Skip to main content

TOMCC 70 - DONE

Not quite as planned as the extension of a trip to the dentist but as a separate run in its own right.

Not that I got away with going to the dentist. That was done in the morning. Four minutes in the chair and £22. Kerrching!

As it was sunny, rather than do nothing or watch TV, I got togged up. Changed the route on MyRouteApp to miss out the dentist stop and found that the prospective route became 70.5 miles.

I set off in warm sunshine. So I wore my Joe Rocket mesh jacket. 

Of course my waterproof jacket and pants were with me. Wrong.

The first planned stop for a photo was Walmer Castle. In the end going through the seaside village of Kingsdown, firstly the narrow road was blocked by a truck delivery beer to the village pub. And then by a huge truck with a digger on the trailer reversing into a new building site. Another load of millionaire homes to be built?

By the time my phone recognised my face it was almost done.

Through a screen ..

Picture of Walmer then? 

No couldn't stop anywhere near it. Since we went a few years ago the car park is across the road and not up the drive outside the main gate where a photo would have been easy.

I thought Deal Castle might fill in. Nope. Unable to stop! Then a diversion in Deal meant going around the block to get back where I needed to go. Adding yardage!

This is beginning to be a bit of a photo free ride. How to prove it?

Next stop is the windmill at Sandwich. I turn off the main road and I can't see it. Then. There it is!

The top is missing and so are the sails. It looks like a badly maintained pepper pot. So onwards in the rain. Yes. It had started to drizzle.

And of course, both my waterproof over jacket and trousers were in the garage!

I worked my way to the next windmill at Sarre on the way to Canterbury. Aagghh. Closed.

Instead I managed to get a picture from the road outside. 

 
Sarre Windmill

Another one with the sails incomplete but at least I managed to get a pic!!!

From there it was still on the A28 into Canterbury and a stop at Asda for a top up. Petrol is much cheaper there than locally.

It drizzled all the way back.

After the planning the Deal detour ruined the close to 70 finish.

TomTom Trip Statistics

I ended up with 71.2 miles. I blotted the max speed out... Taking the fifth.

A shorter version of this write-up and the pics have been cobbled together and sent to the Editor of the TOMCC to claim my award.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bikers Loft 3

The last day. After leading yesterday's run to Ypres, I decided to take a back seat, or a different place in the line of 8 bikes. And so after a repeat of the previous day's self cook breakfast we packed the bikes and headed off. Aiming for Nieuwpoort aan Zee as the first stop. The plan to follow a canal all the way there to where it meets the sea at a huge marina. I was bringing up the rear of the column and saw a sign like this one. "No Motor vehicles" After only one short section of the towpath/road. We tried to alert those ahead but Cal and I were the only two not heading past this sign. We chose to turn left across a lift bridge onto the other bank, where Nieuwpoort was signposted 15kms away. As we headed along we sounded our horns and waved at the "first wave" to no avail. Some miles further on their side came to an end. By then we were way ahead despite dropping the speed to 40. We carried onto t...
1 comment
Read more

Screen fitted

Today I was working from home after the trains were cancelled and I came home from the station!  I did a bit of work, you can only do what is in front of you on the helpdesk software, and so  I had a late lunch and decided to have a look at the screen fittings. In the end, it was a 90 minute lunch and it is fitted. The four brackets have to be done one at a time, offering up the screen each time before tightening them in place. In the end it looks pretty central.  No time to test it today. That will have to wait until the weekend. Fitted! The instructions are pretty rubbish, and look like an eighth generation photocopy of the original drawing. Still, the photo on Skidmarx website was marginally better. My positioning looks a little different but it seems rigid. Only a test ride will tell if it is okay.
2 comments
Read more

Bikers Loft 2

We were up reasonably after a latish night and the self cook dinner! Breakfast is included in the room rate and is also self service as well as self cook. I'm not used to eating breakfast and so opted for the continental style rather than the bacon and eggs style!  The rooms are pretty basic. I shared with Trevor and we had two single beds. A little re-jigging of the room ensured that there was a man-gap between the beds! Early suggestions for the Saturday ride out had been to the Wire of Death. An electric fence that was built by the German occupation army in 1915 from the coast at Knokke to the German border, and just inside the Belgian frontier. It was to stop Belgians escaping into neutral Netherlands.  Over the course of the war it claimed over a 1000 lives. Read more.  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire_of_Death I can't tell you any more as we didn't go!! In the end we decided on Ypres, only  30 miles aw...
1 comment
Read more