Isle of Wight

21 - 22 June, Charlie & Jeremy

Headed off to Portsmouth and met Jeremy in the ferry queue, we had to wait about an hour as it was very busy (Isle of Wight Festival), we were queueing up next to a van that had a couple of Alpaca's in it..

(they were in the back, not driving it!). We had a very calm crossing, although there was the usual car-alarm chorus. 

   We headed East along the coast, and Jeremy told me he needed to buy some bungies, so the first town we came to (Ryde) I spotted a hardware store, and he was soon the proud owner of two fat bungies.

   Next, we travelled along the coast to Nettlestone Point, then Bembridge, then down a dirt track to Whitecliff Ledge for a posh sandwich..

Next was Sandown, then Shanklin, but we couldn't get past Ventnor as the road was closed, although I got a photo of the paddling pool my missus used to play in as a kid...

We had to divert to the middle of the island to get round the road closure, then drop down to Niton, then we rode along the Southern coast road with some nice scenery

until we came to Stoats Nest Campsite, (6 quid a night) which was very nice, and run by a lovely lady who was very helpful

   The tents were soon up, so we went for a short ride to "The Needles", then along the North coast and down to Newport as I needed a new SD card. Next, back to the campsite, parked up and wandered over to the pub next door, I had an absolutely wonderful chicken in garlic and stilton sauce, and a few pints of Lounge Lizard which went down a treat. Jeremy was struggling to keep awake, as he had only had an hour sleep from the day before, as he had been in Poland. 

   After a good nights sleep, we went looking for a cafe, and found a nice one at Totland Bay

We realised we had seen all we wanted to, so headed along the coast and back to the ferry. There was a bit of a queue, but we were soon on board and headed back to Portsmouth. A really pleasant trip, and it turned out a lot cheaper than the last time I went, as they couldn't charge us a fortune for car parking!

Northern France June 2016

      Charlie, Clive and Larry. Start mileage 36517, end mileage 36785=268 miles

Met Clive on his Enfield 500 at 07:55 at Pease Pottage, and set off for Tesco Ashford to meet Larry on his 1800 Goldwing. After a quick fuel up at Ashford, we were off to the Channel Tunnel. we got there early and were soon boarding the train. It wa a lot quicker than last time, and were surrounded by mostly "adventure" bikes with all the latest kit. (Someone actually told me that my GS500 was not suitable for touring as it is too small - I explained that I have done over 282,000 miles on a GS400, so there are no rules as to what is suitable).
   We were soon in France, and I was looking for the coast road, but couldn't find the turning, so we were stuck on the A16 for a few miles, (1.60 euro's), then got off on the D940, which wa a lovely coast road, long sweeping bends, and great scenery from the cliff tops.
   Next we arrived at Audinghen, and just past the villiage we came to Todt Battery...

The Todt battery is a truly awe inspiring site, it had 4 x15" callibre Krupp guns with a range up to 55.7 km, the 4 bunkers were hit by 2,000 tons of bombs, but survived  intact.
   there are many interesting artefacts in the bunker, including a rather nice Kettenkrad...

Next we headed for Mimoyecques, but stopped off at Estaminet le Saint Eloi for jambon and frites (lovely), then off to Mimoyecques.
   Mimoyecques is mostly underground, you get your ticket at a portakabin and walk down the entrance tunnel, that is quite large and surprisingly long

   There are many tunnels branching off, we went down all the open tunnels, and had a look at a mock-up gun that is fired with multiple charges, with a muzzle velocity of 1500 metres per second, just as well it didn't work properly. The tunnels are quite misty, and are the winter home of a large colony of rare bats. we could only explore half the tunnels, as the other half are closed to the public.
   After Mimoyecques, we headed off to our hotel (Bal) for a meal and a few beers. Next morning, after a continental breakfast, we had a look through the local guide book and Clive suggested a trip to a car museum (Les brigades de l'Aa), so we went. When we arrived, the owner of the museum insisted on looking after our bags and crash helmets, and gave us the full tour. he spoke no english,and we couldn't understand most of what he said, but the tour was exceptional none the less.me and Clive kept seeing cars of a type we had worked on (we are both ex -mechanics), so we were having some nostalgic moments for the shit-heaps we had worked on in the past.
 

A picture of the owner

After the museum, we went to find a cafe, found one that was open on a Sunday, but they were not serving food (!) so we had coffee's and a coke. Later, we decided to head back to the tunnel, as anything else would have been an anticlimax after the museum. we got to the tunnel 2 hours early, and they offered us an earlier train for 18 euro's each, which we declined. A quick trip into burger king was on the agenda, then we noticed that we had about an hour and a half delay on the departure board, so w had a quick look around the duty free, then Larry noticed that our train was going to be an hour earlier, so a quick dash to the bikes and we were off, and soon back in England. Great trip, Great company, and really enjoyed myself. Thank's, guys, looking forward to the next one!