On the Road Again!

The world and his brother must have expected this to go one way.  That the Oranje would batter the Czechs off the field  The Netherlands came into the came with highest goals tally. The Czechs finished third to England in their group. Amazingly the game swung on what was a few short minutes. The Dutch right through on goal, the Czech keeper making a save, the quick ball upfield where De Ligt fumbles under pressure and then deliberately handled the ball. Red card.  A minute later the Czechs were 1-0 up with a header from Holeš.  Schick added a second a little later. After some hesitation in the Dutch midfield and Holeš was onto before getting the box and cutting back to Schick to slot home. I have a soft spot for the ČR since living there in 1992/93. As long as they don't play England.

This is the first time I went on my own for a couple of years.   Previously my ex-wife had come with me on trip son the bike to the likes of Assen and the Isle of Man for the TT. Unfortunately, by this time we had separated and so it was solo Paul on this trip. This would have been on the GS1000G I think. On the way up I was tailed for miles by a couple on a Yamaha of some kind, I think an XS750. They had bought the bike with Krauser luggage fitted and the pannier lids were covered in plastic sheet so their stickers could be saved. After all these years I can't remember their names. We had lunch together and in the end stayed together for the weekend. In those days we'd camp in one of the fields around the circuit.  The farmers cleared the fields of livestock, usually cattle, and we'd erect tents around the cow pats!  To get there meant the ride of death as the people that had arrived first lined the access roads and filled with copious amounts of be...

The dates have been confirmed for the entire BSB (British SuperBikes) season for 2019 and the Assen round in on the 20th-22nd September, a week earlier than in 2018. This is to fit in another round at Donington Park before the final at Brands Hatch I had a look at hotels and the one we stayed in this year (see  https://devalltravel.blogspot.com/search?q=NL18+-+Assen ) wasn't on booking.com  but one a mile or so down the road was. So I have booked three nights at the Wapen van Vries hotel. For Claire and me it will be some €60 cheaper but a single room for Neill will be about the same as this year. I'm posting this on this blog (this early) as I am hoping that after Claire's successful total hip replacement last week (October 13th) that she will be fully fighting fit to go on the bike. I expect that bike to be Pepe! I am also considering a different route.  Instead of the tunnel I might see about the longer ferry from Harwich to the Hook of Holland.  It depends on pri...

The plan for the run back was to set off after breakfast and head towards the Afsluitsdijk and then south past Amsterdam, rejoining the route up around Utrecht. After petrol and a detour around Sneek we eventually found the top of the dijk. The reason for the detour was one of mapping and roadworks. I took a wrong turn at a newish roundabout that was shown on the Garmin but not with as many of the exits as exist now. In the end our position was shown with our marker in the middle of a blank area. After a few detours we got back to the A7 and headed off without any further mishap. The first stop to have a look and take a drink at Breezanddijk. Amazingly here, less than halfway across the dyke was a caravan park to go with the small harbours housing a load of pleasure boats. From that point it was all plain sailing (as it were) via the Amsterdam ring, then Utrecht, Breda, Antwerp and Gent. We had a few stops for petrol and water intake arriving back at Calais with an hour or ...

Here are a few more photographs from the Amsterdam weekend. We seemed to be clicking off all over the place, but haven't that many pics to show for it all! I did delete a load of crap ones though! West Kerk? Flower Market from other side of canal First floating flower stall - shot from tram stop! Rembrandtplein Inside the ArenA and the Ajax Graffiti Wall.

We were up and breakfasted by 9.30 and out. This time we took Tram #16 instead for some variety and jumped off at Spui as Claire wanted to see the flower market and to buy some bulbs for the garden. On the other side of the road was a Gay Pride banner, penny not yet dropped. We did the flower market, bought a touristy ceramic clog and bulbs for our next door neighbour who fed the cats for us whilst we were away, and three packs of bulbs for us and Claire's sister. Then we felt we needed a drink. At the first bar we didn't see hide or hair of the waiting staff and so gave up. Not gay enough? The canal banks were lined with people and anyone that owned a boat was out soaking up the sun. As well as this there were boats overloaded with people enjoying the Gay Pride day.... dressed up in strange (to us) concoctions and some "ladies" that looked like rugby players in drag. We had a long walk around and a coffee in Rembrandtplein, once again the service was sloooowww...

Phew. What a scorcha! Scorchio! We were lucky with the weather. When we arrived at the tunnel there was a Harley and two Vespas in front of us in the queue. The Harley guy was wearing an Arsenal scarf but heading to Belgium for a Harley rally, we weren't wearing any Arsenal gear but were heading for Amsterdam.  Partly for a weekend away, and partly to go to the ArenA for the LG Tournament (see elsewhere on the Blog). By the time we got into Belgium my odometer was showing 60 miles since fuel. I needed a drink as I hadn't had any breakfast so we pulled into the new services after Veurne. I filled up and we had coffee.  We were in no real hurry. The route I had planned for the GPS was scrapped as for some reason the Garmin Quest was on the fritz again. Unable to find satellites. I persevered for most of the journey to Amsterdam and it wheezed into life a couple of times. Maybe for 3 miles in 230 travelled each way! As we approached Breda (with Amsterdam not on any road signs) I...

We have decided on the times for the Shuttle for this trip. Outward - UK to France - Friday 6th July 2007 at 0920 Inward - France to UK - Sunday 8th July 2007 at 1920 We will decide what will be the destination of Saturday's organised run at a later date.  At the moment the favourite is Amsterdam, although there is a suggestion to look at a motor museum.  On Sunday we plan to leave after breakfast for a leisurely run back with a lunch stop in Antwerp so that the ladies can dream about diamonds.  Link to previous post.

* THIS IS NO LONGER AN IMTC EVENT * Further to the original post we have decided to drop the need to send a deposit and to book rooms over the internet and allow members wanting to come along that freedom. The hotel will still be the Campanile in Gouda. To book direct, go to their website and book the room yourself. Just let us know you have done it. The run on Saturday will more than likely be to Amsterdam for a full day on our feet unless someone can come up with a better suggestion? I have a suggestion of a motor museum and also the original idea of going to Arnhem and Nijmegen.   More to follow - Link to previous post.