This farewell circuit was….
North Camp – striking distance to Pat, and drop off the bike. Turns out to have a nice B&B and a huge motorcycle shop.
Worplesdon – drop off the bike @ Pat’s, then head to London – back to the VSC. They really take good care of me, and sent me around the corner to a good dentist for a proper follow-up.
Worplesdon – back and pick-up the bike, as Pat was unable to get to this before, maybe, next week 🙁
Headed up to Tadmarten – a proper pub, and proper supper of liver&onions
Eastwood – popped by to see Mick (all recovered). Found Mick’s home despite TomTom’s attempts to lead me astray.
That evening stopped at the nice Eastwood Hall. It’s bigger than it looks.
Scunthorpe – in the hope of finding a quiet place full of old people. haha. Not quite as expected. Much more action. And a nice coffee to be had at the INDIEpendent, where there was a fair going on, and more. Also, found a proper cafe for Sunday lunch. Used the weekend to prepare all my tax filings. So not all fun.
Goole – Monday headed out on the bike, which included catching the sights at centre of Dutch-ness.
Drax – to see Britain’s largest power station which was in the process of re-jigging it’s visitor centre. Security guard was not impressed by my attempt at James Bond humour, asking if the station was named after Drax 🙂
Selby – for a look at the church. And the market was in town.
York – to await the bike’s appointment. Was good timing as I finished my tax filing 🙂 And did laundry, plus found a nice coffee shop, bakery and pasta place. I like York. City has a nice vibe to it. But don’t drive in. Always a lot of traffic.
Wednesday morning up, first-parade on the bike, which included a chat with the neighbour, an ex-BMW rider (before the plastic joints and bones), and rode off to Barrie Robson’s, for the bike service. Needed brake-pads, and I am back to John Parker’s recommendation of more frequent 10,000km checks. As I discovered later, it’s a good idea: Fresh oil has calmed the start-up noise; And the rear-wheel squeak has gone. Bike still loosing coolant, but as told, “still some life in the bike yet”. haha. The appointment was in the afternoon, so used the morning and sunshine, to take a look-see at the York countryside.
Hull – 5pm and the bike sorted, so found passage via Hull to Holland. Boat leaves at 8:30pm. Nearly did not make it, as the web-site was acting up. Now who builds a web-page that cannot take a payment? All sorts of idiots in computers. Don’t think so? John Parker’s details are ring-fenced on the Budd’s site. You cannot access them from France. Really missing the point of the Internet 🙁
Back to Hull. Am liking the Hull port more and more. Easy access to Europe from England. Harwich and Dover are a nasty ride, on the England side. Hull is an easy ride from the old homestead, as well as “up norf” 🙂
Rotterdam – arrived in the morning. And headed out. Stopped off at the first opportunity, and ran checks on the bike as cannot do so on-board the boat. Then headed south.
Brussels – traffic jam again, but no rain 🙂
Luxembourg – for one of my errands. Failed. Shop discontinued the product.
Thionville – was today’s target, and found a place for the night. Checked my target shop in Milano, to find they close till May 5th! Drat. Might have given notice a bit earlier. No hint two days ago 🙁
Supper was an acceptable lamb with garlic…..
Really comfy bed, so stayed an extra night.
And need time to re-plan my trip to Heidelberg.
Thoughts so far?
(1) Europe is a tiny place 🙂 In one day, I crossed Holland, Belgium, and Luxembourg, entering France. Four countries in a day! Lots of changes. Canada is best described as “more of the same, going on, and on, and…….”
(2) Just as well Europe is tiny, they have ethanol-laced petrol. 10% ethanol reduces the bike’s mileage by 10-20%.
(3) Volvo cars are the ones to watch-out for. Eg: yesterday in a Luxembourg traffic-jam, Volvo car over-took me, and slid into the gap I leave between the bike and vehicle in front. Eg: the first car that tried to run me over was a Volvo 🙁
(4) It’s nice to be back in Europe. Sunshine. 24degC. Good food. LOTS more motorcycles, on the road, and parked in those special “motorcycle spots” 🙂
So that is us all caught up.
I bid you all a safe journey, in whatever path life chooses for you.
Happy Easter.