On the Road Again!

Rather than re-type and add all the photos, I have simply put the link here for the other blog site. https://verastrom.travellerspoint.com/36/

Well, I could have done with booking the ferry a little later in the month to ensure that it went on my next Tesco MasterCard bill. But it needed doing ASAP to ensure that the booking would get made and not sold out for the bike spaces. As we were unable to fill all the rooms we have decided to cancel both the triple and twin rooms at the hotel and book the quadruple room! It looks as though the days of a large group going are over for the Meldrews. A quarter share in the quadruple room works out at around £65 each for two night bed and breakfast. The ferry has cost £50 for the weekend.   I have entered the Advanced Passenger Information (API) onto the website and oddly the booking shows the times of the crossing to be different to the ones booked only a few minutes before!  later leaving the UK and earlier leaving France to come home on the Sunday! Anyway that's all done.

It's a little disappointing that with 37 members of the Meldrew's that we have only managed to get 5 plus a friend one of of them so come along to the first overseas event since Covid and Brexit. In the end four of us will be travelling by bike and a couple will be going in the car.   We had originally booked a twin and a triple room and earlier today we booked the quadruple bedded room and dropped the other two rooms. So now we have 4 beds and 4 people! It also works out cheaper per head for the hotel and it includes breakfast, which is rare for that kind of price.  The  Gasthof 't Zweerd is right in the centre of Ypres and walking distance to the Menen Gate for the evening Last Post Ceremony and is right where all the bars and restaurants are situated.  Parking should be right outside!   Next we need to decide what ferry we will get. I expect we will go P&O from Dover to Calais and then have a run across country to Ypres. The TomTom shows us goi...

It's been quite a while since the Meldrews' had a trip away, just a weekend across in France or Belgium.   We (The Royal We?) used to go to the Bikers Loft. I only actually went the once as it seemed to clash with other commitments. That was on the Rocket and back in 2015!  The others in our informal group that we call the Meldrews' have been more often. You can read about my trip to the Loft here . So when one of the members suggested we have another look at a weekend away I didn't get to involved as the first two weeks in September I am away with Claire and the dog in France in the motorhome. I gave some dates when I am not away or at football.  The weekend 22nd to 24th September popped out at me.  It's the North London Derby at the Emirates, but we have already agreed that it will be one of Phil's games so I am free. I like the idea of being well away as I would want to watch and I prefer to wait until I know the score. Yes. Live football sometimes sucks! Ov...

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.

Not long before I started writing a blog and then transferring the content over here to Blogger. I had only recently bought my R1150GS.  It came with the BMW system panniers but with no top box. That was remedied with a Givi plate and utilising the Givi E45 topbox that I had for over a decade by them (I still have it!). The Easter 2003 trip was organised for the Suzuki Owners Club, primarily for everyone in the club as well as friends Graham and Sarah Walker. The take up was very small.  People claim there was "nothing ever organised" but when there was they were pretty much absent.  On the way Claire and I stopped in Veurne near the Belgian coast and managed to park up alongside another Manadarin GS! Also with UK plates. Most of the participants had booked into the Old Tom B&B and restaurant in the main market square in Ypres. The idea was to get there on Good Friday.  Have two days touring and visiting the battlefields and then go home on Bank Holiday Monday. P...

The ride to Palingbeek was fairly short and when I arrived the car park was pretty full. At the entrance is a café and the CWXRM* have an information point and a statue. A robot? From here it us about 150 yards to the decision point. Left to the Bluff and the two water filled mine craters and then to the viewpoint overlooking the Egg. Or right at the info point to the sculpture and then the egg. I went right. The sculpture. Gradually the egg will be filled with the dog tags of the 600000 dead. And then to the main egg. The first glimpse of it over the hedge. And then all of it. Fantastic. The return is via the Bluff. Along the way are "speakers". When entered it triggers the sound system. Poems from the war poets. Sadly none in English. Once back at the bike I attempted to cut a couple of the waypoints off the route. But I was defeated. So off to St Eloi. * Coming World Remember Me posted from Bloggeroid

Another update. As the route would take me through Ieper/Ypres/Wipers anyway I will stop in the Grote Markt for a short time and visit the Tourist Office and also I might have time to get across the the British Legion shop across the road.  Always a sucker for a new pin badge! I don't want this to become a whistle-stop tour but I need the gate code from the Tourist Office to get into the St Eloi Crater park.  Although if it is anything  like Bayernwald,  when I got there someone had left the gate unlocked and slightly ajar so the code wasn't needed. If time starts to get away with me after Palingbeek I can always cut one or some of the stops out of the route.   When I used to plan these trips for the Kent Centre SOC and then the Meldrews I think I used to build in too many places to stop and then had to remove some on the hoof as it were.Probably better than too few and having to pad the trips out!! My primary focus is to see the exhibit at Palingbeek as it...

Once I had booked the Shuttle and gave myself plenty of time to get there and back I then started work on a bit of research of where to go. As long as there aren't too many delays getting across then I expect to arrive in the Ypres area about 1200 to 1230. Lunch. Might see if the chip shop in Vlamertinge is open. Being Belgian there will be a large selection of meaty products that can be deep fried... Sounds like a diet buster. If you have ever had fresh chips (frites/fries) in Belgium you will know how they are simply marvellous. From there. To Palingbeek. Then I have added the two mine craters at St Eloi then down to the Pool of Peace,  and finally the Island of Ireland Peace Park near Messines. That should bring me to time to head back. More to follow. St Eloi Crater -   http://www.toerisme-ieper.be/en/page/334-349-364/minecrater-saint-eloi.html Pool of Peace -  https://www.flandersfields.be/en/do/pool-peace Island of Ireland Peace Park  -  https://www.v...

To commemorate the numbers of troops killed in the battles around Ypres and at Passchendaele  an amazing memorial has been created in the domain of Palingbeek to the south east of Ypres/Ieper. The memorial consists of 600000 sculptures that each represent a soldier killed on that front during WW1. Pepe and I will be going over there in a few weeks to have a look. The official website (linked below) suggests at least an hour to view the installation. It's only there until 11th November - Armistice Day, so there is limited time to get across and see it. Hopefully I won't be Johnny No-Mates on the day but if I am I can enjoy it all the better myself. There are a couple of other places I'd like to call in where I have not been before or not for a long time. A report to follow in a couple of weeks when I have been over to Belgium. More information: http://www.comingworldrememberme.be/nl/praktisch

We were up early for breakfast. The paperwork said that the parking along Beselarestraat from near Beselare towards Zonnebeke was open until 10am. The first problem was leaving the A19 as instructed that the junction wasn't policed on this section and we took nearly 15 mins to get the left rurn onto the N303 road into solid traffic through the town. Way before the start of the parking we were directed into a field and told to walk up the road. I had put a way marker into the TomTom for the road junction at the bottom of the parking. It was still some 600m to go. We were stopped by police and could see buses up ahead and a queue of people. By the time our column got up to about 200m  long the queue at what was Bus Stop F has disappeared. We were then told buses would come. With the traffic we were far too late to have a look around the museum site and went through accreditation and straight onto buses to Tyne Cot. We eventually arrived there about 11 o'clock. We were supposed to...

With the Shuttle booked for 1136 we arrived about an hour in advance and checked in. "Here we go". Disruption caused by a train being taken out of service. Three an hour.  Work it out  In the end we rolled out at 1305. What a superb service. That meant we were late in France. Late for lunch. In the end we stopped for a coffee and a sandwich at St Eloi services on the A25 just before the exit where we would head towards Poperinge and first stop at the B&B in Vlamertinge - B&B Pottebreker -  http://www.bbpottebreker.be We arrived before 4pm but the owners were there and showed us to the room. Modern and clean. We dropped off the luggage and headed for Ypres (Ieper) and the special events for the Menen Gate ceremony. After wandering about trying to get a bank with an ATM we finally found a viewpoint of the screens as we hadn't been lucky in any of the ballots. We saw the ceremony on the screen. The bands marching passed us (video below) and Queen Mathilde of Belgium ...

We have the dog booked into his favourite kennels for the duration of this weekend away. He goes in there late afternoon on Saturday. We have a dog-free evening. I had thought of going over then but finding a hotel or even a youth hostel in Belgium is like finding that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Unless you have that gold of course. So back to Plan A. Plan A had alwaya been to cross over on Sunday morning and head generally towards Ypres.  There's a few places I'd like to see again plus some new (to me) sites. Then see what parking is like in Ypres. There's a special ceremony in the Market by the Cloth Hall. It may be that as Plan A dictates that we go to Vlamertinge to the B&B and back out by taxi, we stick to it. Monday morning we have to be in Zonnebeke to park and see the museum and displays there. We have been before a few years ago. It was pre- Meldrews  so must have been the other club we don't mention. On that visit we had to park in the entrance ...

There are several ceremonies taking place at the same time in Ypres and the area that formed the Passchendaele battlefield. The first is a special event at the Menin Gate in Ypres.  I have been before to see the pageantry and the Fire Brigade buglers at the Gate and it is a truly moving experience.   The second, is the ceremony at Tyne Cot British Cemetery  and Memorial . This is also a ticket only event. parking will be at the Zonnebeke Museum and that will be by ticket and then shuttle buses to Tyne Cot. Unusually for me I hadn't booked any accommodation and of course now that everyone has got the okay that they are getting tickets to the event, the whole thing has gone wild.  Simply taking a look at "Ypres" and the dates on booking.com sees that some places are what we say in England are "taking the piss" with massively inflated prices. But, I guess someone will be desperate and pay them. In the end I have booked a B&B  in Vlamertinge near Ypres on the r...

We have been many times to Ypres and the battlefields in the area to visit the sites and the cemeteries. Most usually I have led the trips under the guise of the Suzuki Owners Club and latterly the Meldrews. I applied for tickets as once again the interest will be high rather than the simple turn up and take part from previous years. The Centenary is a big deal. At this stage there is planning to do and a hotel to book. Sadly Reggie can't come with us on this trip and we will have to do it in the car.  Claire's hip is not right and it will be too much on the Rocket. I'll leave this post  with a link to a poem .

Not a theme park, although it sounds like it may be, but actually a recently rediscovered (in the 1970's) formation of trenches from WW1. These are around Messines Ridge to the south of Ypres. The trenches point northwards as this area was part of the bulge to the south the city. Entry is supposed to cost €1.50 per person but when we got there the gate had been wedged open and there were some other people already inside. The GPS location for the site is N50.80135 E2.87708. More reading http://bujold.co.uk/html/bayernwald.html

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A great day in Belgium. In the end there were ten of us on ten bikes and the drop-off system worked a treat. Click the link to see the full story: http://www.poi66.com/maps/show_album?album=wipersmay2009