I'm out of Portsmouth going to Mont St Michel tomorrow night! Keep an eye out for me at the harbour We just got told that our return will now be to plymouth rather than portsmouth which adds a couple of hours to our journey home. A ferry caught fire a few weeks ago on our route and this must be the knock on from that. I have to admit, I'm seeing extra time on the bike as a bit of a bonus
Yep, the Pont Aven, the one you were getting back, the fire delayed @chizel’s departure (now he himself is delaying his return), it’s now out of action with engine or rudder problems, either way, best avoided. Have a safe trip.
42L!! Are you taking a spare bike? Remember, the overwhelming majority of the time, you will be on the bike. That tail piece on 1200R is smaller than the one on my 1299S. A credit card is all you really need, plus the leathers and waterproofs. The rest can wash in a sink. However, my first foray abroad I took too way much stuff. The next I took half as much, now I take fook all and manage. Caen can be very busy leaving, roadworks, rush hour and all the lorries from the ferry. Patience and care is needed.
In a fortnight's time I'm heading for Madrid and surroundings (Escorial, Valle de Los Caídos, Segovia, Toledo, Aranjuez, Chinchon etc..) for 4 nights, then up to Vigo for a night, on to Santiago de Compostela, A Coruña and then down for a night in Leon before a good helping of Picos on the way back to Santander. I've decided not to take the (KTM) panniers, being like two Portacabins, they're too wide for proper filtering and can affect the handling at the high speeds that may be required at some point... I don't think there's actually any need for the carrying capacity either, unless you're travelling with a pillion. A decent (waterproof) kit bag lengthways on the pillion seat and a tank bag are usually enough for me. Positioned carefully, the bag on the pillion seat also provides a handy backrest for those times you feel your back's getting out of breath. You might find that reducing your carrying capacity helps focus your packing. Good luck on your trip today
1 - Cobham Our group of 24 agreed to meet at a petrol station just outside of Portsmouth ahead of our 10.45pm channel crossing to Caen. A smaller group planned to meet at Cobham services in Surrey on the way. Luckily, I was able to work from home the day of the trip and this turned out to be extremely important. It was a rough day thanks to a high volume of work calls but I did manage to get down to Pro Twins who kindly fitted my evotech frame protectors for me (that was the important bit as you will find out later). I packed and repacked multiple times and the end result can be seen below. I put on my waterproof over trousers and drove to my daughters’ taekwondo lesson. I kissed them both goodbye and headed to Cobham services under grey skies which threatened rain.
2 - Portsmouth The journey to Cobham was uneventful. I arrived 5 mins before the planned departure time. The rest of the group had arrived some time earlier and so there was no time to do anything more than refuel and go. We got soaked on the way to Portsmouth. I was glad to have put on my overtrousers as a precautionary measure and while I did get very cold I remained dry. Note to self - wear my down jacket under my motorcycle jacket if the temp will be below 15c. We lined up next to cars, lorries and a few other bikes and waited to get on the ferry. Thankfully it had stopped raining.
@dubcat you know how to keep the suspense levels up....what’s the next instalment going to reveal?? Hope it ain’t too nasty!
5 is the one you are going to want to skip to 3 - Angoulême We were 4 to a (tiny) room on the ferry. I knew I’d made the right decision in paying extra for a single room during the rest of the trip. The snoring was horrendous We disembarked and stopped for a very short briefing to confirm the drop off system we’d be using to ensure no one got lost. We avoided motorway for all but the last few miles of the 300 or so mile journey. When I get home I’ll get the route we took as some thought went in to it by the ride leaders. The roads were absolutely stunning. I think we were out for about 8 hours all in all. As the miles went by I got more and more used to the bike. I was extremely comfortable and I had huge amounts of torque at my disposal so overtaking was very easy (and fun). No one got lost but we did have one mishap when a guy on a gigantic armchair of a bike (a 1600cc bmw which literally does have an armchair as a pillion seat) had an off. He hit a damp patch and felt the front end go. The bike sat up when he braked and he was going towards a ditch so he lay the bike down. He was banged up but came off lightly. I’m amazed at how little damage the bike had thanks to the engine protector bars. He got back on and it didn’t seem to have shaken his confidence at all. He rides that thing like a sports bike. We had heavy rain about half way through the journey. Once again my overtrousers and textile jacket did their job. My overtrousers do ride up and over my boots which is really annoying. I wish they had a strap to put under the boot to keep them down. We pulled in to Angoulême, put our bikes in the hotel garage and went out for food. A brilliant first day on tour!
4 - Llanes This was going to be a long day. Llanes was about 400 miles away so we took several stretches of motorway to speed things up. The monster was amazing on the motorway too. I don’t know if the puig screen I fitted is making much of a difference but I was able to do 90mph for long stretches without issue. Can’t believe how comfy this bike is. The weather was much better for most of the journey - apart from the last 30 mins when the heavens opened up. After that long day though everyone just wanted to get to the hotel so we didn’t stop to put waterproofs on and held some rather high speeds to get to the hotel asap. Once at the hotel I took the panniers off as this would be our base until our return home. The blaze panniers are really good. They have tonnes of space, come with waterproof liners that work, and they are easy to put on and remove from the bike.
Motorcycle Bikers Elastic Adjustable Boot Straps Pant Stirrups Jod Pair Clips https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00TM0G3UA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_4yObDb7HT6PPV
