WW1 Battlefields

In March of 1918, my fathers elder brother was killed in Amiens. A member of the Royal Irish rifles, Patrick was 22 years older than my father and had made the rank of Serjeant (correct sp) at the age of 26. My father was very proud of the brother he never really knew and had always wanted to visit the memorial, for no body was ever recovered and therfore there was no grave.. My father died in 2004 at the age of ninety without fulfilling his wish, so I would like to do it for him made by visiting the war graves and memorial at Pozieres.
H and I have therefore decided to do a short WW1 Battlefield tour in September.
Of all the journey's I have completed, I think this might be one of the most poignant.

Old Reliable takes a
rest near Bristol on the way to Bath.

The Holiday Inn Plymouth. Good rooms and nice meal in the Penthouse
restaurant.

The Lido in which the seawater is circulated through twice a day...
500,000 gallons apparently.

No sign of Armada's today...or Bowls playing...!

Looking across the Lido to Drakes Island

For American friends, here is a plaque by the Mayflower Steps to
commerate where it all started...

UK Run

Starting a one week trip tomorrow which will see me visit, Camberley in Surrey, Devon, Bath and St Albans. Not quite up to Southern California or Spain so I won't bore anyone by writing a trip report but if I have any extra special meals or see some interesting sights, I'll try to post.

All on board and the end of the trip. In summary, we set off on Friday morning and covered 445 miles with a total riding time of 12 hours. Both bikes came in with consumption of around 48-50MPG. Cost of the trip, including meals, ferry, hotels and Tunnel about £550 each or £140 per day. What are the memories? Chocolate box perfect town of Delft and its happy citizens celebrating a world cup quarter final as if they'd won the cup. Lovely, friendly people welcoming to their guests. Riding from Delft to Turnhout and hitting a thunderstorm which nearly drowned us as we ingested copious amounts of water through open helmets. Stopping in 27c to put on waterproofs as the rain poured down and having set off again, seeing the sun come out after a mile so therefore looking stupid (and hot)in heavy raingear.
A nice waitress in Turnhout introducing H to Duvel beer. A mere 8.5% proof bottle later, she helpfuly informed H that Duvel is Flemish for Devil.
Finally, noticing that every bike we passed or met had a rider with a friendly salute and every rider we spoke to on the ferry or tunnel was just as we'd expect...a brother.
H and I have decided that the next trip will be Northern France. Don't know when but before the end of this summer.
By the way, I've noticed a few people coming back to have a look at the site from time to time. I started off by keeping this blog as a record for myself but if you have the time, please do let me know through the comments facility whether you want me to carry on with the blog as a public site..critisism good or bad is welcome!
Blue skies
Juneau

More Harley's arrive to join us. These guys had come up from Spa.

The last leg completed, we arrived into Calais two hours after leaving
Brugge. The Adonnes Hotel is recommended. Friendly staff all of whom
were really interested in the bikes. Last night we ate in the Market
square. Bad move. Expensive, formula food. Find a little gem in the
back streets, half the price and chef's who try harder.

Having protected both Harley's overnight, Arthur required twenty
minutes of 'chase the ball' before allowing us to leave.

Arrived in Brugges after a good 4 hour ride. Think we've seen more
Harley's in Belguim than when we were in California.

If Carlsberg did cycling......

Stopped here for lunch en route. Dunno where we are, just following
the GPS. Lovely countryside and temps around
24c.

Leaving Ter Driezen, Turnhout for Brugges.

Turnhout has a busy Market square which is full of life but sometimes,
it is the areas away from the bustle which provide reflective moments.
We came across this walk after an excellent Italian meal just off the
main square.
We travelled 76 miles today through heat and thunderstorms. Rotterdam
provided interesting moments as we tried to transit the city without
ending up in the Tour de France. Both bikes continue to impress with
their resolute performance, eating up the miles and delivering us to
where we need to be.
Tomorrow, a late Sunday breakfast and 90 mile to Brugges.

The good citizens of Turnhout know exactly where their town fits in
the world order.

The Ter Driezen Hotel in Turnhout which used to be the Mayor's
residence. The current owners have been running it for 22 years. Very
friendly and welcoming.

I don't think H takes the Harley dressing up bit seriously. Shortly
after this photo was taken, we were
caught in the Mother and Father of a thunderstorm. However, soaking
wet, we arrived at the hotel so now out to the Market square for a bit
of sightseeing and a few Stella's.

Rather than take the boring motorway route to Turnhout, why not go the
longer more interesting way? We could even go through Rotterdam. What
a good idea! Only time you wouldn't want to go through Rotterdam would
be if...oh, I don't know...how about if the Tour de France was riding
through? 33c in town stopping at lights and bridges while the gps
went crazy trying to reroute us. Bl:::y pushbikes!

Picture postcard perfect. This shot taken from the table where we had
breakfast. We were most impressed with Delft. Nice place, nice people.

S'funny, when parking the bikes in Delft, we paid a little more
attention to the exercise than normal.

11pm local time and we've had a hot days riding. 32c when we arrived
but this evening about 25c. Perfect evening. Ride the bikes into
Delft, walk around, have a couple of beers and steaks in a market
square cafe and watch the celebrations. We're at the Grand Winston and
the hotel have allowed us to park just outside reception. Good day!

So, been a while since we last chatted H. Let's have a quiet meal in
Delft and catch up on life.
Not on the evening that Holland beats Brazil into the Semi's we won't...
Tonight, we were honorary Dutch. Great company, all enjoying
themselves without a glimmer of bad behaviour.

After six hours on the calmest of calm seas, the Hook of Holland
approaches.

The perfect cabin at sea. A stocked, free minibar!

Harley Davidson? Common as muck...
Having pulled up in the bike parking area, we were quite surprised to
see a collection of Road King's, Glides and another FatBob. Good company

Meeting at East Bergholt. Excellent ride through back roads to
Harwich. Blew the cobwebs away....

Well I Never...

Isn't technology wonderful... I've just found out how to post to the
blog by email from my iphone and yes, I know that while this is a revelation for me, twelve-year olds will be sniggering.
This is a rather bad picture of a circular rainbow seen from the garden yesterday. It's nothing to do with motorcycle touring apart from providing a test upload to the blog and perhaps being a good omen for the weather. So, as long as I have wi-fi accessibility, I will try to keep the blog updated as the trip progresses.

The GPS is loaded, the Harley's ready to go and the weather is looking like it will be a scorcher over Northern Europe for the weekend. The ferry from Harwich leaves at 09:00 tomorrow but we're aiming to get there an hour or so before to get on-board and hit the restaurant for breakfast. One of the benefits of living just 20 miles from the port means I only have to leave the house around 7:15 to meet up with H at 7:30 and board half an hour later.
Compared to the last two trips the Rigg Pak is pretty much under-utilised as we're only away for three nights. Two t-shirts, 2 shorts, pair of shoes and....well, thats it really. Plenty of space in the Rigg and bags for some plonk on the way back.
I was hoping to bring a laptop with me for en-route photos and reports but my small one is playing up with the "blue screen of death" appearing every 20 minutes and my multimedia laptop is about as suitable for a lap as a Harley Davidson Road King is for World Superbike. We'll see what the iPhone can offer but more likely the next report will be after the event.