off to france tomoz

Off too france tomorrow for a two day trip on the swing
ist time driving on wrong side of the road
gl me

gooffy wrote:

Off too france tomorrow for a two day trip on the swing
ist time driving on wrong side of the road
gl me

Enjoy - but be careful, they're all foreigners over there! 

Have fun bud take it steady & stay safe

So is your Swing a left hand or right hand drive, just wondering. Have Fun!

great roads to ride. Food is wonderful, i was in an upmarket french restaurant and asked the waiter if he had frogs legs? (oui msieu) he replied, good i said, hop into the kitchen and get me a cheese sandwich.

drewsieboy wrote:

i was in an upmarket french restaurant and asked the waiter if he had frogs legs? (oui msieu) he replied, good i said, hop into the kitchen and get me a cheese sandwich.

The old ones are the best!! 

gooffy wrote:

Off too france tomorrow for a two day trip on the swing
ist time driving on wrong side of the road

Good luck mate, you've picked a real crappy day to ride the 400 miles from Berwick to Dover if that's the ferry route you're using.  

Meldrew
crossed over at north sheilds, to Amsterdam, through Belguim into Dunkirk stayed the night and returned the scenic route
Would of been great if i could of had another day, but really enjoyed the ride out on t wrong side of the road
Friday, bad weather untill hit the ship, wettist day of the year me thinks, crossing was ok choppy at start, covered over 600 miles and the swing ran beauitifull, power when i needed it and a relaxing rie ride when i didnt. Lots of Burgmans on the road never seen another Swing

Nice one gooffy, Friday probably was the wettest day of the year up North. I used to treat myself to Commodore Class cabins both ways on that ferry route I until I met Mrs M and she put a stop to that particular indulgence.  

You'll have noticed on the motorway to Amsterdam from IJmuiden all the low flying Boeing 747's overhead on their way to Schipol airport.  

aye, when i wasn't watching the lane dodging m8, got lost cple times sat nav had me going in circles hee hee
enjoyed it though
cheers

One thing i meant to say was when boarding the boat , i looked up the ramp and thought WT*

up four decks of slippery uneven ramp and then a sharp left over another uneven ramp, then try to secure bike with the straps lol
I thought the ship would of been a bit more user friendly ha

Riding up and down steep steel ramps onto and off ferries is all part of the game, so is learning how to tie down and secure your bike or scooter. In my early years of touring there was only lengths of oily rope to tie down your bike and leave your hands filthy, or you left it to some swarthy deckhand hoping he wouldn't damage the paintwork.

I soon learned to carry my own kit of tie down ratchet straps, carabiners, padding to protect vinyl and paint, and light work gloves to protect my hands. You don't always have a tensioned steel deck cable to secure straps to either, you might get slotted into an area where you have to use deck railings and eyelets as securing points.

Last year when I used the Hull to Rotterdam ferry it was Dutch crewed, and I was directed to a special area for motorcycles where I used one of their straps to secure the scooter. On the return trip it was the British crewed ferry and all the bikes were in a central deck area and there was only ropes available. A crewman told me they stopped supplying straps after they kept getting stolen. I was OK as I used my own gear, but a lot of riders had to use ropes and knots vaguely remembered from their time in the Scouts!  

Hull to Zeebrugge always seems to have you up a steep ramp to a half deck, very worrying but survivable ! This year they gave each of us a tie-down as we rode up the ramp, it was a cam-lock strap with hooks, a vast improvement on the knotted string they used to hand out if you were lucky !!

On the very large Hull to Rotterdam 'super ferries' they're now using, they have a specially built berth for them and you have to ride up a corkscrew ramp that's about four stories high onto a large elevated parking area to board the ship. It's usually early evening when you board and riding up that corkscrew ramp you can be dazzled by the sun when you're half way up.

I'm taking my Smart car on the Hull to Zeebrugge route next month, I've been Euro touring on bikes and scooters for 30 years, but this will be the first time driving on European roads. Mrs M has organised a late holiday in France for us.

We enjoy France but we find that Germany is much better value. Fuel is not cheap anywhere and you have more choices (unleaded E5 E10 etc) which does not help !

Happy days hehe

gooffy wrote:

Off too france tomorrow for a two day trip on the swing
ist time driving on wrong side of the road
gl me

Have Fun! Looking forward to your trip report!

Diamond
i travelled last week m8, not much to report really,

Arrived holland travelled through to Belguim and into France, allways wanted to visit Dunkirk, travelled there by motorway as was a bit rushed
but really enjoyed the ride.

arrived Dunkirk around 6 pm found lodgings then tried to find a bar which was difficult on a saturday night, even harder to find one that served beer,

Left Dunkirk following morning around nine to be at ship for a 5 pm departure i went the scenic route this time, as i got a bit lost in Belguim , this i enjoyed more passing through some nice towns, arriving at 4-15pm for another nightmare trip up a slippy ramp onto the 4th deck

 

Hi Goffy,
Some of the chaps from maxi muppets went over. Gerard, on his Burg 650, being one of them.

gooffy wrote:

Left Dunkirk following morning around nine to be at ship for a 5 pm departure i went the scenic route this time, as i got a bit lost in Belguim , this i enjoyed more passing through some nice towns, arriving at 4-15pm for another nightmare trip up a slippy ramp onto the 4th deck

Sounds like another great time on the SWing! Except of course going up a slippery ramp - yikes!

aye really enjoyed it going to plan another for early next yr

off to Austrailia on monday for two weeks no swing

but have a week off when i return, weather permitting i might try lands end

still never been  

gooffy wrote:

....might try lands end ...

Looked it up - seems like quite a trip - how many hours of actual riding to get there?

Did I miss the pictures?  

Dimond wrote:

how many hours of actual riding to get there?

More than the place deserves. It's a dump.

Dimond wrote:

how many hours of actual riding to get there?

Colin B wrote:

More than the place deserves. It's a dump.

I think "a dump" is actually an unkind description,while there is actually very little to see/do when you get there,remember that as with so many other things in life the destination is of minor consequence,the journey is the adventure  

The Bern wrote:

the destination is of minor consequence,the journey is the adventure  

I'll remember that the next time I take some junk to the local tip.

 

Both are right, the ride was an adventure, the place was erm a dump, but had historical appeal to me.
The ride itself was over 600 miles total, mostly on motorway

Camera ended up in north sea, wouldnt switch on, got one or two on my phone but nothing special

derek

All credit to gooffy for doing John O' Groats and now wanting to ride to Lands End. My ride to John O'Groats was just a spur of the moment thing when I stopped for fuel in Inverness, and it was a disappointment when I got there, just a tourist trap with that signpost. I then had to ride another 92 miles west along the coast to Durness to my original destination and where I had accommodation booked for the night.

I didn't think of it as an adventure, just a long tedious detour. So a ride down to Lands End doesn't interest me at all, it's a long way to go just to take a photo of a signpost.

"Camera ended up in north sea, wouldnt switch on,"

Camera ended up in north sea, (because it) wouldn't switch on?

Camera ended up in north sea, (then it) wouldn't switch on,?

Too true, its two parts too many places i have never visited in the british isles, one of them is lands end, hope to do others on the way there and back,

The other is the ride, any chance i get im out on the swing, want to do as much as i can as long as i can, different from a car, on the swing im on my own, go where and stop when i want, just how i like it  and probably why most of us have got a bike.

derek

And Derek, you can tell people you went there on your bike.   Enjoy as much as you can as long as you can.  

Hi Yo wrote:

 And Derek, you can tell people you went there on your bike.      Enjoy as much as you can as long as you can.    

There's people doing John O'Groats to Lands End for charities all the time, walking, cycling, or using various means of transport. Up around Wick I passed a bloke coming down a hill dressed as Jesus and carrying a full size wooden cross on his back. The cross had two little wheels at the back to stop it dragging on the road. His helpers were driving slowly along behind him in an old converted ambulance.

Aye we passed a lot of cyclists both going there and returning, they were staying at the B&B just along the road from the sign,
wonder how long that took them from lands end?.