Back home now

Just passed a massive canal boat lift

Roadworks everywhere

But nothing stands in the way of Dark Lord

Just saw this swoop and take a pigeon

Going this way now

Not sure what happened here!!!!!!

Just missed this happening   , so don't know how it happened   

No one hurt    .   Emergency services just arrived.

Rain has stopped - but a bit chilly

Marksbury Shane

Heading back today - rain

Looks like I am getting the rain the UK had yesterday.  Hopefully it will start to clear as I head West  

Planets Con has just finished

Another great Planets NU conference.   Tomorrow (Monday) I will be setting off back home.   Need to work out a route.

There were about 30 attendees for the conference.   Attendees from UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and a chap had flown over from America for the conference.

It was good I arrived a day early for Planets Con as I was able to help set up and do some of the shopping.    We were staying in a business hotel come hostel.   Hotel style rooms, but a massive kitchen on the top floor with a sun deck and BBQ.   To reduce costs for everyone we were going self-catering.   We learnt from the conference last year that the Fins and the Germans had huge appetites, so we ended up buying lifer threating amounts of alcohol and meat.   

All very professional again with power point presentation, video conferencing feeds and you-tube for those that could not make it.  Even had T-Shirts and Planets Con ID badges,

A not so short cut along a field in Germany

Looked like it could be a shortcut, but in the end I just loped back on myself

https://youtu.be/DLMaeTWxrNQ

A Ferry!

I was not the only person confused by the Garmin shortcut.   The chap behind me had the same instructions from his Garmin.    We got chatting and he was from America.   He had flown from Washington to Frankfurt, bike and all.  The bike was a BMW GS1200, brand new with 300 miles on the clock.   Not sure why he did not buy it in Germany and fly it back.   He is on a 6-month tour and was heading to Croatia.

Just waiting for the ferry to dock.

Ah another Garmin short cut

Should be fun getting the ferry  

Popped into the city today

Now going to head off to Germany  

The roads in Belgium and Luxembourg are just amazing

These roads are just great.  I do know what people do around here, but they are not on the roads.   Just the occasional car or lorry, but otherwise just empty roads.

They are so great that many of the roads I am going back down and up on just to have fun.  I am not alone, these roads appear very popular with other bikers as well.  Really a bikers dream riding these roads.

So, here is the N353 going North from Brandenburg.    Unfortunately, I left the Gopro at the campsite , so I ended up strapping the Samsung to the front of the bike with elastic bands, hence the poor quality.   Also, as it does not have a memory card I was running at the lowest resolution.


https://youtu.be/-ut6pKWFhRw

Stopped off at Vianden to look at the castle and have a spot of late lunch

Chateau de Vianden

If you follow the house roofs down the hill my restaurant is there by the river.

All very pleasant

So what am I packing?

So, this is what I pack with me on my travels.

Apart from the saddlebags I also have 2 yellow waterproof roll top bags, top of picture, tout everything in.

Top left - Sleeping bag

Next row down left to right

• Tarp for the vestibule 

• Tent and hammer.

• Laptop in turquoise case sitting on a tray

• All clothes are in the orange packing cubes

             - 1 pair shoe socks             - 3 pairs knickers             - 1 Pair trousers             - 2 shirts with collars             - 2 riding T-Shirts             - Thermal shirt, long johns and holly hat for sleeping in when really cold             - A thin quilted puffer jacket for riding, sleeping and just as a jacket
             - 3 pairs riding socks

Next row down’ish

• Green bag with gluten-free porridge 

• Toiletries int he brown bag

• Sleeping blow up matrices in the blackish bag

• There is a bed with legs in the yellow bag

• Free bottle of wine from the campsite (never thought I would need a corkscrew……….

• Orange bag is a sleeping bag liner for when really cold

• Blue bag is a blow-up pillow

• There is a table under the pillow

• Grey bag is a sheet

• Next to the wine is my jet boil gas water heater with coffee press.   I also keep my diamond wire saw in here along with matches and a spoon

• A mug

• Water container, I also have a Camel Back

• The black and orange thing is a bucket/basin for water

• The yellow bag above that has the go pro and all cables

• First aid kit

• Riding waterproofs

• shoes and sandals 

In addition to this I have;

•  2 pairs of glasses one for reading one for long distance

• A floppy hat to protect my head from the sun

• 2 Lights for the tent

• A leather man + tools + compressor + punter repair kit

• A Gopro

• An iPhone

• A Samsung Galaxy Note

• A Garmin 

• A Laptop

• A washing line

• Motorcycle chain cleaner and brush

• Motorcycle chain lube

• Parra Cord

         

                                         and a chair

In a nice camp site now

WiFi here is non existent, well I am.in the middle of a forest.

Initially when I turned up at walsdorf Ferienpark Tandelerbach I just kept going.  Nice location but I saw too many children.   The next campsite was next to a river, all very nice until you realised it was next to an industrial estate and skateboard park.   Looking around it was full of tatty caravans, so a no to that.   I was starting to get tired, so decided to go back to the first one    Guess what, they found a nice quit spot for me away from everyone.   Best of all they had a promotion on and I was given a free bottle of wine...............  the only thing I don't have is a cork screw........................

Excellent luxumbourg roads

Luxembourg

I should have checked that they drive on the right.   Will soon find out  

A cool looking church. I know nothing more than that

After that a short rest to plot route into luxemborg

This why I thought better not to go past that barrier

Lots of shooting hides all around.   Last thing I need is to get caught in the cross fire of a hunting party!  

Let's try this for a short cut

Great forest roads today

Cloudy and 16°C, quit nice riding weather  

Going to head to luxumborg today and look for a place to camp for 2 nights.  Then I can go for a ride without all this luggage.

A great ride out today - I love Belgium back roads

The driving was superb, ok, I had a bit of a false start as I set off on the wrong way on the D1 out of Riven, but even that took me along some really great biking roads.  AND, because I had to back -track I had to do those same roads the other way round.    


Its amazing route following the D1 East, and as you can see from my route I detoured a bit when roads looked interesting.
Pulled up at a couple of campsites on the way, but they looked too busy and too full of children, so I continued on towards Luxembourg.  But at around 16:30 I was getting a bit fatigued and the quality of my riding was starting to deteriorate, so I headed off to the next campsite in my general direction East.   What a find, Camping Spineuse Neufchâteau in Belgium.   Now I don't know how many times I have crossed the French/Belgium border, but Belgium is much nicer.   This campsite even has a bar and bistro.    When I checked in I asked if there was somewhere quiet to pitch up and they took me to an area away from everyone else, great. 

Now the satnav says stright ahead

I am not sure they want me on this road .

Good job I have off road tyres.

If you follow the road back you will see another pile of gravel. 

Was thinking of turning back, but the road ahead looked clear.

Lucky there was no lock on this barrier.    Al I had to do was lift it up and it swung round.   So next time you set your Satnav to Shortest Route, watch out.........

How is this for a hair-pin bend

Road steep down hill and running away from you adverse camber.

Wash n' Go

Motorbikes have built in clothes dryers.

Twisty roads today

A nice sunny morning

Just making breakfast  looking up at the hills

Looks like I had a visitor in my tent last night  as I was greeted by a bird poo in the middle of the porch.   The challenges of the wild outdoors .

I'm in Revin, France

So this trip I thought I would do it a bit differently.  Nothing really planned apart from the destination: Planets Con 2018.   I have a rough route planed, But that's just by country.    I have real paper maps and will seek out interesting roads as I ride.

Trip down was a bit boring as I took the main roads to get through France as quickly as possible.  Small roads and tracts from now on

Riven looks a good spot to ride east from, looks like lots of windy roads to Luxembourg.  So  windy roads it is tomorrow.

The online map should be working now as well   

First night in France, but it may be Belgium

I need to check the map  

Biker luxury on the Euro Tunnel

Standing All the way.

Waiting to get on the euro tunnel

So i am off on another trip to attend a Planets NU cimputer game conferance.  This time it is in Wiesbaden in Germany.

Route is Channel Tunnel to France, then via Belgium and Luxumberg.

All trains delayed.   Ironically when I checked in they asked if I wanted to go on an early train, I said yes, but the early train is delayed, to guess what, the original time of departure.

Back home

Crossing back was nice and smooth.    Even though it was a big boat with entertainment I am glad I loaded lots of films onto my laptop.

Met a chap called Tom who had just been around Morocco with a couple of his mates, so it was good to pass the time chatting with him for a while.

Back in the UK and sky was grey, but no rain at least, I had enough rain in Spain and Portugal.    Ride back through Spain in the high winds had taken its toll and my chest was really hurting.  I think all the wrestling with the handlebars and twisting of the body to counteract the wind did not help my rib at all. 

Going to rest now for a few days to recover and try to get it to mend, but apparently, it can take quite a few weeks to fully mend.

Of all the body protection I have, I did not have a chest protector, so now researching them.   I am guessing the back, hip, knee, shoulder and elbow protectors did there job in the fall as nothing else hurts and I did roll on the ground at least once. 

Still a fun trip in a perverse sort of way.   It's the mishaps and misfortune that lead to good stories.

Killing time waiting for the ferry.

Ferry is running an hour late, so that is probably a good indication of how rough the sea is at the moment.    Lucky me.  At least I am on a big boat on the way back so it should be smoother.   Apparently the boat is the pried of the Fleet.     

Went in search of some views and here I am high up over looking Santander.   It looks quite nice from up here.    Chorus of dogs barking in the background from all directions.   

WIll these dogs never shut up.........   grumpy mood this morning as did not sleep very well.  Also stood in more dog poo getting the bike out of the hotel garage.  Another reason why I needed to find some grass to wipe the dog poo off my boots as I don't want to walk it into the cabin.   

Spain is like the UK about 20 years ago

So went for a walk to get something to eat.   So bear in mind that Santander is a major port and quite a large City.   So this is where the comparison of the UK 20 years ago comes in : NOTHING IS OPEN ON A SUNDAY.....................   Not only that, there is dog poo everywhere, everywhere, not just here and there, but EVERYWHERE.   Great................

Went onto Trip Advisor to find a nice restaurant after walking the streets like a homeless man for an hour and a half with dog poo all over my shoes and, oh that looks nice where is it, CLOSED.   Oh that looks nice where is it, CLOSED.  Oh that looks nice where is it, CLOSED.  Oh that looks nice where is it, CLOSED.  Oh that looks nice where is it, CLOSED.   Eventually, I did find one that reviewed quite nice so went in.   Typical type Spanish restaurant, i.e looks like it is from the 1950's.  Menu in English, result.   Also, I fitted in very well as everyone had dog poo on their shoes.

Ok, now a question, why does Jonny Foreigner never employ a real English speaker when getting his menus translated  (re-wind to Manuel from Fawlty Towers saying "I learned English from a book", yes, very good).

So, really tired after a long cold ride.   I did have good intentions to have fish, really yes I did.   But who can turn down a Big Cow Large Steak?

And very nice it was too.   All washed down with half a bottle of a very nice wine that I asked the waiter to recommend, no idea what it was.

The town is only an 8 min walk from the hotel, but that is all down hill, and the next hill and the one after that.   Very steep hills.    Having eaten a Big Cow Steak I decide the best route home was via a taxi.   Does the hotel reception look so nice at night? I think so.

Back surfing the internet now.   Spent a lot of the afternoon trying to work out if I have a bruised rib or a broken rib.   All the riding has not helped.   Hurts when I breathe in deeply, hurts when I cough, hurts when I twist my body, hurts when I put my gloves on and hurts when I lift things up.  Not sure knowing makes any difference as the treatment is the same for both, lots of rest and no sport or strenuous activity.    Oh, and hurts when I turn over in the bed, so that wakes me up.   I will see when I get back to the UK if it is still hurting or not.

Cool shower

The sun has got its hat on.....

Just arrived Santander and the sun is out and it is almost T-Shirt weather.   

Booked into Hotel Art, this for £60 per night.  

 The bed is like two doubles pushed together.   

And it's a room with a view 

Going to have a hot shower and then a rest before going out for something to eat.  It was another tough trip today In the cold and wind.   Luckily there were lots of long tunnels where I could slow down and take a rest from the cross winds.