31 May 2011

The Somme 95th Anniversary


William Devall
For most of this years battlefield visitors the date they will be heading to the Somme will be July 1st.  This is the 95th anniversary of the first battle of the Somme back in 1916.

My visit is slightly different. I will be making the trip to visit the grave of my Grandfather's cousin William Devall.  Although born in London, William was sent to the Kings Own Shropshire Light Infantry.  This regiment is better known as the posting of the war poet Sigfried Sassoon.

The KSLI missed the opening day of the slaughter and arrived to take up their position as part of the second wave.  We don't know where William was wounded but he died of his wounds on July 16th 1916.

He is buried in the Extension for the Corbie Communal Cemetery.

The 95th Anniversary Approaches

For most of this years battlefield visitors the date they will be heading to the Somme will be July 1st.  This is the 95th anniversary of the first battle of the Somme back in 1916.

William Devall
My visit is slightly different. I will be making the trip to visit the grave of my Grandfather's cousin William Devall.  Although born in London, William was sent to the Kings Own Shropshire Light Infantry.  This regiment is better known as the posting of the war poet Sigfried Sassoon.

The KSLI missed the opening day of the slaughter and arrived to take up their position as part of the second wave.  We don't know where William was wounded but he died of his wounds on July 16th 1916.

He is buried in the Extension for the Corbie Communal Cemetery.

28 May 2011

Going East

The choices for crossing Germany were the "A4" route or the "A3" route. The former being the run across East Germany and entering Czech from the north, or the latter, the route across Germany from Koln to Nurnberg and across the border in the west.

When I saw that you could stay in Colditz Castle, and that part of the infamous PoW site was now a German Youth Hostel I was quickly on the email, booking two nights.  
In their paperwork I saw that there are tours of the remainder of the castle as well. After an exchange of emails I have booked us on the "standard" tour and then we can have the afternoon to maybe have run out locally to Leipzig or Dresden.

Info:
"Extended Tour: 10.30 am and 02.00 pm which is showing you all places possible to go to, lasts about 2 hours and costs 15,00€ per person. Standard Tour:  10.30 am , 01.00 pm and 03.00 pm which is showing you the main places, lasts about 1 hour and costs 7,00€ per person. The entrance into the escape museum is included in both tours."

Since watching a few programmes during Holocaust Week and then a "Who do you think you are" with Jerry Springer (who went to Auschwitz), I have thought about making a visit to one of the memorials. For this trip Auschwitz is simply too far to go so one en route looks like a likely option.

En route to Colditz and a small detour off the planned route are the Harz Mountains.  These are a motorcyclists dream, superb biking roads etc.  Just to the south is Nordhausen Dora forced labour camp.   Part of the Buchenwald series of camps.  More info http://www.dora.de/

The final piece of the jigsaw was a night in Poland.  We've not been together before and  I have been once.  That was back in 1993 when I rode to Český Těšín and crossed the bridge over the River Olza to the Polish town of Czesky Cieszyn.  I was  in Poland for about an hour!  As I had no zlotys I couldn't buy anything as the local wouldn't accept Czech currency.

So to break the longish journey between Colditz and Brno, a night in a new country seems on the cards.  And indeed it is.  A night in Noclegi Pod Jeleniami in Jelenia Gora has been booked through hostelworld.com.  From the pics is looks good and for about £28 a night it is very cheap. 

The last day of the outward leg will be the Jelenia Gora to Brno section, calling in at Hradec Kralove (hopefully) for a coffee and chat with an old student of mine, Rosta Kriz and his lovely wife and daughter. 

20 May 2011

Sharp's Doom Bar


Sharp's Doom Bar, originally uploaded by Vioz RuBoK.

At The Providence in Sandgate

15 May 2011

An idea is born

Original planning for this trip started back in the autumn of last year.  It's seven years since we last went to Brno and the Czech Republic and I thought it would be a good idea to incorporate a trip to the MotoGP as well as see friends.

We had been to the Dutch TT two years running and wanted another MotoGP visit.  I thought about Cataluña but as it clashed with the TT on the Isle of Man I decided to look at Czech.

Tickets went on sale in December and the English version of the official website was easy to follow and I booked two general admission tickets for around €45 each for the weekend.  The weekend ticket covers Friday to Sunday practice and race days.

The original plan was to go to by bike of course. All the initial planning, route and stops etc, was based on a bike day in the saddle.  Then Claire's hip decided to get involved and it has become far too painful for her to pillion anywhere, so we decided to bite the bullet and go by car.  Luckily, she has recently traded the Getz 1.1 for a Peugeot 206CC with a much bigger more powerful engine. Plus, it is far more comfortable!


Now that we have decided that the Czech Trip will be by car, I set about my monthly check of ferry and shuttle fares and found that with a discount code (I will not reveal so don't ask!) I could get the car and two people to France and return for £67.50 in August. It's with Seafrance.  The fare without discount is only £75. I booked it.  The Shuttle for the same dates and approx times was £147.  No contest.

In the weeks since we decided to make it a car trip I have begun to re-assess the routes.  All mine had been planned on our Acer Notebook in Mapsource for my Garmin Quest.  Claire has her own Tom-Tom for the car and it works on postcodes and addresses.



Irritatingly, when she bought it the maps loaded were for the entire western Europe plus Poland and Czech.  One of the reasons we bought it.  On the first map update from the "Home" website at Tom-Tom, it decided that the new maps were too big for the memory on the satnav and we had to choose one of four regions! Needless to say there isn't one with UK and Czech in the same set. So at the moment I have the choice of changing the maps (it is free) to the Eastern Set before we go, or simply take the cradle and the Quest and use that for Czech! I'll most likely do both.  The Quest will give us a backup!



I have also invested in a new Michelin map of Germany and already have a recent Czech map to add to the mountain of paperwork we'll have with us. Wherever possible I have tried to choose hotels with free wifi so that we can keep in touch with home and I will investigate roaming with my iPhone.

The next job is to check out European cover extension to the RAC that we already have and get that paid for.

As things get arranged and places booked I'll update.



July 16th 2011

I am planning a day trip on the bike across to France to visit the war grave of one of our family that died from wounds during the Battle of the Somme in 1916. This year will be the 95th Anniversary.

I expect to leave early on the ferry or Shuttle to get to Corbie before lunch. We are a small family and someone has to remember the sacrifice.

11 May 2011

Peugeot 207CC


Peugeot 207CC, originally uploaded by Vioz RuBoK.
Claire's car. The picture taken at quite long range with the Nikon 8300 with an added star filter.

9 May 2011

Welsh National Rally 2011 - Report

My rally weekend started on Friday. I packed my stuff and then had l lunch with Claire, at home, before setting out on the run up to the Youth Hostel in Coalport, near Ironbridge in Shropshire.

The weather was hot and I was wearing my new cordura trousers for the first time.  I had removed the quilted lining for both comfort and to avoid death by over heating.  The run up was pretty straightforward with the satnav deciding on the M1/M6 route.

As it turned out this was a bad idea as apart from the road works plaguing the M25, the M1 was dug up from Luton Airport to past the Bedford junction, with two lanes chocked full of trucks. Whatever happened to the railway for heavy loads.

I stopped for a break and a coffee at the Watford Gap services before continuing.  Petrol seemed to be lasting okay and it was only at Birmingham did I need the first top up.  Managing just over 204 miles for 16.5 litres.  A tip here.  If you are on the M6, avoid the services and their high prices. Take the A34 signed to Birmingham and there's a cheap Shell station about 200 yards from the junction.

I arrived at the YH hostel about 5.30pm and was just checking where to book in when I saw Steve Hazlehurst arriving.  We had a four bed room and staked our claim to the bottom bunks. Sadly we had to share with a cyclist, but it wasn't too much hardship.

Dinner was in the Shakespeare Inn down the road. Good food and a few beers,

We were up early and off to the start. All very easy and the weather was looking good. The plan was to enter for a Platinum Award. To qualify we had to visit 15 unmanned (and answer clues) and 3 manned checkpoints. Plus we signed up for the Dragon Award that was based on airfields, and having to visit four and answer clues. At the start we met up with our third team member, Andrew Pratt.

Our circuit was roughly a counter clockwise tour of North Wales and it seemed this year that there were far more checkpoints down "blind" routes that required a back track than in previous years. In fact there were four, usually just the one, plus these all add miles that in the end are wasted.

In hindsight the tour d'Anglesey was probably a mistake, it was too slow going and cost us a lot of time that we really needed later in the day. That said there is some very attractive scenery up there, and some nice little bays with beaches and sea views.

The trip took us over both the bridges across the Menai, under the towering majesty of Snowdon and down some tiny little tracks suitable for 4x4 and sheep.

Time was getting on and we were looking to make our goal when we arrived to find the bridge we were hoping to cross had closed!  It's a toll bridge and had closed an hour before we arrived. A quick re think of the routes and a re-jig of the plans had us running  out of light rather than time. We ended up looking for a clue in total darkness, and then abandoned the hunt.  We had qualified for a Gold Award and also the Dragon.

It started to rain by the time we left Castle Caerinion and it was in torrential rain that I made my way back on unlit single track roads to Shrewsbury and the A5, then the M54 and M6 to arrive at the hotel I had booked in Coventry.

It seemed like a good idea at the time.  In the end the Formule 1 seems like a cross between a bail hostel, workers doss house and a brothel.  I have stayed in the chain across France and whilst they are cheap, they are usually 100% better than this dump. 

After a lot of not sleeping I was off home at about 8am, finally arriving about 1pm after some stops for coffee to keep awake.

In the end this is probably my last WNR for a few years and it was fun, good to meet up with two friends and ride the excellent scenery.

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pauldevall/sets/72157626673761800/

Routes: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=1081543


8 May 2011

On way home


On way home, originally uploaded by Vioz RuBoK.

Mr Baloo dirty but smiling