On the Road Again!

After the lovely day we had yesterday at Sissinghurst Castle Garden instead of the weekend away in Norfolk, we decided to get up early today and go out again. The plan was to go to Bodiam Castle . It's not that far away and I planned a motorhome friendly route on MyRouteApp and imported it to  https://plan.tomtom.com/ . Somewhere along the way the "motorhome" route part gets lost in translation and it opens a car route.  It then has to be re-edited to get it back into motorhome format. Once it is "synced" automatically from Plans to Max (the Go Camper Max satnav)  it seems that despite both products being TomTom products, Max then decides to go a different way to the one planned.... So for most of the journey today we were being told to turn off where we didn't want to go, and to turn around. Unlike my TomTom Rider 410, Max doesn't seem to bother with u-turns.  It simply routes around a huge loop to get back to where it wants to go. Anyway we...

I just wanted to get out for a ride. The weather was supposed to be cool and overcast and yet the sun was out. It was dry and about 19°C. I took the Sene Valley but was stuck behind a roadblock aka motorhome.  The road too narrow for it but no doubt they have a car satnav to blindly follow. First stop Pebbles Kiosk at Dover. No tea. Loads of people eating Solleys ice-cream. A local farm made product  Damn. Pebbles Kiosk in Dover Then up to the White Cliffs. Too packed. I did manage to park but there were too many people. White Cliffs of Dover I did see this Harley but not the owner. A very impressive list of places visited? To visit? From there back down into Dover and a quick blast up the A2 to Whitfield and the Transport Museum. Another photo op. Dover Transport Museum From here Alkham Valley to Folkestone and Tesco to fill up. Mileage entered into Fuelly and mpg down this time! It must be the faster ride along the ...

Was a sunny day Not a cloud was in the sky Not a negative word was heard From the people passing by Was a sunny day All the birdies in the trees And the radio's singing song All the favorite melodies... Thanks to Paul Simon for summing up today and my first ride out anywhere on Vera Strom. Although there were clouds in the Kent skies.... Claire had gone out to a friend's house and I hauled out Vera to see about fitting the RAM mount. In the end I couldn't make my mind up where to put it. Instead I togged up and headed for Rye and the Strand. An area belonging to the Environment Agency next to the dock.  The ride out took considerably longer than anticipated. Holiday traffic and trucks delivering don't make for clear roads.   I took the direct A259 route there. A259 route almost door to door! Once there I got through the open end of the barrier and onto the Strand.  Putting my helmet and gloves in the capacious top box.   The Cafe I usually go to had closed ...

I finished work at 4pm and went out for an hour or so.  As I expected the battery wasn't very healthy and so I had to use the dbPower unit to give it some charge and it started on the electric boot. With the choke engaged it starts but it needs clicking off quite quickly. I went up to Hythe and to the A20 and then over the M20 towards Canterbury.  I kept to the speed limits and also a 3500rpm maximum.  This equates to about 60mph in top gear. I only rode as far as the garage near Stelling Minnis and then came back to the motorway. I decided then to head to Tesco at Cheriton to fill the tank and see what the first few rides had achieved.  The tank took 6.68 litres of Unleaded 95 with no added oil this time. On the ride along the Canterbury road I got up to 60 and the bike felt pretty stable.  The Bridgestone BT46 front and rear seemed very good. Encouraging. The problem with the lights and indicators looks to be fixed.  No problems on this ride with the engi...

It has taken what seems like a lifetime to get my first ride out on the bike. What with having my eyes operated on six weeks apart and not being able to ride for a fortnight after each one, plus the knee injury.  It seemed like I would never get out and have a go. Today with the odometer showing 75594.5 I set off for the first ride.  Wow! I mean that in a sorta good way.  You forget how basic it is to sit on the bike rather than "in" like on the Rocket.  It felt strange to be up high!   With the tank refilled from the can I had about 5.5 litres in it.  The funnel has a mesh filter to catch the rust and crap I got out before. I set the tap to prime to get some fuel through.  It took a few goes on the starter to get it to fire.  Eventually rather than kill the battery I attached the dbPower 600A unit and switched that on.   Suzi fired up.  Still in the garage.  I had to switch off as it might have appeared...

Tesco home delivery this afternoon......  Can't wait..... The excitement is building.....

So after a short marriage it could be time to say au revoir to the Hudl and take it back for a refund. The purchase was after careful study of the web and reviews, plus their own website that stated that the Hudl would connect to a camera to allow downloads for saving and/or viewing. What Tesco didn't say was that it would work with a few undisclosed cameras, none of them in the DSLR ranges of Canon, Nikon and Sony. What percentage of cameras sold every day in the world does that number? After seemingly getting dropped by the technical helpdesk I logged a call with Tesco Direct Customer Support. After all that's where I bought it. They chivvied up the tech helpdesk who said despite their own website the Hudl wouldn't connect to the cameras. They offered a refund. All very well. But I am already out of pocket to the tune of two OTG cables and the leather protective cover! The Hudl is a fat little devil and the case will be too fat for another tablet. The...

The android tablet world seems to spawn a new model every few weeks across a wide price range. So when the UK's biggest supermarket chain announced a budget priced android powered tablet for £119, it was soon sold out. We have a notebook computer that we have taken on holidays with us, mostly to keep in touch with email, surf the web on wifi, and to copy/backup photos from the digital cameras. The Acer Aspire One is only small but compared to a tablet quite bulky, needs a power lead with a chunky great AC adapter but has an SD slot and can be connected with a USB cable direct to the camera. So why a tablet? A 7" tablet is has a much smaller footprint than the One, can fit in a pocket and can do most things the One can do.  I did quite a bit of research and settled on the Hudl.   The Hudl comes in at a very budget price, has a micro-B USB port as well as a micro-HDMI port.  It has 16gb of onboard memory and what many others don't, iPads including...

Whilst doing the "big shop" at Tesco in Cheriton I came across a display for tins (actually plastic nowadays) of biscuits, then a complete aisle full of Christmas treats. It's September 7th for God's sake. The kids only just went back to school!!! Commercialism is horrendous. Anything to make a quick buck.

Took them long enough!! Dear Mr Devall, Thank you for your recent Tesco Direct order for an IPAD WI-FI 4G 64GB. Unfortunately, there was an error in the price at the time that you placed your order, and as a result we have had to cancel your order. Please note any other additional items in your order will also have been cancelled. No payment has been taken for this order. Please refer to our Tesco Direct Terms and Conditions for further details of our order acceptance policy. If you would like to re-order the IPAD, on the official launch date on Friday 16th March it will be available on our website at the correct price £659. We apologise for any inconvenience caused. Kind regards, Wrongly priced? "No shit Sherlock"!!!!

I bet we've all done it? What you may ask? You know, you see the news report of the ATM that keeps regurgitating cash until the banks turns it off or it runs out of money, or the truck that crashes and everyone gets a free pizza or tv, and you gnash your teeth.  "It never happens to me!" 1 x iPad Wi-fi 4G 64GB Black Catalogue No: 213-2623 Our Ref (TPNB):  71567315 £49.99 (1 @ 49.99 each) What if some dashed into your office with the above deal. Obviously a mistake, as that sucker is more like £649.99, but you'd order one or more right? After all "it's your turn". Well, it was and I did. Not greedy, just the one. But what are the chances of them delivering it? None or sweet Fanny Adams?