This time of the year is Rally season. Not the type of rally where Kev’d up saloon cars thunder through the forests of Hafren and Grisedale, but where bikes and riders meet for weekends of petrol head fun, to talk bikes and listen to loud music!

Plymouth Harley Chapter held the first Oggie Rally last year and a great success it was too. This year the weather clerk has not been at all kind in the build up to the event which has taken place this weekend. Understandably the awful wet weather that the UK has been experiencing since it seems forever has put a bit of a damper on the turnout. The rally committee have worked so hard to make the event a success that it is such a shame to see their efforts almost thwarted by the weather, but the sun came out this morning and all was well! Two ride outs set out for Cornwall and Dartmoor respectively, there were a few that didn’t make it…still nursing their heads after Friday night, good on you!

I dropped in on the rally field this morning to catch up with a few chapter friends, but couldn’t stop for long as work is always pressing this time of year. Unfortunately I missed out on the ride-outs as well. Still, I had time to grab a cup of tea and chew the fat about the latest Harley news and views before heading back to my workshop to sort out various bits of steel that need coaxing into different shapes to fulfil the tasks assigned to them! Pass the big hammer and gas axe!

Oh yes, Harley didn’t go to the Rally this year, she’s back in at Thor Motorcycles for a service after our exertions in the Alps. Time for another oil change and check over, but then she’ll feel like new again and who knows we might even get some decent weather for me to enjoy on her!

A few H-D’s not riding out.

I thought this dragon was pretty cool on an Electra Glide.

Ride a White Swan!
Dookes

Every year the Plymouth U.K. Chapter of the Harley Owners Group, HoG, holds a ride out on the Sunday nearest to American Independence Day, 4th July.

Turnout has been good for the last few years, but unfortunately this year it was a tad disappointing. Despite a bright morning yesterday, only eleven bikes set out from Plymouth Harley Davidson dealership for a trundle out onto Dartmoor, there were over thirty last year. Equally unfortunate, by the time we got to Tavistock I had to peel off and head for home. Still I did have a nice blast down the West Devon Ride through Lewdown back into Cornwall.

Last Years Independence Day Ride, lunchtime.

I have to say, that whilst I love the spectacle of a large group of Harleys riding together not to mention the sheer gut wobbling noise, I’m not really a great fan of organised group ride-outs. I guess it’s because I do so many miles solo and the organised ride is almost the antithesis of the essence of two wheel freedom! They are by their nature, normally quite slow and can get fairly hairy when car drivers try to force their way into the staggered line of bikes. I try to support a couple each season, the Independence Day one being the important one before my summer gets wrecked, under the weight of the whims and demands of arable farmers!

Ride On!

Dookes

Taking Over Padstow, July 2011.

Back at home now and a wonderful British summer day, grey cold windy!

Wow, what a trip!

Total mileage was 2160, from leaving my workshop door and driving back in again, pas mal, as my French friends say.

Three things I will calculate in the next few days are the amount of fuel used and therefore, miles per litre and the other thing will be total height climbed in our mountain adventures.

I’ve not had time to reflect much on the trip yet, but I can say that it’s been great, loads of fun, met interesting and nice people and seen some incredible sights.

Highs? Obviously the Alps and the Cols, particularly Izoard and Galibier, surviving/conquering Iseran in the storm.

Lows? Well only one really….that awful morning after leaving Chinon, but we soon dried out!

I suppose that I’ve finally got that 43 year need to find The Italian Job out of my system, it’s all still there, like the rest of us a little older, but definitely still there. I’ll only need to see that film intro anytime to be back in those mountains and experiencing it all for myself again.

I have to say a few thank you’s now cos I can’t just go off on trips like this without support from those closest to me.

First off a huge thank you to Mrs Dookes, without who’s support, encouragement and capability in running Dookes H.Q. whilst I’m on the road, I could not go off and chase these outrageous adventures; Je t’aime beaucoup ma chérie, merci bien pour votre soutien et amour!

To the late Peter Collinson, Director of the 1969 film, whose creative genius inspired a young lad back in 1969 to go find what he had seen on the big screen…I’m sorry that it took me so long to do it Peter, but thanks, it was worth it!

To my friends who have followed me on my travels via this Blog, it’s been great to get your comments and emails, thank you, it means that I am never alone and I hope you have enjoyed this as well. Comments to improve will be gratefully received, honestly!

Finally, my wonderful traveling companion my Harley Softail. When she was built in York Pensilvania back in 2003, they made a special one that day. She never missed a beat come torrential rain, lightning, altitude or temperatures into the thirties. She may not be as fast as a sports bike, she may need half a mile to stop, corners like the Queen Mary and blazes is she heavy, but she’s mine and like in any love match you kinda get blind to the faults! Where will we go next?

Hmmm….Hang on lads, I’ve got a great idea!!!!

Ride on you crazy diamond!

Dookes

PS The blog will live on…stay tuned!

PPS Apologies to Pink Floyd for the paraphrase!

So here we are back on board a ship, this time the MV Armorique….which I have to say is not my favourite.

She was built in Finland at a cost of £81 million, specifically for the Plymouth – Roscoff route, and entered service in 2009. Comparing her to the MV Pont Aven is like comparing a paint by number set to a Rembrandt. True she is ultra modern, but…the toilets permanently smell, the decor is tacky, the food options limited, the outside decks are constantly swathed in the exhaust fumes and worst of all has a very strange corkscrew sea motion! By the way, I don’t really like her much!

Still, we got on board pretty quick and have grabbed a bite to eat, which I took back to my cabin to eat in peace…the ship is quite busy with a number of school parties. So now I’m going to get some shut eye before we get back to Plymouth.

Leaving Roscoff we passed the Pont Aven coming into port, altogether a much nicer ship, I grabbed this shot as we passed.

….and so looking back we say au revoir to La France, we will return!

Dookes

One of the things I love about my road trips is meeting people from other countries and cultures, this time has been no exception and I think I hinted at a couple of stories a couple of days ago. So let me tell you about a few funnies, but first of all I want to stress that everyone that I met were absolutely great! Yes sure there are baddies out there, but on balance you realise that there are really more good people in the world than bad and that is reassuring.

Take for example the two Gendarmes who’s patrol car drew alongside me on the St Etienne bypass, as we were doing about 50mph. Now as all bikers know, cops either tailing you or running alongside is normally bad news or at least a hassle. So I was a little uneasy about their presence. Then, just before we ran into one of the tunnels to the south of the city, sure enough the police car sounded it’s horn. I glanced over to it and saw the Cop nearest to me, the passenger, grinning like crazy and winding his window down. What followed was bonkers; the driver then revved the car’s engine, literally as we were entering the tunnel, the passenger Cop gestured with his right hand for me to rev Harley, so without thinking that it may have been a trap to do me for loud pipes, I duly obliged. Passenger Cop grinned from ear to ear with lots of thumbs up gesture, whilst Driver Cop revved the nuts off the patrol car in reply!!! I revved in reply and so it went on, through two tunnels, each about 400m long! As we exited the second tunnel they gave a wave and flew off! Clearly two extreme petrol heads getting paid for having fun, good on you boys! Quite what the drivers behind us made of it all I do not know.

Then there was the crazy Dutchman on Col De Larche, he had on of those little hybrid cars, the sort with a small petrol engine and an even smaller electric motor, I think it was a Mazda, but I doesn’t really matter. Anyway, I got to the top of the Col, parked up and started taking some photo’s when this little car came flying up the last part of the hill and screeched to a halt in the car park. Out jumped a chap of about forty and started to look at Harley, he saw the GB number plate and started to chat to me, in very good English. He told me that he had just driven up the hill, from the French side, for the third time that morning…it was only 9 o’clock! I was puzzled, did he say three times? “Yes, because we do not have any hills like this in Holland,” was his reply! Fair point mate, but three times? He left me to my photographs and disappeared back into France, 15 minutes later, as I neared the bottom of the hill, he passed me heading for the Col yet again…make that four times! He could still be there for all I know!

Later that same morning on the climb to Col De Vars I was passed by a German plated BMW GS, a smart bike for that kind of work, it stood out because it only had one pannier. At the summit I noticed the chap who was riding it chatting to a woman next to a German plated Audi estate. He cropped up again on Col D’Izoard, then Col Du Lautauret, also Col Du Galibier. Then, as I was about to set off from Col De La Télégraphe, he turned up again, this time parking next to me. We looked at each other and both simultaneously burst out laughing! Soon the Audi arrived as well, by which time Karl and I were on first name terms…it turned out that this was his wife, Andrea. Theirs was a good plan for holidays, he rode his bike whilst she drove the car with all the luggage and food! They told me that their son was at university in Montpellier and that they drove down at least once a year from their home near Hannover, with the same bike/car arrangement, neat. Anyone else capable of negotiating that deal with your better half, boys?….Thought not!

Oh and only one pannier?

Karl claimed that a French car had knocked it off in Gap.

Andrea said Karl had hit a French car in Gap……..make your own mind up!!!!

Dookes

Cracking run through Brittany today.

I took my time over a leisurely breakfast so didn’t leave the hotel until just before eleven and looped through the town centre in Auray.

It’s a busy little place in the south of Brittany at the west end of La Golfe du Morbihan. For it’s size it has a most impressive town hall, Hotel du Ville in French.

I took the D768 north to through Baud to Pontivey. The ferry does not sail until 16.30 so we have bags of time, no need to rush. Pointivy is a really nice market town that lies on the junction of the River Blavet and the Brest – Nantes Canal. Unfortunately the canal is no longer navigable right through as a dam was built at Guerledan about ten miles north of Pontivy, in the 1920’s. The architecture of France has now changed, the buildings now have steeper roofs clad with the local slate to keep off the higher rainfall that Brittany experiences, it sticks out into the Atlantic ocean. Brittany is not known as Little Britain for nothing, they even have our weather!

From Pontivy we headed west before another brief stop in Carhaix. As some of you know I have a friend that I like to pop in on a say hello when ever I’m passing this part of central Brittany. She used to work on the metre gauge Réseau Breton railway system that once covered most of Brittany until it’s closure in 1967, though some of the old system still exists converted to standard gauge. She is a 0-6-6-0 Mallet type locomotive built by Piguet of Lyon in 1913 and has been on display in the town since about 1970. As you can see, she is suffering from the effects of standing outside for so long, I do hope she is not left to rust away because at the moment she is looking a very sorry sight.

From Carhaix we headed North West, passing over Col De Tredudon, which at 361m ain’t exactly up there with the other Cols we have been over this trip, but don’t knock it, it’s the highest road in Brittany!

From the Col we dropped down to Morlaix, filled up with gas, grabbed a bottle of bubbly from the Hypermarché and flew down the road to the ferry at Roscoff where we are now. Mileage today so far 136.

Dookes

Mon amis.

Bon jour de Auray en Bretagne.

Ce matin il fait plus beau, mais il y a quelques nuages avec le soleil et il n’est pas plus chaud, bon!

Aujourd’hui je vais rouler à Pontivy, Carhaix et Morlaix avant d’arriver à Roscoff pour le bac à Plymouth. Je pense un peu plus détendu et le ralentissement de les autre jours!

J’espère que vous avez apprécié mon voyage autant que moi, it été très bon! J’ai passe une bonne semaine à monte ma moto.

Merci La France, L’Italie et La Suisse, je serai de retour!

Jusqu’à la prochaine fois!

Dookes

Today was quite a mix!

Harley and I set off in the middle of the Limoges morning rush, she seemed quite happy having spent the night in the secure garage at the hotel.

It wasn’t long before we were out of the city and purring along the N141 bound for Poitiers. We took a right at Étagnac onto the D948 and Confolens, where a French madam did her level best to ‘T’ bone us in the centre of the town! Clearly it was my fault, she couldn’t possibly have been responsible as she was on the phone at the time and lighting a cigarette, so she couldn’t possibly have seen what was happening!!!! Fortunately, I could, right from before it started so my escape route was already swiftly planned!
I regret to report that I swore at her….in French, English and Welsh, I felt a lot better after that!!! Still, no harm done.

Someone asked me the other day about the French road numbers…well, how long have you got? Basically there are three types of road; A or E routes, which stand for Autoroutes or European Routes, basically motorways; N routes, National Roads, usually trunk routes but not necessarily dual carriageways; D Roads, Departmental roads, these can range from dual carriageways to small lanes. There is a big if with D roads, however! If the road crosses a Departmental boundary, like crossing a county boundary, the road number will not necessarily stay the same! Good eh? Confuses the hell out of everyone, so when navigating in France, do not worry about the road number, except as a last resort, follow the town name signs!

I stopped to grab some motion lotion on the Poitiers ring road, where the traffic was hell. Internet connection was awful as well, ho hum. Still, 86 miles in 90 minutes made me smile and celebrate with a bracing coffee. Which, as some of you know is something that I don’t have much of these days on account of it makes me climb walls and ride like the wind…hee, hee, I got to Parthenay pretty quick! Then it all started to go a bit off, the sky had been getting darker and the threatened rain started, but hell, the wind got up as well.

Which leads me onto an observation…
In my opinion, one of the worse weather conditions to ride a motorbike in, is strong winds, even my Harley gets tossed about and she weighs in at over a third of a tonne! Along with natural winds, as in weather, the other sort is the artificial, like truck slipstreams. As you overtake, or worse they overtake you two unnerving things happen; firstly they suck you in towards the side of the truck, secondly they spit you out as you pass the cab, chucking you across the carriageway if you don’t have your wits about you! On this trip I have been undertaking purely non-scientific research as to the worse and the best trucks for slipstream turbulence. Best to overtake, i.e. least buffeting, has been MAN’s, Renault’s with the funny looking box like cab, Volvo’s, some Scania’s and most DAF’s, but then most DAF’S don’t seem to go fast enough to create turbulence! Worse by a mile are Mercedes Benz, particularly the Actros cabs, which have been battering us all over the place! Trailers don’t seem to make much difference, unless it’s a car transporter…then watch out and hang on!

Anyway, the wind continued to build as we headed north west, bad storms have lashed the north east of France today, I guess the stuff we had was the tail of that system. I had planned to follow the left bank of the Loire and cross the Loire Viaduc to St Nazaire, but with the strength of the wind I aborted that idea and headed east around the Nantes Périphérique, which also avoided the very high bridge to the west of Nantes. So here’s a pic of what I missed, but I have done it before, some bridge!

There then followed a pretty lively blast West along the N165 to Auray and the billet for tonight, which is a very comfortable family run hotel with splendid restaurant! So ends the East to West run, right across France from the Eastern boarder with Switzerland to the Atlantic Ocean on the coast of Brittany in the West and that was fun to do as well!

Herewith food report, as requested:
Appetiser, Crab en croute.
Entree, Pâte du Lapin de la Maison.
Le Plat, Sein de Canardette avec légumes du jour.
Désert, Assiette du fromages.
Café.

Trust this suffices, does for me!

As I take my time over the cheese, it gives me time to reflect on the past week.

Today’s mileage was 312, which takes Harley and I to just over 2000 miles since leaving home last Thursday evening, still got about 140 more to do yet? That’s quite a satisfying achievement, on a bike like mine, even if I say so myself! By the standards of modern bikes, Harley is a little basic; no faring, no ABS, non-injection carburettor fuel system, air cooled, but with character and attitude by the bucketload! I know that HD is not everyone’s cup of tea, but, hey they float my boat! She wasn’t the only Harley that I saw in the Alps, but there weren’t many more and sure they are not really the machine to take where I took her, but they cope and sound fantastic whilst they do it to boot, you can’t ask much more than that.

Tomorrow, weather clerk permitting, we have a delightful ride through the heart of Brittany and then pick up the ferry back to Blighty, I intend to savour every minute of it! Hopefully I’ll get time to wing off another progress report along the way.

Another one from yesterday, the old quarter in Limoges.

Live to ride, ride to live!

Dookes