Not as Irish as it sounds

Happy 2014 everybody.

Here we are in tour year finally and with under 6 months to go till the off. Exciting, eh?

There wasn't much left to do as we entered the new year, apart from Grizzly sorting out his travel and accommodation for when he comes across from the Emerald Isle. We'll all be meeting up at my place on Saturday 5th July, so given Grizzly has to cross the Irish Sea before traversing the breadth of Wales and England, it made sense for him to come across a day early and stop en route. It could be done in a day but riding pretty much non stop from Pembroke, he wouldn't arrive till gone 6pm. Given that we have our welcome dinner on the Saturday evening and an early start on Sunday, it just didn't make sense to try to do it all at once. The same applies to the return journey. We get back into blighty on 24th and there's an overnighter in Chatham but it would be asking a bit much to get to Pembroke in time for the ferry back on 25th.

And so, Grizzly has booked himself on Irish ferries service from Rosslare to Pembroke on 4th, with the return journey on 26th. As for the accommodation, well Grizzly had it in mind to break the journey in the west country, no doubt with it in his mind, that if Biggsy IS coming on the tour, then they would be close enough to each other to meet up and ride to mine together. I'm not sure of Dudley's plans but if he is staying at his daughter's place in Reading, then the 3 Hogs could end up flying in formation. Safety in numbers and all that.

The west country it is then, with both overnighters booked at the Leigh Delamere Eastbound Services Travelodge. Both?, I here you say. Isn't that just typically Irish! On the face of it, it does seem odd to be staying on the Eastbound carriageway of the motorway when you are travelling westbound, however, there is method in the madness and I take full credit for it. You see, on the day Grizzly goes back along the M4, 25th July, there happens to be a £15 discrepancy in the room cost, westbound over eastbound. Some people might pay it and be damned and some might drive up to the next junction and turn back, to save that money BUT the beauty of Leigh Delamere is, that the eastbound Travelodge can be accessed from the surrounding country lanes, meaning Grizzly only has to go off at J17, a few miles along the motorway and use the back entrance. The mileage of doing that is quite a bit less than going to J18 and back and of course means he's saving himself £15 into the bargain. (me 15 quid actually, as I booked it!)

And there you have it, one of the Hogs' planned movements all accounted for. Hopefully, I'll have an update soon on Biggsy and whether he will be travelling with us or not. Come back soon.