Bungleaio

When people who dont ride say to me "I bet it saves loads of time by having a bike ", my response is always the same. The time on the bike is a lot quicker than the car but the faff of getting dressed and undressed at either end means the car is probably quicker.

For when you have far too much to spend on touratech stuff.

Well I am looking forward to September regardless of what has been said in here.

A harsh fail but at least it's something you can easily avoid doing next time. I hope you don't have to wait too long for the retest.

google maps will direct you too.

Is it me or does this thread make no sense

I'm a big advocate of advanced training either iam or rospa. I went the iam route and ended up doing the car version too. IAM has some awesome partnership deals too, I saved a fortune on my GS and Mini with BMW, almost £10k

I've been though a claim with 4th Dimension and the bike came back immaculate, it looked better then when I bought it (2nd hand). I tend to take reviews on line with a pinch of salt. Companies like 4d are huge and they handle a lot of claims so they are bound to have things go wrong. People who are involved with things that go wrong are annoyed so look to vent any way they can and poor reviews get left. Whereas people who are happy tend to ignore the option to leave a review, I know I'm guilty of it. I'm sure you'll be fine.

I've never actually rode a 125 on the road, I struggled with the car park element of the cbt as it was like riding a kids bike. The instructor let me ride an mt07 for the road element which was way easier to ride. I'd say sack the riding a 125 around for a bit idea off and go straight into DAS after the cbt. As long as you're sensible rather than lairy you'll be fine

Thats a good point, nothing for me either but I am a good boy. Missing the trip though, I can't wait to be away again.

I think this one about broke him. The 125 trip took ages but electric was on another level of endurance

You are a star thank you!

Cheers. Stupid iPhone not rotating properly.

His memory is terrible!

Saturday Breakfast started with more bread, not as good as the schloss but the croissant was really nice. I'd picked the hotel based on two things, being in reasonable distance of the tunnel so that I could breakt the journey and also having a garage. http://hotel-normandie-amiens.fr/ There's only 4 spaces in the garage but being on the bike I could tuck in on the side. I called in at a Carrefour on the way back, sadly I could pick up a big box of beer, it was so cheap and it's really nice lager though On the way to calais I also called into Etaples Military Cemetery, even more thought provoking than the day before. Time to bring the holiday to a close though so I headed for the tunnel via the fastest route possible which involved a bit of toll road. I use the M6 toll a fair bit so I was suprised when it was only 1€. I'm glad I've ridden in northern France but it's something that I'll be avoiding as much as possible in the future. The roads are so boring to ride. When I got to the tunnel I managed to get on a train 30 minutes early. The train was full too so I was lucky to get on. Apart from picking up fuel near ashford I did the trip back to leicester in one hit getting home for about 5. This was where I was glad I'd broken the journey up, it's about 500 miles between the schloss and my house which is a lot further than I ever do in one hit even in the car. Stats for the day Total for the week Overall a fantastic week. Spending time with @boniowas an absolute pleasure. Roll on next time, lets not leave it 4 years though!

I sadly didn't make the 2019 trip. I would very much like to be part of the 2023 trip though!

Friday After another hearty breakfast I said good bye to Bonio and set off into the drizzle. I thought I could get away with summer gloves but it wasn't to be so pulled over in Luxembourg to faff and change gloves. the roads were drying but it was noticably cooler. Onwards into Belgium on the way to Amiens where I'd be staying for friday night. The roads weren't very remarkable but I kept away from the dual carriageways as much as possible. Getting on for lunch time and I saw a place which seemed to be in a bus so I pulled over and ordered a healthy lunch. I was absolutely convinced I was in France at this point but no I was about 200m away from the border. Anyway onwards towards the hotel, thankfully the heavy rain that was forecast never happened. The roads in france are long and straight so a complete contrast to what I'd been riding for most of the week. I've never ridden them before so it was interesting to see all of the war graves dotted around. It really was quite thought provking. I wasn't planning on going but I saw signs for the Thiepval memorial so had a bit of a diversion and went to the museum. Well worth stopping for some contemplation if you get the chance. I got to Amiens and immediately ran into traffic, it took ages to get to the hotel. I made it without incident and even got a nod from a police rider. Stats for the day Being a new city to me I went for a wander around, I went into the cathedral, the pub and had a curry. I've never had a lettuce served with a curry before!

Thursday The morning started with another tradition, @smallfrowne will be pleased to hear that the seat came off. It was so that I could get to the screwdriver to access the battery and put a couple of psi into Bonios tyre so not the carb off or clutch out that is the proper tradition. As mentioned by Bonio we proceeded to ride more fantastic roads for the day. Total stats for the day When having a pre dinner beer Daniella asked if we fancied another round of Schnitzels seeing as it was my last night. It would have been rude to say no so as far as I'm aware there has never been two schnitzel nights on one of these trips. We were also served a shot of extremely strong home made grape schnapps. It lead to a very good nights sleep.

Wednesday I remembered to get a breakfast photo today The quality of the food is incredible, it's simple food but tastes so so good. As Bonio was off getting a passport so that he could go home I set off into Luxembourg with no real plan, I rode into the city via some incredible roads and then promptly went straight out the other side. I did call into a supermarket to pick up some water and apples as I'd not been getting my 5 a day for a while. Whilst at the checkout the lady in front of me was buying a few bottles of wine and fish fingers, total value of about 40€, she just pulled out a 200€ note and handed it over. The cashier didn't bat an eyelid and put it straight in the till. A £50 note is a rare sight for me so for people to be so nonchalant with a 200€ shocked me a bit. With no real plan for the day I had time on my hands so I headed off to Belgium to buy some curry sauce. I love this stuff but it's only available in Belgium, I've not had any since 2018 so it was worth the trip to pick some up. Back into Luxembourg for the roads after that though, as we all know the roads in Belgium are generally iffy at best. I stopped in Luxembourg to eat my apples and take in the view. Whilst I was ther a Dutch guy pulled up and had a chat for a bit, nice bloke but it's a bit weird when he's just there in his shorts and nothing else. No shoes, no socks, not even a watch. He did like to smoke though and went through three ciggys in the 20 minutes we were chatting. Anyway back for more glorious roads and to get back to the hotel. Another reasonable distance covered in the day.

Tuesday Bonio has already covered this but this was a great day. It had rained over night but the sun was out The first hour or so was tight and technical as well as damp and dry roads all great stuff which really make you concentrate. After an hour or so we stopped to get a coffee, typically it was closed. Whilst we were there three police bikes rode past giving us a nod as they went by. We continued on managing to get lunch then coming back via different roads. some of them were a little rough but we were treated to some absolutely faboulous S' that felt like they went on for well over a kilometer. If I can find them I'll put a link to them. I could tell the day had been all about the riding as I took no photos. I did remember the mileage for the day though. Schnitzel was fantastic, Daniella (the owner of the hotel) too a photo especially for us to send to @Gerontious so that he could feel part of schnitzel night. There was also a very generous Icecream with home made sauce.

I got carried away with having a good time so my updates have been a bit slacking. I'll continue now though. Monday - I headed out of Arnhem pretty much going south on the way to the Schloss. On the way I stopped at the Overloon Museum which was very interesting for having a look at loads of WW2 vehicles and munitions. Outside the museum I rode past an amazing house. I'd love to live there. On with the ride south and I entered Germany and started to feel hungry. It took me ages of calling into little villages to find somewhere that I might be able to get something to eat, it seems the Germans don't really do sandwich stops or pub lunches so for the 2nd day running I had a coffee and cake. I thought I'd risk parking on the pavement rather than the narrow street, my heart was in my mouth when a police car came past slowly then turned around about 20 meters away and drove back up the street. Thankfully he didn't stop for a chat. Back on the road, next stop will be the hotel, the urge for a detour was strong though and I nearly turned off to the left but I remained strong and carried on straight After loving some of the amazing roads in Germany I had to pull over to take a photo of some of them, I really wish my eyes could take photos. I'll see what I can pull off my Innov cameras but they are set to loop record so I don't know how much footage will still be on there. I called into Rewe for some water and bumped into @bonio just as I was leaving. Total distance for the day was just over 320km so a decent days ride For food I'd been looking forward to a Kebab at the Saray Grill for years but they now don't open on a Monday so we went to the italian which was good but not what I'd been looking forward to.

When I did my CBT the other guy was just wearing joggers, after the road ride they asked for our licenses so they could put the number on the CBT certificate. The other guy couldn't provide his as his trousers had been flapping around so much in the wind it had fallen out of his pocket at some point during the ride. We also did the road section on MY-07's rather than 125's

No worries buddy. I'm up and almost ready for the trip down into Germany. A museum has been recommended to have a look at on the way so I'm going to call in https://www.oorlogsmuseum.nl/en/

A couple of things I've noticed about the Netherlands. When you're at a red light thee is no amber then green. It's just red then green, thankfully arnhem isn't London so if you're not away immediately you don't get all the people on their horns. There is a lot of speed humps! Junctions, straight roads and even out on their national speed limit roads. The thing is of you're going along at the speed limit you just got straight over them, they are profiled for the speed. If you're going above the speed limit then they are a bit more bumpy. The locals seem to treat speed limits as advisory and ignore whatever the posted limits are. Quite alien to me as I stick to the limits at home. I love that thay are observant though. Not a single person has tried to pull out on me as I've passed junctions. Nice to see Hartley riders don't acknowledge others on the road just like at home