‘M off - Eifel, Luxembourg and Belgium

Just picking up on this one Rich. Have a good trip.

That Chunnel thingy...most amazing and now you tell us it has a helmet shelf...why have I not been on the sub on wheels yet. :nenau :D
 
Back on track…. Day two….

Who said it’s going to rain? 28 degrees and wall to wall blue. I was vaguely encouraged when the clouds built up, but then they went away again.

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Isn't he just. :rolleyes:

He is either jotting down the notes in wee little black book or recovering the information from the days travels. Must a be an age thing.

And he's taken up smoking it seem. Ohh hang on, he's in Germany :blast. Every Dieter, Thomas und Olaf along mit ihrem Schlampe (🤭) Brigitte fecking puffing away there. Forgot that still do that over there when I was over last time.
 
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I is well on tenter hooks here my bikermate… come on!! 🙄 or I can is having no shuteye tonight at all.
 
Day two…..

The answer to the great mystery of the strange strap, taped to the lady’s screen, can now be revealed. By chance she was loading up her bike, when I was leaving, so I took the opportunity to engage her in bikermate banter. It is, to be fair, a bodge of quite remarkable genius. The mount for her sat nav had broken, the strap is there to support the mount and GPS device in place.

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Now that I’d answered on of life’s great mysteries, I could set off to ride the 280 mile cross-country (non-motorway) route to the border with Germany.

Leaving St Omer at 07:45, I trundled my way to St Pol for breakfast , to a cafe and excellent bakery I know, with very good parking just across the road:


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The bakery was quite busy, not least as buying bread is a national sport in France:

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My breakfast croissant (and my lunch) bought, I could sit and enjoy my coffee in the cafe next door:

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Then it it was off again, along the D roads of France, skirting Arras and Cambrai, to stop about an hour and a half later at another cafe I know, for an Orangina.

The cafe is on the main drag through the small town of Inchy. It’s a useful place know as it’s a good place to stop after rolling off the Chunnel if you then take the motorway to Cambrai:

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It’s as French as you like, with (naturally enough) the horse racing and Lotto being run:

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The owner is a nice chap, who now half recognises me, not least as I have stopped there quite regularly and always try to engage with him in Franglais.

As 280 miles across France and Belgium on D roads is a decent schlep, I didn’t stop too often en-route to take pictures. But, as I have ridden the roads quite a few times, I mark my progress in my mind with things that I recognise or half-remember. A good example is the large church of St Peter at Soire le Chateau. It appears like some sort of strange thing from science fiction, as you ride into the town on the dead straight road:

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Somewhere along the way, I crossed from France into Belgium, though cannot remember seeing the border signs. The only clue I got was when I noticed that the town and road signs had changed.

To be continued as it’s time for breakfast… and it’s raining! Hoorah!
 
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Great report so far Richard.

I’ve saved the cafes you recommend on Google maps. Thanks for sharing.

Funny enough, when wife and I were in that very town of Inchy back in May. It would’ve been a great place to stop at L’imprévu for a coffee, before joining A26 after Cambrai and heading for the tunnel.

Nothing beats wast reserves of local knowledge during years worth of travels.
 
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Day two…..

The answer to the great mystery of the strange strap, taped to the lady’s screen, can now be revealed. By chance she was loading up her bike, when I was leaving, so I took the opportunity to engage her in bikermate banter. It is, to be fair, a bodge of quite remarkable genius. The mount for her sat nav had broken, the strap is there to support the mount and GPS device in place.

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Surely many a tosser have and still do use a TomTom to navigate on their jaunts. Why does it need a support? Unless the mounting bracketry hasn’t been fixed properly.
I suspect that being a GSA. The OEM windscreen (or the mounting/supporting) assembly is wobbling about. It is just what these screen s do on 1200/1250 GS/GSA do. In that case she does need to buy herself a set of supporting bracket that bolt on in conjunction with the OEM hardware. The negative side of this, is that if she wanted to adjust her windscreen, she would have to pull over undo the two knobs either side, then twiddle the big knob (😆) following by tightening the knobs on either side of the screen brackets. It is a faff and a half, even more so if riding as a group. Another great (not) design by BMW Motorrad Division, relying on owners solving their design cockups and spending even more wonga on an already expensive piece of hardware.

Personally when I had my GS/GSA, I never bothered with further boltons and just put up with the wobbly screen, which meant that I could adjust the height of it at any moment I wished to do so without stopping.
 


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