BMW R1200GSA vs Moto Guzzi Stelvio NTX

Wednesday 15 August 2012

Calais to Dover. The Germans couldn't do it, let's see if we can.

7/8/12

We were woken this morning by a tapping at the window. The seagull that Suzanne was trying to entice up to our window sill with food last night was outside tapping on the glass with it's beak. Tap, tap, tap, tap. All the food was gone and he obviously wanted some more. Cheeky bugger. These gulls are much bigger than our gulls, about half as big again, or more. They have a very pleasant call, unlike our screeching Aussie gulls. When you wake up staring at one about a metre away from you it's quite a surprise. I'm glad we closed the window because it was a bit cold outside last night.



 The culprit. I think it might be a shegull, with a family.

We rode down to the ferry terminal to book our tickets and were taught a very valuable lesson. I'd checked the prices the day before and it was 20 Euro for both of us and the bike one way from Calais to Dover. That's pretty reasonable. When we booked our ticket it was 45 Euro. Bastards! They more than double the price on the day of departure. I won't get caught like that again.


We boarded the ferry, had lunch, and settled in for the roughly two hour trip to Dover. I managed to get a few photos of the White Cliffs, but it was pretty overcast so the were really grey cliffs.



Into the bowels of the ferry we go.


Things like this make me think about the number of dogs I pat while we are out and about.

They're white, they're cliffs, and they're in Dover. You work it out. Check out the sky. Welcome back to the UK.

Once we cleared the congestion at the terminal we made tracks for Julie and Brian's house (again) which would be our base for a few days while we prepare for the second leg of our trip. We nearly took a lot longer getting there than we had planned due to a fuel issue with the BMW. I missed the turn off from the motorway for the services area, and we needed fuel badly (really badly). The sign said the next services were available in twenty one miles. The BM computer told me I had ten miles worth of fuel left. After a bit of deft work on my calculator I worked out that we probably wouldn't make it. I backed right off the throttle, held my breath, and did a little slipstreaming along the way. We rolled into the service station on fumes. The BM tank is supposed to hold 33 litres. I put 36.9 litres in the tank. She was pretty dry.

When we arrived at Julie and Brian's and were greeted back by Poppy,




and by Poppy's new little sister, Callie.




It felt like we had gotten home. 

Tomorrow the work begins and we have a lot to do before we start stage two of our trip. Stage two will be Suzanne's relaxation time. I don't know how I'm gong to cope being on a ship for three weeks as I have to be doing something. 


I just had a thought. There must be a gym on the ship...maybe I could be Suzanne's personal trainer.

1 comment:

  1. I backed right off the throttle, held my breath, and did a little slipstreaming along the way. We rolled into the service station on fumes. click

    ReplyDelete