Not so much a trip, more of a……

[Arsey]

On the train back, I met a party of Indian guys from south east London, all on sports bikes, who had been to Amsterdam. They were all new to riding and had, they told me, yet to discover proper waterproofs.

I told them they should sell their sports bikes, buy some waterproofs and get a Royal Enfield. Happy days.

The end.

Funnily looking sports bikes.

 

[Wapping]

Fair point. There again, I don’t really care too much about the generic headings of classes of motorbikes. I put those that do, in the same category of people who know road numbers intimately and the price of petrol to three decimal places All generally best avoided.

 

[g00ner]

Nice little report Richard.

I’m lucky in that the Chunnel is within 30 minutes of home so alluring as heading north to Scotland/Peaks/Dales is..it’s far easier to nip south to France. I had a week over there last month, rented a small house in Port en Bessin and had a fine time visiting several WW2 sites.

Stuck to minor roads like yourself, stops in Etretat and Fecamp en route, wandered around Caen and a decent base as a destination. We home cooked in the evenings] and stopped at small villages during the day for lunch. Warm welcome everywhere (as ever) even with my poor French . Fuel and accommodation was comparable to travelling to Scotland alone and its ‘different’..obviously but it does seem more like a real break.

One thing to note, if like me you use Tesco reward vouchers for the crossing fee, shortly their value will reduce to 2x as opposed to the current 3x (how I miss the old 4x..). If you’ve got a few vouchers put aside for just such a purpose..get them changed now, you’ll have 12 months to use them

Carry on

 

[Wapping]

Thank you.

I quite agree that, with a bit of imagination (like renting a small gite) it’s possible to create quite a nice break. Fuel costs, what fuel costs, irrespective of the location. It’s expensive but so is a beer or two.

It’s easier sometimes on your own as you can stop when you fancy it, maybe in a cafe or just by buying a roll or two, a bottle of water and an apple and stopping somewhere with a view….. or even just in a church porch or bus shelter, if it is pouring down. Or you can just press on, only stopping for a pee in the hedgerow.

 

[wessie]

Nice trip. Off to Normandy myself on Friday.

As for the tardy satnav, it the MRA app or phone's processing lagging behind? An easy way to find out would be to load up google maps and see how the phone manages a route in that app.

 

[Jockser]

Thanks for that Richard
As ‘our’ ferries all drop us in Cherbourg that area is not somewhere I’ve been and it’s nice to see
The V1 site looks worth a visit. I also prefer the smaller graveyards for exploration, the big ones being a bit overwhelming sometimes
A visit to a patisserie & a subsequent stop by a lake or river is what touring in France is all about

 

[Wapping]

Nice trip. Off to Normandy myself on Friday.

As for the tardy satnav, it the MRA app or phone's processing lagging behind? An easy way to find out would be to load up google maps and see how the phone manages a route in that app.

Thank you.

Enjoy, as they say.

MRA tell me on their dedicated Beta app forum, that it’s a problem with the app, not the phone per-se. They are working to iron it out (or whatever you do with bugs) but apparently it’s not so easy to do.

The odd thing is that the app turns the dark blue line of the route grey, as you pass along it. That is normal and useful. The grey line often extends past the bike’s position cursor, the ‘sharp end’ as it were of the grey line being at the bike’s true position. They just (I say, just) need to get the two to marry up.

I, as a long term Garmin fan, am enjoying route creation in MyRoute on my iPad and the ease with which it transfers a route to my XT, via Garmin Drive. Similarly, I am enjoying the Beta testing. It is all done in a very public way, way better than the hard work of the BMW Connected app, which had too much IT computer speak in the really quite dreadful report page. Keep it simple, is something BMW could learn.

I am not entirely sold yet on using a phone alone as a GPS device, preferring my XT to show me the route itself. But that is just a personal thing, I guess.

 

[Wapping]

Thanks for that Richard
As ‘our’ ferries all drop us in Cherbourg that area is not somewhere I’ve been and it’s nice to see
The V1 site looks worth a visit. I also prefer the smaller graveyards for exploration, the big ones being a bit overwhelming sometimes
A visit to a patisserie & a subsequent stop by a lake or river is what touring in France is all about

Thank you.

I can understand that the arrival / embarkation port or terminal, often dictates where one goes. By nature, or habit, I favour the eastern side of France, along with the Benelux countries, Germany and Austria. It takes me going to Le Mans and then on down the west side and sometimes to Spain, to remind me how good it is ‘over there’. Similarly, Ireland itself, is a mystery…. An itch I must scratch!

As to things to see? I’ll try to stop when on my own, at anything which looks odd or just nice. I once stopped at a huge quarry, for no other reason than the operators had gone to the trouble to put up a public viewing platform, along with a sort of electronic scoreboard, telling how many tons of rock (or maybe it was gravel) they had extracted, the number of train loads and all sorts of other ‘interesting’ stuff. Why not stop and see it, I thought? So, I did.

 

[Arsey]

Fair point. There again, I don’t really care too much about the generic headings of classes of motorbikes. I put those that do, in the same category of people who know road numbers intimately and the price of petrol to three decimal places All generally best avoided.

Unleaded 1.49
Diesel 1.62

 

[Wapping]

Unleaded 1.49
Diesel 1.62

You (just about) pass as you only went to two decimals

 

[snelly]

Good tread Wapping; and thanks for giving my wander lust a shot in the arm; sadly i've not done much these last few years so hopefully this could to rekindle my mojo;

 

[Wapping]

Thank you.

Like you, I didn’t do so much, especially after running Wapping Wannders for several years, peaking somehow at 24,000 miles in one year, which was just crazy. In fact, my motorbike went into the garage at home, without me so much as opening the garage door for a year.

I was lucky enough to get away during Covid on several jaunts. I then stopped again. My plan to go to the Ukraine was blown out of the water by the war.

It is only really since the autumn of 2022 that my interest in going away on my bike at all, has come back. Give going out a go, to see how you get on. I admit I was pretty rusty for the first couple of times but it came back.

 

[rogerstan]

Lightweight trips can be very appealing. I've just acquired a nice G310gs from this Parish, and I'm itching to get over the sea to Ireland and enjoy some back lanes.

Alas, I have to travel south to your Londinium this weekend for a wedding, on the plus side it's at St Paul's Cathedral. On the minus side ...... I can think of allsorts.

 

[Ex-Call Centre Chimp]

Thank you.

I can understand that the arrival / embarkation port or terminal, often dictates where one goes. By nature, or habit, I favour the eastern side of France, along with the Benelux countries, Germany and Austria. It takes me going to Le Mans and then on down the west side and sometimes to Spain, to remind me how good it is ‘over there’. Similarly, Ireland itself, is a mystery…. An itch I must scratch!

As to things to see? I’ll try to stop when on my own, at anything which looks odd or just nice. I once stopped at a huge quarry, for no other reason than the operators had gone to the trouble to put up a public viewing platform, along with a sort of electronic scoreboard, telling how many tons of rock (or maybe it was gravel) they had extracted, the number of train loads and all sorts of other ‘interesting’ stuff. Why not stop and see it, I thought? So, I did.

Great little report, TY.

I really enjoy travelling on my own (my friends seem to prefer it that way too). As you say you can stop whenever you feel like it to look at whatever takes your fancy along the way. In my case that's often football grounds or animals (wild or domesticated I'm not bothered). You can also eat when & where you want & book whatever hotel suits you whenever you've had enough for the day.

If you're heading to Ireland I would absolutely recommend the Wild Atlantic Way but take your time. I've done 2 bites so far & am less than halfway round. I started in Co. Donegal & & will be doing a 3rd week later this year, rejoining where I left off last year just south of Leenane in Co. Galway.

 

[Wapping]

Thank you both.

I tried the 310 GSA, I think it was, but just didn’t like it. But it, like the Himalayan, would be good for the back roads. That being said, now the Himalyan’s engine is starting to free up a bit, it feels more comfortable on the M25 / M20. But it will never be a rocket ship, nor do I want it to be. I see that people do tune them but I cannot see the point.

I have bought an RE Interceptor, from a nice bloke from UKGSer. That has ‘peashooter’ exhausts and a ‘free flow’ air filter. But, they sort of suit the bike. But, again, it’s no sports bike. As much as anything else it’s the suspension upgrade which he’d also had done, which improves the excellent chassis. Likewise, the chassis on the Himalayan is very good, too.

I now have three bikes but each are fundamentally different to each other. Two cheap and one bloody expensive! That’s enough.

 

[ChasMill]

Thanks for this Nasher, having done many Wanders with you I recognise many of the places visited, bring back many memories.

As always, I'm up for day / weekend jaunts when you are.

 

[Arsey]

Thank you both.

I tried the 310 GSA, I think it was, but just didn’t like it. But it, like the Himalayan, would be good for the back roads. That being said, now the Himalyan’s engine is starting to free up a bit, it feels more comfortable on the M25 / M20. But it will never be a rocket ship, nor do I want it to be. I see that people do tune them but I cannot see the point.

I have bought an RE Interceptor, from a nice bloke from UKGSer. That has ‘peashooter’ exhausts and a ‘free flow’ air filter. But, they sort of suit the bike. But, again, it’s no sports bike. As much as anything else it’s the suspension upgrade which he’d also had done, which improves the excellent chassis. Likewise, the chassis on the Himalayan is very good, too.

I now have three bikes but each are fundamentally different to each other. Two cheap and one bloody expensive! That’s enough.

And at least you can ride the REs when the RecallsяUs 1600 is having more downtime

 

[Wapping]

Talking of which, I have to go to Battersea to pick it up, from having the quick shifter mended.

 

[Wapping]

Thanks for this Nasher, having done many Wanders with you I recognise many of the places visited, bring back many memories.

As always, I'm up for day / weekend jaunts when you are.

Thanks, Charlie.

I still want to arrange some things for LMC, so some more weekend / long weekend jaunts will be on the cards, hopefully.

 

[crumbles]

Great simple R&R Richard..

Wish I lived closer too a port/Train for a weekend getaway..
Dover 4hrs
Portsmouth 3hrs
Plymouth 1 hr... but ends up in Spain..!!