Brenhden's TET

[andrew882]

"If you do something unbelievably stupid and embarrassing it doesn’t matter how remote you are someone will see."



So very true.

Loving the report and the pearls of wisdom at the end of every post, keep up the good work.

[chunky butt]

Great ride report brenhden....thanks

[PHILinFRANCE]

Proper enjoying this tale

[diggermanbob]

Great report as always

[Simon_100]

Lovely report Brehn, as always, this trip is reminding me of the summer of '76 when I lived in Oxford and worked shifts that gave me four - effectively five - days off every two weeks and I'd ride down the A-40 on my Ducati 350 to that region - no trails but lots and lots of sweeping bends - spending my nights in YHA's or occasionally just crashing out in a ditch full of chips and Welsh beer!

Regs

Simon

[Godspeed]

a ditch full of chips

Where the hell did you find a ditch full of chips? That’s definitely on my next top destination

[Simon_100]

a ditch full of chips

Where the hell did you find a ditch full of chips? That’s definitely on my next top destination

Somewhere in between the theory and practice of English grammar!

Regs

Simon

[Brenhden]

Pre TET travel day.

This year I am 41 years old and as such have decided to spend 41 days under canvas, so I need to get cracking. A few spare days of leave called in and I planned to ride to Dover and TET my self back to Gloucestershire. Still chilly out so I got myself a Exped Downmat lite 5, packed as little as possible, loaded the bike and practiced laying it down and picking it up again. It was almost impossible. Luckily I had some good advice from Catcitrus and others and repacking in the right order made a proper difference.

Photo 1 Leaving.

IMG_20190324_113637.jpg (131.79 KiB) Viewed 3612 times

I kissed Sue goodbye around 11:30 and made it all the way to Stonehouse five miles away before my own indecision on a roundabout nearly had me stone dead under a Ford Focus. Not the best start. Double focused I made it across to Swindon and onto the M4 in the cold sunshine. My new K60 rear tyre and my new noise cancelling headphones made the journey a pleasure. Cups of tea at Membury and Cobham warded off the cold however the combo of pants, longjohns, impact shorts, trousers and waterproofs put a lot of elasticated pressure on my bladder. It’s a sign of age maybe…
Sunvisor down I cruised along at 60mph all the way and pulled up at Kingsdown Camping centre at about 16:30, they let me in for £7 and I quickly pitched with a sea view, changed and walked into the village for some dinner.

Photo 2 Pitched.

IMG_20190324_170608.jpg (67.09 KiB) Viewed 3612 times

The Kingshead is a super pub and Scampi and chips and a pint was exactly what I needed. I sat writing this journal and a some locals at the bar were discussing Brunel’s tunnels and soon I was involved and invited over to join in. Ken and Colin (a married couple) was a hilarious pair of wealthy drunks who held court for the next five hours. Ken, an American who looked like Michael Portillo talked endlessly about politics and history and before I knew it it was closing time and I was blind drunk. Declining an offer to stay with them I stumbled out and was immediately lost, so much so that I ended up on the beach. I spotted the camp but due, I expect, to refugees on rowboats the site had a military style fence around it and I spent a lot of time stumbling round looking for a gate. Finally through I found my tent eventually and scooched in and zipped up.

Today’s distance 325km

[Brenhden]

TET Day 7

Woke at 04:30 because I hadn’t put my earplugs in and I was desperate for a wee. Found I still had all my clothes on (except for shoes) and had quite a bad hangover. At 06:00 I had Horlicks and Peanut bars. I went for a shower and discovered my towel was absolutely stinking, it was clean when I packed and I could not work out why. The facilities as Kingsdown are excellent and I would recommend the site for any type of hols, the view is lush, you can see France from your tent!

Photo Sunrise

IMG_20190325_061336.jpg (42.86 KiB) Viewed 3614 times

Packed and ready for the day I set off at around 08:30 and headed to Dover to pick up the trail. I hit the first Trail which was easy apart from three fallen trees, under one, around the next and over the third and I was feeling pretty good about it.

Photo First trail.

IMG_20190325_085005.jpg (161.64 KiB) Viewed 3614 times

The next trail have another two, I went under the first but had to retreat from the second as there was no way round. I headed back to town and passed the castle.

Photo Dover

IMG_20190325_090855.jpg (73.29 KiB) Viewed 3614 times

[dibbs]

Hahahahahahahaha brilliant...looking forward to the rest of this