On the Road Again!

After the problems of last weekend when TomTom decided to have a bit of a loon, I managed to visit only three of the waypoints. So I have had to re-plan for the last four places I need to complete the challenge. Finding U isn't the easiest in Kent. Finding one on a main road is even harder.  Many of the tracks and shitholes I had to go down on Sunday aren't for the Rocket. The last four? I hope!!

Well that didn't work out as I expected.  The TomTom satnav/GPS had a wobbler and so I only managed P, O and E before calling it a day. I need to connect it and delete the routes it thinks it has and update the one that I will amend on MyRouteApp. The E wasn't the one I was expecting.  That both village signs were in quite dangerous areas meant a stop wasn't very clever. Some of the roads TomTom chose would be difficult on a DR trail bike. But we managed it in the end. P - Peene Railway Museum O - Ottinge Court Farm E - Eythorne Maybe a POE challenge! In the end the stats were:

The best laid plans of mice and men.  Unfortunately there is a balancing act to be done as a married man with a dog. I sometimes envy people that on a whim, tog up, and then go for a ride all day on their expensive motorcycle. My brother for instance.  He regularly plans trips with a mate that take three or four weeks in the summer before the school holidays make hotels and accommodation too expensive. I can't do that. So when "real life" gets in the way, then the bike trips have to take a back seat.  Don't get me wrong.  I like going out in the car with wife and dog to places of interest or just to the White Cliffs for a cake and coffee and walk with Reggie. But. Sometimes I want to get my gear on and go for a ride. Last Sunday the "Family Paul" won out.  Hopefully tomorrow, June 6th and of course the 77th Anniversary D-Day, I can get out and do the trip around the county and get the "Cup of Tea Challenge" chalked off. I need to ride the £15000 wo...

The plan for Sunday 30th May is to complete the challenge.  In the latest "Nacelle" there was a reminder of the challenge and what needs to be done. I have chosen towns/villages but it could be places of interest as well.  Leaving home and looping around Kent with a coffee stop at H's. I have the route in the TomTom.

On the way back from The Meldrews meeting at H's near Canterbury I detoured off the A20 to get my first entry for the Triumph Club's photo competition for 2021. I had planned on "C" being Cheriton but couldn't think where the sign might be! Capel is also where the Battle of Britain Museum and Roll of Honour can be found. It amazes me when bikers travel all over the country there is no pilgrimage here.

This year's challenge from the TOMCC is to visit places and take a photo, selfie or just the bike, of places that have the first letter of each that spells out "Cup of Tea". I have a route planned on My RouteApp for when Pepe is back on the road.  That's not until Friday 7th May at the earliest. I am hoping that all the places I have found in Kent actually have a sign giving the place name otherwise this might take longer than expected. My route is simply a one off run in a loop around the county. It's currently around 42 miles and just over an hour to complete. Cup of Tea route

Today rejoined both the Motorcycle Action Group and the Triumph Owners MCC. I joined MAG many years ago and then fell by the wayside for a while. Although I did campaign in the SOC for us to affiliate as well as with the BMF, successfully. I was involved locally with the MAG group but dropped out. Now I give them my money and let them do the riders' rights work.

Some member I am.  I went along to the first meeting at the Drum in Stanford and haven't been since.   The problem is that the meeting starts too early for me to get home from work in London and by the time I get into the house it's too late! Tonight is the branch AGM and although I feel a bit of a fraud not attending anything since Day 1, I am a founding member!  ;) Hopefully I can get up there and meet everyone. Might even get Pepé out of the garage for the ride up there. Update .  Went and there were quite a few bikes and even two other Rockets. As I have never met any of them before. Blokes I talked to not members and didn't have any idea who and where they were.  Had a half of Old Dairy Uber and after wandering around as Billy no mates went home.  When the minutes came out it seems I wasn't the only on not to make it. 

That was quick. Less than a week after sending my report and pix this certificate arrived in the post. Hopefully my bit will appear in the August "Nacelle", the TOMCC magazine.

Not quite as planned as the extension of a trip to the dentist but as a separate run in its own right. Not that I got away with going to the dentist. That was done in the morning. Four minutes in the chair and £22. Kerrching! As it was sunny, rather than do nothing or watch TV, I got togged up. Changed the route on MyRouteApp to miss out the dentist stop and found that the prospective route became 70.5 miles. I set off in warm sunshine. So I wore my Joe Rocket mesh jacket.  Of course my waterproof jacket and pants were with me. Wrong. The first planned stop for a photo was  Walmer Castle . In the end going through the seaside village of Kingsdown, firstly the narrow road was blocked by a truck delivery beer to the village pub. And then by a huge truck with a digger on the trailer reversing into a new building site. Another load of millionaire homes to be built? By the time my phone recognised my face it was almost done . Through a screen .. Picture of Walmer then?  No...

This year is the 70th anniversary of the Triumph Owners Motorcycle Club. During the year the club is recording and rewarding members that plan and do a 70 mile ride either with a group, or individually.  It might not seem much but the 70 is the important bit. The ride has to be for that purpose and not a bit of another run.  The East Kent group are having an organised run from Laguna Triumph on Sunday June 2nd.  Sunday's tend to be "family" weekends for me with a wife and dog.  So. I have planned my own 70 mile route and I think it is fittingly East Kent based. Proposed Route I planned it on MyRouteApp and fiddled with it to achieve as near 70 miles as possible. Hopefully I'll be able to set off after the dentist (!) on Wednesday and incorporate a couple or three windmills and a Tudor castle or two. Fingers crossed for decent weather.

https://invictamoto.blogspot.com/2019/03/triumph-owners-mcc-east-kent.html

A year ago this week was the inaugural meeting of the East Kent branch of the Triumph Owners.  I went and was the only person on a bike. It was freezing by the time I arrived and even colder when I left a short time later.  The turnout was very good considering the weather. It was also the last time I went!  Meetings are quarterly!   So I went the month after and was there with a load of bikers but not the TOMCC. Doh!  It starts a little early for me and so often by the time I get home, from work,  it is way too late to bother getting the bike out and going up there.  Go by car? Wash your mouth out. The Drum PH hosts another bike club on a Tuesday and that is of the vintage variety. So tonight,. March 5th, is the first official club night of the year and hopefully I can make it.  The guys running it have put in a lot of effort and there is a proper committee and each meeting has an agenda of topics to dis...