The journey down from Seaton Burn to Hull was uneventful. All the showers were missed and the storm of biblical proportions from yesterday did not repeat its self. The ferry crossing went well the food was excellent and the bar was particularly inviting and for some people it was even open till after midnight?. The planned time table really started to go wrong immediately after breakfast when drivers were called the their vehicles ready to disembark. With two of the bikes the so called quick realism mechanism wasn't as quick as designed to be ( I will leave it open if it was due to being wrongly fitted or a malfunction? ). So that was the first delay.
Then while in the line for custom clearance the bikes were lead to one side and all the bikers had to be breathalysed. Of course this didn't go without comment and Mr R and Mr P, names changed to protect the innocent. Had enough to tell the Dutch Police. However both bikers ended up being very positive about how helpful and intelligent the Dutch police were???? So already a delay of an hour and we hadn't uneven left.
Departure went as planned with lots of family and friends there to wave the group off. Unfortunatly we were only on the road 15 minutes when we hit our first traffic jam and we weren't even over the Dutch border. So nothing for it but to ride through the traffic jam, which apparently is unusual in the UK. The Dutch and Belgian drivers usually moved to one side to allow the bikes through and the few cars that didn't were always English drivers? Maybe that's why UK bikers aren't keen on driving through traffic jams. The plan was to stop every two hours for thirty minutes. However the ladies decided that this was far to long so every 90minutes we stopped supposedly for 30 minutes but when refueling the bike, a Sanitary stop, a smoke pause and ordering pizza plus chatting its hard to fit it all in the planned breaks? Hence more delays. The journey it's self was good and went very quickly although those at the back of our little group were at times required to be heavy on the throttle to keep up. We knew the motorway bit was a necessary evil, so nothing new in motorway driving. Moving average speed was 106km per hour, average speed including stops was 78km per hour. Top speed just over the maximum limit (well for the most of us) Moving time 6hrs 28 minutes. Distance 686km.
Almost at our destination 150km to go, sky black, shafts of lightning flashing through the sky. It was decided to put our wet gear on. Fortunetly the was a typical French parking place which we could use. While changing the heavens opened..... Rain and big hailstones they hurt even through our helmets. Luckily we managed to get all the bikes under the cover of a WC building. Not at all good for our image but effective.
We stayed till the worst was over and then continued our journey. We are now 400 meters from the hotel and we make a wrong turn, the first of the day. While doing U turns two of the bikes went over onto their sides luckily no serious injuries, just pride dented. We arrive at the hotel, I get my bike on its stand and one of the lads intending to place his machine next to mine is suddenly attacked by table and chairs. While I didn't witness the attack my self I did see his bike fall and push my bike over too (ffs). Luckily no damage just mud where there shouldn't be mud. Despite the price the hotel is good, food good, beer good, shame about the local wine though? I must admit we have had loads of laughs and looking forward to what tomorrow brings. All tired so an early night ready for an early start tomorrow.
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