On the Road Again!

One day when the great plague is over and we can get out again, maybe the Alps and the Grossglockner will be on the cards. Maybe it will be in 2022. I will have retired by then and will be able to travel out of season. By that it means not in school holidays when it is expensive. The last long trip I have done was to the Wasserbüffel Club Austria Treffen way back in 1999. Since then only shortish trips to Paris etc. This photo was taken in May 1999 on the Grossglockner Pass. Taken on Casio QV10 digital canera One day eh?

For the last eleven years the bulk of my commuting has been by train. Why? It's simply distance and time. Although when you take into account the daily cost of my train season ticket, monthly, it works out at about £15 to £17 a day depending on the length of the month. Before you factor in the other costs of using the bike; tyres, servicing, insurance and road tax as well as petrol, the bike is actually MORE expensive. At the current rip-off rates it costs about £18 to fill the tank everyday. Okay, back to the train. Etiquette amongst seasoned commuters is that you sit down. First on chooses where. Later arrivals take what's left. If in a seat with the aisle or a table you do not sit opposite the person if seats are free. We all need our leg room. If someone is sitting on an aisle seat and the window seat is free it is perfectly okay to ask them to let you by. Real words tend to work better than grunting and pointing. You never ask the person to give up their seat by slidin...

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I managed to get the latest upgrade of Mapsource to work on the new laptop and work through all the Garmin files to get a better route. A week to go and the excitement builds...

Positano , originally uploaded by Devaldinho . On the way back up the hill to the car-park. Remarkably looking in good nick despite blisters on feet and tired joints.

Weather excellent. A bit too hot at some times. Can't imagine what it will be like later in the height of summer. Driving standards are suicidal, both cars and bikes cut every corner. But views are spectacular. This one of Capri.

Final packing underway. As usual the one suitcase is looking already overfilled! At Easyjet’s prices it pays to get it all in the one. Okay, so I’m cheap and think that £16 per case is an insult after you have paid for the seat. I have the satnav setup and have stripped the power leads out of the car and ready to take with me. So what is airport’s security’s view of satnavs in their sunglasses case and a heap of wiring? On that subject. Modern life means we have gadgets and gadgets need power. To get the power we have power leads. So after the phone charger, there’s the power lead for the camera batteries (different ones so different charger doobries), then the lead for the satnav to connect it to the PC, oh yes, the PC is going to… free WiFi in the hotel….. We hope. What else, have I mentioned the phone charger, oh yes. Spare SD and CF cards for the cameras, the cameras of course, plus spare batteries. Then there’s the iPod and speakers, plus power lead. It never sto...

A boys weekend away to Holland for a long weekend? My brother mentioned that now his daughter's are off his hands, one at Uni and the other finished at Uni, that he would have more time for bike rides so I suggested we try the Dutch TT next year. After a search for somewhere reasonable to stay we found a hotel about 20 miles from the track as Assen. I advertised it on the SOC Kent Centre site and to a few friends and if all goes well we have 6 of us going and we have three rooms booked. It's so far away.... but now we need to track down the tickets for the racing on the Saturday!!

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Another night planned and booked. I have decided to look elsewhere, as the Youth Hostel in Zadar couldn't (or rather wouldn't) commit to letting us have a double room. Like I said in Croatia (1) going to somewhere with islands and not going on one would be a mistake. So I have booked a place on the Island of Pag. Not because Pag are my three forename initials! ;) After some searching and emails I have booked Pension Gligora in Mandre on the west of the Island. Prices in Croatia for decent clean accommodation seems to be on the rise and at €40 a night B&B, it isn't expensive by western European standards. On the website it looks very clean. Somewhere to get to reasonably early from Split and a bit of R&R. ViaMichelin gives a distance of 129 miles but that looks the motorway route rather than the coast road. The next day will be a longer drag up to Ljubjana for our last night of the holiday, with the exception of the train to Germany. Okay, according to ViaMichelin i...

The fourth and last of the eastern European states we will visit next year is Slovenia. I have been before, but not for very long, maybe two visits and a total of less than an hour, maybe as much as two hours! The first time in 1986 when we travelled across the top of Istria to Trieste from Rijeka and the second in 1999 when Steve Hazlehurst and I dipped a toe in the country in the extreme northwest to "bag" the country as we rode northwards from a day trip to Venice to the Wassbüffel Treffen in Austria. So maybe my first estimate of an hour was accurate after all. In 2008 we have an overnight at the highly recommended Alibi Rooms Hostel in the city centre at Ljubjana. This is the last full day on the road to get to Ljubjana and one of the longest of Week 2. Setting off from the Island of Pag that morning. It doesn't look far on the motorways but we'll have to see. I am hoping for a stop off in Postojna caves on the way, at east for a look even if there isn't ti...

With the trip still so far away, plans liable to change. In all we'll have 3 nights in Croatia. Two in Split and I have been looking for another night further up the coast road. Not too far in case it gets clogged with traffic! Plan A had the stay at the Youth Hostel in Zadar. In the end this will change as being oldies we don't do dorms, and although the hostel has loads of private rooms they seem unable to commit to letting us have one. The explanation being that they reserve them for tour guides and coach drivers. So it may be a case of "bollocks" and go elsewhere. I have a first reserve lined up on the Island of Pag. It seems a shame to go somewhere with thousands of islands and a) not go on one, and b) not take a ferry. Pag isn't that far off the mainland and the bottom end nearest Zadar has a bridge, but the top needs a ferry. Okay, according to the website it is only 20 minutes! But it is a ferry, and I do like a ferry.

Had a bit of a set back today with Autozug. In the end it was good really that when I tried to book the motorail tickets that Capital One rejected the transaction as it was for a large amount and the website was based in Germany. About 45 minutes later I got a text message asking me to call them at the bank. Must remember to keep them in the loop when we go away! Especially as Bosnia might be a little unusual.

All the advertising you are about motorail shows how well it compares with driving. Okay, they have bike places but the majority of travellers on the train will be families in cars. Or at least that's what over 20 years experience tells me. So I did a bit of research. In the off season the difference between train and riding is much smaller. I used Michelin's route planner to work it out for me - Dusseldorf to Villach. A route I did back in 1986 bit from Cologne on that occasion. The train comes out more expensive but does the trip overnight. To do that I'd have to tranquilise Claire "Mr T" style. So motorail it is!

Day 1 We were up before 5am for the drive across to Gatwick, where we arrived at the parking about 6.30am. No problems at all getting there and none leaving the car. The reason we went so early was due to the expected (and reported in the papers!) long delays at the security check. In the end we were through in 8 minutes! Luckily there were no delays on the flight and we arrived on time. We had hoped to meet brother's party on their way out, but an hour and a quarter queuing to get the hire car put paid to that. In the end we got a diesel Focus instead of the booked Fusion. Not a bad car, although damned heavy and I keep stalling it when on the hill out out the apartment parking! At night we went into Fuengirola for dinner. I can recommend the portions at the restaurant. If only I could remember the name! Day 2 L ocal day. Got up late after the long day we had had the day before and after breakfast we went to Marbella.  We got parked easily and walked down to the promenade and then...

In a couple of weeks we are off to Spain for our wedding anniversary. Not on the bike but flying with Thompson-Fly to Malaga, then to the timeshare at Torrenueva Park. Last week I was looking at places to go to use up the "banked" timeshare weeks. Spain has loads free at most times of the year, although kids holidays in July and August are a problem if you want to go then. I tend to look elsewhere! We already have a week booked in Hungary near Lake Balaton in August 08, more of that trip elsewhere. So to the last week that needs booking. I decided that Spain might be a good idea, loads of places to go, and more cheap flights. I've knocked any thoughts of the US off the menu as the passport requirements and all the data they want on travellers means they can poke it right up their arses. We have been their biggest supporter in the "War on Terror", and then they treat us like shit. Anyway, back to the subject. Checking a variety of dates and airlines produ...

When it was needed in the "proper" summer we hardly saw the bloody sun, so whilst it's here now we have to make the most of it. Yesterday, we had a day off from the bike and had a run in the car. The stereo turned up and Gary Moore banging away on the guitar. First stop Tenterden. We parked up outside the Town Hall and took a turn up and down the High Street, before finishing up at the Lemon Tree restaurant. It's in one of the oldest buildings in the town. Lunch was pretty fair snap! The drive home was a loop through Rye and Camber. We would have stopped in Camber, but I am buggered if I'll pay to park! Today, another sunny day and work again! Aaaagh! Paul Devall - sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

It's not as though I had much in the way of plans today, but yesterday's puncture and subsequent temporary plug from the RAC meant a proper fix was required. I was up as though it was a work day, much too early for a Saturday! With the speed restriction on the plugged tyre set at 40mph I wanted to be off so that I was at Watling Tyres in Catford as close to opening as possible. I turned into the workshops by about ten to nine and by twenty past was on the way home. The repair with a permanent plug vulcanised in place was £22. Much better than shelling out for a new tyre. Once back there was time for a run over to Canterbury for Claire to do a bit of shoe shopping. I just wandered about with her! Paul Devall - sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

So far this week the weather has been good enough to ride in to work and every day. Every day I've been able to wear my vented Joe Rocket jacket and with the EDZ inner it has been a good combination. Paul Devall - sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

It was initially Nigel’s idea to go to France over the BH Weekend, and originally Monday. Claire and I were the only ones in the Kent Centre that were up for it and we couldn’t do Monday, but could do Sunday. After a change of plans we arrived together on the 0820 Shuttle to France in company with another trio of bikes and their riders. A nice MV with extra loud pipes and a couple of Guzzis. One being a 1000 Quota, a rarity in every sense! The plan was to head off down the D940 along the coast and stop for a coffee under Cap Blanc Nez at the Escalles campsite café. Sadly, when we got there after a short ride with perfect views over the Channel to Kent, it was closed until noon. Strange for a weekend in August. We set off south again and at Wissant I hove right into the village. Ahead the road was closed and we parked up for a walk around a splendid village that we had never been to before. There was a boat festival on and the square was full of tables and chairs gearing up for lunch th...