Devall Travels

We were up early to escape the ashtray that was and is the Etap Düren West. The idea was to stop at the first services on the motorway and have coffee and maybe a croissant. We happily sailed past the one at Aachen Ost as there was another signed at 14kms. Sadly we turned on to another autobahn and missed it. Finally 75 minutes later and after crossing the Netherlands we arrived in Belgium, and after a false stop at a weekday only services (one with no petrol) we arrived at one where we could sit outside in the sun with the wasps and eat!! As usual the monument to moronic driving and poor planning that is also known as Antwerp arrived in front of us. Solid traffic and lane swapping all make for tense driving. I was glad of another calming stop before we got stuck again in a huge tailback. No reason to be seen and no information available, but traffic as far as the horizon. My detour via the cobbles of Gent and the N9 might not have saved time but is was certainly more scenic although p...

Up bright and early for the 0815 ferry Dover to Calais. One small and significant problem. Our neighbour that was due to take the keys and feed the cat was nowhere to be seen. It was too early to contact Seafrance or even our other neighbour. In the we loaded the car and set off about 9am. Our second neighbour was happy to do it and we always feed her cat when she is away. Sadly as we missed our sailing we have incurred a £19 surcharge on the ferry and a three hour later ferry. Once off the ferry we were soon on the way eastwards. The planned route via Gent, Antwerp, Eindhoven and Venlo, then across into Germany and a northern route into the Ruhr for our first overnight stop in Bochum. The TomTom took us right to the hotel front door. With stops for a snack soup lunch in Belgium and a coffee break in Netherlands we took about five hours Calais to hotel. not bad considering we stuck to about 70mph most of the way and the various roadworks between Antwerp and the E...

A few days left before we go. I've been through all the paperwork to make sure that it is all printed and in the right date order in a plastic wallet.  This is turn will be kept in a bag and locked away or in a safe place in the car. Packing.  We have one suitcase each. One small suitcase each. Unlike the BMW, the car allows us to have two equally small suitcases. The BMW allows Claire to have the much larger pannier and me the smaller one.  Claire's CC , originally uploaded by InvictaMoto . As well as the suitcases that must fit under the "topless" screen, there is a warning triangle.  I have one that was given away to us when we took delivery of the company FIAT Panda cars that some colleagues and I had on the car lease scheme back in about 1983.   When you got one why pay £14.99 in Halford's for one half the size that looks as robust as a Twix wrapper? Some customer cars even came with an awning that fitted in the back to make the Panda into a sort of c...

Original planning for this trip started back in the autumn of last year.  It's seven years since we last went to Brno and the Czech Republic and I thought it would be a good idea to incorporate a trip to the MotoGP as well as see friends. We had been to the Dutch TT two years running and wanted another MotoGP visit.  I thought about Cataluña but as it clashed with the TT on the Isle of Man I decided to look at Czech. Tickets went on sale in December and the English version of the official website was easy to follow and I booked two general admission tickets for around €45 each for the weekend.  The weekend ticket covers Friday to Sunday practice and race days. The original plan was to go to by bike of course. All the initial planning, route and stops etc, was based on a bike day in the saddle.  Then Claire's hip decided to get involved and it has become far too painful for her to pillion anywhere, so we decided to bite the bullet and go by car.  Luckily, ...