What I did on my holidays, by Stephen Packer aged 46 and a half.

Discussion in 'UK Motorcycles' started by stephen.packer, Aug 31, 2010.

  1. So, I fancied a decent ride to somewhere I hadn't been before. Chose
    Sicily...

    On paper it looks pretty straightforward, ride to calais then head
    south. After a while take a ferry and that's it. Small matter of about
    1800 miles to cover.

    Day 1: Left home and crossed the channel tunnel. Got in too late to get
    anything to eat. 170miles.

    Day 2: Got up late and rode to Bruce's at a leisurely pace. Arrived
    about 18:30. 500 miles.

    Day 3: Bruces south to (roughly) Narni. Went through the Gotthard
    tunnel. It was *very* hot in the tunnel and slow (30mph or so). The
    K's temperature (took the K1100) started to rise... I switched the fan
    on (fitted an over-ride relay shortly after I got it) and it just about
    stabilised. Crept up slowly but not enough to really cause a problem.
    Apart from that day went well. About 11 hours and 560 miles.

    Day 4. Narni to Sicily. Should have been straightforward. But my God...
    the traffic and roads once I got south of about Naples. Really busy
    motorways, unfortunately looking busier going north (problems on my
    return?) and also ridiculously long roadworks- 70km section! Filtering
    seemed to be frowned on, riding in the hard shoulder was fine though.
    You live and you learn. Ferry to Messina from Villa San Giovanni was
    cheap, about 15 euros... return. Camped in a campsite near Messina in
    Sicily. Unfortunately arrived late, put tent up in dark... on an ants
    nest. Which I lived to regret. About 11 hours and 450 miles.

    Day 5. Messina to Alcomo. Sicily is big. This was almost 3 hours.
    Palermo is a bit crazy when it's busy. But it's OK for bikes to go
    anywhere they want. Apparently. About 3 hours and 170 miles.

    So that was it. Didn't seem so bad going down. No issues with the bike
    apart from a blown headlight bulb (which I think I last changed about 4
    years ago).

    Spent around six days in Alcomo. Top points, the wine was good and the
    food wasn't bad. Had (allegedly) one of the best canoli in the world.
    It was very good. Weather pretty good and sea pleasant. Did nothing
    apart from eat, read and get bitten by mosquitos, which made a pleasant
    change from the ants.

    So to the return. Since I'm off to **** around with bikes on Friday and
    have a fair amount to get done work-wise, I needed to get back to put in
    a full day today. I also didn't want to cut my holiday too short.

    Return would have to be quicker..

    Day 1. Alcomo to Ceraselle.
    Long day with lots of delays due to traffic and ferry problems.
    Highlite was trying to filter in Messina and getting the K wedged
    between a bus and a car (parked car, wheels pointing out from kerb
    caught pannier and pushed bike into bus, slightly). Female driver did
    her nut. I apologised and explained I was English and didn't understand
    a word. She didn't draw a breath and continued to curse me. Oh well,
    shit happens. Would like to know what she was saying. Looking on the
    bright side it's only a matter of time until my mobile will work like a
    babel fish.
    In all about 520 miles in 11 hours.

    Day 2. Ceraselle to Mulhouse.
    Another long day. Would have been fine if it wasn't for the effing
    Gotthard tunnel. Two hour wait to get through. About 5-7km queue. Of
    course I *tried* to filter discretely but was worried about this in
    Switzerland. Really very tired at the end of this day.
    About 680 miles in 13 hours.

    Day 3. Mulhouse home.
    A long day with lots of rain in France.
    High points,
    - Triggering a bunch of forward facing speed cameras. Yeah... stick it
    to the man...
    - Dodgy overtake followed by blue flashing lights from a plain clothes
    black ford something. Car pulled alongside me for what felt like an
    age, matched my speed. I played the 'if I don't look at you, you're not
    there' game and won. He fucked off... thank Ged.
    - Coming into Calais at close to 120 (ish, indicated) and wondering why
    that car was sat at the side of the road at 90 degrees to the
    carriageway. Coming to the realisation that that's the most comfortable
    position for speed trapping. But too late to brake much. Relieved that
    when they saw the brit plate they couldn't be bothered.
    - Being able to change my cheap ticket from Tuesday afternoon to Monday
    afternoon at no charge.
    About 640 miles and 11 hours.

    So that's it. Another year's summer hols done.

    K was faultless but it is getting on now, about 15 years old and with
    almost 70k on the clock. I'm wondering if it's time to replace it with
    either an R1150GS or maybe a K1200GT. It can wait... until it does let
    me down...

    Route, for anyone still reading, was something like

    http://preview.tinyurl.com/39y478m

    Still shitting myself in Switzerland after last year and didn't really
    do much speeding or anything like it. Mental cruelty at the very
    least, scarred for life.

    Thanks to Ace for his hospitality.

    Sicily is definitely worth visiting.
     
    stephen.packer, Aug 31, 2010
    #1
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  2. stephen.packer

    Earl Guest

    I'll have to cross it on my way to Rome next week...

    What's the problem over there ? I heard they were nuts but is it that
    bad ?

    Nice journey you did there.
    I'm thinking of doing it in three steps : Basel, Parma and Rome (Going
    from around Brussels).
     
    Earl, Aug 31, 2010
    #2
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  3. stephen.packer

    Domènec Guest

    <> escribió en el mensaje de noticias

    Aye, sir!
     
    Domènec, Aug 31, 2010
    #3
  4. I got fined last year, along with three others, for a little
    exhuberance.

    The police were completely lacking in any sense of humour. The judge
    was willing to rob a pauper blind.
     
    stephen.packer, Aug 31, 2010
    #4
  5. stephen.packer

    wessie Guest

    wrote in :
    why not go over the top rather than sit in a queue?
    did you chance it without a vignette?
    <thinks about trip next year>
    he's a very nice man, especially if you rock up with a couple of bottles
    of burgundy
    Must go sometime. I love the red wine from the Nero d'Avola grape. Fly
    drive,though with aircon car & a decent hotel. None of this canvas
    nonsense.
     
    wessie, Aug 31, 2010
    #5
  6. The traffic was held at some lights, backing up the motorway, it's only
    once you got through these lights that you got the choice of going over
    the top or queuing a little longer.

    In the end the additional queue was something like another ten minutes
    tops vs. going over the top.
    That was also a nice one. But I found the whites better.

    PS. snipped it but given I was going through Switzerland twice I plumped
    for buying the vignette.
     
    stephen.packer, Aug 31, 2010
    #6
  7. Anything interesting?
    Did you move the tent?
     
    Stumpy McFall, Aug 31, 2010
    #7
  8. Can I lie here?

    I was on holiday, ok. So mostly shite. 'Merde Actually' by some bloke
    what used to have a column in the telegraph.

    Solar by Ian McEwen (a re-read really)

    Umm.. and a bunch of stuff I'd rather not admit to. Mostly nonsense.

    Plus Wolf Hall which I'm only partway in.

    Unfortunately the E-Reader seems a good idea but the availability of
    books is limited. At least that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

    Oh, and I also bought a book explaining the Mafia to visitors when I
    visited Sugesta. It got stolen immediately by my son. Will read it one
    day.
    At 3AM when I woke up being bitten? no. It was only once I took the
    tent down at 8AM that I saw what the problem was.
     
    stephen.packer, Aug 31, 2010
    #8
  9. stephen.packer

    wessie Guest

    wrote in :

    they don't tolerate illegal immigrants, obviously
     
    wessie, Aug 31, 2010
    #9
  10. stephen.packer

    Ace Guest

    He lied about his income.
     
    Ace, Sep 1, 2010
    #10
  11. stephen.packer

    ogden Guest

    wrote:
    Friendly enough though. In a "I'm about to rape you" kind of way.
     
    ogden, Sep 1, 2010
    #11
  12. Oh go on, as it's you.
    I read the first one 'year in the merde' and decided not to bother
    with any others.
    On my list to get, it's the only McEwan I'm missing.
    'fess up. I can't concentrate atm so I'm mostly reading Pratchett and
    the Scott Pilgrim comics.
    On the pile to read, I need to finish Beyond Black first.
    What's the battery life like? When we went away I rationed myself to 2
    books as that was all that would fit in the tank bag. Fraction of the
    whole - OK but flawed

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/jun/21/saturdayreviewsfeatres.guardianreview28

    and Confederacy of dunces (didn't finish it due to the accident and
    haven't felt like picking it up again) and an Ereader would mean I
    could take more for less space but I do like having a physical book
    with pages.
    Mine has nicked my '10 questions science can't answer yet' and '13
    things that don't make sense'. I hadn't even started them.
    I've had nights like that.
    Tricky coves ants.
     
    Stumpy McFall, Sep 1, 2010
    #12
  13. stephen.packer

    M J Carley Guest

    Which one?
     
    M J Carley, Sep 1, 2010
    #13
  14. stephen.packer

    ogden Guest

    If you're into that kind of thing, I can recommend Meg on the Moon,
    though you might find it a bit advanced.

    A mistake many seem to be making at the moment.
     
    ogden, Sep 1, 2010
    #14
  15. stephen.packer

    CT Guest

    I was only partway in too. Now it's been discarded.

    I really wouldn't bother.
    I made the mistake in the notion that I could be all smug about reading
    "proper" literature but I've seen the error of my ways.

    It's something easy & trashy for me next and IDGAF if the ukrm Book
    Club want to point and laugh.
     
    CT, Sep 1, 2010
    #15
  16. stephen.packer

    ogden Guest

    <looks at bookshelf for random selection>

    World War Z - Brooks
    What A Carve Up! - Coe
    A Canticle for Liebowitz - Miller
    Breakfast of Champions - Vonnegut

    All easy reads, all good.

    A good rule of thumb is "if it wins the booker, cross it off your
    wishlist"
     
    ogden, Sep 1, 2010
    #16
  17. stephen.packer

    les Guest


    /attempts to stifle laughter
    /fails




    guffaw


    ty
     
    les, Sep 1, 2010
    #17
  18. Mafia explained to tourists ; Augusto Cavadi
     
    stephen.packer, Sep 2, 2010
    #18
  19. stephen.packer

    Jeremy Guest

    Did this in the car on Saturday - around 90 minutes queue to get in -
    temp outside around 20c, temp inside the tunnel 32c.

    A number of bikes filtered past, no one seemed to mind. On the other
    hand, the police had set up a "roadblock" on the hard shoulder and that
    was collecting cars and a plainly rather stupid biker who rather than
    filtering decided to run up the hard shoulder too.....
     
    Jeremy, Sep 13, 2010
    #19
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