InvictaMoto's Red Pepé Blog

The Meldrews decided to have a run to Whitfield and the museum's open day.  After breakfast at the Blue and White a small but elite group made the trip to the museum. Okay, three of us!  Cal, Ian J and me. The weather was hanging on to the brief look at summer we get in England and it was vented jacket weather all the way. I forgot my camera, but the iPhone made up for it and I took a few photos on some of the classics plus the Rockets that turned up. Not along run out, but a few miles on the clock!! The Gresham Flyer. I had one in dark blue back in the early 60's. Yes, you are seeing a four cylinder Kwak two-stroke! Red Pepe! Yes, that is my finger! This HD has a different picture on every panel depicting images from the Battle of Britain. Modern Enfield Bullet  We split up here as we all lived in different directions.  Ian was in fact going to Ashford rathe...

What can I say about the ride from home to Southend. On Google Maps it shows a distance of 34 miles, as the crow flies. Once it works out the route that changes to more like 81 miles depending on the way you go. With the 1945 kick off as the last time I could get there, counting back and allowing for traffic,  I set off at 1615.  Traffic was relatively light on the M20 considering the hour, but as I got nearer  London it started to build. The swoop from M20 to M25 is quite a nice experience as long as there is clear road and Pepe managed it at the legal limit without any trauma. That’s when I was faced with a four lane wall of traffic all crawling along at walking pace. Even filtering through between the outside two lanes I lost over 20 minutes getting from the M20/M25 junction to the tunnel itself.  The last couple of miles had cars and trucks at a standstill, and it was the same for the tunnel itself. There was a brief respite from this when we started to ...

Day off today. Some chores before getting Pepe out to fit the panniers and the satnav mount. The trip is only across the Thames to Southend-on-Sea. By crow's flight it's out 35 miles, but by road around 88 miles to the ground. The trip is to see the football between Oldham Athletic and Southend United. What lurks in the greenery? Had to relocate the satnav mount as it was last used without the screen. From the riding seat.

With the weather looking sunny, it was also Meldrew's Meeting Sunday. I was away a bit earlier and decided to take a scenic route to the Blue & White Café. Mistake. The country lane I ended up on was oiled high in the centre with mud and debris and the edges no better. Keeping to the narrow bits of clear road on a 700lb bike was pretty much heart in mouth... In the end I arrived just after 10am. We had a discussion about different runs and then we split up. By the time I got home the bike was covered in mud and I got the hose out to wash it off. A sunny day but still very cold. The next run out should be to Southend on Tuesday to go to a football match. Fingers crossed it stays dry.

Toasted Teacake Despite getting up a little late as I was suffering with what we call "dehli belly" after a curry a few nights before (it was there all the day before too!) , we managed to get to Dover and part way back in an aborted attempt to "take the air" on the White Cliffs. We did have a walk with Reggie at the Battle of Britain Memorial at Capel-le-Ferne, plus a tea for us. A little painting needed doing before I could leave Claire pottering in the garden and set off on the bike for a short ride. It was warm when I left and perhaps the choice of the mesh Joe Rocket jacket wasn't the right choice. Even with a polo shirt and V-neck jumper underneath once above 50mph it was freezing. Of course, as the afternoon wore on, even with the sun still shining, it got colder. I headed west along the A259, through the neighbouring seaside resort of Dymchurch, the self-confessed "Childrens' Paradise", where there were many people enjoyi...

It is quite embarrassing but on this short ride I got the odometer to pass 2000 miles. At one time I was easily doing 2000 miles a month and now 9 months to do the same!! The ride this time was only to the Blue and White for the monthly Meldrews meeting, but it was so good to be out. Even if the weather wasn't the best. I did shift some of the 1916-2016 Centenary Poppy pins that I got from the Royal British Legion.  They go for a suggested donation of £2 each and I paid out £51 last month to the Legion.  Once everyone that asked for one or more has theirs I'll break even!

After the relative success of the Peugeot Alloy Wheel Cleaner combined with the Autoglym  and IBM brush, I decided to invest in some professional cleaner from a car valeting suppliers.  For £16 plus £6 delivery, it would have been less but some absolute git made a bid with 12s left on the auction that lifted the price from £10.60 (!!), I have 25 litres or about 5 gallons of the stuff. It got good reviews as a spray-on, wash-off product used at car washes across the country. Spray on might pose a problem... So something like this looks the answer. On eBay for about a tenner. Will check out the hardware stores at the weekend.