Staying Local 2008 - I Smell A Rat

We had plans. Never before had we been to the southwest of France. Never ridden through The Pyrenees, criss-crossing the Spanish boarder. This year was going to be no exception. Two weeks before our departure Guzzisue came down with a virus and not wanting to keep it to herself, passed it onto Ian the week before we left. Feeling tired and weak, my fellow travellers decided that staying local would be a better option. Staying local insured that we were never more than 450 miles from home, as the proverbial crow flew, still giving us many new locations to visit.

Disaster was averted on Friday, when loading up the Guzzi. Ian managed to break a strap on the Baglux harness. Panic was setting in when he went to a local cobbler who could send the harness off for repairs. It would be returned within six days! A customer in the shop recommended Timpson’s in Arnold, approximately three miles away. With nothing to lose, Ian headed Timpsonwards.

‘Leave it with me for twenty minutes’, said the very nice man behind the counter, so he did.

Twenty minutes later and one harness had been repaired. The cost? Just some change into the charity tin.

Guzzi packed, Guzzisue managing to leave work early, we were heading for Dover by18:30, arriving at the hotel by 22:00. Our indoor picnic of biscuits, chocolate and service station sandwiches helped us to sleep.

Next morning we were woken by the sounds of other residents departing for the early ferry. We decided to follow their lead and made our way down to the port terminal, only to find a long queue. Ferry times had been altered due to a damaged ship; therefore two into one will go! The saving grace was that it was September and not the height of summer. We joined a group of bikes waiting to board, on their way down to the Alps.

A good advantage for crossing the Channel on a motorcycle is that we are first onto the ferry and first into the restaurant, where a ‘Full English’ was on the menu. Breakfasted, it was time to stretch our legs and have a walk around the ferry. This year saw a new innovation – 7 Minute Massage.

Arriving in Calais we picked up the signs for Dunkerque and headed off through the Low Lands. Belgium came and went without us noticing, Holland would have been the same, except that Ian took a wrong turn, confusing the Dutch word for exit as the next place we were aiming for. A quick about turn and we were back on the correct road and heading for our destination in Germany.

Upon reaching the town we were staying for a couple of nights, signs like this were very helpful.

Hotel found, Guzzi unpacked, into town for a meal and drink. Our first impressions of the town were that for Saturday night, things were very quiet. Perhaps we were in the wrong part of town. The weather forecast for Sunday is promising, but a chance of rain on Monday. We are on a new adventure, so who cares?

2004 Within These Walls - Afternoon Visit

Having eaten a small lunch it was time to venture inside another museum. The ground surrounding the entrance was covered with paving slabs like the one below.
There was also two sculptures outside. This is the first,
whilst for the second Guzzisue took a daytime shot (scary)
and a night time one (frightening).
The sculpture is called the Birth Machine Baby and is the work of H R Giger and his museum is situated at the top end of Gruyeres.
Giger, apart from being known for his work in the films Alien and Species has also designed album covers, including the one for ELP's Brain Salad Surgery
and Debbie Harry's Koo Koo.
Inside the museum there was many of the original sketches from Alien III and also Species.
His paintings are on a very large scale, so large that pictures in books do not give them any justice. Some of them would cover our living room wall! In fact the more that we looked at them, the more we saw.
Guzzisue could not take any pictures of any work on display in the museum but she was rewarded a little later on.
The museum is located on three floors with things to see round every corner. The Alien film was playing away to itself, in German, if I remember correctly, in one room.
Eventually working our way down to the gift shop area,
there was also a small display of old resin books with lizards, bats and assorted things emerging from their pages. This was the work of Martin Schwarz.
The Giger afternoon was completed with a visit to the Giger Bar, situated across from the museum. The decor is based around some of Giger's work, including Guzzisue's favourite piece, the wall of babies.
The ceiling was formed into arches with molds of vertebrae
Sitting at the bar itself could have been a risky business as the bar chairs spun round and were also raised on platforms. We opted out and took window seats and watched as day trippers looked in the doorway, took a photo and disappeared again.
Later we walked down to the new town but it was closed so returned uphill to the old area and went for our evening meal. Seeing as we were in Switzerland, home of the fondue, it would have been impolite not to try one. Melted cheese and potato devoured it was back to the hotel to start packing for tomorrows journey.

Biker Ted - Mechanic

Ian on many occasions cannot be rushed into decisions, as I have learned. For 10 years I have heard him going on about needing to replace the silencers on his Suzuki. Last year when he was riding towards a landmark for the Round Britain Rally one fell off, resulting in a very battered silencer. For some reason this spurred him into action and he got in touch with Roy at OS Stainless
in Hixon. The old pair were taken in and two weeks later Roy had made a new pair for £300 and a 10 year guarantee. As the old silencers had lasted for 20 years, these could well outlive the Suzuki.
Incidentally these are the silencers that can be found on Guzzisue's blog photographed on the living room floor!
One day I helped Ian fit them to the bike so that we could go and do a few landmarks for this years challenge. All went well with the fixing but we had a minor problem when the floats in the carbs stuck and flooded the engine with petrol. With a new oil filter and oil, with a tap on the float bowls saw the engine roar into life.

We both think that they look great and are very close to looking original.
When Ian went for a test ride I decided to relax and had a ride in my friend's outfit.

Ian has since taken the Suzuki to show Roy, who took some photos himself and the bike will appear on his website sometime in the future.

2001 An Italian Odyssey - Water Trip

From the top to the bottom of Lake Garda is over forty miles of near stop-start traffic with the majority of the eastern side built on, making it appear to be one large conurbation. This means that the easiest way to travel is by boat and there are three different types available.

There is a car ferry,

a hydrofoil

and a paddle steamer.

Over the next couple of days we managed to use all three.

Our first boat trip took us down to Sirmione, a small town on a peninsula at the southern end of the lake. Sirmione boasts a castle and an old Roman Villa.

The castle we did not have time to visit as we spent a long time walking round the villa’s ruins. Guzzisue was busy with her camera taking shots of the villa and some of the original floors. There was also a museum with a lot of artifacts in glass cases. Ian got reprimanded for touching the glass cases! Well they were alarmed and he didn’t want to be shot so he decided to be more careful. The visit was marred as there was no detailed tourist guide to help us get more enjoyment, this may be different now but I’m unable to comment as we have not ventured back yet.

After our visit to the villa we spent a little time getting some souvenirs to take home for family and friends before catching the ferry up to Garda for a short while before finally arriving back at Lazise.

2001 An Italian Odyssey - Lift Off

I will not dwell on the first couple of days of this years travel as it very similar to the previous adventures heading towards Italy. We stopped off at the Prunellia Hotel in Verdun again for the first night and then managed to get into Austria for the second before entering Italy on the Sunday. Having managed to work out how to use the automatic petrol pumps and battled to get off the motorway near our destination, Lazise on the shore of Lake Gada was reached.

Lazise is a small town that has some walls and a six-towered Scaligeri castle and was also the most important trading post and the first independent commune when under Venetian rule, so our guide book told us.

We struggled to find accomodiation as most hotels were fully booked or just had a room for one night and we wanted to stay in the area for a few days. Eventually we found a hotel not far from the lake and took the attic room, no balcony and sloping ceiling so we had to be careful where we walked.

Wall Of Death

One of the stalls selling t-shirts at the 8^th International Classic Japanese Bike Show had this great design based round a Wall Of Death theme.

This reminded me of the travelling one that sometimes comes to Nottingham’s Goose Fair in October.

I must thank Guzzisue for the use of her photos of The Wall Of Death as I did not have my camera with me at the time.

Also, in Motorcycle News recently they had an article about a home made Wall Of Death that was built by Colin Furze and his friends. Now all we need to do is find a DVD of Eat The Peach, a film about two Irishmen building a Wall Of Death in their village, but until then enjoy these clips and Richard Thompson’s song Wall Of Death.

January 2008 Force 10 Rally

On the first weekend of 2008 Ian and myself went down to the Force 10 Rally that was run by the Mayflower MCC down at the Green Man, Long Itchington. We went down just for the Saturday night and camped over till Sunday.

There was a competition given out when we first arrived and we only had a couple of hours to fill it in. With Roy’s help we managed to get 17 out of 20, not a bad effort if I say so myself.

Saturday evening consisted of catching up on gossip with several friends that Ian had not seen for a few months and drinking an amount of beer until mords became wuddled.

Sunday morning arrived with a touch of frost so we went for a walk up the village and took a few photos. I wonder if Guzziesue will incorporate the design of this glass window into something in the future?

In 2004 work began to ensure the longevity of the village pond for the future. The water levels were beginning to fall, the banks eroding and silt accumulating to put the future of the pond in doubt, however with funding the pond is now just about back to its former glory.

Back on site there was time for a few more photos including this one of me on a 1946 Harley and Brian's decorated bike and time for a little more nattering to kill time so that the frost had time to disappear before we packed up the bike and headed off home.

1997 Land Of The Midnight Sun - Gerainger To Bergen

My Troll Friends have been reading my story and are upset that I have not mentioned them, so here is a recent photo of us all at home. And now back to my adventure.

For once we actually get an early start but not without incident. Guzzisue had decided to get up early and take some photos of the waterfall on the campsite, however she decided not to tell us that she had slipped over and hurt her back. Normally this would not have affected matters but today Ian stalled the bike on a steep hairpin bend coming off the campsite. I heard him ask Guzzisue to step off as he was struggling to keep the bike upright. This was the time she mentioned about her accident this morning and I can tell you the air turned a little blue!

Once we manage to get going we stop for several photo shoots and make good time travelling that we decide to head straight for Bergen, arriving at 5:30. We had to pay to get the motorcycle into Bergen, which was a little off putting as we would not be able to catch the ferry if we didn’t pay. Robbery.

We find a hotel near to the ferry terminal with an area round the back where we can park for our stay. Street parking is very limited and speaking to people later many had received parking tickets.

While I stayed in the hotel room watching satallite tv, my friends went in search of a meal and ended up at an expensive restaurant. They chose well as the next day people were queuing to have a meal there.

Having eaten Ian and Guzziesue then watched an Australian street entertainer who amassed a good size crowd for his act which involved using members of the audience to hold a rope tight enough for him to balance on and juggle firesticks.

Tomorrow we will have a good look round Bergen itself.

1997 Land Of The Midnight Sun - I See No Ships

Tuesday 19^th August and it’s Ian’s Birthday. He was so tired that he did not see the card that Guzzisue had brought him!

After breakfast I stayed on the campsite chillin’ out while my friends went down into Gerainger. Two cruise ships came into the fiord, the Albatross and the Columbus and their passengers disembarked via little shuttle boats.

My friends decided not to go on the pleasure cruise up the fiord but took the car ferry to Hellesylt instead. On board the ferry they played a tape in English describing the history of the area along with points of interest. At Hellesylt my friends walked to a nearby waterfall to take some photos and then bought some ice cream before getting back on the ferry for the return journey. The same commentary tape played so no one was quite sure if it was correct for the outward or return journey!

Back in Gerainger another cruise ship appeared. Each of the ships announced their arrival with mortar bombs and they moored up all day with their engines running. The problem with this was that there was no wind at all and the valley filled with diesel fumes. I’m not sure if it was something to do with the cruise ships but we are seeing more Brits on holiday.