Hilarious, challenging, stressful but when you get you're head around it, actually pretty good.
And an amazing improvement on England. Basically because there's far fewer trucks. The roads are just as narrow, everyone drives on the wrong side, including me most of the time but there's far less congestion and it's all pretty smooth.
Bicycles. It seems they own the roads and can do whatever they want with complete impunity. Everyone slows down and patiently waits for a chance to go past. They ride 2 or 3 abreast, taking up whole lanes and no body cares. Amazing, but I suppose understandable when you consider how popular it is here. In UK the bicycles take their life in their hands and are just crazy, here they are a protected species.
Motorways. Three points to make here.
1st no one travels in the left (inside) lane. They all sit in the outside lane, move over to overtake, and then back again. It makes things really easy and there's never any angst.
2nd, they tailgate like you wouldn't believe. Seriously! If I wasn't warned I'd freak out, but it's very normal apparently.
And 3rd, the speed limit is 130 in the dry and 110 in the wet, and the road is narrower than our lovely Hume Highway. Ive had numerous arguments over the years about the stupidity of holding everyone at 110 in Oz. This place proves it and I rest my case.
But seriously, it's incredible to see a train of half a dozen or so cars, belting along at 130kph, nose to tail with only half a meter or so between them. Snaking out to overtake, then back in again. All holding station and speed. We could learn so much from them.
I don't know if they're actually better drivers, they just all follow the same conventions and it works. It really does.
Roundabouts. Weird. Well, the same as at home really, but everything goes the wrong way and it's so hard to get used to. You have to look the wrong way! I nearly took out a nice Merc the other day in the middle of Caen, simply cause I looked the wrong way. Good thing he was alert cause I wasn't.
The other thing is more often then not there's more then the normal number of entry roads, in any possible variation of angles. And the GPS doesn't recognize motorway exits as one of them. Counting and early preparation is a must.
Navigation. Thank god for our GPS. We'd be lost without it. Literally. We hear "recalculating" an awful lot.
Driving on the right. All good, most of the time, but there's been a couple of moments and I'm so thankful to have Janelle to remind me. I cant imagine what the on-coming cars think.
And I've left the best till last...
Crazy one way streets in crazy little fishing villages where any semblance of a logical road layout disappeared centuries ago.
Watch the video. Nuff said.
Hire Cars. We've swapped the Renault Megane for a Ford Focus. I want to drive a car, not a brick. Both were manual/diesel, seems most everything is here. The Focus has this awesome party trick. If you stop in neutral and take your feet off the throttle and clutch, the engine cuts out, then restarts as soon as you touch the throttle. It takes some getting used to.
Anyway, we've been here almost a week, traveled over 700 kms on all kinds of roads and I haven't hurt anyone or marked the car (touch wood) so between Janelle as my extra set of eyes and chief road sign interpreter, we must be doing something right. She hasn't got her head around actually driving here yet, but her day is coming. Watch this space.
Did anyone notice that I missed a day. I hope not.
Ok, this was a big one.
The building of Mont St Michel was commenced over 1000 years ago, and has undergone numerous restorations since. There's part Roman, part Gothic, part medieval, and part French Revolution.
Out of all the clips I took, I've put together 2 vids.
The first is just random stuff as we climbed up higher and higher, the second are bits and pieces of the guided tour we went on, including the entire intro. There was no point filming the tour itself, too much and too crazy, but these clips will give you an idea.
And a bunch of random pics in no particular order.
This first lot are pics of the gallery photos on site.
And these are the shots I took along the way. Don't let perspective fool you. This camera has an amazing zoom.
We were left in awe of the engineering, the effort and the amazing scope of it all.
However, tips for young players. Be prepared for large bus groups all traveling together and blocking the roads. And Americans who know everything. Seriously. I even overheard one conversation about seeing England just across the bay. Don't these people ever look at a map?
Apologies for leaving Mont St Michel tonight, but it's late and we have an early start in the morning. A big day of D Day sites and memorials. And a few military cemeteries too I'd imagine.
If I try and tell you about the amazing Mont tonight I wont do it justice. So tomorrow ok.
The town is Villers sur Mer, meaning Village by the sea. So this is (completely unofficially) Chateau sur Mer. However, we're nicknamed it Chateau Scary.
You've got to admit, if you drove up here at night, especially a dark and stormy one, add lightening bolt on que for effect just as you open the creaky iron gate, and well, you get me?
But no, that's not the reason.
And yes, it's very high up. And those (like me) with vertigo shouldn't lean too far over that balcony.
But no, that's not the reason.
Basically, it's the stairs. Yep. The twisting, narrowing, creaking, 200+ year old, complete with lion (read gargoyle) wood carvings... and that view from the top down the middle. It's to die for. Literally!
But our little apartment in what was the attic... It's simply beautiful. Small, clean, modern, and equipped with everything we need, including that million dollar view. It completely belies the building from the outside. I wouldn't have thought is possible, but here, see for yourself.
Now, of course, being the only aussies in town, that we know of anyway, it's important to let them know we're here. We thought you might enjoy this little edit from the main street. Note please the go-kart track and public swimming pool.
The really amazing thing is that 90% of the town is boarded up. Summer is over, everyone has gone back to work, and well, this is now a quiet, peaceful village.
Except for those stairs, there's nothing peaceful about them. I promise you. Here's another look just in case you were wondering.
We came across from Portsmouth to what we thought was Caen, but was actually Ouistreham, Caen is 15kms inland. We left UK at 2200, and arrived at 0730 just on dawn. It was very eerie really. The place was completely deserted except for the ferry foot passengers, and a continuous stream of cars trucks and bikes (sigh) past the customs office.
I managed to get 2 vids. One on the deck as we cruised past Portsmouth. You'll note HMS Victory which was Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar, and is still in commission today!
Now come with me for a sneaky little wander through the ferry, stern to bow, and back to the bar. If you're quick you'll see Kevin keenly gazing out the front window.
A word of advice if I may. If you plan on doing this either get a cabin with a real bed (they were all booked up) or if you only have a "reclining chair", then bring a blow up matress and sleeping bag, and do what all the smart seasoned travelers (kids) did and stake out your bit of carpet.
We didn't, and our muscles regretted it for days. I managed a few hours on the bare carpet with a parka for a pillow, Janelle stayed in the chair and is still paying for it. You have been warned.
Walked so far today. Climbed thousands of stairs. Drove 300 kms (on the wrong side of the road).
Bed now.
Rest day tomorrow. Will catch you up lots then. Including this awesomeness. Mont st Micheal
Goodnight
Still editing up the France vids including a hilarious 5 minute drive through some crazy (but adorable) seaside village, that we just have to share with you.
For now though, here's a couple from our last day in London.
The first is when I wandered down to the nearest coffee shop for a couple of takeaway latte's, I figured I'd just take the camera and let you see what I see.
And this is a short clip of the traffic (both vehicle and human) on Sunday afternoon at London Bridge. Yes, the London Bridge. The ship is HMS Belfast which is moored there as a floating museum. In the 10 minutes we took to walk across the bridge and back, a) the traffic jam hardly moved, and b) hardly any conversation I overheard was English. Many were in fact eastern Europeans, which we're told are flooding into UK. A point of major contention apparently. It's all the EU's fault. If England bails soon that will be one of the major reasons.
Anyway, as always, sorry about the shaky vid, but the zoom is just too good not to use it.
Vids of France tomorrow. After we get back from Mont-Saint-Michel. Really looking forward to this one!
A little hideaway called Villers-sur-Mer, just a tad east of Caen, on the Normandy coast.
The ferry trip was a a bit exciting, the drive up here on the wrong side of the road was a laugh a minute, and shopping at their equivalent of Superbarn (about 12 kms away) was an education in itself.
On the outside this house would be well suited to the next Addams Family reunion, but this little flat has been all modernized and is just perfect for us to hideout for a week. I'll be careful of the stairs, promise.
Now I've taken a load of vids in the last 36 hours, of leaving London, the boat, the drive, the town, the drive through the town, but really... we've just got back from a walk on the beach following another one of Janelle's awesome pasta dinners, and honestly, the video's can wait. Well, all except 1.
This is how we enjoyed dinner tonight on the balcony in a perfect shorts and t-shirts 25 degrees. Unfortunately the camera doesn't do the light justice. Amazing doesn't quite cut it but you'll get the idea.
Time to move again. but this time it's not just to fill in time. We're taking our holiday back.
We'll shortly be saying adieu to Paul and Alan and gorgeous Little Venice for a couple of weeks and taking an overnight boat to Caen. Actually, it's a train from London to Portsmouth, a ferry to Caen, and then we're hired a car for a week to head to a little hideaway called Villers-sur-Mer in Normandy.
Thanks to Airbnb we've rented the top floor of this little Chateau. (Follow the link and check out the view. Seriously!)
In other news, my shoulder is much improved, Ive a lot of movement back and it doesn't hurt anywhere near as much. The scans in Chesterfield showed no serious damage and the doctor has advised our insurance company that traveling again is fine.
In fact in a couple of weeks riding shouldn't be a problem, if only we were taking the riding gear. No room in the luggage I'm afraid. Probably a good thing cause I'd certainly be tempted to sneak over to Nurburgring.
Anyway, we're not sure of the internet availability on the train or ferry, so might not be able to update this till we're lying on the beach in northern France. Hey, someone has to do it.
Our Abbey Road experience turned out to be a little more special than we expected, thanks to the sudden appearance of the sun and a random meeting with 3 young Germans, in particular, Klara the violin girl.
We arrived about 20 minutes before the appointed time, so had plenty of opportunity to take in the rather crowded atmosphere and finish our coffee. This is a very popular place.
So Kevin
came out to play, we put our "spot the aussie" hats on, and brought out
the flag. Then Janelle did a
quick preliminary safety check to dispose of her empty coffee cup.
Now right at the end of this clip you might have noticed Janelle walk past a couple of young girls who had just turned up. Well, we didn't really think anything of it until just a few minutes later, and completely without warning, we saw this... (so glad I had the camera ready).
So, not being one to miss an chance, a deal was quickly struck. Yep, you guessed it. Violin Girl Klara Tihomirov ended up walking across and back quite a few times. First with her friends, and a random who happened along behind. (I bet he never expected to be on youtube by days end).
Then the return trip. Traffic got in the way making for a much longer then expected delay.
And then it was our turn with one of Klara's friends driving the camera. The vid didn't work first time but we got it fired up for the return trip and she captured the clip below. Janelle and I, Kevin, the aussie flag, and all of us led by our own personal Minstrel.
I really don't have words to describe it. Seriously, how awesome it this!
And then to top it all off, a few minutes later Rho posted this screenshot of our first crossing on Facebook. You can just make out the flag and Klara half obscured by the motorcycle.
So...
Thanks to an amazingly sunny London day, which meant we had a reason to wear our hats.
Thanks to all the drivers who we delayed, but I figure you must be used to it all by now.
Thanks to everyone at home who took the time to share a very special moment with us, even if you didn't quite know what was happening on the webcam.
Huge thanks to Rho for snapping the screenshot off the internet from 20,000 kms away!
And a very special thank you to Violin Girl Klara and your friends. You ladies were in the perfect place at the perfect time and you really did make our silly little game so very, very much more.
Oh, and why is the camera facing the wrong way?
Because it's mounted in the front lawn of Abbey Road Studios, so it's on their property. Simple as that.
We're back safe and sound in London after a very relaxing train journey. It's actually really nice to not have to think too hard about the future for a day or two.
After all the hassles and drama's that have happened in the last couple of weeks, we think it's time for a little bit of silliness. Don't you?
So we all know the most famous zebra crossing in the world, don't we? Yes you guessed it... that one outside Abbey Road Studios in London. Where the Beatles album cover of the same name was photographed.
Now it turns out there's a webcam there. Here's the link... Abbey Road Crossing although for some reason it's facing the other way. Silly Abbey Road!
So, assuming we get back to London tomorrow, at 7pm Friday night Australian time (10am Friday morning here) we're going to make our best Beatle impersonation and strut across that crossing. We may even stop in the middle and wave. Whatever we decide you wont miss us, I promise!
It would be a really great way to connect with everyone cause we really do miss you all. Screenshots and emails please.
Probably best to check back here this time tomorrow to make sure we're still on, and we'll also post an hour or so before to confirm, but at this stage, we're committed.
We know it's Friday evening at home, and you may have other things on, so if that time really doesn't suit, let us know and we'll see what we can do.
Shoulder scan today indicated no muscle or tendon separation, so that means no surgery. The general feeling is I hyper-extended my left arm at the shoulder, while saving my neck... literally!
Ill be seeing the surgeon on Thursday to work out what's next, but we're hopeful insurance will let us go to France and I'll just need some fairly intense physio when we get back.
And we figured we can't stay at the top joint in town and not stir them up a little, like any Aussie should when abroad. Can you spot us in the pic below?
We're relocating to Buckingham's Hotel tomorrow as it's time for the Powerhouse Peugeot to go back and we'll need to walk everywhere then. This place is too far out of town.
So 2 more nights in Chesterfield (including tonight), then train back to Serenity Base in London on Thursday to await the decisions.
We decided to treat ourselves again and we're spending the next 2 nights at the Casa We suspect this is quite probably the best joint in town. Nice!
Before leaving the Liverpool area this morning we dropped by the ferry port on the Mersey river (well you just have to don't you). Also checked out a genuine German U-Boat. Didn't pay out the 6 pound entry fee though. A quick look on Trip Advisor told us to not bother.
I've got to say Liverpool, well Birkenhead to be exact, struck us as similar to the Dover area. Old and tired. Rusty, dirty and just generally falling down. And very few of their younger generation. The kids have gone and no one really seems to care. It's really very alarming, but I don't know if they notice. Sad.
Anyway, shoulder scan tomorrow and we expect back to London on Wednesday to plan next moves.
Hello again everyone. Because I behaved myself at Stonehenge yesterday, they let me out to play again today. It might be a bit longer again now though cause I'm afraid I wasn't a very good Koala.
See Koalas's can't read, so I didn't know that I wasn't allowed to play with all the cool Dr Who stuff. The nice girl got quite upset when I tried to climb up the Cyberman. Luckily I'd already had a play on most of the other awesome things before I got busted. :)
And Terry got to play with the Tardis and show off with a Dalek, while Janelle almost got caught by the scary Cyberman.
I totally geeked out. It was so much fun! Cardiff is a long way to come, but it was worth it!
There's roman ruins only a few hundred meters from here. The streets carry the original stones in places, there's arches and... well... it's just lovely. We're staying at The Priory and here is a little more about Caerleon from Wikipedia
And the people here seem so friendly and happy. We told one couple over dinner that we went to Dover and she looked at us like we were mad. I think we probably were too.
The drive here though, that's another story. The road system in UK is largely beyond coping. Too many cars, not enough bitumen. Simple equation really. You have been warned.
Anyway, here's some random pics from todays adventures. Video to follow, but my wine and my girl are waiting for me.
It's fair to say that last night in Dover was without doubt the lowest point of our adventure. What a sad, lonely, broken town! And it really made us question why we are staying here instead of packing up and running for home.
Well that may still be what happens if our travel insurance requires it after the scans next Tuesday. But for now we got as far away from Dodgy Depressing Dover as we could and have treated ourselves to a night in the Marriott at Swindon on the way to Wales.
What a world of difference. Words simply cannot describe it. And not a shifty East European accent anywhere.
Excuse me while I order another Jack Daniels...
... I think the jacuzzi is a tad too warm, don't you?
I've been playing with my toy. Here's some vids that we've taken over the last few days.
Following request from Rho, here is the street we now call our London base. Westbourne Terrace Road, Little Venice, near Paddington. And again, we cant thank Paul and Alan enough for everything they've done for us..
Yesterday (Thursday) I was filming the Spitfire and Hurricane at the Battle of Britain Memorial, when I heard the unmistakable sound of a Merlin engine overhead. Sorry for the dodgy camera work, but how amazing it this?
And the Memorial itself. Sorry about the shaky zooming, but you'll get the idea.
The motorsport fans will surely know of the sentimental home of British motorsport, Donington Park. We arrived during a Ron Haslam training day. My camera work leaves a lot to be desired, but you'll get the idea.
And finally, a little sample of the M40 Motorway during quiet time. Today this road was so congested traffic simply stopped. Really.
We took some great vid of the Battle of Britain memorial and lucked it in with a Spitfire flypast. But otherwise this place is just so broken down and depressing.
And dodgy hotel doesn't help. Staffed by shifty looking young East European girls and wornout english men. I expect the hotel is cover for some nefarious import ring.
We're escaping west. Searching "luxury accomodation in south east england" as I write this. Unfortunatly it seems every crackpot with a spare bed less than 100 years old thinks it's luxurious.
I think we need to get the f out and work it out later.
PS. Ill post vid of the flypast as soon as this blog thingy lets me.
Thanks to Paul and Alan we have been welcomed back to what seems to have become our "base" in London at Little Venice. It's nice to be back among friends even though the horrendous London traffic really took it's toll on our frazzled nerves this afternoon.
We called past Donington Park on the way down, and lucked it in as they
were holding a motorcycle ride day. Was a lot of fun to check out those
parts of the track I'd been watching on tele for so many years. And
Janelle got to see how a real track looks. It's just a tad bigger than
Wakefield. Yes I have video.
We'll be leaving our motorcycle gear here, as it's pretty much useless now, and repacking a suitcase for a much more normal traveling holiday. Off down south tomorrow and the new plan for my birthday is to check out the Battle of Britain flypast. It's not everyday you get to see a Spitfire and a Hurricane in close, low level formation, flying over the Battle Of Britain Monument at Dover. It should actually be a really special moment.
Then we'll slowly make our way back to Chesterfield for the ultrasound next Tuesday. Not sure what way we'll go, Wales is looking good...
So in a nutshell, all is ok, We're working things out and looking forward again.
Now I really want to take a minute to publicly acknowledge my amazing,
awesome partner Janelle. Remember her holiday was also shattered, and
the last few days have really been very me focused. She literally
hasn't breathed a singly word of complaint (well maybe a little about
driving in London peak hour traffic). She just got on with everything
and anything that's been needed. I'm in awe of your courage and
resilience my beautiful girl. Love you more than words can say. And thank you for so very much more than is possible to mention here
This is the big problem. It doesn't look bad but under that swelling are a bunch of torn muscles. just how many remains to be seen. The marks are carpet burns. Yes seriously.
The finger isn't broken. Just as sore as hell.
How can 1 finger cop it so hard and none of the others?
Nice cuts on the palm of my left hand. They're healing fine. Just more annoying than anything.
And my right hip. Ouch!
What can I say? It is what it is. Ive attached another pic of the stairs so you can see how incredibly lucky I am. Really!
Pitch darkness, and I walked across them with my left arm gliding along the wall. Simply fell into space, hit with my shoulder and bounced the rest of the way.
We've got ourselves into the Premier Inn in Chesterfield for a couple of nights. Thanks for the suggestion of cottages, but they have stairs and those bloody things hurt!
Spoken to travel insurance. The lost ferry cost is covered, as well as tonight's accommodation and Nurburgring, and looks like the bike recovery back to London as well.
And my medical is free. So financially we're pretty well covered.
We plan to continue the holiday as best we can subject to medical instructions.
So, thanks to the massive support we've had from you all, both on here and by email. It really is appreciated and its great knowing so many of you are with us in spirit.
And we have a mobile number if anyone wants to contact us +44 7 5387 41701
Ok, Game over as far as the bike is concerned. I wont be riding anything for quite a few weeks. They've booked me an ultrasound next week when the swelling dies down, but most likely is surgery to sew the muscles in my shoulder back together.
So we've hired a car for a couple of days to buy time to assess options. The feeling is to continue on as much as possible but right now we just need to find a motel, a bath, a big comfy bed and hold each other for a few hours until we can think straight again.
We might be in Derbyshire a tad longer than expected.
Last night I got up about stupid o'clock for a wizz, and being a stupid git, and it being stupid o'clock I had to do something stupid didn't I? And so exactly on queue the stairs jumped out at me and I had no choice but to throw myself down them.
Rather long stairs they are too, and rather steep, 14 of the little buggers in all. The end result was a) me ending up in a battered heap at the bottom, and b) the entire household waking up to the chorus of clatter and groans. In all seriousness, falling down a narrow flight of stairs in pitch darkness is really a pretty horrible thing to go through. I was extremely lucky to not bang myself up more than I did. However, besides a scary number of cuts and bruises Ive managed to tear the rotator cuff of my left shoulder.
So today was spent at emergency in Whitworth Hospital, and then a referral to xray at Chesterfield A&E. The aussie public health system could really learn from these guys but that's another story.
Upshot is I don't know how long till I can ride again. Not today, or tomorrow, maybe the day after (whatever that is lol) but maybe not for some time.
We've postponed the ferry crossing, the bike is safe and I'm back to the fracture clinic tomorrow for them to assess the damage, not that anyone thinks it's fractured but that's how we have to find out.
Then we'll work out what to do.
Best case - a couple of days and I'll be ok to ride again and we alter the route in Euro to allow me to heal.
Worst case - pack up and come home for surgery.
Bloody Bugger!
So fingers crossed. We're hopeful of the former but will know a lot more tomorrow.
Having a pretty amazing time, that's what. So are you sitting comfortably? Good, than I shall explain.
As mentioned last time, given the difficulties we were having with the bikes temperature, and also that I couldn't fit the GPS mount the way I intended to, I thought I would put my Ulysses club membership to good use and ask for assistance from the GB Branch. Well one email led to another and just as the London weather got normal again, ie drizzly rain, we found ourselves heading north along the M1 to visit the Ulysses GB Secretary Steve (Stephanie) and her husband Gray.
After an afternoon of both motorway and windey village roads a little reminiscent of the Robertson/Moss Vale area, we arrived wet, tired and wind blown in this hamlet of Wensley and have spent today hanging out with them. As an excuse, Im still tweaking with our gear set up and Janelle has developed a sniffle which makes us a little careful about heading straight over to Europe immediately. If it's going to get worse, much better that we're still in a place they understand us. Having said that, we've booked an overnight ferry from Hull to Zeebrugge in Belgium for a Monday night crossing.
So this morning we went for a ride into the nearby town of Matlock for some top box mount modification bits, and then this afternoon our wonderful hosts took us for a ride through the most amazing little English villages. Words can't really describe it, so we have taken a fair bit of video, which Ive posted a little snippet of below. Couple of things to say about this vid, a) clearly we've managed to mount the vid on the bike, b) unfortunately it's sideways, hence the portrait aspect. Oh, and c) the sound is crap.Sorry about that, very little I can do about it.
We also took a trip map on the GPS which I've added as a separate post because it needs to be HTML to work properly. The attached (rather annoying) graph is able to be closed immediately if you want, and it shows out speed etc. It averages at 17 mph but includes 2 stops. Yes miles. Everything is in miles. Im slowly getting used to it. You can zoom out to see exactly where we are in UK.
Anyway, we're off tomorrow morning, and plan on dropping by Sherwood Forest to play Robin Hood for lunch, then onto Hull to find our Ferry.
I must say the biggest possible thank you to Ulysses GB and especially Steve and Gray for the amazing hospitality, assistance, advice and just about everything else. You guys are gold!
So assuming everything has worked properly, below is a vid of the ride back into Wensley and a map of our little jaunt today.
It's
8am at home and 11pm here and we're ready to leave London tomorrow.
Heading to Derbyshire to meet up with some UK Ulysses club folk. I emailed Oz about contacts here who might
have a workshop I can plug into. Pretty amazing response to be honest.
But they seem a friendly bunch and want to help and it would be great to get their ideas. Janelle
feels a lot more comfortable knowing we have back up.
Otherwise, we're having a great time as long as I stay out of the traffic. It's soul destroying. Really it is.
The bike is a lot better after a thermostatectomy and (oh no I'd thought I'd never say it) but the heat is too much. 30 deg here is like 40 at home. Sticky, humid and not fun at all. No one has air conditioning so there's no escape.
Janelle took me to Rock of Ages on the West End tonight. Pretty amazing to actually be there and doing that kind of thing.
Ive been taking a few videos and will try to post some tomorrow.
Till then "Dont Stop believin'..." and "Hooray for Boobies"
