Brugge

Beautiful sunny day in Brugge today. Here are a few photos of our walk around this amazing city.

 

 

 

Menin Gate

I'm having a few dramas with the videos so with my apologies, we only have photos again for now.

Here is a selection from our visit to Menin Gate Last Post Ceremony on Sunday night.

Belgium

We rode up to Hull from Royston yesterday and boarded the ferry in drizzle at about 4.30. It was one of those typical english days that isnt worth bothering about. A highlight was a quaint roadside coffee stop where you could have anything you liked as long as it was deep fried. Although the coffee was good. We sat outside. The weather won out over the smell.

The crossing on the ferry was a dream. Ive never seen a sea so flat. You would never had known we were on a boat. Cabins were small but comfortable and really it was all quite pleasant.

Riding on, tying down and the whole riding off again thing was really cool. Hopefully the GoPro got it all so Ill wait till I can get the film.

And now a tip: If you're going to have a crash course in driving on the right, pick early Sunday morning. The roads were deserted which gave me perfect oportunities to get my head around it all in a safe and controlled environment. Turns out its mostly easy but having Janelle in my ear with instructions sure helped.

The weather here is pretty much perfect, so we went to Bruges for lunch, will check it out properly tomorrow, and tonight we rode the 100km or so trip down to Menen Gate for the Last Post ceremony. Truly inspirational. Seriously.

So lots of pics and a few short clips coming up.
So till next time.
Must sleep now.
Have a great day.

My office for the next 5 weeks.

Yeah.. I know.  Tough gig huh.
But someone has to do it.

And the view from the Go Pro.  Lots of little compromises here, and I'm sure things can be tweaked, but for now, this will get us out of trouble.

Off to Hull tomorrow and a date with a ferry.

London to Royston - Picking up the Ducati

Had a very jet lagged day yesterday in London. Just couldn't get fired up, so decided a day of walking, window shopping, and a little bit of theatre would be in order.

Turned out we walked about 12 kms from Camden along the canal to Regents Park, up to Primrose Hill then a lap of the park, including a little row around the boat lake, and back.

Then off to meet Paul in Little Venice and as it turned out, a last look at our wonderful sanctuary from last year. It's been sold and Paul was expecting settlement literally any day.  Sorry Paul, the gods held it over for us to say goodbye.  But seriously mate.... was just so damn good to see you again. We look forward to seeing your new home on our return to UK in 5 weeks.

Then it was onto Charing Cross (Trafalgar Square) to catch up with Loui again for dinner and a show. Not just any show mind you. We saw The Lion King in all it's amazement.  What can I say... if you've seen it you know.  If you haven't, then go on, treat yourself.

Woke up this morning to another warm day, packed our gear and off again. Bus to Kings Cross Station then a train to Royston.  And here is where the experience last year was completely blown away.

Mick from Open Road Rentals met us at the station and drove us to the hotel where we dropped our luggage, changed into our riding gear and then he took us to the bike shop just out of town.  As we drove up the driveway, our lovely Italian thoroughbred was sitting proudly in the showroom, ready and waiting for us.

Took a while to get through all the paperwork, then run through the tech of this amazing machine (more of that later) and we jumped on and rode out.

We thought Cambridge sounded like a nice destination for a first little run.  We went right into the heart of the tertiary area to be surrounded by hundred of students, all riding pushys. The friendly parking officer did eventually ask me to move the bike, but he allowed us to finish our coffee first. So nice of him. :)

Then back to Royston. And we began the long cherished black art of finding how to cram as much as possible into the smallest possible space.  And that happy little challenge will have to be carried over till tomorrow. 

A glass of red has wiped us both out.  It's not even dark and we're ready to crash.

Tomorrow we'll test the GPS and assorted camera's, Finish the clothing tetris and prep for the ride to Hull for the ferry.  Strange but everyone we talk to gets a funny look when we say Hull, then seems very relieved when we tell them it's for the ferry to Belgium.  I suspect we'll find another Dover.

Anyway, here's some more random pics.

Cya later.

Random images of London

We landed at Heathrow in low cloud after what seemed forever on that plane. 

Had to wait on board for an extra half hour while they found someone who could drive the airbridge - Welcome to England.

 

Cleared customs, Heathrow Express to Paddington Station, coffee from Starbucks which we took to the canal at Little Venice and drank taking it all in.

Dragged our so heavy cases to Warwick Avenue Station, tube to Camden Town and about half an hour later finally made it to the little flat we have rented till Thursday morning.

Later we cruised through amazing Camden Markets, caught the tube to Waterloo, and took a quick lap around the Eye.

Power walk for 45 minutes to London Bridge to catch up with Janelle's good friend Loui (Louise), and had dinner at a fair dinkum English pub.

Tube back to Camden, and now a last glass of the duty free red that came with us from Sydney before a long wonderful sleep.

Here's some photos from the day.  No particular order.

Tomorrow we have a rest day to let our bodies wake up, and then the main adventure starts on Thursday.

So till tomorrow.

Goodnight from London.

And we're off.

It's finally arrived. A couple of hours after you read this we'll head to the airport and begin the first leg to London. We should land there around 3.30 Tuesday afternoon Oz time.

Over the next 6 weeks I can be pretty sure there'll be good times, bad times, awesome surprises, amazing unexpecteds and everything in between.

So. Thanks for all you encouragement and support over the last few months. Thanks for putting up with our dreaming and for not hassling us too much. Thanks for all the warnings about stairs and all in all, thanks for following us on this adventure.

Are we all sitting comfortably?

Good

Then let's begin.

More from Nurburgring. Cameras and Passengers.

Does anyone else thing she winked at me in the answer to Q1?

Oh No... Not the Grand Prix Circuit as well!

From: Nürburgring Info Center [mailto:info@nuerburgring.de]
Sent: Tuesday, 29 July 2014 12:22 AM
To: Kirk, Terry

Hi Terry,
You can purchase new lap tickets in the Info°Center or in the ticket booth which is situated at the entrance of the Nordschleife.

Prices:
1 lap 27€
4 laps 100€
9 laps 209€
25 laps 518€

New in 2014: you can now use the lap ticket for the Nordschleife and the Grand-Prix-Track! 1 lap on the Nordschleife equals 15 minutes on the Grand-Prix-Track.

We are looking forward to your visit and if you should require any further information, please get back in touch with us!!

Kind regards
Sabrina
Nürburgring
Betriebsgesellschaft


Von: Kirk, Terry
Gesendet: Montag, 28. Juli 2014 01:03
An: Nürburgring Info Center
Cc: Smith, Janelle
Betreff: RE: Ring Card 125983528 [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

Thanks Sabrina
I didn’t know that about the GP circuit!

So now I have 3 more questions.

1) Is the GP circuit open for the public on the 10th of September?
2) Is it permissible to take a motorcycle pillion on either Nordschleiffe or the GP circuit? And,
3) Can you please tell me how to find the ticket booth. I believe it is near the circuit entrance?

We are looking forward to arriving there on the 9th and will be sure to say hello if you are there.

Thank you.

Terry and Janelle

All on track and the timer is ticking

Well so far everything is coming together really well.
We've locked all this away...

Nights of 2nd and 3rd September at Camden Lock in London.

Then up to Royston to pick up the bike and 2 nights at Chequers, Royston.

On the 6th we ride to Hull and catch the ferry across to Belgium, landing at Zeebrugge around 7am.

Then we've booked the 7th and 8th at this place just near Bruge.

On the 8th we'll be heading down to the Menin Gate Ceremony which should be a real highlight.

From Bruge we have 3 or 4 days to make our way to Berlin for my birthday.

So all locked in and paid for.

We think booking any further in advance might just start locking us into timings we'd prefer to leave flexible.

Anyway, 47 days to go, and things are starting to get exciting.

Watch this space.

Cheers T&J