Belgium - WW1 sites - March 2023

Dear reader,

I left home early on Wednesday to meet up with David at Clacket Lane Services, and then rode to the Eurotunnel.  After the short crossing we arrived in Calais and managed to escape towards Dunkirk without having to stop and check the maps...  and then headed for the Oud Gemeentehuis Guesthouse at Poelkeppe. It was so noticeable how clean and tidy Belgium is, having just ridden the M3, M25, M20 and French roads; God we are a messy nation.  

Eventually found the Guesthouse (which was wonderful and I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone either travelling through Belgium or staying, as we did to visit a few of the WWI monuments and cemeteries.   The prime reason was to visit the grave of Private John Condon whom I first heard about from an album entitled 50:50 by Fairport Convention.  He is reported to be the youngest soldier to be killed during the war.

So, during a relaxed day we visited Poelkepple Military Cemetery, Tynecot Military Cemetery at Passchendaele (11,965 graves of which 8,369 are unnamed). We then moved to a fantastic Museum in the Town of Passchendaele in the middle of the area known for the Third Battle of Ypres (British losses are estimated to be 240,000+.  The museum is the best I have ever visited - excellent in every way and well worth a few hours if your in the area.  We even managed to visit the site of the Christmas Truce and the Football match that took place - although site seems to have been taken over by UEFA... hence all the balls at the memorial.

We also located the Monument to NZ soldiers lost during the Battle of Messines and visited the small cafe and museum at Sanctuary Wood and Hill 62.  It is impossible not to notice so many War Graves in this part of the world and that goes for Northern France too - all immaculately cared for by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.  

This was my third visit to WWI sites in Europe and has included visits to Ypres, The Somme, Mons, and Verdun.  I have a Great Great Uncle George who was in the Machine Gun Corps and he lost his life just 3 days before Armistice Day, and is buried in a small military cemetery at Englefontaine France.

One brilliant thing we noticed was just a welcoming the Belgian people are, every time we stopped on the side of the road, passers by would stop their cars and ask if we were OK.

The ride home was very very wet to start with but it brightened up later and only started to rain again once I was safely in my garage.  Thank you David for your company and I do hope you enjoyed the trip as much I did - so good to get away.  Crieff Cloverleaf and the NC 500 next in April.

Awaiting the Eurotunnel train at Calais

Break for a cuppa at Calais on the return

Our host at the hotel in Poelkepple

Monument to NZ soldiers at Messines

Tynecot Military Cemetery 

Davis's Panoramic shot of the Tynecot Military Cemetery 

Marker for the site of the Christmas Truce Football Match - with EUFA footballs !

North Somerset - Feb 2023

Good evening reader,

I set off in the frosty cold this morning and rode to the Classic Bike show at Shepton Mallet, it was great to see Jacqui Furneaux, Derek Mansfield and Duncan Gough at their stand. Thanks for the cake Jacs. After a while I rode off in the cold sunshine to Taunton and then to this campsite at Raleigh Cross Inn.
Still sunny but a cold wind. Tent up, tea made and admin done, I'll wait awhile and see what's on the menu this evening, it turned out to have no option but the carvery.

I just needed to get out on the bike and check the camping gear before the first proper run out (Crieff Cloverleaf and the NC500 in April). Next month see a quick run over to Belgium for some WW1 visits but not camping.

I woke up this morning having hardly slept at all. So very

cold in the morning with wind driven sleet. Decided not to ride across Exmoor, and packed up and took a slow ride home for a very welcome hot bath !!!

Armchair Adventure Festival 2022

Dear reader,

I opted to arrive at this event two days early and it proved to be a good choice.  Just a few people, good weather, a couple of food vendors and a bar.  Very chilled a relaxing.

David arrived on Thursday evening and we had a few beers and then it started to rain and I got very cold so I called it a night.  Just in time as the music (sic) was about to start - very noisy and a lots of bass….   The partying continued until about 2am when I had to visit the loo for the 2nd time LOL.

This morning was an early start, I showered at about 5:30 and then we cooked breakfast and left for a walk about.  We visited the ferry port and had coffee and cake.   It was a sentimental walk as last we did the same last year but with Colin Hitchcock ( aka “H” ).  It was such a shame that he died so early before he could really enjoy his retirement - RIP Colin.

The weather have been warm and sunny today but once the sun goes down it gets chilly very quickly ….

Tonight I think we are cooking at the tents….  I think I have lamb hotpot with mushroom rice !!!

Nite nite…

 

An interesting article and a great Photo

Download Attachment

Available until 28 Jun 2022

2022 - France - last day

Well it had to be done…. The more I camped in the tent; the worse my back was getting - yesterday I was having issues with riding and braking with my right boot !!!

So after a long days ride and an overnight stop at Blois I headed for my last campsite at Alencon. I was having issues with the power supply to the Garmin, so I stopped in a small village and removed the front fairing, diverted another power supply to the Garmin and hey presto all sorted. No thanks to the 5 French bikers that just sat and watched from afar…….

I then stopped for lunch and asked Gertie Garmin the distance to Caen - 2.5 hours she said - so rather than pay for another night in the tent and a long wait until 3:30pm on Friday - I hit the road for Caen. I made the ferry with 25 mins to spare before it sailed.

A quick trip of 13 Days and 2600 miles. I did get to ride over the Millau bridge again and ride the Tarn Gorge , and I also rode the Route du Napoleon from Gap to Grenoble amongst some other very memorable mountain roads.

Meeting up with AJ Shaw and having a day off the bike was great and I haven't touched a beer since !!!!

Note to self - update your maps. My small AA edition is dated 2002 and my Michelin map is 2017 !

ENDEX

2022 - France - Near Lyon..

After a pleasant nights sleep I woke feeling like a turtle stranded on its back. So many attempts to get out of bed and stand up…. 

I finally did it and after a hot shower I felt a little better, the breakfast was excellent and I was on my way by 8:15. 

The early part of the route from Gap to Grenoble is magnificent and the views are spectacular. I stopped off near Vienne for lunch and then the problems started, there must have been a major problem on the Lyon ring road as it was miles and miles of grid locked trucks near the centre causing traffic to back up onto all the slip roads in the area. They even closed the exit from one of the large service stops - a bit if cheeky riding needed after I re-fuelled. I took a few liberties with the Highway Code and back tracked about 20kms and headed for an alternative campsite to the right of Lyon. 

A very quiet site, that at 5pm appears to be filling up with more and more Dutch travellers. 

I did manage to find a motorcycle shop and gets some chain lube. 

Tomorrow I will be heading for Chatillion sur Loire - a medium ride but I am worried about my back giving up altogether - I have already started to walk like an old man !!!!! 

2022 - France - Carpentras - Day 8

A very pleasant day off the bike yesterday in the company of AJ Shaw. We drank lots of coffee, we put the world to rights, drank more coffee and the had good meal at the campsite Restaurant . A great camp site (****). After a slowish start this morning we left the site at about 9am and rode together through Apt and then onto Sisteron. This is where AJ turned South to ride to Italy and I continued North to Gap. 

 I tried to find a motorcycle shop to get some engine oil and chain lube... Found one but as expected it was closed on Mondays!!! Picked some engine oil at the petrol station next door. I arrived at Gap only to find the two campsites I had chosen were both closed for various reasons and so I rode into Gap and found a new(ish) Hotel B&B just as it started to rain a little. 

 My back was painful this morning so I went against my doctors orders and purchased some Nurofen as paracetamol just was working. So I am now in Gap and tomorrow I'm am heading to the Lyon area via the Grenoble ring road.

2022 - France Day !!

Finally met up with AJ - we had a couple of beers and supper to try an ease my aching back…. It's a non-riding day for me tomorrow - I need to check oil and chain and then another sit in the pool…