ReggiePezza

Three days left and I got a pannier key cut in 2 minuits at the intermarché. Voila. Edit: now I can go back to the first campsite and get the bondage gear out the case.

You can never lose a Tony. Well that's not true, there's times when it's undeclared "time to get a move on" but no, he went out and I stayed around the campsite to tend to my sore head and swollen uvula. He's now back, full of kebab and with a 4 pack of tartelletes, empty but for a few crumbs.

Very drunk. I've been green laning... On foot. Looking at butterflies. Threatened to rain earlier but it soon changed its mind and put the blue back up. Currently supping a (french sized) pint, listening to conversations in German, Dutch, French, and Belgian, and waiting for the food to roll up. No sign of Tony yet.

It was not. It's even more unpleasant queuing in it. Oof. Had a shower and walked up the village to the boozer and need another one.

https://youtu.be/vFLJ846IxR0

Just the duo. Internet is a bit shit tonight. Had a bit of a day off from riding. Late ish one yesterday, took longer than expected getting back from Slovenia, which was going to take ages anyway but they shut the pass back home. Didn't make it home afore dark. Over a hundred miles home, already 8pm and the only straight bit was £1.20 worth of auto strada. Rain. Fog. Deer. Millions of speed cameras. Spam and butter fried stale bread for a 1am picnic. I must've kicked a deer, as I was doing a prolonged doctor's dangle to stretch the leg and all of a sudden a shadow ran across the road with a thud to the boot. Wasn't the last one we saw. Petrol was very cheap in Slovenia though, 50p cheaper. You can't see very well either after going through a lit tunnel at reasonable speed but full of mist, then being plunged into the darkness. Visor fully fogged. Glasses fully fogged. Grappa has been purchased, with limoncello chaser. Oh dear.

Ohh I saw a factory for the big Italian brand Luxotica today. It reminded me to tell you that whilst in Southern Germany I saw a couple of Liebherr factories and got quite excited. Triumph seems to so well abroad Back latish for tea. Everything shuts at 7 so struggled to find an open shop on the way home. Note in picture the spar says open all day but we got there at half 7 and as soon as a grabbed a pack of sausages the shutters went down on the fridge. Still, managed to get some onions, bread and a bit of grappa. Tasted pretty Italian definitely. With a bit of HP. Salut

Alright it's not that fuckin hot, but then there is some green stuff around and it's not a desert. Around 30. The rain has returned. Just stopped for a min. Been mostly main roads today but it's getting there now.

I think he'll be along soon if he doesn't get taken out by another Italian jam sandwich. In Italy now, it's fuckin hot. Stopped at a Tony sanctuary for ablutions. However, they do at least have proper coffee, the Italians wouldn't accept any less.

I'm not sure but we're not stopping until it's 30° or more. Now in Austria, over the Fernpass, a nice easy one in the wet. Brunch. Can see some proper jaggedy type mountains now, well, when the cloud fucks off.

Rain. Packed up and heading for sun, Italy.

Not many pictures today. Nothing much happened today, just more slogging it out. No black forest. The mirror on the vfr needs nipping up when I can be bothered, it moves at 90mph, which seems to be our cruising speed. Big wobbly mess above 120mph in its current configuration as well, the bike that is. Weaves all over. Other than that, it was just a case of getting from one meal to another. 7.50 each for last night. Breakfast. With cake. But don't be too jealous, it tasted of old feet. Dinner on the motorway towards Munich. Not many service stations, and it was dear. We were flagging at about 5 so gave up the next 80miles and camped up in 20 instead. Good spot this one, but then so was last night, it depends who comes out in the dark of night. Supper.

It's camping municipal with lots of kids around. Obviously that didn't stop this german twat taking me to the lake edge and showing me his little peepee. I'll sleep clutching my hammer just in case he's had some Dutch courage. Edit. Under no circumstances can he break my remaining pannier key.

Well, it gets more interesting. I've just been accosted by an ungent with a penchant for penis (not that there's anything wrong with that). He won't take nein for an answer. Is this how the other half live? Unnerving.

Sadly the driver with big beard just ducked inside as I wrestled with the camera app.

From the bench on the oxbow lake (on the Mosel) there is talk of the b500 tomorrow. Interesting stuff.

I'm being gentle. Right mare South of Luxembourg city. Hot and sweaty round and round, fan on, fan off, fan on.... Didn't get as far as planned but the digs are alright. Municipal camping in France somewhere near the Luxembourg and German border. I'm not sure it's France, it's somewhere over there. Gate shut but greeted by a gent wearing an apron and riding a 600 transalp. Camping un nui bitte. Tent erected afore dark. Sorted. No good pictures really, too much slogging to get through Belgium. As promised though, Folkestone slab. Busier than I remembered, a bit slower getting through all the checks and we were already late having had a big breakfast instead of being punctual.

Well. We're in Belgium, but I've had a disaster as soon as I got to Ashford. I bent the key for my panniers, now it's hanging on by a thread. The spare I brought only fits one of them, it turns out it's not the right spare. Even managed to find a French locksmith on a Saturday but I don't think he tried hard enough to find a blank really. Nevermind. Onwards.

Five more minutes of work. Then....

One last thing to do to the bike then. Oil and filter. Yamalube? I'm asking for trouble and probably a slipping clutch. But it was given to me (by some heathen step dad), so I'm not allowed to complain. Then off for one last shakedown run to South Leverton with a bunch of loons. That was my burger he's got his grubby mitts and gob round. Cooked by this gent. Plenty of onions please, and curry sauce. I liked the look of this yellow one, and I put plenty of it on the burger for a nose bending sensation. I should probably make a separate post for such an adventure really. Look at my bike gleaming in the overcast light: Oh wait, no. It was further along.

Hmm sorry not sure what you mean. The handlebars are the standard clip ons, but yeah they could be bit higher really for comfort. VFRs seem to get classed as a sports tourer, but the comfort part of a touring motorcycle has probably (hopefully) improved since 1991. The "flat bar" I mentioned was just a bit of crap I used to make that hideous spoiler/lashing point at the back.

And some more fun from yesterday dinner time, post front wheel bearing revelation. To be fair, the front wheel bearings were the only ones I left alone when I rebuilt the thing a few years ago, everything else got swapped - but I had replaced the rear stub needle bearings with a cheaper, but not quite the same, alternative to Honda-san's. I remembered that I'd promised myself that I would definitely take it apart after a year (or 4) to check to see if there was any grease left on the needles. The Honda bearing had an inner rubber seal to keep grease in, whereas my cheaper one only had the usual metal lip. Looks fine enough. Yep, all seems greasy. Slop some more in though for good feelings. Learning my Ray Mears string bending techniques is paying off already. 3 turnbuckles and a quarter granny knot kept the rear brake on to torque the stub nut to almost 200Nm, most handy. Again, sorry, but I can't help get the dog in shot.

But, seeing as though I'm not there yet and I'm just waiting and letting the excitement bubble, I'll post some more faffage. At the weekend I remembered that when everything is lashed on to the back seat it sort of pushes forwards and you get a backrest, but doesn't leave you much room to move around and stretch. No way round it due to the location of the lashing points at the back, the crap always wants to be in the center of the lashing points, so you end up stuck with no way to pull it rearwards. Unless! You get some scrap flat bar and make a go faster spoiler. I always use pension update letters to catch the swarf when drilling, it's printed on the highest quality of paper. Here it is in mock up stage still, but you can clearly see* I'll get another couple of inches back behind me when the tent, table and chairs, sleeping bag, mattress, bed, fluffy pillow, etc is all strapped on. It definitely adds 6 bhp. It's the little things. * maybe not.

Yes will do; I still get free data roaming on the continent. An actual call or text though to back home and I might as well be calling some village deep in the rainforest. So that's at least one picture of the bikes on the tarmac slab at Folkstone, one of a pint in front of a mountain, and one of the vfr on the back of an ADAC low loader.