A Brief Photo Recap
I ride west along the E17 Ghent bypass, destined for France, my speed is unusually slow, 15mph below the legal limit, and I sense a different feeling from what I’ve experienced over the last eight days with Ray and Ken.
As they head east towards Holland, and the ferry at Ijmuiden, I’m still hanging onto them, that reluctance to let go of the good times we had together. Yes this feeling returns, the great times which are now past we have to let go of, because they’re past. We can enjoy the memories, of which I laugh at many, but to hold back any emotion I jolt myself to look forward and think of my beautiful family, who I will see in Brittany tomorrow.
Continue reading “”Back to the Future
This trip would never have happened but for an event forty years ago.
Had a police motorcyclist not ‘T-boned’ a drunk driver, then ‘Bill’ would never have been a ‘witness for the defence’ in the spurious allegation against a certain PC Kinsella for the offence of careless driving.
Surprisingly we have remained friends ever since, I hasten to add that no fine nor licence penalty points played any part in this. Let’s just say that despite my ‘coming together with the side of a car’ we still hit it off as bikers.
I look forward very much to our trip, hopefully there’ll be no more ‘coming togethers’ with other motorists?😬
The Western Front Way
1915 – 2nd Lieutenant Alexander Douglas Gillespie of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders writes home from the front line to tell of his vision of ‘a via sacra’ (a sacred road), a route for peace between the lines;
“when peace comes, our government might combine with the French government to make one long avenue between the lines from the Vosges to the sea….I would make a fine broad road in the ‘No-Mans Land’ between the lines, with paths for pilgrims on foot and plant trees for shade and fruit trees, so that the soil should not altogether be waste. Then I would like to send every man, woman and child in Western Europe on a pilgrimage along that Via Sacra so that they might think and learn what war means from the silent witnesses on either side.”
1915 – Gillespie killed in action on the 25th September 1915, days after writing the above letter home.
On Saturday I depart Carlisle with two biking buddies for a week travelling along just the British sector of the WFW, which is from Nieuwpoort to Arras. We will spend seven days visiting many of the significant sites, after which they will return to home and I will head west.
Someday in the future I may do the whole length, but I’m not sure yet whether it will be by foot, bicycle or motorcycle.
Due to the complexities of restricting the blog to trusted followers, and to protect the privacy of let’s say ‘Bill and Ben’, this first part of the trip will be on Polarsteps. I will resume the blog as normal once they are back home.
Many of you already follow me on Polarsteps, you do not need an account to do this, but if not you will need the ‘secret link’. If you request this from me then it’s for you only and obviously should not to be shared elsewhere.
I want to know who knows what we’re up to! 😆
Short Video
Here is a quick video recap of the trip.
The Sun Finally Sets
I sit outside on the sunny cobbled area of the hotel’s restaurant and absorb the typical German environment. Obviously the language I hear, but also the buildings, street names and cacophony from the Harley Davidsons which every now and then trundle past. There’s no mistaking where I am, but it couldn’t be more different from where I’ve been!
Continue reading “The Sun Finally Sets”Sliding Doors
Timing, chance meetings.
When Andy and were partners on the police traffic department we would set off on nights and joke that our lives could change if we decided to turn right instead of left.
Who knows what lay ahead for us then, and who knows what lies ahead for us now?
Continue reading “Sliding Doors”Coincidence
After yesterday’s hard but enjoyable ride, we had time to kill today before our 4.30pm ferry back to Denmark. I suggested to Jacob that as we had both (separately) been to Norway’s most northerly point, maybe we should visit its most southerly? A fairly minor diversion taking us just over two hours, followed by a 90 minute ride to the ferry port.
Continue reading “Coincidence”The quickest of updates
Another hard one at the office!
We didn’t arrive at our hotel until 7.10pm whereupon we were told that “If you want to eat in the restaurant tonight then I’ll book your table for 7.30”. Well we certainly needed to eat and as there is nowhere else then it was a quick dash to make it on time. Of course Jacob with his fully loaded BMW GS has sufficient time to unpack and have a shower before 7.30, me on the other hand spends all the time pfaffing on with luggage and straps. On the plus side he got the beers in which were well deserved after a very full day in the saddles.
I haven’t time to gather all the media together from our epic day’s ride, but just to keep you wolves from the door here are a few hastily cobbled together photos.
Water Falls
What a brilliant day, if riding in rain and cold could ever be brilliant? We spent a lot of time in tunnels, about 25 in total, ranging from short stuff to generally three, four, five or six milers. The world’s longest road tunnel (Lærdal) at 15.23 miles is mainly as you would expect, fairly boring, however it is broken up with brightly lit areas every four miles or so. Rache and I had driven it in 2015, but understandably Jacob had to do it!
Continue reading “Water Falls”