TOG tours 2007 (bit long)

Well, as is customary, here's one of the first posts of the day from a
returning TOG trip tourer.

Firstly, I suppose I should ask how the limp wristed Morris dancer is?
I've had a quick scan of the newsgroup and haven't seen any news as yet.

It's true to say that on the ride down (on the UK side) a load of
UKRMers were held up by some stupid, clumsy **** who had caused a
massive traffic jam. So being proper bikers, they filtered up to the
front of the stationary traffic and did a little bit rubber-necking to
see what was going on. All they could see was somebody lying on the
floor, next to a car (or van) with a nice little v-shaped indent in the
rear. People described the scene as "a blue bike" which had gone into
the vehicle, but nobody could actually recognise the rider as WUN, as
he was surrounded by a bunch of people (Ginge did comment that he
thought it was the remains of a blue V-Max). Apparently the V-Max was
completely unrecognisable. Anyway I'll let one of the other witnesses
describe in more detail what they actually saw, because I wasn't there.
Sadly because of the, er, incompetence of UKRMers to recognise one of
their own, no photos were taken and no rude phrases were sworn.

And as Pip says, the other event of the day was the fact that Cane had
lost his tail-pack. I wouldn't mind, but the man came equipped with
two panniers, tank bag and a tail-pack for a bloody weekend!! When he
lost the tail-pack, he lost all his clothes. I haven't got a clue what
he actually had in the rest of his carrying equipment. Kieran did tell
me that he had a full jerry can in case he ran out of petrol. But that
only accounts for one pannier not everything else. So much to
everyone's amusement he spent the first night running around Dieppe
with flip-flops.

As per usual, once everybody had arrived, we all set up in the bar in
the centre of Dieppe (which is a very nice town by as it goes). After
downing 4 or 5 pints, we went back to the hotel for dinner. IIRC Ogden
was the winner of the free room of the trip (somebody else can confirm
this for me) but I reckon it was fixed! I didn't win. Again! Anyway
much to my delight, Champ stood up and announced there was another
award(!) to me. Whilst I can't say that I was showered with the bloody
things, I have walked away with a considerable number of new bungees.
Thanks very much everybody (especially Mr Murray)!

After the meal, people wandered off their own way, in search of bars
and pubs. Somehow I ended up in a small little bar with Champ, Cane,
Ogden and various others for the remainder of the evening. Efforts
were made to chat up the young Canadian barmaid called Nancy. All was
going very well, until said young lady shot off behind the bar, quite
upset. Apparently someone (or some people) had touched her arse and
she wasn't best pleased. I found it amusing that she hid behind the
bar, as it was her safe territory.

The following day, I surfaced at around 10 a.m., got dressed, went
downstairs and met up with everybody else. A tour around Dieppe that
morning was very interesting, because they had an enormous market
selling everything from frilly underwear (just for Cane) to home made
saucisson.

After a good wander around the market and the tiny, tiny Suzuki shop,
we made our way back to the hotel, to find that people had already
started to shoot off on various little runs around the place. Frag
wanted to fill up with petrol, so I joined him along with Chris,
Scraggy and Adie (as my pillion). Oh, btw, we found a small,
self-service petrol station which, to the delight of everybody,
accepted British chip 'n pin cards. So it's official folks, they do
work in France! Or at least in Dieppe, at the very least.

Whilst the weather wasn't great, being a bit chilly and is slightly
windy, it was a good run around the regions of Dieppe. We ended up in
a small town called Neuchatel for lunch and chilling out, where we were
joined by Platy and missus. Whilst we were chatting away, we saw Champ,
Kieran, Cane, Andy, Monz and Ogden (I think) all shoot past us going up
the hill. Five minutes later they all shot past us going down the hill.
I believe it was Champ that was map reading.

With the day starting to get a bit clearer, we all bimbled back to the
hotel in search for the bar and the evening meal. I think a good day
was had by all as most people were either chilled out or pissed. Mostly
the latter.

After dinner, it was back to the bar again, to see Nancy, the young
Canadian lass. This time the bar must have had about 15 UKRMers all
crowded into an area the size of an average sized hotel room with
chairs and tables stacked in every corner. Best efforts were made to
chat up Nancy again. I don't know who farted (continuously) but it was
fucking difficult to leave the affected area.

This morning, I managed to get down for breakfast and at least have
something to eat to soak up the remains of the alcohol from last night.
And as per most Sundays on TOG tours, people started making themselves
ready for the trip back to Calais. Whilst I did see most people before
they left, the only two people I didn't see at the end of this morning
were Cane and Ogden. We weren't sure if they'd been banged up or not.

The weather today (or specifically this morning) was much better than
yesterday. The sea was calm, the wind light and the sky blue. I think a
lot of people wanted to get away early so that they could stop off in
Boulogne for something to eat before catching the ferry back home. Me,
I made my way back home on the Nationals, avoiding the peages, but
having a much more enjoyable (and quicker) ride home.

As usual, it was a great run. A lot of people had lot of fun and I'd
like to be the first to offer my thanks to TOG for another well
organised trip. It was great to see some old faces and meet some new.
Special thanks to Linda for the sweeties (bought on her way to the
dentist (especially for the blackjacks)) and those buggers that
supplied me with the bungees ('specially Adie ;-)).

Oh, the only time I was worried was when I was at the reception desk
with TOG as he was trying to pay the hotel bill. His credit card was
being refused.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to next year's run as that should be a
laugh as well.

 

I got back about half an hour ago. Thanks for booking the ferry and
hotel for us, TOG. It was in a good location with access to bars,
resteraunts, etc. Shame the hotel didn't have a bar - it lost out on
a fortune, but a three minute walk around the corner isn't much of a
distance to go to source alcohol.

Mr. Ogden did win the free room as I picked his name out of the hat at
dinner.

It was a nice and interesting social event. UKRM does appear to have
the cream of the outcasts and perverts which makes most meetings
eventful. I've got some nice memories from the weekend and some not
so nice ones but it was an enjoyable weekend overall and I'm glad I
attended.

Thanks to everyone who turned up, and absent friends.

 

Fortunately not, just holed up with Hog and Jeremy (poor, poor, innocent
Jeremy!) in a pub til 4am. Neither of us was feeling particularly bright
eyed or bushy tailed this morning, though Cane did tackle that with the
largest ("formidable") hair of the dog I've seen in my life.

Speaking of hotel bills, my room may have been free, but if the cheeky
fucker who put a 35 euro bottle of sancerre on my tab would like to own
up...

 

Many thanks to TOG for all the organising stuff.

P&O left SD on the quayside for being 0.0001 seconds behind the
Monotreme in the queue. I think he may not have been alone, perhaps
someone will confirm this later.

Cane pulled on the ferry home, she's about 65 mind you.

Richard Alexander's right silencer looked a bit wobbly leaving Dover,
hopefully it stays on long enough to get home.

Just waiting for the curry to be delivered.

 

*Snort*

 

In message

On the way back up the M20 there was a tyre carcass in lane 2. Much
swerving (and probably swearing) of 8 bikes.

 

On Sun, 6 May 2007 14:11:19 +0100, "Cab"

snip>

AOL.

Thanks to all for another entertaining weekend.

 

were you in room 100?
--
Adie
(replace spam with nickname to reply)

UKRM FAQ: http://www.ukrm.net/faq/
keeper of the ukrm faq for my sins

YZF-R1: ZX9R E1

MRO#11 BOTAFOF#7 BOTAFOT#130 DIAABTCOD#17 MIB#24 YTC#16 BOB#15 ex-UKRMMA#22 BOMB#11

 

As am I and indeed it was. Thanks a lot TOG. How more excellent can it get
when you realise the lady behind the frintdesk is Dutch. Must be good.

 

Thanks to catching the 14.05 instead of the 15.50 I got home in time to
knock myself up an impromptu dish of pasta with leek, bacon and
Dolcelatte sauce as SWMBO and the lad are still at Upton on Severn folk
festival where they have apparently been watching 'Morris Belly Dancing'
this afternoon.

--

+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest Yamaha WR250Z |
| Gilera GFR Moto Morini 2C/375 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+

 

The only bit of the journey home where I wasn't leading was the
important bit.

Drew and some other W&DMCC chap (whose name escapes me).

Blue K1100 and a blue Trophy.

Frag and Jackie rolled up some five minutes later.
--
| ___ Salad Dodger
|/ \
_/_____\_ GL1500SEV/CBR1100XXX/CBX1000Z
|_\_____/_| ..88203../..24080.../..31896.
(>|_|_|<) TPPFATUICG#7 DIAABTCOD#9 WG*
|__|_|__| BOTAFOT #70 BOTAFOF #09 PM#5
\ |^| / IbW#0 & KotIbW# BotTOS#6 GP#4
\|^|/ ANORAK#17 IbB#4 YTC#4 two#11
'^' RBR Clues: 00 Pts:0000 Miles:0000

 

302

 

Glad to hear you're back and they didn't decide to stop all the ferries
because of the election.

Good you had some company.

The ferry deck we were on had enough space for another dozen HGVs and
spare tie-down straps. There wasn't anything obvious stopping getting
any more bike on, so it must have been a case of "computer says 'no'".

 

I thought she had an accent ;-)

 

wasn't champ then. he put his on 100.
--
Adie
(replace spam with nickname to reply)

UKRM FAQ: http://www.ukrm.net/faq/
keeper of the ukrm faq for my sins

YZF-R1: ZX9R E1

MRO#11 BOTAFOF#7 BOTAFOT#130 DIAABTCOD#17 MIB#24 YTC#16 BOB#15 ex-UKRMMA#22 BOMB#11

 

Thanks TOG etc for organising.

 

40? Bloody hell, she didn't look it.

<VBG>

 

I'd like to offer thanks to TOG for the organising, and Champ for
leading Saturday's rideout. I've not ridden the bike like that for a
long time. I can see the attraction of the twistier southern bits now.

 

It was very nice. Perhaps a little too much salt if I wanted to be
critical.

 

Good to meet you, too. If only I'd known yours was the CBR

WTF was *that* all about?