Wot I did on my hols [1] [long]
From
Champ@neal@champ.org.uk to
uk.rec.motorcycles on Thu May 7 17:20:42 2026
From Newsgroup: uk.rec.motorcycles
This was my first ukrm French run in what felt like quite a while.
The thing about living here (the IoM), is that every trip takes on a
"well, if we're over there anyway..." sense. So I am now asking
myself the question of "How long can a long weekend actually be?"
Thursday
- I got the early (07:15) boat to Liverpool. Docked at 10:00 (in fact
was early, and I rolled off the boat at 09:55), and then revisited my
past lives and previous persona by heading south at some speed. Aided
by Manx plates [2], I "made progress".
- V got the bus to the airport, and flew to Gatwick, arriving with
plenty of time for lunch, before I arrived at 13:30. A quick change
[3] and we were back on the road before 2pm.
- a mere 70 miles, even vai M23 then M25, then M20, meant we got to
the Shuttle terminal in Folkestone in time to get an earlier crossing
than booked, which removed any potential time stress out of meeting
the others for dinner
- arrive St Omer, checked into hotel, found the bar with the advance
party
- drank, and ate, then drank some more
Friday
- leisurely start, and then using the traditional "map of France in
the top of the tank bag" method, navigated a pretty route to Sedan,
without using any motorway.
- The weather was absolutely superb - 25 deg, on the 1st May, in
northern France!?!?!?
- it was Labo[u]r Day, a French national holiday, and everywhere was
completely deserted! It was like a dystopian movie just after the
apocalyptic event
- A measure of our relaxed pace (certainly compared to the day before)
was the fact that WUN left at about the same time, on his BSA, and
arrived quite a while before us.
- much glad-handing of old friends not seen in quite a while. And
more drinking and eating and drinking
Saturday
- had no intention of doing any motorcycling this day anyway, but V
felt a little unwell, so we just had a sedate walk around Sedan in the
still very warm sunshine
- more drinking and eating and drinking
Sunday
- This was in fact our (first) wedding anniversary, so we'd booked an
extra night.
- I got up in time to say farewall to some/most french runners, and
then we had the day to ourselves. V felt mostly better, so we did the
tour of the castle (which is genuinely impressive), and then had a
very good meal in the evening in one the few (quite busy) restaurants
that actually opened on a Sunday evening
Monday
- Up at a not unreasonable hour, breakfasted and then loaded the bike
and headed into Belgium. The forecast was for rain coming from the
south and east, and we were heading north and west, so I wanted to be
ahead of the weather
- It's a long time since I've ridden in Belgium, and my observations
are that the quality of the driving hasn't much improved, and the
quality of the roads has definitely got worse. It felt like most of
the country has been concreted over, with very little chance of
finding a scenic route
- unlike reports from other french runners who'd returned the day
before, we were pretty lucky with the weather. A bit of drizzle
arrived, and was just wet enough to warrant donning waterproofs [4].
But an hour later the sun was out, and we could pack them away again.
- arrived at Bruges[6] in time for a late lunch, and then did the
tourist thing for a bit. Alongside about a bazillion other tourists,
which of course is the problem with such places. But still, I'm glad
I've seen it with my own eyes, and it really is very pretty indeed.
Tuesday
- up and away, to Calais for the Shuttle to England, and on to Wantage
[7]. Once in the UK, all time pressue was gone, so after stopping for
fuel around Maidstone, I planned a more interesting route than M25 &
M4 (hardly difficult).
- it turned out to be a very nostalgic re-run of biking roads of my
youth! I went past the old car park at the bottom of Box Hill where
Rykas used to be, up the A24 through the "deceptive bends", made
famous by the ton-up boys in the 60s & 70s, and then across to
Guildford, where I was (fairly briefly) at university in the 80s.
Went past my old uni accomodation, and used the route I used to use
get to Reading and hence west to Gloucestershire. From Reading, I
took the road through Pangbourne & Streatley to Wantage that I used in
2016 & 17 when I first met V.
- Obviously, nostalgia ain't what it used to be. It was a Tuesday
afternoon, but pretty much all the roads were unpleastantly busy, even
for 2-up bimbling. I definitely could never live in the south-east of
England again
- arrived Wantage, had a frankly superb meal (very happy to recommend
the "26" restaurant in the Bear Hotel), and a relatively early night
Wednesday
- up early this time, on the road at 9am, with 230 miles to do to
Heysham, for 13:30 latest
- weather bright and sunny, but cold! The temperature slowly crept up
from 9deg to 12deg. We're not in France anymore, Toto
- motorway motorway motorway ...yawn. No time to use any interesting
roads
- Someone had clearly rebooted the matrix. Not only were there no
holdups at all on the M6, I even saw many examples of correct lane
discipline! At one point, on a 4 lane section, there were only
vehicles visible in lanes 1 & 2! WTF!
- arrived Heysham, boarded the marvellous new Steam Packet flagship
"Manxman", and had an equally marvellous lunch
- sat in the sun in the lounge overlooking the prow contemplating the
very nearly flat calm across the Irish sea
- for the last 45 mins, we were welcomed home by dolphins [8] playing
around in the water in front of the boat, reminding me that I really
do live in a magical place.
- rolled off into Douglas at 18:00, and over the mountain to home in
the beautiful evening sun.
So that was it. About 1200 miles over 7 days (5 days of riding). The
bike behaved faultlessly (passed the 27k mile mark on this trip). V
is not a 'natural motocyclist', but she enjoyed most of it, and didn't
hate any of it, which is probably the best available result. And it
was genuinely really fantastic to catch up with people who I've now
known for close to half my lifetime. Getting old is a privilege, and
I'm very glad you are all sharing that privilege too.
[1] by Neal Champion, aged 63 & 3/4
[2] I maintained a steady 75mph (let's not take the piss, eh?) through
many miles of 50 limit on the M6, with average speed cameras,
[3] riding gear & helmet out of the pannier, replaced by carry-on bag
taken on the plane
[4] I've been guilty too many times of the "oh, it's hardly raining,
I'll press on...oh, I'm soaked" way of thinking to fall for that
again. [5]
[5] See? Wisdom *does* come with age!
[6] Thanks to ukrm's help and information, I knew better than to give
ketamine to a midget
[7] to see V's two adult sons
[8] OK, they might have been porpoises
--
Champ
neal at champ dot org dot uk
I don't know, but I been told
You never slow down, you never grow old
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