Excited? Moi?

Not a bit.  Well, just a teeny bit.  :-)

As I write, there are just 26 days until we set off, which, for those of you who actually take an interest in the blog and have looked at the route plans will know, means that in 28 days time, we shall be shacked up in Kedange-sur-Canner, having completed 2 days on the road. But that is then!

Last time I wrote, I was attempting to get us booked on a Ducati factory and museum tour. I you check back, you'll see that I was having issues with their booking form. Being the kind chap I am, I pointed out to the Ducati customer service people, they had a problem. They agreed there was a bug and assured me their techies were working to fix it.  Give it a few days they said, so that's what I did. No problem this time, except that instead of confirming a booking online, they tell you that someone will be in touch to confirm the booking. Huh? Anyway, they duly responded, well after another prompting email they did and confirmed that we are booked on the 9:15 factory tour on Monday 14th July. Great! Worryingly though, it said (NO MUSEUM).  Now, as that was the only mention, with no further information, I'm not sure if they mean the museum isn't open that day or if they just mean that the guided tour only covers the factory and the museum is self guided. Another email has been despatched to clarify, no response yet received. They are probably fed up with me or maybe the English speaker has gone on holiday! We shall see.

The next booking I intend to make, as I mentioned before, is to go up the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I've spoken with Grizzly and he has declined the invitation to drop dead halfway up the 294 steps, so I shall be scampering up solo, whilst he sits below gumming a cornetto and taking photos of me at the top. As Biggsy isn't with us, Grizzly can be Woody's official photographer for this tour.

The Sprint celebrated (quietly in the garage, alone!) her 1st birthday yesterday, no doubt still thrilled by the new boots I bought just over a week ago. She now sports some nice shiny black Michelin Pilot Road 4s. With the Ride of Respect last weekend and some commuting, they have already covered over 400 miles, so they will be well and truly scrubbed in by the time we set off for the continent and 2700 miles of the tour. I've also promised her a Scottoiler to keep the chain nice and lubricated and she'll be going in to have that fitted on Saturday. Whilst she's being worked on, I'll be getting my leg over the Triumph Thunderbird LT, Britain's answer to the Harley Road King and putting that through it's paces for an hour or so. Fingers crossed the weather stays fine.

That's all for now.

Museo Ferrari

Well, that's one visit sorted, to the home of the prancing horse!

Day 8 will see us taking a leisurely ride down from Lake Garda to Maranello. It's just over 2 hours. Our destination is just outside the town but before heading for the hotel, we'll be paying a visit to Ferrari. I've booked us tickets to get into the museum, which should be quite interesting to say the least. I've also taken the liberty of spending some more of Grizzly's cash and booked us on a minibus trip that will take us out onto Ferrari's own Fiorano test track, purpose built for giving the prancing horses a run out, plus a tour through the factory complex. The bus tour only happens twice a day and is limited to 10 people. We are booked on the 13:30 tour, so leaving Garda around 10am should give us plenty of time.

Day 9, we'll be heading to Bologna and visiting the two wheeled red stallions at Ducati or Doocardie, as the Americans call them.  Unfortunately, their booking form seems to have a bug and I've been unable to book the tour there as yet. Later that day, we'll arrive in Pisa and I'm hoping to get us in the Leaning Tower, though I can't book for that until 24th June. Time enough for Grizzly to decide whether he thinks he can manage the 294 steps to the top!

More news as and when I have some.

The Ferrari California T

Bits and pieces

Just a couple of things as departure gets nearer. As previously mentioned, I plan to get some new tyres fitted. I have sourced a pair of Michelin Pilot Road 4s, which I am hoping to get fitted in the week. I had MPR3s on the Bandit and they were superb. I shall also be getting a Scottoiler, though as yet, I've not decided whether to get it fitted or attempt it myself. I've read it's an easy DIY job but I figure if I pay for fitting, if something goes wrong, I have some comeback. If I screw it up myself, no comeback. That should be sorted in the next couple of weeks. Before that though, next Sunday, Biggsy and I are riding The Ride of Respect at Brize Norton. Dudley was to be on it with me, so Biggsy has taken his place. I'll be giving Dudley's bandana a run out though, in his memory. Also hoping to hook up with Dudley's son and daughter, Lewis and Suzie, for a coffee, if possible.

Back to the tour, I've managed to switch the tunnel crossing I had booked for Biggsy to the car and now Cath and I will be using it for a long weekend in France, over August bank holiday, staying at a little place called Senlis, just north of Paris and a few miles east of Chantilly.

Next on my tour agenda is to book the museum/Pisa tickets.

Watch this space.

Then There Were Two

Nothing to do with Genesis but it is now official, that there will only be myself and Grizzly on the tour. Time has run out for Biggsy and we have decided to accept defeat. His house isn't even on the market yet and though I suspect he won't have much trouble selling it, I don't think there is the slightest chance that he would have moved and be holding the folding in time to set out on 6th July. He'll just have to wait fo the Scandinavian tour in 2015!

With it confirmed we are a two, I set about cancelling the excess hotel rooms, most of which were twins and going forward I can look to book tickets for some of the attractions we plan to visit, such as the Ferrari museum and Pisa's leaning tower. There's also some bits to sort out on the bike before we set off too. I'm going to need some new tyres, the current set have done over 7000 miles and have flatted, meaning they follow the road contours quite badly. I'm also contemplating getting a Scottoiler fitted, to keep the chain lubricated over the 2700 miles of the tour. Learning from experience, I didn't touch the chain when we did the Reservoir Hogs tour in 2012 and that was well and truly shagged at the end of 2200 miles, though the Scottish rain probably added to the damage. I'm not expecting any rain on this tour but you never know.

Only 60 days to go now.

Hotel Panic!

Just when you think you have everything sorted and can relax for the next few months, something crops up that has you running around like a headless chicken, at least for a few minutes!

I was going through the usual early evening email check, when I opened one from my hotel in Peschiera del Garda.

"I`m writing about your booking, because during your stay the hotel will be closed for rinnovation, so I would like that your booking will be cancelled."

Are they sure? Renovating the hotel at the height of the holiday season? Smells a bit di pesce to me!

Panic ensues, as this is a very popular part of the world and we are looking to stay on 12th July, slap bang in the middle of the holiday season. Why else did I book these hotels way back in July last year? 

So, I jumped onto my favoured hotel booking provider and did a quick search for availability on 12th July. Surprisingly there were quite a few returns but I am a bit fussy. Not only do I want to be near to the town/lake, I also want a reasonable price BUT, most importantly, I want private on site parking for the bikes. The first couple I looked at, either only had double beds (NO!) or public parking, somewhere away from the hotel (defo NO!), so back to the search/map.

It wasn't long before I found what I was looking for. Within about 400m of the water, twin/triple bedded rooms, free on site parking and at a reasonable nightly rate. Sold!  In addition, it is just 140m along the same road as the one asking me to cancel, so if they aren't telling the truth, I'll be able to see straight away. I suppose I should be grateful they warned me though. When we booked in Wexford on the Reservoir Hogs Tour, that hotel shut down and nobody bothered to tell me. If it hadn't been for Grizzly's family spotting it, we would have turned up and had nowhere to stay.

Anyway, panic over. I have a bit of updating on the blog now but, I don't mind that too much.

Hotel Garden, Peschiera del Garda

And RELAX..............

Hands across the water and all that!

Over the last few days I have been trying to drum up some support for my blog. I'm forever banging on about signing up to receive email updates, which a few have done. It's so much easier, to view on the go, than opening the website.

Anyway, I've also posted the link to the blog to my Route 66 and Triumph Owners groups on Facebook, looking to drum up some followers from there. And it is Facebook that has prompted this update.

Earlier I was scanning posts when by chance, I caught sight of one from a guy on the Triumph Owners group, who posted a route map for a trip he is doing to the Alps and the Stelvio Pass in Northern Italy. His '11 weeks to go' caught my eye, so I posted the blog address and a message saying that I'm off in 13 weeks. There was a comment from an Italian guy suggesting the chap should visit Lake Garda. Now following the post trail, I made it known that I was going to be visiting Lake Garda, specifically Peschiera del Garda, on our tour. Now Lake Garda is pretty large so I wasn't really expecting much to come of that but blow me if the Italian chap doesn't live just 5km from where we shall be staying. He even sent me a route map to show me.

So, after a few messages backwards and forwards between us, we have arranged to meet up on the evening we are in town, 12th July, for a few beers and to exchange biking stories, no doubt AND I now have a new friend on Facebook, Lorenzo.

Lorenzo's Route from home to Peschiera

 

Oh how they must love me!

Hotels I'm talking about.

It's now almost a month since we laid Dudley to rest and probably only now has it sunk in. Besides the obvious upset that comes with losing a friend in such a way, there is the upset to the planning, in which I have been so meticulous, specifically, the hotel bookings.

I have had to revisit the bookings made last summer and scale down our requirements, cancelling rooms as appropriate. This hasn't been helped by the uncertainty that surrounds Biggsy's attendance on the tour. In some cases, it has been fairly straightforward, for example, where I had two triple rooms or four singles booked. With doubles I'm having to play a waiting game.

In one of the places I have booked in France, a farmhouse run by an English couple, they were letting us have a family annexe. The owner, Tina, is the only 'person' I have been in contact with when doing any booking, all the others having been done through Booking.com or individual hotel chain direct booking websites. I explained to Tina the situation we now find ourselves in and that we are still unsure if we will be a 2 or 3. Bless her, she has come back and said we can still have the family annexe, at a reduced cost and we can have either 2 or 3 beds, depending on our final requirement, with the cost adjusted to the number of beds. I'm so pleased, as the place looks beautiful, a real home from home and I wasn't looking forward to cancelling for a night in a Formula 1!, though I did make a contingency booking just in case. You'll find the B&B, Les Cheres Meres, at Day 15, down the page.

In Pisa, I have downsized our caravan! Yes, I said caravan or if you prefer, mobile home, though I expect they are all static. I had us down for a two bedroomed mobi on a campsite (check out Day 9 on the list) just on the outskirts of town. Hedging my bets, I have booked a twin bed caravan and a triple bedded one too, much to the consternation of a young lady at the site, who questioned if that was correct and my sanity probably.

Biggsy's attendance depends on him selling his house. When we saw him at the funeral, it still wasn't on the market but I believe Tetbury is quite a sought after area, so he may get lucky and sell it quickly. I'm meeting him for the Ride of Respect on 1st June, so that will be the cut-off point I think.

94 days to go!