A
Trip to France
I'm
now catching up with the Isle of Man TT races and to think that in
1911 when the organisers decided that the mountain circuit was a good
idea to test the motorcycles of the day we now see astronomical
speeds that are only increasing, 133mph so far. I think something
the original organisers would never have thought possible. They did
have the foresight to help motorcycles develop from the single gear,
barely more than a bicycle with an engine, to ones with gears that
could climb hills. As seen in 1911 with Indian winning on a two speed
machine ridden by OC Godfrey averaging 47.63mph and from then on
everyone had to catch up.
Now nothing
seems to happen for ages and then it all happens at one. This June is
no exception. I have been to the 2CV National Rally in Chichester
where my wife and I deep fried pakoras for the whole event.
Interesting in that what people eat relates to their knowledge of the
food and not what it tastes like! Pakoras are like an onion bajee but
with different degrees of spice. These were light weight and were
well received.
We now have some gear and experience of catering on
site. As usual I did some promotion for the Museum. We had just
enough time to turn ourselves around and jump on the Buell off to
France. Nice weather was with us until we got to L'Aigle where we met
up with the Wey Valley Advanced Motorcycle Club and their annual
French trip.
The roads in France are amazing having either bullet
straight roads or tight nagery bits on polished tarmac that test the
limits of your bravery especially when it's wet. So arriving there in
glorious sunshine on the Friday, Saturday was a bit wet and Sunday a
bit wetter. So wet in fact the Buell drowned in the rain coming back
from a club run to Pegasus Bridge where we had lunch. After a patient
wait to dry out we were on our way. We left the group and headed
directly back to the hotel.
In the evening I visited a bar and found
a little Motoconfort there. Not able to take a picture then I went back
a little later but they had closed and I could only get a picture
through the window. Monday we left L'Aigle and on to Rouen. Staying
at an Ibis with secure underground parking near the centre of Rouen.
This trip was dry and we got there in no time at all but finding the
hotel was a real pain. It took all my school boy French to get us
directions. Settled in Rouen it is a pleasant place to visit even in
the rain. On the way home on Wednesday we have a dry run up the A28
and got to the Tunnel with lots of time to spare and got an earlier
train. This did us no good at all. We would have missed the rain if
we were on our old schedule. As soon as we were on the M20 the
heavens opened and everything was awash again. Rain drops the size of
golf balls drowned the bike again and we took refuge under a bridge
away from the rain only to be hosed down by passing lorries. After
another patient dry out we were on our way again. Keeping the engine
revving kept us going. I have yet to find out why this is happening,
everything around the ignition system and fuel injection was dry and
not affected by the weather. I have a feeling it may be the side
stand switch causing the problem and will need to be replaced. We did
nearly 900 miles over that weekend. Things dried out, bike washed
down and all the gear put away it was time to get back to the Museum
and prepare for the next event.
