year settlements for local road maintenance.  Evidence and proposals presented by the APPG are aligned with MAG’s own Resurface Our Roads campaign. MAG’s Director of Campaigns & Political Engagement, Colin Brown, was invited to attend the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Better Roads AGM and launch of the 2023 ‘Working for better roads’ report.  MAG is campaigning for increased funding and an effective national approach to reversing the decline in the quality of the UK’s local roads network.  Poorly maintained road surfaces have been shown by MAG to contribute to an average of 74 motorcyclist deaths and serious injuries every year.  The APPG report demonstrates that the Pothole Action Fund (2015/16-2020/21) was a successful policy.  Ring-fencing led to a marked improvement in the proportion of the local network classed as being in a ‘good condition’ wi...

MAG warmly welcomes the Government announcement on bus lane access but wants more.  Plans have been announced for “revised guidance to local authorities on allowing motorcycles to use bus lanes and hold a consultation about whether motorcycle access should be standard.”  MAG is calling on the Department for Transport (DfT) to broaden the discussion in line with the wider policy direction. The latest Department for Transport policy paper “The plan for drivers” was published on Monday 2nd October.  One of the actions listed in the plan is to “refresh the technical advice, making it clear local authorities should use their powers to ensure bus lanes are open to motorcycles, and will launch a consultation on motorcycles using bus lanes as a default” MAG has campaigned loudly for a consistent default access to bus lanes for many years.  With 48% of all bus lanes allowing motorcycle access already, the time is overdue for a consistent national approach. But whilst MAG is c...

Humberside motorcycle crime, including theft, anti-social behaviour and related criminality will be discussed at a public meeting with PCC Jonathan Evison and Chief Inspector Derek Hussain on 21st October.  Both the PCC and Humberside Police are encouraging riders to attend to raise questions and concerns.  The next MAG Fight Motorcycle Theft Meeting will take place at 1pm on Saturday 21st October.  The public meeting will be chaired by MAG’s Director of Campaigns and Political Engagement, Colin Brown.  Riders will have ample opportunity to ask questions, share experiences and get direct answers from Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner Jonathan Evison, and Chief Inspector Derek Hussain. The meeting is the fifth, in a series of public meetings being held around the country.  Motorcycle theft is a major issue for motorcyclists with the average motorcycle eleven times more likely to be stolen than the average car.  Stolen motorcycles are often used for an...

What a great idea.  Since the terrible Brexit we British have become a third-country and have to abide by the rules for everyone from non-EU countries.   One of these is the rolling 90 days in any 180 to enter and stay in the  Schengen Area Kat at Wandering Bird has done this really good video explaining the problems and showcasing a website that calculates what time you have left in Schengen! Click here to see her YouTube! The web address is  https://ninety180.com You can create a login and save the dates you have entered so you don't have to keep entering all your dates every time you access it! Marvellous.

I was looking for a midweek away in November and saw a post on one of the FB pages that they had cancelled a stay at Chatsworth during the Christmas Market... Although the post was an hour old, I had a look on the CAMC website. There were only two nights left, not the three cancelled by the FB poster. Hardstanding ✔️ EHU ✔️ Christmas Market ✔️ It fits the bill.  We have been to Chatsworth before and slogged around the gardens with Reggie. We couldn't go in the house as we had him with us.  We'll have to work something out.

Today we decided to make the short trip along the coast from Hythe to Dungeness. We thought about going earlier than our normal "afternoon" departure so that we could get lunch at the Dungeness Fish Hut. In the end we set off just before noon. The van needed a little work to get us ready to roll. All the locks came off, the silver shield off the windscreen, and Reggie's stuff loaded. He needs his bed to lie on. We were lucky to get a parking space outside the light railway station. I parked as near the end as possible to make sure there was room for others to park. From here we walked back to the Hut.  For a chilly Saturday it was quite busy. I liked the idea of scallops but in the end opted for locally caught fish on a roll. It came with salad and homemade tartare sauce. Very nice.  We shared a table with a couple with a spaniel. They said they are going to the NEC to the Caravan and Motorhome Show. Once finished we walked back on the road to the ...

Just a teaser. 😆 Y Viva España

With various train disruption around the south east I decided it was another Vera V-Strom day out. I set off in bright sunshine for the ride up to the Emirates. With a kick off at 4.30pm I thought a 2pm departure for a 75 mile trip was sufficient. I hadn't banked on the M20 having two low limits sections at both J9 and J8. Plus roadworks at J5 to hold me up. Then once I had enjoyed the loop onto the M25 the dulling reality of the overhead saying the Blackwall Tunnel was closed. So it was over Dartford instead. It was actually very easy flowing, maybe at last something was going my way... then once four lanes of traffic had entered two by two lanes (4!!!) with a 50mph limit, the whole lot slowed to walking pace..... Why? Once on the A13 and then up to Hackey past the Olympic Park traffic got heavier and heavier. I finally parked up at 3.53pm!! The match? History since Etihad bought the club and funded them with a few billion dollars hasn't been kind to us. We haven't beaten ...

Day 4 The day started at 0000.01 the same as every other.  Unfortunately Reggie was frightened by shooting in the nearby fields. He can stand the use of all kinds of small arms from the British Army on the ranges, but they have a variety of cut off times. None of them at 0043! So once the shotguns had stopped we were able to get to sleep. The plan was to leave around 1030 and head to Stourhead NT. I took the toilet cassette for an outing to the cleaning machine. Rather than empty and rinse manually I wanted to see if the machine could clean and deodorise it.  For £2 it was worth a go. It takes a few minutes and then the door opens.  Time will tell... Or not Doris. We left around 1045. Onto the A361 and what was allegedly a 30 minute trip took almost an hour. I had checked on Google Maps to see where there were motorhomes parked. I set a waypoint right at the entrance to it. The reality was at odds with the view on Google. The space was a coach park and was only big enough...

Day 2 - Thursday Pretty much stayed local. The weather was disappointing. Rather than sunny it was overcast most of the day. We enjoyed doing nothing but reading and chilling out. Sometimes it's nice to do nothing. Day 3 - Friday Today we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and catch up with our Kindles and emails. Then around 1230 we set off for the Tor and into Glastonbury. The signpost in the site says 1.5 miles to the town centre. It felt like much more as we tried to get Google Maps to guide us along the Glastonbury Way. At one point being 3ft tall would have been perfect as right by a newish kissing-gate the brambles are hanging very low. It needs the rangers to sort this out. Once Google Maps started working we seemed to be on a loop that came into the town and the A361 at the top of the high street. We were faced with all manner of witchy shops and even what looked like a legal highs place. We were following directions to King Arthur's Tomb. We needed a coffee and Reggie need...

Day 1 We left a little later than we had anticipated. An early morning visit to Slimming World and the long way round drive to bypass the road closure right by the turn into our road can be blamed. It was around 1120 when we left home. First stop would be Sainsbury's at Ashford to fill with diesel. With the range showing 160 miles (all that was left of our last French fuel) we wanted to be full.  Just over £107 later we set off for the M20/M26/M25/M3 and A303 journey. Next stop at Cobham Services for coffee and Reggie to stretch his legs. McCafe the choice as their coffee is actually good and cheaper than other outlets. The road was oddly quite clear. None of the jams we usually have between Cobham and the exit motorway.   Even the A303 past Stonehenge was free running! That was our next stop. It was planned as lunch but it was getting on for 1430 when we parked up. This time we parked with other vans in the car park rather than the marked spaces round in the coach parkin...

Today we have been been getting the van packed up ready to leave straight after fat club tomorrow. I checked the oil and topped that back to the top mark on the dipstick. The one in the engine not me..... I got the VonHaus pump out to check the front tyres first. We were told to run them at 75psi and so I set the gauge to 76psi to allow for some leakage when I undo the Schrader valve.... PSST! Front left showed 69psi and when the pressure approached 76psi the pipe blew off the pump leaving the valve at the wheel end open. By the time I could get the pipe off we were down to 46psi! The air would have turned blue but a neighbour was coming over for a chat. I got that one back to 70psi before the battery ran out! Three hours later I finished the job after recharging the battery on the pump. Both front wheels should be right now. The wall plus shows green when the battery is full. So no need to call into the local garage to use their air line tomorrow. We will need diesel though as we hav...

Such a shame that the fruit of the Horse Chestnut Tree is inedible for us. There are hundreds if not thousands that go to waste here every year. The Conker. In the past, as kids, we collected them to string and use in a game of conkers. Using the conker to strike your opponents conker. Taking turns until on broke. The winner then moved onto play again. It's seems that over the years it's a game that's fallen foul of "health and safety" as kids might get a rap on the knuckles from a badly or inaccurately aimed conker.  Although, sometimes there were the odd conker forehead interfaces.....  Around here there's a new tradition of collecting conkers and placing them on the bridge over the Royal Military Canal. Sadly, they don't stay there long as the local yobs sweep them off into the canal. Anyway. For a short time many people have some fun and enjoyment.

Today the kit arrived around 1245 and by 1300 I had cut the damaged section out and patched in the new length. Bought from Amazon Prime! Original holes by metal collar! Getting Claire to sit in the driving seat and..... no. Still a leak. Having a feel around under radiator overflow tank revealed more holes in the pipe between the pump and the part I had cut out! With help from Matt we cut another section and removed more pipe and my patched in section. Rerouting to avoid any sharp edges. It works. How this second part got chewed through is hard to tell. It doesn't seem to be touching anything sharp or serrated like the first bit. Maybe Phil's suggestion of mouse 🐀🐀🐀 munching isn't too far off? Anyway. It's working. 

I have decided to shutdown the Motorhoming Devalls Blog on Blogger. All future posts will be here in "On the Road Again" or where they seem to be better received on Travellerspoint. Updates on Travellerspoint can be seen on the blogs list on the right ----->

We picked Molly up from the storage campsite at Daleacres. I got all the locks off and then the silver screen. In the fortnight she had been there as well as every bird in the area taking turns shitting on her, it had rained. I ran the wipers and then the washers. Wipers worked. No water. I drove the short distance home. Had the bonnet up and filled the washer bottle with the premix water and cleaner. Then tried the washers. Plenty of motor action. No water on windscreen/windshield. Bonnet/hood up. Try again. Water squirting out sideways. Bugger. There's a hole in the pipe near the filler. Closer inspection. Two holes. It looks as though the have worn through by rubbing against the metal jubilee clip holding the windscreen trough pipe! I am hoping this is the only problem.  It looks like cutting the pipe and fitting a length of hose in and rerouting to avoid chaffing the metal clip is all that needs doing. Keyhole surgery!!! The photo doesn't give a true impession of the tightn...