We left together at around 9.20am. We had breakfasted and packed up. I needed Neill's screwdriver to unlock the box.
Everything I would need would go in the panniers and the main luggage trapped until I got home.
Leaving Emmen I had to stop at several red lights and they disappeared. In the end I found myself directed by the TomTom to the southbound A28. I had simply pressed "Home" to select the route... It showed 555kms to go from the hotel.
Of course, it started to rain. Along with a large group of French bikers I stopped under a bridge and put on waterproof gear. It rained heavily for about 40 miles.
I stopped once for the gold dust infused unleaded 95, or so it seems at €2.299 a litre! Plus a second to remove waterproofs and have a coffee.
The Irish Ferries departure was showing at 1750 departure time. The satnav was showing an arrival time of 1650. Cutting it fine.
I reset the destination to Calais port and the arrival time changed to 1601. Phew. This time I used the TomTom MyDrive app to make P&O Calais the destination. It worked quite quickly.
I had one more stop simply to give my buttocks a rest.
The Shad seat gave me 200 miles before it started to give me a pain... The standard Suzuki seat is way less comfortable.
What I hadn't considered was that the route should avoid Antwerp and its terrible traffic through the ring and Kennedy Tunnel but through the Liefkenshoektunnel. A toll tunnel.
The toll plaza appears to be on an island between two tunnels. I queued and used my Halifax MasterCard. I have no idea what it cost. All the signage was for cars and vehicles under 3.5 tonnes or over 3.5t! I'll have to wait until it shows up on my statement I guess***!
From there plain sailing to the north of Brugge to the petrol stop at Jabbeke. Fuel here was €1.799 a litre for U95/E10.
After that only one problem when in the 120km limit A10 autoroute a British driver overtook me and then slowed down. When I was behind him he brake checked me at 100km/h. I
I pulled back and into the right lane and let him try it with two Polish vans. He bottled it of course. I took that opportunity to pass him and leave him way behind.
I rolled up to the Irish Ferries check in at 1609. Checked in. The entered the lottery that is the post Brexit lottery of French and then UK border control.
The French went off easily. The UK was the usual cock up. Three lanes open for 200+ cars, bikes and vans. Two lanes open for 6 trucks. No human intervention just natural free for all. I decided to be ignorant wanker biker and went down the outside and a Swiss car let me in front of them.
Once through queued up in lane 162 with a Dutch guy on a Kawasaki 1400 something and a couple of a Harley.
After boarding the Dutch guy went to find a place to sit and I joined the Harley couple in the restaurant.
I can say that I have never used Irish before but the crossing was pleasant. Boarding was efficiently handled and disembarking painless.
The TomTom said 20 minutes to home.
Panniers unloaded I tried the key in the topbox again. It wouldn't budge. Using the screwdriver I had the topbox open. Then I tried the key again. No movement. A little extra pressure and the key turned. Phew. Hopefully it will continue to work. I need to fix the trim panel again - glue it on as some of the lugs are broken.
Only the coolant leak to address. It seems worse when the temperature increases. On the way north and on the Brussels ring it was at its worst. It was the same in the traffic getting out of the circuit. I can't see where it's coming from. It dries on my boot and the right crash bar.
TomTom Trip Statistics
(One day Emmen to Assen and return no TomTom used)
Google Maps Timeline
Not strictly accurate as the ferry is 90 to 100 minutes and 24 miles...
*** The toll for a motorcycle is €5.60 that worked out at £4.75.
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