Kentish collections, Rye ramblings, and motorcycle musings

July 2013


After getting back from overseas, I had a month to get everything done before a deliciously long break up in the Outer Hebrides starting early August. Many shifts were worked at the day job to get the time off for the Scotland trip, but there was plenty of touring to catch up on too.

For four years I once lived in the seaside village of Camber near Rye, famous for its glorious sandy beach. It was lovely to go back there and rediscover my old stomping ground.

For the purposes of research I was staying at the Park Resorts site at Camber Sands. It's in a great location next to the beach, although the pitches themselves could do with a little bit of love. If you're into the all-singing all-dancing kind of holiday resort with entertainment laid on, this is the place for you.

I was astounded at the amount of Static Caravans on site. About 1,000 apparently. There were new ones for sale at the entrance, and for a half-decent one you're looking at £50k. On top of that you have £300 per month site fees. That's over £3000 per year in rent plus repayments on the van plus depreciation. I begrudge nobody their little slice of paradise, but what struck me was… well, it's not cheap, is it?

Next stop was Romney Farm Caravan Park down the road at New Romney. Personally, this is more 'my' kind of site. Very old school and quiet, but of course without the entertainment for kids which can give stressed-out parents a break like at Park Resorts. Kids here need to make their own entertainment out in the fields, just as I did when I was caravanning in the 70s with my Nan. Gosh, that makes me sound so old.

Rye is gorgeous. I absolutely love it. You can cycle it in 20 minutes from Park Resorts, or there is a CL within 20 minutes on foot, but I've never had much luck when staying at the latter, and it's a bit spendy for what it is.

The latest string to Rye's bow is Edith's House, a fabulously camp tea room where the welcome is warm (and it extends to your dog) and the cakage is devine. A definite must.

My favourite pub, The Ship, is also in Rye. It's a wee bit on the expensive side and the choice of veggie dishes on the menu is thin, but I like its atmosphere and general ambience.

A trip on the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway was a must, and afterwards I hung around in Dungeness to indulge in a bit of 'non-magazine' photography just for the sheer enjoyment of it.

 

............

With my outstanding jobs done, it was time to chill at my favourite CL in Kent, which of course remains a secret. Surrounded by hop fields, quiet, rural, and only £4.50 per night. I love it.

One of the tasks to attend to before Scotland was getting the motorbike MOTd and serviced. It took a lot longer than expected but Dougal and I were enjoying the Triumph Bonneville courtesy bike in the meantime.

I really, really enjoying thrapping about the lanes of Kent on a retro twin. In fact, I loved it so much that I made the decision that the lardy Daytona that I have cherished for over 20 years since new is no longer suitable for my needs. The days of jumping on the bike and riding to Greece are now over, partly thanks to Dougal. Nowadays the priority is for something light and small enough to load easily into the Navara. I took out a Triumph Thruxton on a test ride and loved it.

That was fine enough until I realised that in 2008 they did the Thruxton in silver. A silver bike would, of course, match the rig in the way that my black Daytona simply doesn't.

It makes no logical sense. But then, motorbikes rarely do. The search for a silver Thruxton begins.

Hebrides Round 3, Autumn 2012

Here's another one of those 'Oh heck I am so behind on this blog and I SO want to get up to date that I need to quickly run over what I've done' kind of entries. So here it is.

The 'Big Trip' to the Outer Hebrides in 2012 was in June, and is detailed a little further back in this blog.

Such is the draw of this place I cannot keep away, and managed to find time to 'nip' up there in the middle of September, wedged nicely between Rockhill Rendezvous (the big UKAirstreamers' Gathering in Shropshire) and a Skerryvore concert in Arrochar, just to the West of Tarbet by Loch Lomond.

My favourite island, Harris, was chosen as the 'one-stop shop' for my all-too-brief Hebridean Experience this time, mainly due to the the fact that my favourite cafe in the world, the Skoon Art Cafe in Geocrab, is on that island. It's funny how just one decent Eating Place can influence your decision as to where to go on your holiday... something that the accommodation-focused tourist agencies need to wake up to.

Other than eating cake, soaking up the ambience, and chewing the cud with Skoon's lovely owners Andrew and Emma, the main activities on this trip were to do absolutely nothing, walking Dougal on the beach, discovering new places now that we had the convenience of the motorbike with us, and a spot of photography. Rather than detail everything, here are a few images (worth a few thousand words) instead:

 

Motorbikin' around Harris

 

One of Harris's beautiful beaches

  

Dougal having a great time

  

Wherever I go, Dougal goes! On the 'Peat Road' 

  

Homeward bound, Isle of Skye

...and Dougal came, too!

-->

Carrying a dog on a motorbike

In the previous entry you saw how I finally managed to have my motorbike come with me when touring with the Airstream during the summer months.

‘Riding your motorbike is all very well,’ I hear you cry, ‘but what about Dougal the Dog? That’s who we tune in to the blog to read about and see pictures of, anyway!’

Yes, I know where I come in the popularity stakes, and I know my place in Dougal’s shadow.

Dougal is very much part of my motorcycling. Indeed, even when deciding which kind of a dog to get, I settled on Jack Russell (or something thereabouts) as being ideal for me; easy to carry on the motorbike, doesn’t take up too much space in the Airstream, yet still a ‘proper’ dog and not an inbred fashion accessory that spends its life in discomfort.

The only slight fly in the ointment is that Dougal didn’t read the instruction manual properly and forgot to stop growing. And growing. And growing. While he isn’t quite the size of a Parson Russell Terrier, he now stands head-and-shoulders over most Jack Russells.

Ordinarily this wouldn’t be a problem, but it now means that he is a little big for the dog-carrier that I use when we go biking together.

I’ve seen a few ways that dogs can ride with their owners, including in the sidecar a la Wallace and Grommet. However, the three main options appear to be:

Dog-carrying Rucksack

Tank Bag

Tail (saddle) Bag

Whichever your dog chooses (you didn’t think that this would be YOUR choice, did you?) it is vital that there is a way to secure the animal to the bike or rider to ensure its safety.

We went for the dog-carrying rucksack by Outward Hound which I bought from doghaus.co.uk.

It’s similar to an ordinary rucksack, except that it has mesh sides, a roll-back top that can be clipped neatly out of the way, and a clip attachment to attach to the dog’s harness.

The rucksack training regime took over six months to prevent Dougal going through any unnecessary stress.

From the day after he arrived home as a puppy, he was put into the rucksack for short periods and would enjoy a short walk on foot, starting off at about a minute in duration and culminating in 15 minute stretches.

Similarly, he has a pair of ‘Doggles’ that he wears on the bike to prevent damage to his eyes, and the training regime for these followed a similar pattern. These came in useful for windy walks on sandy beaches to protect his eyes from the sand. 

Eventually, after about three months of rucksack training, we took off on the pushbike, which Dougal loved and you can see a snapshot of him enjoying a sunny ride on the Hebridean island of Benbecula in this video, click here. The bits of Dougal on the bike are at 4:03 and 4:10.

Three months on, we introduced the motorbike for a short trip at a maximum of 30mph. Here’s a pic from that first trip:

You can see here that I put the rucksack on my front, thinking that Dougal would prefer to sit on the tank and see where we were going. Very quickly Dougal let me know he was not happy with this arrangement, and for the next trip I put the rucksack on my back. This was far better, and it was no doubt down to the fact that this is where Dougal is used to riding.

Slowly I increased the speed to a maximum of 50mph, and to prevent any damage to Dougal’s ears I strap them down with a doggy bandana. As our trips now cover greater mileage (although never more than 30 minutes without a break) he wears a dog coat inside the rucksack to keep the wind out, which looks quite like a biking cape.

It was a long process to get there, and it seems strange on a sports bike to bimble along at 50mph and sometimes have to pull over and let traffic pass, but it’s been well worth it. Needless to say, the reaction of other people when they see a biker dog in goggles and a bandana with his paw on my shoulder, looking at the road ahead, is an utter joy. We’ve made a lot of people smile. And, funnily enough, have posed for more than a few photos!

NB – THIS STORY IS PROVIDED FOR YOUR ENTERTAINMENT AND INFORMATION ONLY. IT IS PARAMOUNT THAT THE OWNER TAKES RESPONSIBILITY FOR HIS/HER PETS AND DOES NOT SUBJECT THEM TO UNNECESSARY STRESS. THERE ARE SOME DOGS THAT WOULD BE EXTREMELY DISTRESSED TO BE CARRIED IN SUCH A WAY, AND TO DO SO WOULD BE AN ACT OF CRUELTY AND MAY RESULT IN PROSECUTION. IT IS ALSO IMPERATIVE TO RESPECT ALL LOCAL LAWS AS REGARDS ANIMAL TRANSPORTATION.

And the motorbike came too... my life is complete!

-->

Carrying a motorbike in the load bed of a Nissan Navara

Some of you may remember that I used to tow with a blue Renault Trafic van, which I used to transport my motorbike. 

Vanity got the better of me (I’m sure people used to think I was either delivering my Airstream or had just nicked it) and I acquired my gorgeous Nissan Navara four years ago. Of course, that meant leaving the motorbike behind.

At first, it wasn’t a problem, especially as I would nip home every six weeks or so and get my motorbiking fix. However, this is no longer an option as the Airstream is now home. Getting rid of my beloved Triumph after 21 years (I bought it new in 1992) wasn’t an option.

It just so happened that I noticed that some of my Airstream buddies were carrying their motorbikes in the back of their pick-up trucks. So I looked a little harder at using my Navara to carry the Triumph.

After some trial and error, we eventually got there:

As I load and unload the bike on my own, stepping up onto the high tailgate isn’t an option.  I purchased two folding ramps in order to get the bike up and down: One ramp for the bike, one ramp for me to walk up and down. These were purchased from The Ramp People, and I was delighted by their old-fashioned good friendly customer service.

With the bike safely strapped in, there is no room to shut the tailgate. There is enough clearance to be able to tow the Airstream, but as the number plate is obliterated I choose to only carry the bike when towing rather than making other arrangements.

The only alteration needed to the trailer was that the Winterhoff hitch had to go… there simply wasn’t the room to operate the handle with the Navara tailgate down. Maybe I could have tried to hitch the trailer before lowering the tailgate and loading the bike, but then I would not be able to unhitch quickly in an emergency, so this was a non-starter. To get over this problem I fitted a regular Albe hitch with a teeny handle meaning that the trailer can be detached even with the tailgate down. The intention was to a blade-style stabiliser at a later date, but having now done 2000 miles in all weathers without one (including crossing the Skye Bridge in gale force winds), I’ve decided that the Airstream is so awesomely stable that I really need not worry. During the winter when the bike is in hibernation the Winterhoff goes back on.

It’s all good, except for one thing….

Nowhere could I get an ‘official’ figure for how much weight the lowered tailgate of the Navara would take. Figures banded about were 100lbs (which sounded way too low) and 100kg, which sounded about right.

The problem is, my Triumph is 240kg. I weigh 75kg. Therefore while I’m loading and unloading, there is about 200kg on the tailgate, albeit briefly (assuming the bike loads 120kg onto each wheel). In transit, a piece of wood slid under the rear wheel spreads the load between the tailgate and the load bed meaning that very little weight indeed is on the tailgate. I remove the cover to my Armadillo roll top to gain those essential extra couple of inches, but I don't need to go to the bother of removing the entire assembly. 

I’m pretty sure, however, that I’ve damaged the hinges to the Navara’s tailgate. After 2000 miles it still closes and locks, but it doesn’t close as smoothly as it used to. I can live with this as long as it doesn’t get any worse. If it does… I may end up having to have the tailgate hinges replaced. Not ideal, but I have to say that having the bike with me once again has really enhanced my summer touring. It was a bit of a struggle to get there, but very well worth it.

 My life is now complete.