Nature of the beast, I guess

Ginny had her 6k service, as planned on 23rd May. Somewhat surprisingly, it only seems to be a fluid change, oil, brake fluid and that's about it. The 12k doesn't seem to be much more, except for spark plugs, so I guess this is just the nature of the engine and maybe more tech, actually means less maintenance. It's certainly a lot more sophisticated than the Sprint triple.

I spoke to them about the concern I had with the oil level and the guy explained that Ginny has a dry sump, so checking the oil isn't quite as straightforward as with a wet sump bike. I had no idea 😕 He reckoned that using a litre of oil about every 800 miles was the norm for that engine, so I guess I had better keep a closer eye on it in future. With that in mind, I bought a litre @ £17.26. I later bought another litre online, from a dealer in Northern Ireland and with an Ebay £5 voucher, paid £9.90. Thanks Ebay.

£17.26 p/ltr. Ginny takes 4.5 litres

Whilst there, I asked Coopers to quote for supply and fit of two new tyres. Quite ridiculously, they said £360. I had already seen the tyres I wanted online for £160!

I got chatting to a couple of guys who were also in for service (bikes, not them!). One also had a K16. He agreed that Ginny would never make the Spain trip on the tyres she has, having already covered 6k miles. Each rider if different but the concensus seems to be, to expect a max of about 7.5k out of a pair.

The other guy put me on to an ex BMW mechanic, who now runs his own business and who will fit new tyres for me, supplied via mail order. As a pukka BMW man, I'd rather trust him to fit tyres, than a general tyre fitter. At least I know, he knows what he's doing and has the appropriate tools for the job. Subsequently, I spoke to him and ordered my tyres from Black Circles. With a 5% discount code, the pair were £160 and a few pence. Fitting is £20 per wheel, with a £6 disposal fee on top. Ginny is booked in for Friday 7th.

That's all the news for now.

Some Stats

Always good to finish off a trip with some stats, so here goes.

Ginny and I covered an estimated 704 road miles on this trip. Estimated because I forgot to reset the trip counter before I left home, so the figure showing, of 687.6, probably needs another 17 or so adding to it.

Ginny consumed approximately 65 litres / 14.25 gallons, returning an average of 12.14 mpl / 55.17 mpg.

Paul and I consumed between us, 4 x hotel buffet breakfasts, 1 x XXL Bacon Burger, 1 x Fish 'n' chips, 2 x quesadilla starters, 2 x Bacon Ceasar Salads, 1 Texan Chilli/Ribs combo, 1 BBQ Chicken Burger, 4 litres of 1664 beer, 1 french stick, 1 jar of duck pate, some mini sausages, some madeleines and a large packet of crisps each. Sorry, I have no details of what we returned! 💩

NOTE: Our evening meals always came with a bowl of salad and some mini, and I mean mini, rolls, so we can legitimately say we had salad every day. And to further show, some healthier aspects to the trip, I walked 3339 steps on Saturday and 3858 on Sunday. And of course, Paul did some weight lifting, before we set off early Sunday morning! 💪😀

Ginny is booked in for her 6k service tomorrow (23rd). She's 15 shy of that at the moment. The trip to Tunbridge Wells is about 25 miles. I couldn't have got it much closer!

My attention now turns to the Wild Hogs trip in June/July, so don't forget to catch up with that. whespana19.blogspot.com

Back in Blighty

A leisurely ride from the service stop to the supermarket fuel stop. One thing I have learnt this trip is that supermarket fuel isn't necessarily the cheapest. We paid 7c per litre more at the Carrefour than we did at the Total garage near the hotel.

We then dived in to the supermarket to get some bits. For me, that meant 3 tins of beer (including the Grimbergen Blonde we couldn't get at Buffalo Grill), that was all I could fit in the topbox. 

We then had about 90 mins ride to the tunnel. Arriving 50 mins before departure, everything, surprisingly, went very smoothly and we were onboard on time and actually rolling 1 minute early! Hoorah for Eurotunnel!

From the tunnel it was the usual dash (apart from about 15 miles of roadworks!) up the M20 and back home.

A good trip in the end. The weather wasn't perfect but not too shit either. Roll on June and the next adventure.

On the way back

Have covered a hundred or so miles from the hotel, so stopped for a break and drink.

Next stop will be the fuel stop.  

A few spots of rain on the way up but nothing serious. Temperature OK and the sun is now out. About another 120 or so miles to Eurotunnel. Booked on 16:50. Let's hope they are running to schedule.

Farewell Hotel

Just an idea of how cramped this room is.

3 Buffalo Grills go round the outside

Yes folks, we had dinner in the Buffalo Grill for the third night in a row. It's not that we are big fans, just that we are way out on the outskirts of Alencon (in fact beyond the town limits) and there is bugger all else within walking distance. To top off a decent few days, we went large on the beers and this time had two. Shades of Norway Grizzly, the beer cost nearly as much as the food!

Tomorrow we head for home. Our train is at 16:50, so we have a fairly leisurely ride back. Hopefully we'll have time to grab a few cans to bring back with us.

We're all fuelled up ready to go, having stopped just before we got back to the hotel. Once again Ginny showed how frugal she can be . 😁

MotoGP

Another race, another Marquez, another  win. Interesting in the first few laps but once Marc decided to clear off, nobody was going to stay with him and it became a bit of a procession. Didn't really have much to cheer about, as Cal was in eighth for most of the race, eventually finishing ninth.

Getting out of the motorcycle park was 'interesting' but once away from Le Mans, fairly sedate.  Stopped in McDs for a drink. Too early for dinner, so I guess it'll be the Buffalo Grill again. Big beer tonight.

Saw this beastie in McDs car park, complete with baby seat in the sidecar.

Moto2

Another good race, if a little strung out. Lights to flag win for Alex Marquez. No idea what happened to the Brits in this one. French bread and pate has gone down a treat. MotoGP due off in about 40 mins by which time I expect our position will be swamped. Still dry, HOORAY!, though very murky. Let's hope rain holds off till after racing and more importantly, till we get back to the hotel.

Moto3

What a Moto3 race that was. Scotsman John McPhee took the win, much to our delight. The last time he won a GP was when bro' and I went to Brno. We must be his lucky charm.

Race Day

Up and out early. Armed with our provisions ( and a knife from the hotel) we climbed aboard and set off. Well, one of us did. The other, who shall remain nameless but wasn't me, did what  we all dread, i.e. attempted to ride off with disk lock in place, with the inevitable consequences. By this time I am out of the car park, so a couple of other Brits helped to pick the Rocket off the ground.

I returned to the car park as the bike was righted. With no apparent damage to the bike, an attempt was made, unsuccessfully, to undo the lock. With the casing apparently hindering the key movement, it was up to a French knight in brown leather jacket, to appear with some big pliers and break the casing off, thus saving the day. Voila, lock undone.

We were soon on our way. A few kilometres down the road, we stopped and bought some french bread, so with our pate and sausage, we are just like the locals.

Getting in was a lot easier today, with bike already labelled but the crowds are a lot bigger than yesterday, so we are seated right on the fence. Still a decent view though. Weather is ok at the moment, grey and overcast but not actually raining. Forecast doesn't look too good though.

More later.

Ginny's 300+ mile range

Proof, if any were needed. 

180 covered, 154 left

Rain, rain, go away

Not much chance of that unfortunately.

The afternoon continued as it had the rest of the day, on/off rain. Not a downpour but enough for us to require waterproofs and the riders wet tyres. We stayed for the CEV Moto3 race, which wad pretty much dry and then made our way home. We got lucky there, as it was dry all the way.

We stopped along the way to look at a tank memorial, commemorating an incident where Germans attacked a convoy of Sherman tanks, killing 25 soldiers.

Tank Memorial

Back in Alencon, we popped into LIDL, after Paul's fuel stop, to buy some bits for tomorrow, then went back to the buffalo grill.  Ceasar salad for us both tonight and only 1 small beer.

Judging by this morning's effort, we will need to leave a fair bit earlier than we did today, to secure a good spot from which to watch and if the forecast is to be believed, it's gonna be another shitty wet day.

Until tomorrow.

MotoGP Quali over

No doubting the main atraction. Soon as the MotoGP boys are done, 2/3 of the crowd disperses.

Raining steadily now. Not hard just steady.  Caught a few of the boys out, including Marquez for the 2nd time today. Didn't stop him posting a 3rd place time though. Cal way down the grid.

Moto2 out now and Sam has just gone down. Not much for us Brits to cheer today! Hoping for better in the races.

Le Mans

And they complained about Silverstone last year. Second time I've been here, second time it has bloody rained! Is it too much to ask for some sunshine in mid France in the middle of May?

Ride down was ok. Tiny bit of drizzle on way down but only really started to rain proper when we got into the circuit.

A damp Le Mans

Highlight of riding down down was seeing the 3 French bikes who sped past in town, pulled over by the gendarmes.😂

Parking is a bit of pallava. Very secure but if you don't have your rego doc with you, you have a sticker on the bike, a wristband and another sticker to get you out of the car park. Still, parked up and now seated (worth the effort bringing the camping seat) on the approach to the first chicane.

More later.  Come on Cal!

Road Closed

Wouldn't be a trip without a wrong turn or something.

Take the 2nd exit off the roundabout. Only problem was it was closed. Re-routed by Tomtom we took the next left, instead of the diversion route and ended up a few hundred metres down the road we should have gone on, which was still closed. Retracing our wheeltracks we then followed the diversion signs. All good fun!

We stopped for fuel a few miles further on. Ginny was indicating something like 150 miles range, after having covered 180 and took on board 15.25 litres. At €24, that equates to £1.39 per litre, which is the 15p I mentioned earlier.

Back on the road, we were running mainly on 80kph (50mph) roads and Ginny loves it. Sipping unleaded like a fine cognac, she's done about 60 miles and shows a range still of 306 miles!

We arrived at the hotel about 6pm. There are a number of bikes in the car park, 2 other Brits and also some UK reg cars. The hotel room we have is tiny to say the least, with barely any room for our bags. I'm sure one of us will bash his head on the bedside lights, which aren't bedside but actually in the midddle of the headboard for each bed, along with the lightswitch and plug socket. It's not the smallest I've been in but it's up there.

Weather on the way down was OK. Not great, not shit. I was a bit chilly at times but we only had the merest bit of rain and the sun did poke out for a bit too. Not the 20 degrees that was forecast!

We popped along the road to the Buffalo Grill for dinner, a place supposedly known for their steaks. However, they didn't have any steaks! Nor did they have any Grimbergen beer, so I had to make do with 1664, whilst Paul had a beef burger. I don't eat beef, so it was fish 'n' chips for me, taking a leaf out of Grizzly's book.

We'll have brekkie here before we set off to the circuit tomorrow, which is about an hour away. If we fill up on buffet brekkie, we won't be tempted by expensive burgers and the like at the circuit.

More tomorrow.

 

Slow going

40 minutes late leaving Folkestone kinda impacts on your timings. Then skipping the toll road, also slows you down. Then add a road closure. All in all, we arrived at our McDs lunch stop at sbout 3pm, 90 minutes or so behind schedule. We'll have a fuel stop for thr rocket in a few miles, then straight through to the hotel. Ginny can probably  go all the way,  given she says her range is still about 170 miles.

And they're off

Up at 6am and out the door at 7am, as planned. Soon as I wheeled Ginny into the fresh air, it started  spitting with rain.  Oh well.

A few spits on the way down but nothing  serious.  Ginny offers me a fair bit of protection anyway.

Stopped at Tesco to fuel up, £128.9 a litre! 4p more than home. Gets me used to higher fuel prices I guess, as it's about 15p per litre more in France.

At the terminal for 8am. No earlier crossing available. Waiting for Paul.

Loads of bikes. Also loads of flash/classic cars, so guessing there's a car meeting on somewhere too.

That's all for now.

2 Days to go

In 48 hours, Paul and I will be, I expect, close to our digs for the weekend. Located on the northern outskirts of Alencon, it's about 40 miles from the Le Mans circuit but was the only reasonably priced/available place we could find, which is pretty much the same as the last time we went. Unless you book up the moment the provisional MotoGP calendar is released, you stand bugger all chance of getting anywhere to stay in Le Mans itself.

We've both been busy packing and I've been out giving Ginny the once over, tyre pressures and oil level check. Bit concerned to find a dry oil dipstick, so I've stuck in 500ml nearly. I guess the oil warning light only comes on when the engine is wrecked! Such a shame the Japanese have the patent on oil level windows, it would make life so much easier. The Sprint was the same though, dipstick out, dipstick in, dipstick out, do the hokey cokey.....

NOTE TO SELF - remember to make regular checks, especially with a 4500 mile tour of Spain coming up.

I've also strapped the camping chair to the pillion seat. I'm pleased to say though, that Ginny is using protection on this trip. By that, I mean I've cable tied some foam carpet underlay to my grab handles, stuck a bit on the front of the top-box and wedged a bit of carpet under the chair, to prevent any damage. It all feels nice and firm and hopefully will remain secure for the duration of the trip. The bungees are from Poundland though 😧

Besides the packing, I've charged up all the gadgets that need charging, my camera, tablet and my Sena intercom on my helmet. Tomtom draws power from the battery when on the bike, so no need to worry about that. The routes are all downloaded, so I am good to go. I just need to work out what time I need to leave home Friday morning, to allow myself enough time for a fuel stop at Ashford and get to Eurotunnel with at least 45 minutes to spare. I reckon I need to be on the road between 7 and 7:15.

Next update will be somewhere en-route I expect, most likely when we stop for a coffee at McDs, where there's free wifi.

1 week to go

Friday next week, Paul and I will set off on our trip to Le Mans. After some toing and froing, we both have the same routes programmed into our Tomtoms. At one point it looked like we would be going our separate ways but with some settings tweaking done, we are both now in sync.

I let Paul dictate the petrol stops, as his Rocket drinks a lot quicker than Ginny. I reckon I could probably make it all the way from fill up at Ashford, to our hotel in Alencon on one tank, about 230 miles but he'll most likely be looking at around 160.

I've not really sat down and thought about what I'm taking with me. It's only 3 nights away, so I should be able to pack fairly light and maybe leave some room for some beers, if we get to a hypermarket. We are both going to take a picnic chair with us this time though. Mine will comfortably fit within the width of the panniers and I've bought some bungies to secure it with. It makes life a lot easier when you get to the circuit., otherwise, you're either standing or sitting on potentially hard/wet/muddy grass. We opted out of buying a grandstand ticket. As we only have general admission, we'll have to plan where we want to view from, to avoid wandering around aimlessly. Somewhere near to some toilets might be good though for us oldies.

When I get back, Ginny will have covered almost six thousand miles, so I've booked her in for a service on the Thursday after we return. That should cover me for the Spain tour and my trip to the Red Bull Ring in August, by which time she'll be up to twelve thousand and need another fettling before I go down to Aragon.

As I write this, it is peeing down, so I'm hoping the weather perks up for next week.

Au revoir