The Armed Forces Memorial, otherwise known as The Wall

This coming weekend is set to be exceptionally warm and sunny for most of UK and there are extremely unlikely to be any more of them like this until next riding season, in 2012.

There are at least two GoldWing-specific events, maybe more; Elite Wings have a hotel based riding weekend planned and GoldWings North Wales are organising the Llandudno Light Parade.

These two Events will come together on Saturday because the Elite Wings riding itinerary includes a visit to Llandudno to join in the fun.  The Light Parade takes place on Saturday evening at dusk but there is a full day of meeting, greeting and displaying the bikes to the general public in support of the RNLI – and there’s also a Ride Out arranged for the Sunday morning for those staying overnight.

There’s also the huge and awesome Ride to the Wall this weekend, when bikers gather en masse to show their respects to those members of our Armed Services, which this year is likely to attract over 10,000 bikers, perhaps as many as 15,000, at the National Memorial Arboretum.  Being part of this gathering is a very moving experience.

There are a number of mustering locations for the RTTW which are detailed on their website;  you need to plan to get to one of  these in good time.

It will even be possible to combine the Ride to the Wall with the Llandudno Light Parade since they are only 130 miles apart; you could get to Llandudno in time for the Parade and the subsequent Best Lit Bike Competition and Display if you contrive to get away from the RTTW reasonably promptly after the formalities.

What a way to round off the biking season!

New Look for the GWOCGB Forum - click on the image for an enlarged view

There have been some changes on the UK Forum scene recently, hence this brief update.

You may recall that the GWOCGB Forum was pulled altogether a few weeks ago and an announcement was made that it would not go live again until the moderators became available.  When it came back on line it was initially in “read only” mode, so no one could post anything at all.  Since then it has come back on line properly and there have been substantial changes.

The general discussion forum in the public  area has now gone and has been replaced by a new Technical forum, where any registered user can ask questions of make technical comment – but that’s it, any other sort of posting is strictly not allowed.  The GoldWings For Sale forum has survived the cull but that’s it for public consumption, only these two narrowly focused sub-forums are in the public area and everything else, including the other technical stuff, is in the private Members Only area.

The thinking behind the changes hasn’t been explained beyond a mention that a few Forum users had been spoiling things for everyone.  This probably referred to a Thread (in the private Members Only area) which included attacks on another GoldWing organisation and a lot of name-calling and eventually worse.  This Thread has now quietly disappeared and maybe this time there really will be an end to what this Forum became infamous for – so a very welcome fresh start!

 The value of closing the public discussion forum, which had been going smoothly, because of problems in the members-only area is a bit obscure because it has the effect of closing what had seemed to be serving as quite a useful shop window for the Club.  The new public Technical forum is clearly a positive step and could help to restore the Forum’s (and maybe even the Club’s) fortunes if it takes off.  Transferring the existing (i.e. still members only) technical stuff into the public area to decorate the shop window would have been an even more positive step but maybe they are still plucking up the courage to do anything quite as positive as that.  Sadly, as far as general discussion among UK Wingers is concerned, GWOCGB’s Forum is now a dead duck.

There are also lots of other places on the internet for Wingers to ask technical questions, including the Federation Website which has for some time been running a Technical continues………

A worthy successor to the Blackpool Light Parade

The Lllandudno Light Parade, which takes place next Saturday, October 1st, is shaping up to be a worthy successor to the famous Blackpool event with a welcoming approach to all Wingers.  There is already a long list of sponsors, including two main traders in GoldWing accessories, Appleyards and Knutsford Motorcycles, both of whom are expected to attend.

The Event Hotel, the Evans Hotel has been fully booked for some time but there are plenty of other hotels in Llandudno where you can stay, from budget to luxury.  There is also a camping site if you’d prefer to camp – tent, camper or caravan, all are welcome.  You will be equally welcome to come to LLandudno just for the day.

The Organisers have made it clear that this is a GoldWing occassion for all Wingers, regardless of club affiliation, so everyone will be welcome.

There will be a static display on Llandudno’s excellent wide Promenade during the afternoon followed, as darkness falls, by the Parade through the Town and then another static display during which the Best Lit Bikes will be judged.  There’s a guided ride out on Sunday to a biker cafe in a scenic place too, starting early enough to let you get home but late enough to enjoy a bit of a lie in as well.

The weather forecast is looking very good and the sociability forecast is excellent – if you’re fed up of club politics and would like to get back to enjoying your Wing in the company of other Wingers, this is the place to be to round off the 2011 Season.  You’ll certainly be safe from club politics here!

Full details are available on the Llandudno GoldWing Light Parade website.

Ian, looking even smarter than usual

I am pleased to announce that Ian Duxbury has been conned into – sorry, has graciously accepted my invitation to help out with the Blog.

Ian has been a Contributor for some time and has the badge to show for it!  He also has the necessary qualities of charm, intellegence, sense of humour and gullibility – not to mention girth.

Ian and I will therefore be sharing the editorial role from now on, which is why his Comments will now appear in a green colour, as mine do. Not sure why this happens, it’s a geeky thing.   I must remember to ask Nigel, our trusty Webmaster, some time.

Camping pitch with a view

Fusina is a locality on the West side of Venice Lagoon from which there is an hourly boat service across the Lagoon to Venice and also has a very large and well established campsite.  It’s busy even in September, but the facilities are good and they never seem to get overloaded, even though the site has a large number of static caravans and camping “sheds” as well as pitches for touring units, of which motorhomes predominate although there are also lots of tents and a few caravans.

I saw relatively few motorcycles during our stay, discounting the small scooters which are often carried on motorhomes to provide local transport, but there were a few bikers camping in tents.  While in UK I admire tenters as well as sympathise with them of cold or wet days, in this part of the world I suspect camping in tents requires particularly thick skin.  The temperature was till over 25 late in the evening and stayed well over 20 degrees Celsius until morning – and there were midges, lots of midges.  Sleeping in a tent can’t have been much fun.

But the reason for staying here has very little to do with touring and once on site none of the bikes ever moved until the owners packed up and moved on; instead Camping Fusina provides a relatively inexpensive place to stay in order to visit Venice itself, which is also why we chose to come here again.  Part of the campsite offers waterside pitches and although these are quickly taken up if they are vacant, it’s usually possible to move on to one on your second or third morning if you want to, as we were able to do.  Shade is vital while you sit and watch the world go by across the Lagoon and the deep water shipping channel passes close to the West shore to add to the spectator interest.  It’s quite a place.

So is Venice itself of course, even though walking the streets and crossing the bridges is a perspiring experience in these hot conditions – and probably would be even for skinny Brits.  Seeking out shade and somewhere to sit to cool off a bit become necessary at frequent intervals.

Most Wingers will have a finite appetite for architecture and art and I’m no exception but Venice is a bit special.  Even though you are sharing your experiences with enormous numbers of other tourists it’s certainly worth the sweat and the struggle.  Ideally you would be absolutely stinking rich to enjoy the comforts and style which Venice can offer such as the liberal use of water taxis to get around and the many stylish, but very expensive, eateries.  But even for a fat (and therefore particularly perspiring) Brit who doesn’t run to such expenses, Venice is a delightful place to visit.

There are lots of churches into which you can wander into for somewhere sit and cool off for a few minutes without being bothered, and at the same time admire the incredibly ornate decorations and skilful workmanship which has gone into them.  There are bars and cafes in the less well trampled alleyways where you can buy a drink or a snack without having to increase your mortgage.   But as you get closer to S Mark’s Square everything doubles in price and if you want to indulge yourself with a cup of coffee actually sitting at one of the stylish cafes in the Square you should expect to pay over 10€ for the pleasure. continues………

So what’s the connection between 12 people, an empty car park and eight hundred and eighteen days?

Well, it’s all to do with Goldwings NorthWest, and I found myself considering all these things recently when looking back at the formation of GWNW and its progress to date. It’s been an interesting ride……….

Born from an embryonic idea within a group of friends, the Club had relatively humble beginnings, starting off with that group and an empty car park at the Swallow Hotel on the A59 near Blackburn. Although all former members of a national club, those present felt that things could be better than they were and that perhaps the spirit of the club had been somewhat lost, that is, to be out and about on your bike with friends and simply having a good time in the process. So, the decision was made to launch a new club with some important features, such as:

1. No rules, unless a situation arose which could potentially cause harm to the Club and would require the formation of a rule or procedure.

2. No Ruling Committee – only the minimum number of Officers needed to enable the Club to open a bank account.

3. Decisions to be made by the Members for the Members – members deciding for themselves as to what, where, when and how we would do things.

features which, it was hoped, it would appeal and offer something different to the Wing rider. continues………

Flying on instruments

We crossed a high alpine mountain pass once before in cloud and rain on a biking tour which turned out to be quite a challenge, especially one rider who was of short stature and had a tall windscreen with no “swiper”, with the result that he had to stand on his footpegs to see where he was going – not much fun while you’re trying to negotiate tight climbing bends with on-coming traffic which seemed far too large to be using that road at all.

This time it was easier, both because we had four wheels on the tarmac and it also turned out to be an unexpectedly good and wide road.  I had planned non-motor way routes through Austria to avoid the complicated toll system they operate which requires vehicles over 3.5 tons, as which our motorhome just qualifies, to use an electronic toll collection device called a Go Box.  There are perfectly viable non-motorway routes through Austria and so one of these boxes always seemed to me to be an unnecessary complication.

Unfortunately however fate had decreed that this time we would have a Go Box because I’d driven East on the (free) German A8 motorway one exit too far and ended up in Austria, still on the motorway, by accident.  I had been slavishly following the satnav as it took us into Berchtesgadenland, failing to take notice of the signposts about vignettes until I saw “Ostereich 2.5 km”, by which time it was too late. We were able to stop at the last German Services, where they sell Vignettes and Go Boxes,  but there was no route back into Germany.  I had no alternative but to buy a Go Box.

Our route would take us off the motorway at the very next exit and thence back into Germany to Berchtesgaden, a matter of a few kilometres, but it wouldn’t, I was advised, make sense to risk the 250€ fine (plus the cost of a Go Box) for not carrying one, even for this very short distance.  The police, we were warned, were extremely vigilant and unforgiving. continues………

A transit stop near Munich

CLICK ON ANY IMAGE FOR AN ENLARGEMENT

Sorry it’s been quite on the Blog recently – I’ve been touring Europe with very little internet access.  Here’s a tale of what Management and I have been up to during the past week or so.

We had booked a Channel Crossing for our late Summer holiday but nothing else, so it was the weather forecast which persuaded us to go East instead of South to the Loire, which had been our Plan A.  It had been raining as we left Lancashire but we got clear of it not long after crossing the Manchester Ship Canal and apart from a few isolated or overnight showers we struck lucky ever since.

Our friends in Maidstone have a place for us to park our motorhome and yet again offered us an evening meal, so we woke up and set off without disturbing them to make an early Channel Tunnel crossing.  Breakfast was a snatched bacon butty in the Folkstone Terminal and well before 9am (European Time) we were on the A16 heading for Belgium.

A small town called Mettlach, just into Germany and just off the motorway after Luxemburg has a handy overnight parking place for motorhomes which we had used before so that, since we were heading East rather than South, was our aiming point.  We had used this place before on the way home with disastrously expensive consequences because the Town has a large Villeroy and Bosch factory and an associated factory outlet store, in which Management got seriously carried away but this time we were outbound, we had discovered just how much she overloaded the van in the process of a two trolley shopping expedition last time (crockery is heavy in large quantities) and I was therefore forwarded.  We arrived in Mettlach on a Sunday when the shop was closed and we left before it opened the following morning.

Counting England, our starting point, we had driven in five countries by the time we got to our first Continental night stop.  We’ve found that  when you are making these fairly long transit drives to get to your chosen holiday area (n this case in was now to be Lake Garda in Northern Italy, it helps to have a night stop in mind which you can reach by 5pm or so, especially if you want to use a German Stellplatz (a designated motorhome parking place which is either free or only about 5€) rather than pay 25-30€ for a camping site.  Even outside the school holidays these sites often fill up early. continues………

Similar to this available for under £8,000

Lots of Wingers buy a motorhomes or caravans these days, often because they want to combine their GoldWing hobby with going to a camping rally but feeling the need for a bit more comfort than a tent will provide. It’s all very well having youthful ideals of touring on your bike with everything you need on it, including a nubile wench and the sleeping accommodation you will be sharing, but times change – especially of course the capacity to attract (or cope with) a nubile wench.

We had owned a motorhome for a few years before I went back to biking and I hadn’t slept in a tent since my twenties.  Although when I bought my first GoldWing, a GL1200 Interstate, I did entertain fanciful ideas of loading it with camping gear and flexing my free spirits I never got farther than buying a small gas stove and a set of billycans, neither of which ever got used.  Management, as she’s referred to in our household, soon put paid to any thoughts I might have had that she might sleep in a tent; she’d done it once in a previous incarnation (and presumably as a nubile wench) and that was enough.

However we had sold our motorhome soon after buying the GoldWing because we weren’t really using it; when we weren’t visiting our then brand-new first grandchild we were touring on the bike with Elite Wings and therefore staying in hotels.  This seemed to me at the time to be the proper way to tour on a GoldWing; the bike was capable of carrying plenty but, especially if you were riding accompanied by the lady in your life, certainly not camping gear as well.  We needed all the available luggage space on the bike plus a trunk rack and bag just to carry our clothing etc.  We covered fairly long distances each day on enjoyable biking roads during our touring holidays with only the occasional rest day, so by the time we reached our night stops a shower followed by a beer or the other way around  was far more attractive than pitching a tent.

But  five years or so later we’d been there and done that with hotel-based touring and Management was no longer keen on riding at all, so we became more active with our local continues………

How do you get blokes to dress up as flowers?

The weather over the recent Bank Holiday weekend in UK was distinctly curate’s eggish and it depended whereabouts in UK you were how much wind, precipitation, sunshine and hot air you encountered.  We suffered continuous heavy rain for most of Friday but otherwise had a dry and mostly sunny weekend of a novel and thotough;y entertaining sort.  It’s not every day that you get to see an attempt on a world record for the Guiness Book of Records, in this case for the number of people assembled in one place dressed as Robin Hood.

As a change from biking events my wife and I took our motorhome to the annual national rally, called the Festival of Lanterns, of the Camping & Caravanning Club.  It wasn’t a complete escape from biking because there was an illuminated GoldWing on display as part of one of the Street Scenes and I also had a test ride on a completely new type of electric motorcycle.  But essentially it was a very big and very well organised camping weekend which proved to be educational and benficial as well as enjoyable, even though I did fall for temptation end up spending a lot of money on new gadgetry.

Liz and I had been Members of the Camping and Caravanning Club (of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to give it it’s full title) for some years but only really for access to their network of Club Camping Sites, one of which is handily placed to allow us to visit one of our sets of grandchildren.  It’s a very big and long established Club and is not to be confused with The Caravan Club (CC), the other very large caravan club in UK.  The Camping & Caravanning Club (C&CC) might be said to aim at a slightly more basic level of facilities on its Club Sites (for example the toilet blocks might not be fully tiled or centrally heated) and is often more open-plan in the layout of pitches and more accommodating to tents and suchlike.

Liz and I are Members of both and used both Club’s Sites according to their geographical availability more than for any other reason.  We always enjoyed staying on the Camping & continues………