Tower Booked

Today was the day. You are only allowed to book tickets for the Leaning Tower of Pisa 20 days in advance, so I jumped on the booking website and did the deed. Yes, I can't believe it either, in 20 days time, I'll be climbing the 297 steps to the top of the tower. I'd best get some practise in at work, walking up the stairs rather than waiting for the lift! As mentioned before, Grizzly has declined on the grounds that he would probably drop dead half way up. Fair enough reason I suppose. I'm sure he'll be clicking away with his camera, whilst I'm climbing.

They only allow 10 people in at a time, every 15 minutes I think. I'm booked on the 17:30 entry. Last entry is about 21:00 but I didn't really want to be going up that late. That day we have about 200kms to ride. We should have plenty of time to get to Pisa, wash and brush up, before heading out into town, given that riding time is only about 4 hours from Maranello. We have the Ducati factory tour at 9:15 but that is only about 75 minutes. Calculating our likely arrival time, I've allowed a bit extra for the tour/museum, allowed 30 minutes for a fuel stop, an hour for lunch stop and stuck my finger in the air for a bit extra, to be sure, to be sure! All that considered, I reckon we'll be at the camp site in Pisa by 16:00.

I've finalised the routes now and have sent them across to Grizzly, so he can load them into his Tomtom. I checked them through the other day and added a few more way markers, to make sure we end up on the right roads. The problem you can get, as I found out in 2012, is that if you don't have enough way markers along the route you want to take, i.e. the route as devised in TYRE, which uses Google mapping, then it is entirely possible that Tomtom will take its own and very different route to the same destination. I think I have it covered though, just so long as I remember to tell TT not to use motorways, except on the 2 days we need to move fast. I guess we'll find out soon enough.

That's all for now.

These things are sent to try us

You may recall I talked of having a Scottoiler fitted to the GT for the tour. What could possibly go wrong?

Unusually for me, I didn't do  lot of research before asking Laguna to fit me the touring kit, so the bike was delivered and I set off for an hour on the Thunderbird LT demo bike. I chose the touring kit as it comprises a large oil reservoir, meaning I wouldn't have to worry about filling up with oil on the tour. On my return I was told the bike was still being worked on, it had proved more complicated than they thought. No problem I waited, then paid my money and rode off. The touring kit's large reservoir sits behind the number plate. Having a quick glance outside the shop, to check what they had done, I thought it looked a bit messy, pipes sticking up from behind the number plate but otherwise all looked to be OK.

Later on, I took a closer look and discovered all was not so well. With the reservoir sitting behind the number plate, the plate, now an inch plus proud of the mudguard, was now not being illuminated by the number plate light! How on earth can they have fitted this when it so clearly gives a problem? Next working day I rang them and expressed my concerns over what they had done, leaving me with an illegal number plate. I was told they would get the fitter to call me. In the meantime, I rang Scottoiler tech support. Turns out and this is where my lack of research showed up, that the touring kit is not suitable for the GT. I'd imagine because of the number plate light issue, though the guy said it's because the rear mudguard can't take the extra weight of the oil reservoir (?).  Great! Should Laguna have known this or checked before they fitted it? Maybe not but that doesn't excuse them not seeing that it was going to cause an issue with the lighting. I would have expected the fitter to question the fitment given the clear issues.

Anyway, after a lot of frustration, waiting for phone calls that never materialised, I have finally got it booked back in to have them take a look and SORT the issue out. How they/we are going to do that I'm not sure. I think the only thing for it, will be to remove the kit and just have the basic Scottoiler fitment. We shall see what happens on 27th.

Otherwise, we are on track to hit the continent in 2 weeks time.

Museo Ducati

All sorted! Not sure why the original acknowledgement said 'NO MUSEUM' but as you can see below, we are now sorted.

We confirm the reservation for a museum and factory guided tour on the day and time required

NAME: Neill DeVall  

DATE: July 14^th 2014

MEETING POINT TIME:  9.15am

NUMBER OF PEOPLE:  2

LANGUAGE: English

 

 

Tomtom makes it 24 miles from our hotel in Maranello to the Ducati factory, just over half an hour, so we shan't need to get up at the crack of dawn. There's only parking on site for Ducatis but there is a large car park just over the road. We may even be able to squeeze the bikes in on the street, amongst the scooters!  Joke :-)

 

Ducati 1199 Panigale-R

 

 

 

 

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.