On the Road Again!

It looked very murky as we went parallel to the French coast.  The crossing in the end took just 90 minutes. There seem to be far fewer people on this ferry than on the rival P&O ferries on the same route. This is a good thing. Far less pushing and shoving on the stairs to get to the car decks! Fewer people filling the brasserie and bars. Once ashore I fell into a rhythm with the cruise set on 70mph. I should have changed to kilometres but forgot. I missed the Middelkerke turning and ended up going to Jabbeke and the A10 entry into Ostend. It seemed eerily quiet. Very few bikes. Shit! Wrong date. The rally site has moved to a new venue and I guess that means that fewer bikes are parked in the city. I did a ride-by where we have met St Nick every year I have been since 1985.  Lots of metal fencing and entry forbidden signs. I parked around the corner as it looked more hospitable. There were some other bikes there too. I went to look for a coffee and the chocolate shop we al...

The coldest year for the Sinterklaastreffen that I have been to was 1991. Audrey and I went on her XJ900 as I had the DR800 and it wasn't good two up. The XJ was an excellent tourer. Shaft drive and frame mounted fairing. F501OMJ was superb. I later bought one with an H reg. Anyway. By the time we had got into Belgium it was freezing. Firstly my visor iced up, then my glasses. I had to pull them down and peer over the top. Then my eyebrows iced and froze. We stopped and took this shot on the old Olympus OM10 - that I still have! December 6th 1991! Frozen! The visor was a graduated one with a darker tint at the top to help with the sun. The helmet is a Freddie Spencer replica Arai. Changes to British Standards later outlawed lots of tinted visors for use in the UK. Updated. Oops.  Posted this twice!   http://invictamoto.blogspot.com/2007/11/frozen-up.html albeit 6 years apart.

We have secured a slightly cheaper deal with P&O through a friend of Ian Gardner's at the Port of Dover and that should be sorted with everyone wanting to go sending Ian a cheque for £17 bike and rider/pillion. A small saving admittedly but today P&O's fare on the website went up to £21.50 from £19.

The rally itself is over the entire weekend but we are planning a day trip across, weather and ferries permitting. I have advertised it on the Kent SOC list server and also on the BMFinKent forum and so far have 5 peeps and 4 bikes who want to go. Checking the ferry websites shows that P&O are £19 all-in for bike and two and that includes a £4 fuel surcharge. For their part Seafrance have a £15 fare plus an optional £2 "marine conservation" donation. Eurotunnel though have nothing book and it it was it would be £29. Considering they are still farting about since the fire and their general don't-give-a-shit attitude to bikes it looks as though the ferries are the way to go.