InvictaMoto's Red Pepé Blog

I was up at 6.50am and out before 7 30am. Pepé needed the dbPower unit to start as I had expected. I had had it on charge to make sure it was at 100%. Why? I expected to use it a few times in the day. The first obstacle was J11 was closed other than northbound on the M20. A truck had overturned and the carriageway was damaged. A little self made detour (turning around the end of the centre verge (median),  and I continued onto the A20 to the Shuttle. Both UK and French passports were taking time to get through. A terrorist attack in London the day before was probably a contributor. At UK I had to take my helmet off. I had chosen the Shoei over the LS2 flip-up. It looked like I was going to miss the booked shuttle as I waited for the queues to move. In the end it was gone 8.30am before the barrier lifted and I was off to be squeezed into the last carriage. Or so it seemed. I was told to park, as usual front wheel into the kerb. The cars shuffled forward.  ...

So the weather is turning drier tomorrow. At least the rain looks to be holding off. Instead temperatures are to drop into low single figures. Centigrade that is. A high of 7°C. I popped out briefly last Sunday to fill the tank with our cheaper unleaded 95 fuel. With a full tank it means theoretically I could get to Ostend and back.  In reality I will need a top up. I'll most likely do that on the way to Ostend on the motorway near Veurne, once in Belgium. On Sunday I used the dbPower charger to start the bike, but risked starting it at Seabrook without it after fuelling and it started.  Still. The unit goes with me. Fully charged! Whether it will boot up at the Tunnel....  From my local riders I will be Billy No Mates. Instead I'll meet up with Tony Young at the Velodrome. He went today and booked in and got the special event t-shirt. It's €15 for the weekend and €10 for a day visitor. The t-shirt included.  50th & last So to tomorrow. Up early and out of the house for...

An early start. Definitely. I guessed that Pepé wouldn't start without an infusion of electricity. I was of course right. Without dbPower he is d e a d. Looks like  new battery in the new year. Maybe one of the Motobatt "big yellers" like I had on the GS a while back. Plenty of cranking amps. Anyway, the miles to empty gauge showed 1. By the time I got to the first meeting point it was up to 81. Remember this. The ride across the top of the Marsh was done slowly. There are so many leaves on the road. On the edges, and down the middle where they have been thrown by cars and trucks. It is very easy to come a cropper!  At the bottom of Knole Hill in Aldington I set the Yamaha My Ride app running, then headed to the meeting place.  To my surprise the app worked!  Only short but at least it worked. The phone was upright in my inside jacket pocket. I will reveal  the stats later.  It was slippery underfoot remember! From Hams...

This coming Sunday is our monthly Meldrew's breakfast meeting.  The plan is to meet a little earlier than usual and head over to the Waterside Cafe near Hawkhurst for an arrival at about 1030am. As the weather has turned decidedly winter-like recently the run is weather dependent.  If it's too shitty we'll go the old HQ at the Blue and White Cafe in Mersham on the A20.. I plotted a route on MyRouteApp and it looks like a 59 minute ride across country.  The quickest route is to go along the coast to Rye and then turn northwards but we have a part-way meet in Hamstreet.  Putting a waypoint in actually knocks four miles off but also increases the time but only by a few minutes. I need to get the LS2 Bluetooth charged up and connected to TomTom.  I will also try and see it the "Yamaha My Ride" app will work this time on my phone.  I made the changes that their tech support suggested and have yet to try it out. Fingers crossed it's not pissing ...