On the Road Again!

I finally got a little fed up with the Ohrex and the very complicated and less than the Google Maps type planning and routing. The Ohrex works very well for a price of £69.99. Free map updates included. So earlier in the year I started to look around at an alternative. I watched a few vloggers that have had either the Garmin or TomTom. In the end I am pretty experienced with TomTom products. I have a Rider 410 that I use on the motorcycle. So after a lot of research, and price checking I found a TomTom Camper Max at a very reduced price. This cost £267.99. The basic kit only comes with the screen/dash mount, cable and fast charge "cigarette" lighter plug.  The premium kit includes the disc to mount it to the dash and a carry case. I already have the disc in the Moho. Out of the box it came about 50% charged and once started it takes the user step by step through the setup. This includes Bluetooth and WiFi connections. The Bluetooth connection allows "on the go" traf...

One word. SHITE. Another company that doesn't really give much of a shit about customer support when things go wrong. The support site from when you login in no longer allows you to log a call and wait for someone to answer. Instead you get a bot.  The bot is programmed to not actually "listen" to the problem but to just chuck out useless questions and never get to the bottom of the problem. The problem I have is that when you click on the TomTom MyDrive Connect icon on the Windows desktop it opens a webpage.  As expected. Except: Can you tell the bot this? No.   It asks what the problem is with - then lists a load of things.  Eventually you get to the problem. Then it closes the window. Had it logged a call?  Who the **** knows. Then they direct you to another website..... A pattern here?

I decided to move the TomTom mounting from "in the wind" by the left side switchgear. As it is already removed what could be simpler? Easier said than done!!!! For some reason the spare RAM mounting kit I had in stock came with 11mm nyloc nuts. I hate nyloc nuts. Also who the **** uses 11mm! The supply spring washer too! In the end after what seemed like hours I finally managed to get it behind the screen and above the clocks. The area is so confined I could only turn the nut about a quarter each time.  It took wiggling and a jiggling to get it where I wanted it, also to be able to lock it in place with the anti-theft kit!  The key to the ram-ball mount is a little bit of a squeeze. The next job is to fit the new power cable and connect it to the battery rather than the accessory socket. Oh yeah. Baloo is back after a wash and brush up.

I have been using the TomTom on Pepé since I have had the bike. Firstly with the old style Rider and more recently with the 410 model.  This one came with the locking anti-theft kit.   I now need to refit the RAM Mount etc.  I took it off to tidy it up (rust etc)  and then I discovered that when it was last serviced the very helpful mechanics at Laguna had routed the power lead along the frame rather than where I had it dangled over the top of the air filters.  Sadly it seems to have melted somewhere there was no power.  In the end I had to cut both ends off the cable to be able to tidy it up. I ordered a new power lead from TomTom and it arrived recently. I will be a bit more thorough with this one and rather than use a Hella DIN plug into the power output by my left ankle, I will connect to the battery. I can then let the excess wire coil under the seat rather than at the handlebar end.  I never like cutting wires. Too long better than too short...

This even was one of the targets I had set for getting the Kettle back on the road.  When I set it we were still under the first lockdown but we were hopeful that a year of being in this deep shit pandemic would be enough. I am currently working from home (I have blogged about this already) and the anniversary of my last working day in the office is only 9 days away. So back to the  T and GT Club Nederland 21st Anniversary Rally.  I last went with Claire as my pillion in 2004. We actually went for the day from UK. It was a long day in the saddle but was much nearer that the current site.  According to the MyRouteApp route I have planned for the TomTom it looks to be about four and a half hours in the saddle. I intend to use the Beeline as I don't have the kit to fit the TomTom to the Kettle. Importing the route from MyRouteApp as a .gpx file into Beeline Moto App on my phone should allow the chosen route that includes fuel stops as waypoints to appear and take m...

This coming Sunday is our monthly Meldrew's breakfast meeting.  The plan is to meet a little earlier than usual and head over to the Waterside Cafe near Hawkhurst for an arrival at about 1030am. As the weather has turned decidedly winter-like recently the run is weather dependent.  If it's too shitty we'll go the old HQ at the Blue and White Cafe in Mersham on the A20.. I plotted a route on MyRouteApp and it looks like a 59 minute ride across country.  The quickest route is to go along the coast to Rye and then turn northwards but we have a part-way meet in Hamstreet.  Putting a waypoint in actually knocks four miles off but also increases the time but only by a few minutes. I need to get the LS2 Bluetooth charged up and connected to TomTom.  I will also try and see it the "Yamaha My Ride" app will work this time on my phone.  I made the changes that their tech support suggested and have yet to try it out. Fingers crossed it's not pissing down or worse, fr...

Plugged the unit in to do some tidying up of routes etc and it asked to do an upgrade.  It has the Europe mapping on the unit itself and the USA on the additional micro-USB card. Over two hours to download and install. I hope BT can maintain an internet connection for that long. It's something they never have managed before. So once the two hours was up, I checked and it had the little upgrade to do for people's own updates. I must work out how to make changes to maps like this as I often come across speed limits that are wrong, not just temporary but where the local council has changed them. Around this part of Kent it is an epidemic. Once that was over I checked the routes by clicking on My Routes on the unit. None.  Not one. Whaaat? A moment of panic and a few choice words and I did the IT Crowd favourite of re-booting.  Et voila! My Routes are all there including the pre-loaded European routes of interest that came with the unit. I wanted to m...

My list of things to do before we go is one less item shorter after today. ESTA/VISA -check Travel Insurance - check Apartments booked - check Flights booked - check Hotel night before fly - check Hotel in Miami - check TomTom sorted - check Airport parking - check Car Rental in FL -  I have decided to have a look at getting some routes planned to get from airport to hotel and to and from the different resorts that we are staying in. With the TomTom maps getting bloated again there wasn't enough internal storage to get the UK & Europe maps and the USA maps on together.  So I had to buy a new micro SD camera for the Canon 1100D and then I could use the 32gb from there in the TomTom.  The new one was 64GB that should mean a few thousand pix!  The counter on the top of the camera body stops at 9999. The last time I tried it the whole unit froze but this time it simply asked to format the card and it works.  I deleted the USA maps from internal and re-installed ...

Finally, I have managed to get the gpx track that I recorded from the TomTom off the unit and onto the laptop so that I can open it n Tyre . Previously when "sharing" from the 410 it failed. Now, and just a coincidence, after an upgrade to the laptop software and downloading the US maps, it worked. I was surprised that the files was almost 5mb and once imported to Tyre showed over 30000 waypoints.  Luckily, the program manages to plot them by choosing one every 300 to 400! The picture shows the actual trip I did. Including going the wrong way and around a block near the Eloi crater as "we" failed to find the Eloi 2 crater a few yards from the first one!! I might try and use "record" again and see what happens.

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

Attached the 410 to the laptop tonight and it needed to do a Europe Map update, This apparently caused by the new out of town speed limit introduced across France that sees the limit reduced from 90kph to 80kph. As far as I have read this is actually only a trial period.  Let's hope France and her people see sense.

Finally got around to testing the "new" TomTom mounting kit onto Pepé. I've used it on a few trips away in the car and to Spain recently and Florida even and used the hire cars there with no problems. The new kit includes a locking bracket to the handlebars and one to lock the 410 itself to the bracket. It will stop the casual passer-by scumbag thief but the determined thief will get it. It will save me unshipping it at petrol stops and slipping it in my pocket. I had fitted a Bosch type plug on the end when it first arrived, but didn't test it. I have "sealed" it with my usual foot of insulating tape wrapped tightly so seal the plug where the wire goes in. The same has worked for a long time on the older model. The 410 doesn't seem to have a battery charging icon on the front page but as a test I took the plug out of the socket. Sliding the unit in had no effect. Popped the plug in and it powered on. The same as it does in the car. I need...

All change. Some small changes to the overnight stays have required a change to the routing.  The Parador de Gredos has been changed to another hotel nearer the main route between Madrid and Extremadura. The changes are really to make the trip a little smoother. This routeing is set to avoid toll roads and highways. As usual I have used Tyre to create the routing. Tyre  Route - avoiding highway & toll routing

So with the car-hire dilemma sorted.  I went for the no-excess plan instead of the low rate and potential hassle route of the cheap hire and massive insurance risk. So back to the route.  As usual I have used Tyre to plan a route between the various stops and the airport. Having this in the TomTom doesn't preclude from going off-piste to look at things in the Rough Guide or on the hoof.   I know there are people that think that a paper map is all you need and technology only ruins the trip. Good luck to them.  Finding a hotel in a huge city and arriving right outside the front door is preferable to riding around for hours.  I have done both other the last 40 years of touring and believe me. The TomTom way is way preferable. So this is the base route: Anti-clockwise at the top from the airport to the Parador de Gredos and then clockwise around the Extremadura cities. There will be some autostrada as well.  Not all of it on ordinary highways.  I ca...

I connected the TomTom for the first time in a few months and it said there were three updates to install. Two of them were map sets, Europe v10.05 and USA v10.05 plus the little fixes that are the community fixes. I let it download all of them and that came to about 12gb. That bit took about an hour with a few hiccups with the internet dropping out.  And then it seems to have ground to a halt.  At 100% download it sat for over an hour "checking". In the end I stopped it and started it again and it started to do the updates. This time I was able to untick the USA maps update as they aren't going to be needed this year. The update of just Europe and the fixes came up to take about an hour. Then it came up to say there were two updates, another community jobbie and the USA still outstanding from the earlier run through. I ticked that as well and it took another hour, at least it had the USA maps already downloaded. So after abo...

Sadly the lack of wifi for most of the trip meant I was unable to keep posting and so instead here's a summary and a few pictures will be added later. Day 1 Part 2 In the end they loaded us on a train and then announced that it had a problem and was being fixed? Why you have to ask do they load a train that has problems? In the end we arrived in France 75 minutes later than planned. That meant that we missed lunch and instead carried on a bit further. We stopped at Baie de la Somme again and Reggie had a walk about and his usual widdle stops and we had a coffee. Progress along the Paris avoidance route was successful but it was gone 7pm before we rolled up at the Campanile near Orléans.  In time to check in and give Reggie his late dinner before he and us went for ours. We opted for the buffet and Reggie lay under the table. Amazingly dog friendly.  Day 2 Up and away quite early after breakfast.  The plan to fill the tank thwarted by the hypermarket being shut on a Sunday...