On the Road Again!

What a turn out at this month's Meldrews Sunday at Jo's Café at Brookland in Kent. Sadly I had to go in the car. The V-Strom is Sorned* and on top of that I am still in the post hospital "no riding" period. This turnout was the best for a long time. * SORN - Statutory Off Road Notice. Vehicles with this registration shouldn't be used on public roads.

Since the Meldrews' was started way back in 2014 when most of the membership had graduated to other makes of motorcycle from Suzuki, we have traditionally met on the 3rd Sunday of the month at a set venue. The venue changed over the years and once COVID came the toll it took meant that we struggled to get more than two or three turning up. Some have even given up biking. A few of the original members have moved away from the area. We also have some members that have never been to a Sunday but who have some to events and rides-out we have organised in the UK and across the Channel in France and Belgium. Indeed we have a weekend planned for Ypres on 22nd-24th September this year. The hotel in the city centre already booked.  In fact we have three rooms booked with booking.com and so far only four going for seven beds! More on this later I expect. So, in addition to the 3rd Sunday we started to have another special run day on the 5th Sunday. It doesn't happen all that often and we...

A short ride out today for Meldrews' Sunday. Destination was Dungeness Railway Station. I decided not to take the usual A259 route along the coast to New Romney and onto Dungeness. Instead I went off piste and tried the probably aptly named Swamp Road from Old Romney  to Lydd. The swamp, if there was one, has been drained and it now forms part of Romney Marsh. A flat area with many "drains" that firm similar terrain to the polders in the Netherlands.  There were only two of us for a coffee and a chat. The ride back was across the marsh to Dymchurch and home. I went back towards Ivychurch and then followed the signs to Hythe.   There are so many concrete slab roads across the marsh.  And these offer more grip than the tarmac ones.  Oddly though, the grass and weeds growing between the cracks is far less obtrusive than the two foot wide moss and weed in the centre of the tarmac sections! When you have a weed and moss section and an open drain/ditch right alon...

So after a disastrous 2020 when so many runs were cancelled, even ones collecting for charity, the Whitstable Toy Run is back. This year it is December 5th. For me that doesn't clash with work or football at the Arsenal. weather (of course) depending I expect to be there. I doubt I'll go on the actual run, preferring to go to the meet, hand over the toys I have bought and then retire to a café for a coffee before the ride home. I have put it on The Meldrews FB page and have yet to see anyone saying they are going to join me. I hope this isn't another Billy No-mates event....

Sunday the 17th October 2021.  The Meldrews Sunday Breakfast meet incorporating Ride the World. Didn't happen. Why? The Meldrews part did and that is blogged already.  The Ride the World bit didn't. Why? To complete the challenge to ride to two places on the Overland magazine's challenge, I needed to have the TomTom fully functioning and on the bike.  I had done the groundwork. I had made sure that TomTom could communicate with the Cardo Scala fitted on my Shoei Qwest helmet. TomTom fully charged. All good. What was a stumbling block as that I had not actually foreseen nor had I checked was that the locking kit was in fact locked or maybe unlocked. There are two keys. One locks the whole shebang to the RAM ball on the bike that means the TomTom cradle is locked in place and can't be removed. The other key locks the cradle so that the TomTom can't be easily removed or it can't fly off the cradle in bumpy, possibly off road, conditions.   And yes, both were locked...

Meldrews Sunday might be a little different this month as we are planning to join in a run for Skabour in Folkestone. Breakfast at the bike (but not dog friendly!) Cliff Top Café at Capel.  A chance for Vera to join a ride out with a load of stinkwheels made by Vespa and Lambretta plus more recent 4-strokes.  My mate Cal will be on his new Honda Forza 350. The Facebook post does say: All on 2 wheels are welcome at our FAMOUS yearly Skabour Ride Out! You DO NOT need a festival ticket to join in, meet at 11:30 outside the Burstin, setting off at 12pm. Trophies up for grabs. Quick stop off in the middle for a cheeky (non-alcoholic) pint And then BACK TO THE FESTIVAL for more SUN SEA AND SKA! We need a breakfast first!

A month away. Have been keeping an eye on the website and of course the Government. With Covid numbers on the rise as we have started to return to some kind of normal, we have to hope that this doesn't trigger cancellations and maybe more lockdowns.  

It's hard to think about safe travel across international borders again, at least in the near future. I have been looking into 2022 for both family and bike club trips. At the moment in 2021 I have a week booked in Norfolk with Claire and Reggie the Dog.  Hopefully covid can't f*ck that up. We have been looking at "abroad" and we have a weekday trip booked to the Netherlands to look at tulips. It's quite a short trip with just a midweek at the beginning of May 2022. So. Wipers Times.  A Meldrews run to the Ypres Salient and a visit to the Last Post being played at the Menen Gate.   I have looked for a hotel in the centre and with over a year to the "go date" there are a few to choose from at reasonable prices. Dates so far? 24th June for a weekend. All it needs is a chance to travel again.

Sunday. The heatwave of 34°C plus days is finally over and so getting togged up in bike gear isn't too onerous. So it seemed like the perfect opportunity to ride to H's and back after a coffee and bacon sandwich with fellow Meldrews member Cal. The ride up through Elham Valley and back through Alkham Valley.  Where in the past I"d give it some welly now I am more of a cruiser. You can still enjoy a ride at 45 to 50 rather than 60 to 70mph.  "My Ride" worked today with no need to login. Even though the temperature is lower, it is very muggy. Even riding along in a mesh jacket it was still sweatsville.

This Sunday is Meldrews' Sunday.  The current debate is where to meet this time. I expect by Sunday we'll be more concerned with the weather forecast.   That they have had snow in the north-east, some 350 miles north of us here in the south-east of England, that seems to have paralysed the newspapers and forecasters. The public just get on with life. " Beast from the East " they cry.  The winds are from the north though and incredibly that's where the Arctic is. So we might expect cold winds. So it looks as though we need to wrap up warmer, it is January after all, and then see what happens on Sunday.

Not quite midnight but breakfast at the Oasis cafe in Old Romney Some 600 years or more ago Old Romney was just Romney and one of the Cinque Ports. A bit like Hythe the area silted up and it is now quite a way from the sea The Meldrews like to vary our breakfast meets and this is a first. The table service was good. The food was good. For me the only downer was the White Hart Lane street sign over the door. Once over I led the pack around the marsh until Lympne and they headed off and I came home. It amazes me how the power rangers still ride too fast on these marsh roads and through villages. The roads are generally deformed; there's a marsh under them, and bumpy. Plus there are miles of unfenced "drains" as the drainage waterways are called. Not Rocket conditions!! So another good morning of chat and a few more miles achieved. posted from Bloggeroid

Even though we didn't have to be at the Shuttle terminal for our train to France until 1015 or so we still had to have an early start. I had to take Reggie off to his weekend away at Wyncot Kennels. Once again he was excited as I turned into the drive and he positively ran off with the kennel lady, again without a backward glance to his Dad standing in the reception area. Back at the house Claire was doing the last minute packing. The new Saddlemen FTB3600 bag was getting filled with our "duds" that we would need for the ceremony.  The waterproof bags that I bought last year would have other stuff for two days and two evenings in Amiens.  They fit snugly in the panniers as long as they aren't overfilled. With rain looking highly likely I fitted the Saddlemen with its supplied waterproof cover. It's bright yellow to help other road users see us in the spray and gloom! Saddlemen FTB We were away via a petrol stop to top off t...

After a couple of years as Johnny No-Mates,  I again put it on the Meldrews Facebook page to see if anyone wants to go this year. So far not many takers. This year will be 30 years since I went for the very first time....... I have a spare crossing on Eurotunnel to use, one that I originally booked for the Charles Devall Memorial Ride  and then changed when we went as a family in the car. I still had the motorcycle booking to re-use. The plan is as usual. An early but not too early crossing to Calais, either by Eurotunnel train (me and maybe others!) or the ferry (others), and ride along to Ostend where the local club, Motor & Toerisme Vrienden Oostende have hosted the Sinterklaastreffen for over 45 years. Once again the rally will be over a weekend but we have begun going for just the day over the last few years. Sometimes we go and join in the ride around with St Nick, other times we go, have lunch, buy chocolates and watch them ride past.  It depen...

April 9th 2015.  The 98th anniversary of the Battle of Arras on the Western Front and the anniversary of the day that forces, mostly from Canada, climbed from their trenches and battled their way up the slope to capture and hold the enemy trenches on the high ground near Vimy to the north west of Arras. Dora and I went last year with the Laguna RAT Pack and I decided to have another visit with the Kent Centre and The Meldrews. I have the route planned form the Shuttle calling in at the Loos battlefield and lunch in Lens before we arrive in time for a look around the visitor centre at Vimy and then walk across to the ceremony under the imposing twin towers of the Vimy Monument. Hopefully, the weather will be good and the twelve riders and passengers coming along will have a good day out. Report to follow.

The Red Pig is a lunch spot out on the Levels to the west of Rye and below the Cinque Port of Winchelsea. The Red Pig It was our chosen lunch spot. None of us had been there before so it was a first. Me and the Pig Claire and Pig The March monthly meeting was a quick cuppa at the Blue and White and then after a chat we set off across the marsh to the Red Pig for lunch and a sit in the sun. Claire and I were on the Laguna courtesy bike, the Sprint GT SE model. I comes with a massive top box and comfort gel seat. I labelled it the "Blue Pig" as it handled like we riding riding bareback on a Gloucester Old Spot.... Sprint GT-SE The Levels On the country lanes I found the bike to be pretty uncomfortable. The brakes seem far more wooden than Döra and there seems to be the tendency for it to stand up under braking into corners. Not pleasant and we soon found ourselves left behind by the others who admittedly were riding their own bike...