On the Road Again!

"Three lions on our chest"..... Tomorrow we face the one lion of the Dutch. Only 24 hours left.... To be brutally honest the last four left in this tournament are probably the least capable for many years.  Neither France nor the Netherlands have looked any better than England.  In fact all three seem to have a problem scoring goals. France seem to be the beneficiary of the most own goals in their favour, and the Netherlands needed one to get past Turkey in the last game. Maybe the Spanish are the favourites as they seem to have some idea how to score goals although they have benefited from some (exciting!) gung-ho performances like in the Georgia game where the Georgians playED as though they were winning right to the final whistle - attack after attack. COME ON ENGLAND!

As we walked off our dinner in Emmen we came across this VW Beetle specialist showroom. Looking though the window we could see more inside.  The orange one was under €6k.

I have just finished working on the daily routes for my part of the trip. I am only away five days and have split Neill's routes down by the day. They are already on the TomTom. The first day is quite long and takes in several Dambusters crash sites and memorials ending in Posterholt and the Hotel Restaurant Roerdalen. Day 2 takes up north towards Assen and our hotel for the GP weekend in Emmen. The Stads Hotel Boerland. Days 3 and 4 are at the circuit. Day 5 is my day to leave the BMW Amigos and head home via Irish Ferries from Calais to Dover.  The Amigos continue the Dambusters theme and the next MotoGP at the Sachsenring. Day 1 Day 2 Day 5

Booked the ferries. Or rather the crossings. Out on Le Shuttle with Neill and Phil on 27th June at 0820.  We need to be there an hour before but personally I think 90 minutes would be better! We have to get through French passport control to get our Schengen border stamps. Returning 5 days later on the Irish Ferries route from Calais at 1750. It's quite late but I  want to give myself plenty of time to get back to Calais from Assen in one hit and then get through the marvellous disaster known at the UK Passport control. Not to mention the French clowns stamping my Schengen exit! All the holdups courtesy of those that voted leave in 2016 and the useless politicians on both sides that created this mess.

Well. Since the last post we have booked a triple room in a hotel with bar restaurant about 20 miles from the Assen TT circuit. We have booked one nearer with a twin and a single, and cancelled the first one.... ALL ON THE WRONG DATE! It was assumed that the GP would be the same weekend as 2023. It used to be the last weekend in June and race day was Saturday. In the modern world, tradition goes out of the window, and the TT racing is now Sunday, and the date moves!  So more rooms cancelled and we have managed to book another hotel, but back to about 20 miles away again.  My brother Neill is doing the planning. I expect he will do a blog for the trip. How to get there?  The choice is limited to Eurotunnel or the Ferry from Dover. I have a friends and family contact for P&O that I might be able to use. I'd have to check that they are happy to do that.  For the Meldrews Wipers Weekend in September  and it cut the fare from £85 to £50. Of course there is alway...

A couple of days and it's all change again. Looking at the trip I decided that three nights in tulip country would be enough for us to enjoy the place and include a visit to the Keukenhof to look at the displays there.   So I have changed the hotel for the first three nights to one in Zandvoort - Hotel XL .  It's only 17kms car park to car park. Walking extra. We are of course keeping our fingers crossed that Covid will be out of the way and that the Keukenhof will be open to the public.  We are talking April 2022 now! The fourth night I have snipped off the original hotel booking and have looked at somewhere in Zeeland on our way back to the Channel port. A few years ago we did the Zeeland route to Assen for the MotoGP. It was very nice meandering on the BMW up through the islands. That was in 2010.   This time the journey will be in reverse.  I looked up the B&B we stayed in back then and it has no vacancies for when we want to go. This maybe th...

I saw today in the club's Facebook page that they are looking at the current situation with the Covid pandemic and may cancel the Rally again this year. This is a shame. I had intended on going over to the Netherlands and have posted before about this. I still have my booking com reservation at the hotel near the rally site, at Het Spijkerhuys . I need to check when the latest date for cancelling is without getting charged!! Bummer I know.

So here we are into January 2021.  The rally is just under six months away and we are currently into another Covid-19 lockdown.  On top of that the UK left the European Union at 11pm UK time on December 31st. So trips to Europe will be different from now on. Even though I voted to stay in the EU back in 2016, a majority voted to leave. And so finally we have.  All this bollocks hasn't stopped me planning this trip.  As a Father Christmas present to myself I bought a Beeline Moto navigator. I wanted something a little less obstrusive on the Kettle bars to get me around the country and to wherever I want to go. I have the TomTom for the Rocket and the car. The route to the hotel by the rally site is easy to plan on the Beeline app.  My start point is of course the exit lane at Eurotunnel Coquelles. The app can also import GPX routes created in MyRouteApp. Although planning is easy enough and importing is easy, it looks as though Beeline ignores waypoints. Once we...

Sunday, Bloody Sunday. Up early, for a Sunday anyway.  Breakfast in the hotel and then all three of us in the car to the circuit. Neill's Beemer locked up alongside the hotel for the whole weekend. Cars went in the same entrance as the day before. This time the stewards directed us into the parking square (dykes on three sides!!) much nearer to the entrance than Saturday! A shorter walk. There were only a few bikes on the tarmac section. We went through to the uncovered stand nearer the chicane than the day before but although the view was good, we couldn't see the big screen that faces the main grandstand.  So we moved.  We couldn't get as far along as before but that was okay. We had missed the BSB warm-up but were in tome for all the undercard... the same as the day before with the Talent Cup, ADAS KTM's and the Ducati Tri-Options.   On Saturday we had heard some cheering and chanting but didn't realise it was for Keith "Bugsy" Jaggard , a cult figure i...

Once we had got into the circuit and gone through the tunnel into the paddock area we had to decide where to sit to watch the undercard races and the qualifying for the main BSB event. In the end we had a walk around the paddock where the teams are situated.  The sidecars proved a draw as they are easy to chat to without going on the pit lane walk where the BSB teams hide out. We sat in the grandstand almost by the start and finish line.  The undercard had races on both days and the British Talent Cup on Honda 250's proved to be some good racing along with the ADAC Cup (KTM) and the Ducati TriOptions Cup  were pretty entertaining. BSB qualifying was a little disappointing for us with Suzuki concession tickets as both riders, Bradley Ray and Richard Cooper, failed to qualify from the first session and were way down the grid for Sunday in 17th and 15th spot. I had the Nikon with me but the standard lends was very limiting, plus my finger/eye coordination lacked something!...

Up and out early enough to get a few hours seeing what Assen town has to offer the tourist before goung to the track for the undercard races and then BSB qualifying. But first a couple of pics near the hotel. I took the Nikon with standard lens and for track action it was a little too short in the lens.  The market in Assen has wonderful flowers and even arrangements. I took a few photos... We bought some food for lunch at the track as well. Claire bought some chrysanthemums for €2. And there was cheese..... and loads of it. Everything has changed at the track,  or at least access has. Easier to get in but car parking a fair way from the entrance!! Our team didn't fair well and both Bradley Ray and Richard Cooper failed the qualify from Q3. Took some pix. More to follow when I get to a computer as the phone app is terrible. 

We finally arrived about 2010 local time. A total of 10 hours on the road with a few short breaks. This was from home admittedly via Reggie's kennels. Traffic horrific from Antwerp to about Amersfoort. It took 55 minutes to get around Antwerp on their ring road. F*** knows how long through the middle!! Plus Belgian drivers are terrible. No signals. No lane discipline and absolutely shite at undertaking all the time. As for the Dutch. FFS. Booked in the hotel and had a comfort break and the dinner and a few beers. Very nice. Bed at 2245. posted from Bloggeroid

So the BSB tickets have arrived and Neill has his so that he can call in on Friday if he is up there early enough. We are on the 1120 Shuttle from Folkestone and that means we won't hit French soil until 1255 local time.  TomTom calculates that it will take around 6 hours.so we are really looking at arriving at the hotel about 7pm.  So no stop off at Assen on the way past. Tonight I need to pack a bag. I have a series of motorcycle oriented t-shirts ready to pack, plus of course waterproofs. Last weekend in September and Holland/Netherlands can be iffy on the weather front. So we need to pack for all eventualities. Being in the car in pissing rain might be a bonus over the bike, but it is still as wet when you get out..... so brolly? So that's about it until the morning.  Drop off the dog at his holiday suiter and then top the car up with UK diesel and then straight to the Shuttle. And away....

Booked today.  Cost £64 for the car on top of the Assen MotoGP trip fare that I had parked with them after we couldn't go. To accommodate taking Reggie to the kennels for the weekend on Friday morning I have booked 28/9 1120 out and 1/10 1750 back. As we will be back too late to go and get him on the Monday I have Tuesday leave as well and so I can go and get him in the morning.

I have finalised my route with Tyre and then opened it in Garmin Mapsource. The plan is to go Thursday morning and take a more relaxed ride up island hopping across Zeeland, and staying in a B&B on the island to the south of Rotterdam. Steve H will join us there in the evening. I just hope we have weather like last year.