Round 7: Rambling on..

A bit of a carry on..

Moving on from the blues trip to the following Friday afternoon now.

I'm meeting Rich, aka The Nutty GSer of this parish for a ride up to the Carry on Up The Costwolds event. I can't say I've ever really explored the corridor directly west of London, that's a bit of a blind spot for me, so we're having a ride that way before we head on to the pub and the venue for the weekend. And very enjoyable it was too. Thanks old bean.

And so to COUTC. There are several other threads talking about it so I won't go on too much.

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The UKGSer events are first class. I wish I'd gone off to them earlier. Highly recommended. What to expect if you've not been? Well, just as the forum is exactly that, a forum and not a club, there's no committee: people won't come rushing up to aid every one of your hearts desires. If you can manage with that then that's a good start and there's a good chance you'll dig the events. Mingle in, have a chat, people don't bite. Great stuff :thumby:

My tent which normally takes a few minutes to put up is taking more than half an hour due to my general rabbiting on with folks. Eventually proceedings are taken over by folks- May I recommend the 'tent porter' service, shown here as expertly provided by Garfield and Madame B. :)

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Eventually there's a hefty trek to the pub- why, it must have been all of fifty yards :D An evening of beers, chat- oh and not forgetting the cheese eh. At some point I wobble back to the tent.

There's a church nearby and the tents are quite cosily packed together. The overnight soundtrack is snore, fart, occasional clang, snore. A true blessing that motorcyclists carry ear plugs :)

Very early the following morning. Lesson: Port after a comprehensive evening on the pop is a bad idea.

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Beer of the day: Hook Norton 'Cotswold Lion'. Enjoyed that. :beer:

:beerjug:
 
Saturday

Not a bad sleep and no cheese dream last night. My last cheese dream following an overdose at Boxer Beet involved one of the Coldstream Guards turning up on a motorbike, bearskin et all, and shooting at people in an Indian restaurant.

Saturday was pretty much a chilled out affair. I wimped out of the road ride, opting for a trip to the Hook Norton brewery. Mr K takes the lead with Buz, Gibby, OldCodger, GSAddict and my good self in tow to cover the intrepid 3.5 miles. We did go through a ford though.
Is that rufty tufty?

Hook Norton brewery. And a fine Victorian Structure it is.

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Museum is a pleasant little diversion, no charge.

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Yay... Doh.

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The names of Hook Norton over the past. Interesting stuff.

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Treasure. A few tasty take outs...

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Mr K and Buz decide the going is a bit too much :D and opt to head back to base. The rest of us do another 3 miles, hard miles mind to lunch at The Norman Knight.

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A fine selection of ales.

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Just a cheeky one, after all, we're piloting the starship aren't we.

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After a very decent leisurely rideout of a few more miles we arrive back for more beer and bollox.

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A fine night follows.

Beer of the day: Hook Norton 'Old Hooky'. A splendid drop.
 
Sunday

I didn’t sleep much at all last night. It dropped down to 7 degrees overnight, much, much colder. Last night was positively balmy.
Me, well, I'm a fair weather camper at the very best of times so this comes as a bit of a jolt- Camping + Motorcycles + Cold = Lunacy.
Not much sleep is had. I'm very tired.

I was planning a ride with Rich before heading back, however, I do need to get home and he's emerged with a storming hangover, something to do with drinking until 3am, so that's off.

I set off with Garmin showing for 'shortest route' and it isn't until I'm haring over a bridge of the M40 that I work it out. Getting far too involved with excellent riding on those delectable Cotswold roads. Stuff it I think, I might as well just be late, so I carry on.

A road that claimed to be 'Brill'. It was alright but no big bananas.

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There are a lot of cyclists around today. I guess that's inevitable being where we are and with it being Sunday and all. I've read various bits and bobs about how Cyclists are becoming more and more aggressive, I witnessed it in the flesh today. Groups of them ride in 'The Peloton' and seem to be behaving as ignorantly as possible. Now I'm not much of a cyclist, and I'm sure they've had their fair share of loons on the road but this seemed out of hand.

Topping it all was groups of them just emerging across the road to join up in a National speed limit, bringing the traffic to a shuddering halt :eek

From now on I think I'll term these people as 'Suicyclists'

To make things worse I drop in on a friend on route. We get talking about things important and I get home very late. Not good. After a protracted sit down and some
dinner it is dark outside and and I have a very early.
I pack the bike up in the dark and that is a stupid thing to do. More of that later.

Beer of the day: Svurtys Old Port Scottish Ale. It might sound odd but it is gorgeous. A Lithuanian dark beer and the ideal one-before-bed as it proved to be.

:beerjug:
 
***

That concludes the Ramble short. The main feature will start shortly. For those of you listening on Radio 4 Long Wave it will commence after the shipping forecast. In the mean time refreshments are available in reception.

***
 
Hook Norton

Spent a short break in this cracking little village this summer...didn't visit the brewery as could never get past the two excellent pubs on the way there...am now completely hooked on 'Hooky' - I'm sure the other brews are good too, it's just that once I'd tasted this stuff, I didn't really want to move off it!

Happy ramblings! :beerjug:
 
Nice report, Rob.:thumb I'll be keeping an eye out for the next one.:beerjug:
 
Thanks Paintman :thumby:

Am actually sorted for a place tomorrow, being put up by some friends. But I'm going to be whizzing right past you guys at lunchtime :thumb
 
***

That concludes the Ramble short.

Is that it :blast

FFS Rob you had better get packed up and feck of somewhere for Gawds sake, there are people on here sat waiting, watching ....

Now feck off will ya please ...

... and tell us about it :friday

:beerjug:
 
Is that it :blast

FFS Rob you had better get packed up and feck of somewhere for Gawds sake, there are people on here sat waiting, watching ....

Now feck off will ya please ...

... and tell us about it :friday

:beerjug:

Why, no :thumby:

As we care for the environment here at Ramble HQ we've decided to reuse this thread and recycle responsibly :)
 
Romford to Baden Baden

Fast forward one day from COUTC. It is now Monday. 3.45am.

Alarm: Beep.

Me: Go away.

Alarm: Beep.

Alarm: Louder beep.

Me: Swearing.

I grab and turn off the phone alarm in a daze, ready to sleep on, but lucky for me somehow I catch myself doing it and sit bolt upright. If I'd have gone back to sleep I'd have been there for hours and I definitely have things to do.
It is fair to say I'm a little disorientated and when you're facing a pretty long day in the saddle that doesn't bode particularly well. I fill up with PG tips, and then more PG tips while slowly getting together. Lucky for me I laid everything out last night even though I felt shattered.

Just after 4.30 I'm on the road. All to schedule.

It's still very dark and there's not a soul about. I zip through the suburbs of town without a fuss. I float over the Dartford bridge and breeze down on to the M20. There's the merest suggestion of daylight and I am towards the emerging light. No need to rush so a gentle cruise. There's something about the cool air that works very well with the boxer twin and it purrs along at a leisurely chat.

Fast forward an hour and the approach to dover set against the rising sun was very special. I tried to catch a picture of the splendour.. something that would do it justice.

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Yes, I failed miserably.

I'm ushered straight on board without even stopping, I can't even take the mandatory pre-ferry entrance shot. I'm on the only bike on the boat and a friendly chap emerges with the necessary tackle to lash the beastie down.

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On board I settle out on a nice sofa in the forward starboard corner of the boat. Stretch out, relax. The ambience is shattered by arrival to the next seats along of a family with a squeaky kid who is throwing tantrums, hopping up and down and going totally bonkers. The whole lounge is goggly eyed and looking at the show. Oh, FFS, give me peace. This lasts a good twenty minutes before I'm driven to some music to drown out the noise.
Tango in the Night, Fleetwood Mac.
Foreground: Carolaye ayee aye aye aya aye aye ayeeeene. Background: Squeak/scream.
Adjust volume. Sorted. Relax.

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We sail off into the direction of the Sunshine and the view is just lovely so I take it in.

Le preperation. Set speed cameras to 'Non'.

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What with the squeak-o-rama and all I don't feel much like writing on the ferry, so I don’t.

I have a quick look over the bike and we're off the ferry with a minimum of fuss. I was up at the front off to the side and the guy doing the unload sought me out and dragged me to the front so I was first off the ferry which is always a pleasure. Calais port quickly deposits you on the A26 so the ferry fast becomes a faded memory as I cruise through the various UK number plates, Wobbly boxes, VW T5's with bike racks, Estate cars with everything possible bunged in to it. You get the picture.

I hadn't specifically planned a route today. The game plan was to get past aim for the Black Forest part of Germany by the end of the day. I was kind of apprehensive about the day today, a) that I was tired, b) that I had to cover a reasonable amount of ground. The difference between the rambles in this is that most days the distances have been modest, what with having no time limits as such and the riding always relatively leisurely.

But here's the quandry. I don't like motorways. I mean on a bike who does? (ZZR1400 owners need not reply). But I've a real problem: I need to cover miles.

So. We will take the peage to be the tarmac of choice until Cambrai, and then heading South East, skirting Belgium, and then dipping down to Verdun for a spot of lunch and then to continue South East to make Germany, again mixing up a little motorway when needed.

Is it me, or does anyone else ride their bike according to how it 'feels'? Today the bike feels great. It is positively purring in the morning sunshine and 85-95 is just floating along. It wants to motor briskly so we motor briskly.

Off of the peage, around Cambria and to the D roads. I always get a great feeling when heading on a trip through France. A place so near, but everything so remarkably different to home. I'm in a jolly mood, so I match with some music- cue Lester Young and the Oscar Peterson Trio, the jazz matching up to some brisk and highly enjoyable riding. Hit a village- sit pleasantly at 50. Outside the village- twist the fun handle.

Ah, we're in Verdun now.

A random Verdun snap.

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Strange. There are a lot of odd sorts in Verdun. I remember a night in St. Omer with my brother Nick a couple of years back where he termed a group of local 'yoofs' as 'Les Fuds'. It reminds me and makes giggle to myself. Now I'm getting a few funny looks.

Lunch by the river.

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I buy a sticker for the bike from a man that rides a new 1200 WC. "Do you like it?" I asks. "Yes, but we'll see how it goes" is the response in a very much 'Cest La Vie' style. Curious. He doesn't seem particularly impressed. Maybe he's just very laid back.

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Bollocks. I noticed that I've lost my oil bottle and my pack with my jump leads in that were attached to the rear carrier. Where I packed at night I put them on the wrong side, the wrong rack as it were, and they've fell off the bottom. Silly, silly boy. The moral of this? Don't pack in the dark.

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I've been using some Mindfulness techniques to analyse my feelings about stuff and it helps. Normally I become very, very pissed off at doing stupid things, and that can play on my mind and affect my mood, spoiling my day. But I react quite well, philosophically thinking about how and why, and in the grander scheme of things it isn't a big deal. Very helpful. More of that later, too I should imagine.

Out of Verdun and some Motorway, before cutting across the North of the 'Reserve Nationale de Chasse de la Petite Pierre' and the amusingly (to me) named Pfaffenhoffen. Another splendid ride and then over the border into the Deutsche Bundesrepublik as the sign says.
I roll into Baden Baden just short of 6pm. Today is declared a success.

Booking.com finds a hotel just outside. The owner seems a bit odd but the place was well reviewed. Dinner is an absolute cracker. Pork thingamybob.

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Just a couple short of 500 today and I finish up feeling remarkably fresh. Dinner in the restaurant and bed by 10 though as something very similar to do tomorrow. Can I get it to work tomorrow- a mix of great riding and motorway? We'll see I guess.

Beer of the day: Hatz Dunkel. Even though the waitress completely didn't get my 'Men without Hatz' joke* when I said no more thanks. Where has she been.

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*Sorry about the 'Men without Hatz' joke. That was in aid of 'Give an elderly joke a home' week, 1st-8th September.

:beerjug:
 
Roberto , glad you are back in the saddle:clap:clap:clap

Looking forward to your Ramblings , yer hatz joke made me laugh. Keep up the good work. :beerjug::thumby:
 
Good to have you back, doing what you do best!:thumb:beerjug::D
 
Hey roberto,

Glad your back on the road again i enjoy your reports.

Im setting off for the ferry from hull to zebrugge in about an hour, and then heading for Schonau in the black forest tomorrow night, then off into the alps for some fun.

If you see a lone grey 57 gsa, waving you down in your mirrors itll be me :beerjug:



Cheers,
Phil.
 


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