On the Road Again!

My usual Monday morning, except Bank Holiday, is to drive up to the foster home near Folkestone, and feed and exercise a group of greyhounds. The foster home actually acts as a halfway house for retired greyhounds that are looking for a permanent "forever" home and two permanent residents that belong to Julie, the foster home owner. This week though, my job was to take two greyhounds to the vets' surgery at Vets for Pets at the Pets at Home store in Whitfield near Dover. One, Noodle, had cut his foot in a fog park on Saturday, and the other, Charlie, has damaged his tail.  I got them into the car. Both were muzzled as it the norm when taking them anywhere. It's for everyone's safety.  They tend to be very calm, but may get triggered by other dogs. As I was driving a face appeared next to me. Brindle, Charlie.  No muzzle. He had one in the barn!  I didn't notice as I bundled and secured him into the back seat of the car. Could I find it? No. He must have got it...

With the cold weather I was a little worried that the van's battery was going to drop with it not being used. So we went and got it out of storage and went to the White Cliffs again. The view of the outside from inside the van. We haven't done this before!!! Reggie now has one. The visitor centre and cafe. Malibu Molly and Reggie!

If you want to use the Tesco Clubcard vouchers you have saved up for a year to use against a crossing you have to phone them. Getting the vouchers converted into the right format to use though takes about 30 seconds on the Tesco Clubcard website. There is an online booking system but that's for debit or credit cards sales only! It's a bit antiquated that you can enter the voucher codes online. So today I tried several times.  The first time before lunch the average wait time was 57 minutes. I gave up as I was going to be going out. The second time later in the afternoon and it was up to 1h 17m. I gave up and thought as they are open until 6pm I would try at around 5pm. Apparently the average wait is 30 minutes....  I have been told after 40 minutes that I have less than 30 seconds to wait...44 minutes, still 30 seconds.... Why the urgency?  There is supposed to be an offer when you book but when I got through around 50 minutes it was only one offer. The £18...

Today's jaunt for Molly was to the BP petrol station by Dover Western Docks. Essentially to fill the LPG bottles and maybe a snifter of diesel. But also to give MyRouteApp Navigation one last chance. I set a route and it worked. We had sound.  We are off the Spain in just over a week and have been seeing Facebook and YouTube posts about how cheap diesel is on Spain. Plus that it's getting more difficult to get LPG due to some change on Spanish or EU law. Whatever! Hence the massive 98p spent on LPG today.  As for diesel. It was 159.9 per litre so I decided to make sure we had enough in the tank for the drive to Portsmouth and the Brittany Ferries shop, and enough to find some cheap diesel ⛽ in Spain! As usual the pump clocks over the amount you want. Trying to stop firstly at £30, then £35 led to £40... Eventually I stopped at £42.02. Add the 98p and it's a round £43!!!! So today we have managed around 30 miles. As it was a part fill the Fuelly app won't give a miles pe...

Booked the ferries. Or rather the crossings. Out on Le Shuttle with Neill and Phil on 27th June at 0820.  We need to be there an hour before but personally I think 90 minutes would be better! We have to get through French passport control to get our Schengen border stamps. Returning 5 days later on the Irish Ferries route from Calais at 1750. It's quite late but I  want to give myself plenty of time to get back to Calais from Assen in one hit and then get through the marvellous disaster known at the UK Passport control. Not to mention the French clowns stamping my Schengen exit! All the holdups courtesy of those that voted leave in 2016 and the useless politicians on both sides that created this mess.

With Molly the Moho being in the dealers for some warranty work and a (possible) repair to the damage to the rear bumper, we are having to staycate in the car. It also means that we can go away for a few days and so are based at home. The weather has been really poor. The "Mediterranean Climate" we were told to expect in the South of England as a result of climate change hasn't arrived. Instead we have had some really hot periods but not that long and wetter summers. July 2023 has been the 6th wettest on record.... So this week we have been out between showers and some torrential rain where we can. Today we took a short drive to the White Cliffs of Dover to walk the dog and to have a look at Dover Harbour. The harbour under the white cliffs themselves. I dug out Claire's Sony A300 DSLR and charged the battery. It seems a shame to let it sit unused in the case.  I had to format a 4gb compact flash card to get it to work, and a few test shots were fired off in the garde...

With it being Easter Sunday we had been unable to secure a day trip with Eurotunnel. We could have had a short stay trip for £94.50. Instead we decided to go with P&O for £34.50.  So to make it to Dover for the 8.25am meant getting up early. It's Sunday after all. So when the alarm went at 5.55am it was a struggle. I needed to be at Dover at least 60 minutes before sailing.   So I was away by 6.25am. The V-Strom starting first prod and we were away. It was foggy on the M20 and A20 but luckily the holdups over the holiday weekend had mostly gone. Getting through French passport controls took around 30 minutes. It would have helped had Dover Port have had some staff on duty to marshal the queues. It was chaos. I met up with fellow travellers in Team Meldrews' members, Phil on his R1250RT and my brother Neill on his K16. We were loaded quite quick, and first on. We retired to the lounge for the 90 minutes crossing. It was foggy until a couple of miles off the French coas...

Okay. Not far. I had intended just a ride around after lunch. Despite temperatures in single figures the sun was out and with it actually on you, it felt okay. I togged up in my current "winter ensemble" of Oxford base layer, wool v-neck jumper, thicker jumper, FT Aqua jacket on upper body topped off with a Buff. Lowers taken care of with the ARMR trousers and TCX boots. I was warm as I hauled Vera from the cold reaches of the garage. I decided to wear the LS2 Metro helmet and Spada gloves. No sunglasses, as the sun would be over my right shoulder as long as it stayed out. If needed the helmet has a drop-down sun visor. I set the Yamaha My Ride app on my phone and set off. I only got as far as Hythe before the ambulance flashing lights up ahead signalled delays on the road. I worked my way past stationary traffic and a loop to come back on the A259 coast road further east of the town centre.  I decided on Dover and then set off through Shornecliffe to Cheriton. More traffic. ...

I just wanted to get out for a ride. The weather was supposed to be cool and overcast and yet the sun was out. It was dry and about 19°C. I took the Sene Valley but was stuck behind a roadblock aka motorhome.  The road too narrow for it but no doubt they have a car satnav to blindly follow. First stop Pebbles Kiosk at Dover. No tea. Loads of people eating Solleys ice-cream. A local farm made product  Damn. Pebbles Kiosk in Dover Then up to the White Cliffs. Too packed. I did manage to park but there were too many people. White Cliffs of Dover I did see this Harley but not the owner. A very impressive list of places visited? To visit? From there back down into Dover and a quick blast up the A2 to Whitfield and the Transport Museum. Another photo op. Dover Transport Museum From here Alkham Valley to Folkestone and Tesco to fill up. Mileage entered into Fuelly and mpg down this time! It must be the faster ride along the ...

A short trip to the White Cliffs National Trust for a walk with Reggie. A chance to try out his new harness and car attachment.  Both seemed to work very well. I took only one picture today. Only because on the left of the Eastern Docks was moored a Disney Cruise ship.  Usually cruise ships arrive and depart from the Western Docks. There is a large reception building that way back in the mists of time was the railway termnal for freight going out of Dover and also part of the upper classes' access to the ships.

Two different events on the same day at almost the same venue. How could that happen? On the Sunday of August Bank Holiday in the UK an event was organised at Dover on the esplanade in the harbour between the two docks.   The Eastern Docks are primarily for passenger and freight ferries to the France and the Western Docks for cruise liners.  In the middle is a crescent shaped beach and an esplanade.  At the eastern end of the esplanade the owners of the Pebbles Kiosk and Gift Shop had organised "Bikes on the Beach" for a third year. At the Western end. The local sailing and rowing club had organised a fun day with stalls and exhibits.  The exhibits included some local classic car owners and the Dover Transport Museum brought some of their collection along. I was a little late getting up after some overnight dog barking and disruptive sleep because of that.  The Dover event started at 10am and as I rode out of the close I was in two minds whether to actually go....

Another ride out to raise money to send Kelly to the US for her lifesaving surgery. So far she is about half way there. Why operations and care can cost £1m I have no idea. It seems like madness. I suppose it is a way that doctors can be treated like gods and get the god like renumeration. 

Arrived Dover around 8am the time we were supposed to leave our cabin and wait in the lounge for our departure slot. At least we got breakfast. In fact we were early enough to have packed and left the hand luggage in the cabin and once fully breakfasted we could go back and collect it and assemble in the Britannia Lounge until customs formalities are complete and disembarkation can start. All in all the cruise has been pretty fantastic. The food and service were excellent the whole time from the off to the return. I'd certainly think about another cruise. Whether with Saga or another line I don't know. Saga are more expensive and many things are included that may not be on other lines. But at least the experience has been a very good one. Roll on our next holiday!

Took a drive to Dover to give Claire an outing and to give her some exercise. Ended up at Dover for a walk along the seafront and an ice cream. Sadly, I didn't have a lens capable of shooting pics of the fly-past by the Spitfire and its pair of helicopter escorts. Looking on the net shows that a company does these trips and they are a mere £895 a head.

Kearsney Abbey near Dover.