My trip to the UK

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

1 minute ago, Sir Fallsalot said:

You don't read anything do you he had that for breakfast 

He does but the memories going so he can't retain it between finishing the read and posting the post 

[Sir Fallsalot]

@Pedro i like the way you are excited to see the horses roaming freely, its quite common near me so i don't take it in as you did and just ride by but i do remember being like that the first time i saw them 

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

16 minutes ago, Sir Fallsalot said:

@Pedro i like the way you are excited to see the horses roaming freely, its quite common near me so i don't take it in as you did and just ride by but i do remember being like that the first time i saw them 

I thought that too 

Lots of genuinely smiley uncontrived photos with two people who look like they really appreciate the green nature and wildlife of the UK.

[Sofia]

1 hour ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

There are some great statements and some utter bollox in that post but I suppose whatever opinions you've formed you're free to have so enjoy. 

Just for example the extreme control you refer to is our law against 'entrapment' they are legally obliged to tell you where the cameras are, even the police are obliged to release where they'll be with their mobile speed traps, this is more freedom than in other countries, no nasty surprise points or fines unless you speed without taking heed. The only place I have been caught out speeding is in Spain with their hidden cameras.

Unlike many other countries, where you are unaware you're being checked upon, no nasty surprise points arrive in the post, in the UK they must by law let you know before you hit a trap or camera, people generally know they've stupidly been through a camera.

See the pic below for a part of my trip from the Pyrenees' very soon. It's a camera hell on that route, not that you'll get any sort of warning while there unless you use the correct GPS.

From what I can see, you did a great job on the guiding, some refining needed maybe but overall looked like you did a lovely job. 

 

ps seasickness pills need to be taken an hour before boarding, after you feel sick it's just not going to have the same effect. 

 

Thanks for your thoughts. 

 

 

I take the tablets as prescribed, w hours before boarding. 

 

[Six30]

1 hour ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

There are some great statements and some utter bollox in that post but I suppose whatever opinions you've formed you're free to have so enjoy. 

Just for example the extreme control you refer to is our law against 'entrapment' they are legally obliged to tell you where the cameras are, even the police are obliged to release where they'll be with their mobile speed traps, this is more freedom than in other countries, no nasty surprise points or fines unless you speed without taking heed. The only place I have been caught out speeding is in Spain with their hidden cameras.

Unlike many other countries, where you are unaware you're being checked upon, no nasty surprise points arrive in the post, in the UK they must by law let you know before you hit a trap or camera, people generally know they've stupidly been through a camera.

See the pic below for a part of my trip from the Pyrenees' very soon. It's a camera hell on that route, not that you'll get any sort of warning while there unless you use the correct GPS.

From what I can see, you did a great job on the guiding, some refining needed maybe but overall looked like you did a lovely job. 

 

ps seasickness pills need to be taken an hour before boarding, after you feel sick it's just not going to have the same effect. 

 

ok..

 

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

Just now, Six30 said:

ok..

 

[Six30]

8 hours ago, Pedro said:

I'm honestly jonesing for Morocco, dry and dusty, and also with cheap meals and petrol ...

i was trying to find a picture of your helmet

 

 

 

to see if you had bluetooth so you could communicate while riding, did you ?

[Six30]

3 minutes ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

[XTreme]

1 minute ago, Six30 said:

i was trying to find a picture of your helmet

@Marcel......things are worse than you thought!

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

4 minutes ago, Six30 said:

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

On 28/09/2023 at 10:33, XTreme said:

You're permanently on bloody holiday!

Cheeky fecker. You can travel and work at the same time. Just cos you sit in front of the same PC in the same chair declaring incapacity due to your wifes lack of mobility doesn't mean the rest of the world doesn't know how to travel and work at the same time!

Made it to the netherlands didnt you? Any clients fall off a cliff while you were away? 

Nope? 

Nuff said. 

[boboneleg]

Great ride report @Pedro .  It's very interesting (to me at least) to read your observations about our green and pleasant (not always) land  

[boboneleg]

This bike was built just two miles from my house .................

 

[XTreme]

16 minutes ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

Cheeky fecker. You can travel and work at the same time. Just cos you sit in front of the same PC in the same chair declaring incapacity due to your wifes lack of mobility doesn't mean the rest of the world doesn't know how to travel and work at the same time!

Made it to the netherlands didnt you? Any clients fall off a cliff while you were away? 

Nope? 

Nuff said. 

So you have an online business?

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

5 minutes ago, XTreme said:

So you have an online business?

Like most businesses a large portion of it is run online or over the phone. The physical solving of problems requires dispatching the right monkey who is happy to dance to the right tune.

Sometimes that is me or Mr Slowly but most of the time anyone with half a brain will do. That's why I never know how long I'll be away for because any phone call can be that crisis you have to physically be there for 

[Sir Fallsalot]

@Pedro Let me offer a different view on this other than Pete's brit bashing comments again, seems to be the highlight of his life bashing his homeland and for some reason awakens the patriot in me i never knew i had 

 

Cod fish going up in price has fuck all to do with "taking back control" but everything to do with the war in Ukraine. Russia supplies about 40% of the whitefish that comes into the UK and the government has put a tariff on that, forcing the UK to go elsewhere and driving prices up. and it's more like a 50% increase not 70% also buying fish and chips in a restaurant has always been expensive you can buy what you had in a good fish and chip shop for under £10 and i'm willing to bet it would taste better.

Not seeing young couples around is not unusual here as the weekends were reserved for the lads/girls night out sort of thing, even when me and the wife were courting  we would go our separate ways on the weekends she would be out with her friends and i would be out with mine and we would meet up at the end of the night sound like not much has changed lol

The cost of living in the UK is high i agree but the average wage here is something like 50% higher than Spain or Portugal so it's all relative. I've never understood the fascination of coffee £2.50 is cheap for shit coffee or good coffee it's like a fashion thing here good job i don't like it.

 

As for the Poo if it was human Poo you must have been the unluckiest person in the UK at that time to have found some in the street to step in, only once i can remember having to watch out for human Poo and that was when i was working a night shift in a bank in Newport the underground car park was inhabited by some homeless Junkies and they were shitting everywhere but i seen the same type of homeless junkies hiding away when we stopped in one of the town ports on our cruse to Norway so i assume every country in the world has them

Cant explain the search at the ferry port probably looked a bit shifty LOL but i have been searched a few times at air ports so your not alone, unfortunate about the Leatherman but fixed blade knives are banned in the UK for good reason and i've seen a few posts on bike forums in the past warning people not to travel with them or remove the blade if they can for the trip  

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

16 minutes ago, Sir Fallsalot said:

@Pedro Let me offer a different view on this other than Pete's brit bashing comments again, seems to be the highlight of his life bashing his homeland and for some reason awakens the patriot in me i never knew i was 

 

Cod fish going up in price has fuck all to do with "taking back control" but everything to do with the war in Ukraine. Russia supplies about 40% of the whitefish that comes into the UK and the government has put a tariff on that, forcing the UK to go elsewhere and driving prices up. and it's more like a 50% increase not 70% also buying fish and chips in a restaurant has always been expensive you can buy what you had in a good fish and chip shop for under £10 and i'm willing to bet it would taste better.

Not seeing young couples around is not unusual here as the weekends were reserved for the lads night out even when me and the wife were courting  we would go our separate ways on the weekends she would be out with her friends and i would be out with mine and we would meet up at the end of the night sound like not much has changed lol

The cost of living in the UK is high i agree but the average wage here is something like 50% higher than Spain or Portugal so it's all relative. I've never understood the fascination of coffee £2.50 is cheap for shit coffee or good coffee it's like a fashion thing here good job i don't like it.

 

As for the Poo if it was human Poo you must have been the unluckiest person in the UK at that time to have found some in the street to step in, only once i can remember having to watch out for human Poo and that was when i was working a night shift in a bank in Newport the underground car park was inhabited by some homeless Junkies and they were shitting everywhere but i seen the same type of homeless junkies hiding away when we stopped in one of the town ports on our cruse to Norway so i assume every country in the world has them

Cant explain the search at the ferry port probably looked a bit shifty LOL but i have been searched a few times at air ports so your not alone, unfortunate about the Leatherman but fixed blade knives are banned in the UK for good reason and i've seen a few posts on bike forums in the past waring people not to travel with them or remove the blade if they can for the trip  

Hear fuckin hear!

But Pete deals in click bait, it's his job so I wouldn't take any of that seriously.

The knife being confiscated I'm sad for Pedro but at the same time you have to have some respect for the laws of the country you're visiting. We have had strict laws about offensive weapons for decades. He was lucky it wasn't the police, then it would have been a prosecution. The rules on the type of knife you can carry and for what purpose are clear. They tend to pick on people who don't look a threat to make an example of them in front of other travellers. I've now lost count of the number of searches I've been subjected to! Mr Slowly they won't touch with a barge pole!

The poo, yep that wudda been dog poo. Human poo is done in places no normal person would go. Natural raw diets for dogs are extremely popular here and as a consequence shit just don't stink like it used to 

[boboneleg]

The only thing that I can say about the Leatherman was that I was searched on a Brittany Ferry to France and I had to take mine out of my pocket and put it in my bike luggage otherwise they were going to confiscate it .

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

I've lost a knife to security and recently (just in the last month) a bloody corkscrew!

I got a fabulous full body massage by one set of security in front of everyone this year focussing for what seemed like forever on my chest!

Mr Slowly said after wow that was weird, I was gonna come over and intervene but then I realised it was a massive turn on so I left her to it!

Twat 

[Sofia]

3 minutes ago, boboneleg said:

The only thing that I can say about the Leatherman was that I was searched on a Brittany Ferry to France and I had to take mine out of my pocket and put it in my bike luggage otherwise they were going to confiscate it .

Uau, there seems to be a great confusion with letherman's at security... so, going to the IoM the lady sent Pedro's one for destruction immediately.  I had one also, but no issue there. With Brittany ferries, all bikers were stopped and the guy asked us "do you have Swiss army knives? Yes? That's fine. Do you have multitools like Letherman? Yes? OK, that's fine too" basically it depends on the bloke or gal asking. Interesting way to do security checks, but not surprising seeing its all outsourced staff. 

Still, good to know the law is enforced and applied correctly and properly, no more dangerous multitools for me, I don't have a clue what to do with  it anyway!! Rather call recovery! 

 

 

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

It's certainly random. 

But the law isn't. The length of blade, the way it opens, what it's stored with indicating it's purpose are all factors.

On the farm I carry a much larger than allowed in public blade of well over 7.62cm but that's ok because it's deemed reasonable for the job. It has a purpose. However if I went to the supermarket with it in my overall pocket it's no longer legal cos it's not necessary to have a large knife at the supermarket.

The very large supersharp kitchen knife I carry when travelling is stored with other kitchen equipment so that would also be seen as a reasonable use. 

Even a can of hairspray carried to damage another person is considered an offensive weapon.

It's all about what's considered reasonable and necessary.

[Pedro]

2 hours ago, Six30 said:

i was trying to find a picture of your helmet

 

 

 

to see if you had bluetooth so you could communicate while riding, did you ?

We did, why?

[Pedro]

Bit surprised to see a fee of the comments so I'll write a few words and won't visit the replies.

Firstly, my thoughts were of someone who went to see a different country, I've had a connection with a few brits since forever and always got along with people from the UK but never really been around their country. It's a view from someone foreign, take it or leave it but it's honest. It's not meant to be an insult or I wouldn't have posted it here.

The knife event, sorry but you're full of crap. When I asked the guy patting me down leaving to Santander and asked if he didn't want to empty my clearly full jacket pockets out, he simply looked at me and said "This is all bollocks, mate". They're patting down legs and leaving out armored jackets, taking away folding lockable blades in multitools while searched in one bag while the other is unchecked for a gun. Searching a foreign biker's case while motorhomes carrying full kitchens with proper blades inside go unsearched. They're just following strict rules instead of trying to disarm real potential threats. Train them, have them ask the same questions and look at peoples responses and gauge for a threat and then target that, don't just tell them to partially pat down "everyone".

The leatherman? I couldn't give a shit about the thing except it's an object I liked. It was only taken away because it was an untrained subcontracted person doing a job she's not qualified to do. That's the opinion of the company running the ferries, not mine. All other bikers weren't searched, all of them loudly told them they were carrying similar tools, they were ignored. That was simply wrong.

You think speed cameras are what I or Sofia were commenting about being opressive? They weren't, it's all the cctv stuff going about, all the signs threatening to prosecute with cctv footage. CCTV cameras filming roadworks, drainage holes and cabbage gardens, that's insane.

I'm sorry a few of you think this is an attack on your country. I do like the UK and more than that, I like the UK people or else I wouldn't be here, it's a view on a foreign country by someone who visited it, just happens to be my view and your country, or countries. Most of my opinions were an observation on something purely different to where I'm from, I'm sure if I visited the US, Russia, Australia, or China I would different observations on them as well. I am happy to say I was well treated and had an overall good experience, as I'm sure I would have on most places.

 

I will tell you something I didn't write before though, I am sorry for most of the over 60 people I've talked to, they're lost in their own country and it's just not a matter of money. 

If this turns into an offensive thing for you all, many of whom I consider friends although never having met them in person, I'll just delete the words and keep the pictures in the report.

 

 

 

 

 

PS: bacon butties if with coffee, prosciutto sandwiches if with beer or wine!

[Pedro]

Disclaimer: prosciutto is Italian, it´s similar but not the same thing. If I say ham which is the literal translation it'll all get confusing. 

Also, this is a ride report, not an assault of a different culture.

[Sir Fallsalot]

34 minutes ago, Pedro said:

Bit surprised to see a fee of the comments so I'll write a few words and won't visit the replies.

Firstly, my thoughts were of someone who went to see a different country, I've had a connection with a few brits since forever and always got along with people from the UK but never really been around their country. It's a view from someone foreign, take it or leave it but it's honest. It's not meant to be an insult or I wouldn't have posted it here.

The knife event, sorry but you're full of crap. When I asked the guy patting me down leaving to Santander and asked if he didn't want to empty my clearly full jacket pockets out, he simply looked at me and said "This is all bollocks, mate". They're patting down legs and leaving out armored jackets, taking away folding lockable blades in multitools while searched in one bag while the other is unchecked for a gun. Searching a foreign biker's case while motorhomes carrying full kitchens with proper blades inside go unsearched. They're just following strict rules instead of trying to disarm real potential threats. Train them, have them ask the same questions and look at peoples responses and gauge for a threat and then target that, don't just tell them to partially pat down "everyone".

The leatherman? I couldn't give a shit about the thing except it's an object I liked. It was only taken away because it was an untrained subcontracted person doing a job she's not qualified to do. That's the opinion of the company running the ferries, not mine. All other bikers weren't searched, all of them loudly told them they were carrying similar tools, they were ignored. That was simply wrong.

You think speed cameras are what I or Sofia were commenting about being opressive? They weren't, it's all the cctv stuff going about, all the signs threatening to prosecute with cctv footage. CCTV cameras filming roadworks, drainage holes and cabbage gardens, that's insane.

I'm sorry a few of you think this is an attack on your country. I do like the UK and more than that, I like the UK people or else I wouldn't be here, it's a view on a foreign country by someone who visited it, just happens to be my view and your country, or countries. Most of my opinions were an observation on something purely different to where I'm from, I'm sure if I visited the US, Russia, Australia, or China I would different observations on them as well. I am happy to say I was well treated and had an overall good experience, as I'm sure I would have on most places.

 

I will tell you something I didn't write before though, I am sorry for most of the over 60 people I've talked to, they're lost in their own country and it's just not a matter of money. 

If this turns into an offensive thing for you all, many of whom I consider friends although never having met them in person, I'll just delete the words and keep the pictures in the report.

 

 

 

 

 

PS: bacon butties if with coffee, prosciutto sandwiches if with beer or wine!

Sorry if anything i said upset you wasn't aimed at you just an alternative view of Pete's and his insatiable appetite to discredit the UK at every opportunity, your report is excellent and i read it exactly as you you said as a foreign travellers views and experiences in our country, i'm sure i would report the same way if i were traveling a foreign land as well as i am comfortable with what i know and i don't like different not saying you are the same though. As for the bird at port security sounds like she was the only one taking her job seriously and her inconsistency and everyone else's couldn't give a toss attitude made you feel victimised if everyone was searched i feel you would have felt better about it yourself.