Summer comes early to London

I had to return to London this weekend; I was amazed to find summer had arrived early! Blue skies, sunshine and temperatures of 20C (68F) it was warmer than Barcelona. Pulled the Trumpet out of the garage and she started no problems, rode out to the Surrey lanes around Box hill and Leith hill – pure heaven on wheels! I also popped round to the kid’s place to see my grandson, looks like another biker in the making.

Utrecht bike show

 

 

I went to the bike show in Utrecht, Netherlands, last week. I was very impressed with the size of the place, and the number of bikes on display. Not only were all the manufacturers represented, there was also a large custom bike area, with mainly cafe racers on display as that seems to be the big thing here in Holland at the moment. Additionally, unlike the English shows, there were hordes of used bikes for sale as well as the usual trade stands. Greeting us as we we entered was a rock band on stage blasting out, while the bar in the corner was doing a roaring trade of bikers and chicks drinking and dancing to the music - now thats what I call a bike show! I just missed buying a used Suzuki GSX1400 in lovely condition for 3900 Euros (sold 5 mins before) but didn't come away empty handed - new open-face crash helmet with Union flag on the side and fancy goggles, just right for summer evenings on the Trumpet.

 

I'm now spending my weekends in Barcelona as LF has moved there temporarily; seems a nice city. We walked up the mountain to Tibidabo on Sunday to see the big church up there - would rather have ridden up on the bike!

 

How big?

Now I'm not one to complain.......

.....but that was a terrible Christmas break! Roughly an hour after I arrived in the south of France my hire car was broken into outside the restaurant where me and LF were having a cup of coffee and my bags stolen. That I'd left my rucksack in the car was possibly foolish, but I wasn't expecting crime in such a nice little seaside town. Gone were my passport, driving licence, chequebook, iPad, iPod, personal papers.....the lot. Spent the next few hours in a French police station trying to make a report to a bunch of gendarmes who didn't speak English. Got a new hire car and eventually arrived in Menton a bit depressed. The next day LF had her purse stolen in the supermarket, cash, cards, driving licence.....

The next week of torrential rain did nothing to either lift our spirits, or wash away the dog shit that literally covers every pavement. I had to make a trip to Marseille to get a temporary passport to get home with, a 5 hour round trip through gloomy wet countryside - I have to say I was never so happy to arrive at Heathrow airport as I was this weekend. I've now spent the last few days trying to organise replacement documents for us both, not least a passport to allow me to return to work in Holland. Oh, and no travel insurance......

Still, it could be worse, imagine living there!

Its not all grey

So I was reading the thread over at Trobairitz' blog about posting a colourful photo to relieve the grey winter days, and reflecting how impossible that would be here in Holland - grey skies reflecting in the grey water of the canals, grey buildings, grey cobblestones....then I got to work and they'd moved this big yellow box out of the main fabrication hall and parked it outside my office. Result!

Yellow box, blue tarp - how much colour do you need?

Anyway, I'm out of here tomorrow, flying down to Menton, France to join LF for a 2-week Xmas break - hope you all have a good holiday!

Busy day

It's been a bit of a hectic weekend; I got a quick trip home to London, although LF wasn't there. That left me free to visit family and catch up (more later). First priority though was to drive up to Birmingham where there was a motorbike show on at the NEC. As I'd never been there, I was interested to see how it compared with the London Excel show.



Had to have some bare flesh to start the show with - good on you, Victory!

 

Suzuki V-Strom 1000

 

There seems to be a few new bikes announced recently that I was keen to see and sit on, just in case I do ever manage to sell the Trumpet. Don't know why, but the two that piqued my interest before-hand were the new Indian, and the Suzuki V-strom 1000; two very different bikes of course, but there's no logic to boys toys, is there. The Suzuki looked as expected, was a nice size for me if a bit unexciting; not so the Indian, which looked really well made and put together, but useless for a long-legged chap such as myself.

Indian

 

  I then decided to sit on every bike in the show to save time later when and if I do make a change. The big BMW's were all good, size-wise. Unfortunately all those lovely café racers from the likes of Norton, Triumph and Royal Enfield looked gorgeous but were too small. I guess 6ft 3in, 15 stone arthritic pensioners (moi?) need to be more sensible with bike choices.

 

New RE 535cc café racer

BMW RnineT

 

Some nice specials

 

Dead cool Metisse 'Steve McQueen' replica

 

Custom Bonnie

 

Anyway, show explored it was hotfoot back down to London in double quick time to visit the kid, who has just become a Dad; guess that makes me a Grandad. Spent a nice afternoon cradling the little feller and chatting. Good to be with family for a while.

Windmills

It seems to have been raining here for the last four weeks - then yesterday it stopped, the skies opened and the sun came out. Bored of staring moodily out of the office window, I phoned Stefan, my friendly taxi driver, to come and collect me lunchtime and go for a little excursion. We went to Kinderdijk, to look at windmills, had lunch in a little cafe then headed back to work; a welcome respite from working, working, working. Today it started raining again.......

Stefan and Kermit, the six-door lime green taxi

Dordrecht from across the water

A new beginning..,,again

I've been away; out of work, LF and I headed to Spain in the car to get some sun. First stop was the tiny village of Almonaster la Real in the mountains north of Seville near the Portuguese border. An English couple I've been corresponding with for years have a small farm outside the town where they’re experimenting with self-sufficiency, I wanted to visit and get a flavour of that lifestyle. However, the day visit was enough for both of us – using a bucket for a toilet, by choice, isn't really what I want to do! It was a nice village though, so we stayed in the area for a few days to explore.

Ancient monastery - Almonaster la Real

Church in Aracena

Next stop was down to the coast; Tarifa, beside Gibraltar is one of my favourite towns. It's popular with windsurfers due to the strong winds funnelled through the straits of Gibraltar; we stayed in a little bungalow in the tropical gardens of a hotel on the beach, relaxed during the day then visited the lively little walled town at night for food and fun.

Vegetarian restaurant in Tarifa - who'd have thought it?

Hotel gardens

That's a sandy beach

Yoga!

Windsurfing and Kite surfing

After a couple of weeks the funds were starting to run a bit low, so we started back for England. On the way I decided to stop off in Holland - I had a brief trip to Dordrecht a couple of months ago to visit a fabrication yard, and wondered if there might be an opening there; luckily there was, so now I'm based there (here) for a while. LF carried on home to London, I'm staying in a hotel here while I look for an apartment to rent. I've been strolling around each evening getting my bearings, and have to say this is a picturesque little town. Now I just have to get the Triumph over here so I can start exploring the area.

                                          Peaceful waterway in front of cathedral

Barges

The last windmill left in Dordrecht