Monat: September 2012

One week England – Sunday, Sept 9 and Monday Sept 10

Our last day, we need to get back to work. There is only one way to start that day: all english! 🙂 To be honest, my mates start their last day with scrambled eggs and salmon.

The day starts a bit misty, have a look at the view outside my window.

After a ride on major roads towards London we reach Stonehenge and take a visit. Worthwhile the time spent! The audio guide is VERY detailed, so we abandon it pretty quickly.

After that we split up by destination, I am going to the tunnel with 2 of the guys. On the way we got caught by a traffic jam (due to an accident), and my bike overheats (pretty warm, stop & go). To avoid problems I pass the others, press myself in the queue at the very last moment and continue for a few miles to a service where I take a cooling break. The others pass me so we only meet at the tunnel terminal. Ok, we could have done better.

After the passage in the train we continue in dense traffic, thanks to a lot of Belgians that shared our idea to use the good weather for a short trip. After Brussels traffic clears up, and a minute to midnight we are back in Winterspelt. The fireplace is a very welcome thing, the air is ******* cold!

Next morning after (German) breakfast we start for the last leg, Heribert back to Rüsselsheim, and me back to my place in Weil.

Sunday: 865km, 12h; Monday: 390km, 4h30

After all, we traveled 3514km according to my GPS (plus 100 in the tunnel). I spent 106€ on the train, 345€ on fuel, and 580€ on hotel and food. It was definitely worthwhile the effort and money!

One week England – Saturday, Sept 8

Again all english breakfast to start the day. I can get used to that, if I am not already.

Heribert is not going to join today, so the 3 of us ride straight north towards Minehead. It’s a nature reserve there, and lovely landscape. We are having various stops on the way to look around and take pictures.The first is on the road, a lovely house with a very special roof. Then we stop in a small town with a lovely church and good food (I had a chicken mushroom pie). Interesting car park there 😉

After that we stop in Lynmouth, and we are taking a ride in the water powered cliff railway (29% incline, 500 feet gain). See our video of the ride on youtube. The ice cream there is nice as well, and the harbor with low water and all ships being on ground is looking so odd!

At the end, we decide to have a look at Arthurs castle @ Tintagel – what a disappointment. This is a modern hotel only… for more see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tintagel Some say this place is run by Scientology, I can’t verify, but some actors with that background have placed pictures of themselves in the place. The whole place looks totally modern, all old charm we saw on the way is gone. Definitely not recommended! The last picture in the set below shows whats left of the castle.

The way back is through some sort of moor, today used as farmland. We see pigs, cows, horses, and sheep all around free – and some on the road! 370km, 10h50 riding, back past 8pm, the only thing thats missing is some fresh fish and ale, to be corrected in the pub of the Durant Arms 🙂

 

 

One week England – Friday, Sept 7

Breakfast? All english please! 🙂 Lovely.

Today the ride goes to Lands End, not without loosing the next of our group due to an electric defect on his bike.

We are driving all the way to Lands End and have an extraordinary view from the place. Going back we wanted to stop at the best fish and chip place around, however time is running and so we eat at Mt St Helen enjoying the low tide, people crossing on the trail, and a very handsome weather.

On the way back we stop by the hotel where our crashed friend is staying – he is really not hurt – and arrive back after 8pm, 368km, 11h riding

The landscape is just great, I could spend a few more days looking around!

Oh yes, in the evening it is the first dish not fish & chips for me: Roasted Lamb with mint! Slurp!

Something that comes back to my mind: MANY houses are on sale, most likely holiday homes. And there are posts saying „No giant windmill generators in our area“. And there are only a few of them despite the constant wind.

One week England – Thursday, Sept 6

Waking up from the wonderful sing of a number of seagulls around the hotel. Ok, we are at the coast! Having english breakfast in the hotel we wonder about the many German female tourists. They are indeed on a Rosamunde Pilcher tour. To those not familiar with German TV, this is a Sunday evening love & intrigues movie series being recorded in Cornwall. Funny.

After breakfast I am looking for an ATM and finally we leave going west, still along the coast. We move around Southampton using bigger roads and enjoy lunch in the Cliff House on the coast. Again a scene that could come directly out of on the movies and great fresh fish.

We continue to Poole, again an area where we feel money is sitting on the street. The big surprise comes with the ferry, pulling itself across the water on chains (~700m distance). After that we come to a toll road where I don’t understand the concept that motor bike riders shall use the bicycle lane to go around the toll gate, at no fee for the ride. Hey, I will come back to this place 🙂 A very nice road brings us back towards the countryside and I don’t trust my ears on the typical sound of a steam driven locomotive just starting the journey. Harry Potter is around, for sure!

Some later time during the day we give up on the coast and select quicker roads. The end gets very interesting – the roads get smaller and smaller. Finally we arrive at 6pm after 362km, 9h30 riding and are still the first from the group. But only a few minutes later our mates arrive as well, except one – we find out later he was knocked off the bike by a guy from behind. As if a gold wing could be overseen due to it’s tiny footprint!?! Happily, he is not really hurt.

 

One week England – Wednesday, Sept 5

Today we have an early start. We need to make it in time for the train we choose, or better earlier. The plan is to follow the coast in England… and we really want to spend our time there. Finally we make it on the road 8:30am, just to realize for me that I need to refuel. And to use my new rain suit, as there is a lot of wet and fog in the air. Hm. Only a few km later sun comes out but it still is pretty cool. We ride towards Brussels (all motorway), refuel after Brussels and I finally stow the rain suit away for the rest of the trip. At the train terminal the check in explains that we may choose 1 train earlier than planned at no charge. Great – that’s why we bought the flexible tickets in the first place. After a short check for explosives at customs we board the train. All in all it only takes 1 hour to arrive in Folkestone. We see great weather, and it is warm. WOW! First stop in Hythe on the beach, not a poor area for sure. Then we follow the coast to Brighton, with some sightseeing stops in between.  We planned to stay in a B&B there, but when we finally arrive we are out of luck and rest in the Mercure at a horrible price. 10h riding time, 590km total, we are exhausted but find our way in a pub close buy, fish&chips and ale. We are in England. Well, really? By the weather, the look and feel this could well be Nice, France. See the pictures of the day.

 

One week England – Tuesday, Sept 4

The original plan for this first day was to go to work by bike (in the Mainz office) and then continue to Winterspelt. The customer meeting was cancelled last minute, hence I dropped the idea (requiring to carry suit and laptop on the trip) and decided to start 2pm directly to Winterspelt. Weather is fine and I use a mix of motorway to Karlsruhe, then country road to Pirmasens, and complete the trip on motorway again. 367km, 4h30 riding time, not too bad after all. I join Heribert to some local beer and grilled chicken in the pub in town. Remarkable on the trip is the number of windmill generators in the Eifel area.

Eine Woche England – Prolog

Letztes Jahr um diese Zeit ergab sich bei der Abstimmung zum diesjährigen Ziel Lands End. Ja sind die denn alle verrückt geworden? Das sind ja – mehr km als die beiden letzten Jahre zusammen. Ok, die Teilnehmer kommen aus Dänemark, England, Belgien der Schweiz, und Deutschland. Zumindest die nördlichen sind genausoweit gefahren um in den Schwarzwald zu kommen. Also gut.

Es ergeben sich mehrere Vorbereitungen: Erstmal den neuen Sitz, den ich jetzt mit mehr vehemenz beim Lieferanten fordere. Und ein paar technische Korrekturen am Bike (ein kaputter Kupplungsschalter gibt mir einiges zum suchen auf). Und dann noch neue Reifen (Michelin Pilot Road 3, ein Regenspezialist).

Und die Strecke:Über die Eifel (beim Kollegen übernachten), zum Terminal des Tunnels in Calais, in Folkestone dann an die Küste und von dort zum letztlich gewählten Hotel für die 3 Tage: Das Durant Arms, eine ehemalige Postkutschenstation im irgendwo. Wir werden sehen.