MooN

bloody nightmare Pete. this zeekend is going to be complete anarchy, I hope it will settle down a bit after that, but i'm not going to get much time off till october now.

Sorry, running around like a headless chicken at the moment trying to do 3 months work in 8 days, so working 6 1/2 days a week the last 2 weeks so no riding other than to work and back, and even then i finished at gone 9 last night. I had to get out, at least for an afternoon or I was going to kill someone... A couple of pics from the afternoon

I have to agree with you there Pete, though the dutch are probably a close second.... I never admit to being english unless I have to.

Welcome Phil, looks like you know some of the locals already ( possibly not the most recommendable though...??)

yup. the bloke that used to own the company that supplies a lot of marine parts for inland waterways boats in europe, was an officianado of these machines and a rabid specialist in all things Austin or BMC ( we used to have a load of old BMC tempest engines in our boats) he's had these two for at least 25 years, if not more and he'd planned to do them up once he retired... usual story, though he's restored engines and old cars all his life for other people, he just never got round to doing these two into one for himself, he's still there, but too old to do anything with them. Shame really cos his son has taken on the business but is not a fanatic like his dad and will never do anything with them.

on a run around picking up some bits for work by bike on wednesday I came across these to old ladies in the back yard of one of our suppliers Austin FX3! London taxis built by BMC from '48 to '58 WTF? made me instantly think of that war poet Rupert Brook (?) who wrote in the 1st war I think " If I should die, think only this of me, that ther is, some corner of a foreign field that is forever England. There shall be, in that rich earth a richer dust concealed..." I can't remember how the rest goes, you;ll have to look it up. it must be a good 30 years since a learned it at school...

plenty places like that all over the world I reckon. I also firmly believe that the way people treat you and react to you mirrors the way you interact to them, at least to an extent. Most people who are accepted and integrated into a community are people who are non judgemental, and accepting of different ways of thinking and living, not neccessarily better, or worse, just different.

nope, we just have to look better than singleparenthood...?

yeah but, they also like cheese with maggots in it and organised crime... @XTreme I reckon you fell on your feet Pete, though temperament wise france has as large a range of temperaments as it does wine or cheese, you just need to find the one that suits.

Fathers day also happens to be my Goddaughters Birthday, she's 6 and we had cake an' a BBQ an'cake an' presents an'cake an' stuff ! ??

a holiday cottage somewhere in Burgundy

yup, in theory. the only thing that will fuck it up will be Boris and his bloody stupid 14day quarantine clusterfuck. Actually, no, fuck it, keep 'em, we're picking up french bookings hand ove fist apparently. Still lost 40% of annual turnover though so this winter is going to be tough and we're going to be short staffed and underfunded for this season so it remains to be seen if I can hack it. I'm prepared to work hard and muck in and do extra, but not if I am forced to do shoddy work due to no parts and no staff, i'm not up for that, i'd rather go do something else. we'll see.

My presemce has been equested and required at work tomorrow, but I had to pick N01 up from the physio at 16h00 so the afternoon was pretty screwed by the time I could get out with the bike, but I squoze in a last ride before real life restarts. having not planned anything and not wanting to waste time doing so I just did one of my "box the compass" rides ie ride north for half an hour ( west of north in this case) then turn left and ride west for half an hour, then turn laft again to ride south for half an hour and left again for a half an hour... not being too particular about the time and only roughly the direction, I just take the next promising looking road the looks like it goes the right way, found some crackers today. I said the other day that I often come across these, this one was again in the middle of nowhere, down a dirt track somewhere out towards Aillant sur Tholon. " eternel souvenir of the resistant CHAPOTIN Henry of AUGY, chief warrant officer, shot by the gestapo *th August 1944 at the age of 19." up across the tops, dodging the rain clouds I really should have thrown that bloody orange sign in the ditch before taking this photo! Back in the sunshine and into the woods found a nice country retreat for my retirement it was starting to get late , gone 19h30 already so I headed for home with no more photo stops. did about 130k in all, just bimbling around.

never measured how big my bum is in those panniers, no wider than the tralp was though with 2 x 52L givi's on and stuck out each side the width of the exhaust, about 1m10 if I remember right

I have an update on the Marshmallows... one of the manufacturers of the polyfilm for silage bales over here gives a percentage of his profits to cancer research, the pink ones support research into breast cancer and the blue one for prostate cancer.

they do , but not for a price I'm willing to pay. I'd like one, sure, but I don't NEED one that badly... oh, and I ain't Dave...

I've got a phone holder rigged ( ultimate add ons don't seem to cater for poor people either cos their phone cases start from the I phone 6 ) my problem is fixing the bloody thing over the top of the clocks. It's currently at clock level to the left and is fine but I'd like it higher and more central which means installing some kind of bar behind the screen and above the clocks.

110km this afternoon, again almost all on minor roads except the last bit. For Info, the furthest point north "Soumaintrain" is where they make the smelly cheese of the same name. Difficult to get away from food here one way or another... Tiger food spotted running away then saw this cheeky bugger had turned to look and stood still see him? zoom in : they don't usually hang around long enough for me to stop and get the camera out, but I see loads on these runs. This was early afternoon, so in broard daylight. Nice country hunting lodge for someone open country again, between Chemilly and Flogny La Chapelle somewhere I found a marshmallow farm! obviously the farmed ones are bigger than wild marshmallows...

"pearls before swine..." ?

nope it's always like that here Pete, once you're off the beaten track. That's part of why I love it. population density is waaay lower than the uk aparrently Burgundy is currently less densly populated than it was in 1851...

having spent yesterday unblocking the bath I thought I deserved some R & R this afternoon so got kurviger to invent me a loop on small back roads about 150km northwards ride out north of Auxerre and the Foret D'othe opens out befor you cant remember which village this was I found where Christmas trees are born! It's rare that I don't see one or more of these along the roadside during a ride, often in the middle of nowhere. The inscriptions translates as " to the resistats of the Foret D'Othe In memory of those who sacrificed their lives against the barbarity of Nazism, in order that you who pass by might live free" Oh I can't remember where this one was either but it's a church There is a decidedly religious theme to this ride, I would love to know the story behind the reason for painting this roadside shrine all red Madame Moon rang me and despite having helmet comms I don't ride whilst on the phone. The helmet comms allow me to respond, pull over and talk without having to remove gloves, helmet and earplugs. I pulled over to talk. Another resistants memorial less prominent as on a very minor back road and about half way between " nowhere" and " Elsewhere" Again I'd like to hear the story behind it and why specifically in this spot. riding out of the woods I came across this dead tree and knew instantly what it reminded me of! Any LOTR fans will instantly recognise it... if you are wondering why the memorials refer to "Maquis" or "Maquisards" rather than "resistants" a short French history lesson is neccessary: "Maquis" is a Corsican word designating the uncultivated bush or scrub land covering much of the islands highlands. when someone wanted to dissappear ( usually to hide from the authorities) they would " prend le Maquis" or take to the woods ( going "Bush" the aussies would say) The term "prendre le Maquis" or taking to the woods, rapidly became synonymous with joining the resistance during the war, especially later on when the resistants were able to form organised groups, so the different groups of resistants would take code names such as "le Maquis de MERRY -VAUX" as on the stele in the photo and their members were referred to as "Maquisards". reading between the lines I think that they were largely ineffectuel and more of a morale boost to the local population than a real problem to the occupying Nazis but there is NO doubt that some of their operations did make a difference and many of them died trying. For that reason alone we owe them our gratitude. The Massacre of Ouradour sur Glane was a direct reprisal by the Das Reich Panzer division for the destruction of the bridges over the Glane by the local "Maquis" preventing them from joining their infantry batallion in the counter offensive.

nice pics pedro nearly all the ingredients of a top ride report. Only thing missing is Burgundy... ?

look it up in english ya twat, its called the same thing

I was expecting a pair of marigolds from you Pete