Four Days

With two weeks of annual leave remaining in September ear marked (at least in part) to explore the fabulous mountains of Arcadia Greece on two wheels, a GS motorcycle deployed in Germany, and a newly acquired bike trailer in Cheshire that should allow rapid blitzkrieg movement to the Southern Balkans, some rapid trip planning had become necessary to move the trailer to Brussels for a handover to Mrs Nikos. And then I noticed that Ted Simon, the father of write two books having ridden a motorcycle around the world slowly twice without a TV support crew and a farting companion,  was to give a talk at the Transport Museum in Coventry. For the avoidance of doubt this is a blog post concerning a four day round road and ferry trip from Cheshire to Brussels in Belgium and any similarity to reality is purely illusory and without foundation. No K75s were harmed during this trip but there was a fair bit of naughty waffle eating. 

Coventry - The statue of the legendary Frank Whittle who in a shack in Leamington Spa developed a crude form of gas turbine jet engine despite the hindrance of the UK Government that forced Frank to publish the idea in Flight magazine that effectively gave BMW practical details.

Jupiter - Ted Simon's Triumph following the inservice development of 40,000 miles - see route map on rear panier.

Not a wax works  - Ted Simon signing previously sold and mostly tatty copies of his books.

£20 worth of fish and chips - but the Norfolk Lines waitress (kelnerka ) was pleasant enough.

Where our VAT goes part 1 - an intriguing and GPS defying inner Brussels tunneled ring road.

Everywhere I trod Euro Cobblers had been there before me.

Where our VAT goes part 2 - the European parliament building in Brussels - part of the gargantuan administration that tells us what curvature is allowed on our pork sausages.

Initially I did not notice the "fries" part of the notice and assumed that this was evidence of the long standing language feud  in mainly Walloon speaking Belgium.

How strange to hear Carmen sung in Walloon with Flemish sub titles.

 A conservatory factory outlet  in the old city??

Dunkirk ferry port floating observation salon, tea room and shopping arcade.

Mrs Nikos advised that Niederbayern is near Austria and therefore my ferry queue fraternisation  with this HOG outing was to be avoided at all costs.

The painters are in but having a tea break.  Arrivaderci Norfolk Lines - Guten Tag or should it be Hej DFDS Seaways.

The traditional Sunday evening English recreational activity of crossing the River Thames.  Bikes go free by the way but these guys should have been in the left hand lanes.

Almost back in Cheshire - it's so nice to meander along England's byways at a constant 49.5 mph.