Thursday, 25 July 2013

Toodle Pip fella! (Final Post)


 


Good Bye, Adiós, Au revoir, Adieu, Auf Wiedersehen, Arrivederci, Sayōnara, Ardievas, Hasta la vista, and so on….

Well, guess that says it all about this blog.

It’s been real guys.

M x

Wednesday, 17 July 2013

A small update


Hi all!

So this, I guess can count as a little update of what is going on in my life at the moment. Which ain’t much.

I don’t know if I mentioned this in my previous post, but I applied for a new job while I was on holiday.

Now the other day I heard back from the company who I applied for. I guess overall it was good, but then there was a slight bit of bad mixed with it.

The good news is that my application was good enough for them to select me through to their next application stage.

The bad news is they have no more assessment places this year.

However the company has offered to carry my application to next year so I don’t have to apply again.

I do like that idea However, a lot can change from now till then. Guess we shall have to wait.

I have since uploaded my some of the photos from my bike holiday, and I guess I could put a link here. (Photos if the link doesn't work... well... add...)

I do have a load of videos from the trip, and the crazy festival, but haven’t uploaded them. (Sorry, maybe in the near future)

And I guess a final bit of news is that I am thinking of starting something, I don’t know if I will, but I sort of want to. I know some people out there might not like it, but then its upto me whether I go ahead with this idea of mine or not.

M x

Tuesday, 2 July 2013

My Little Motorbike holiday


Well, again it’s been a little while since I wrote one of these, and so I will write one right now, while eating some sunflower seeds.

Ok, so it’s now Wednesday, and I returned home after travelling 2500 miles around a tiny bit of Europe on a motorbike on Sunday.

It was fun, wet, cold, hot, exhausting, boring, and entertaining.

From the trip, there are a couple of tips that I will advise;
Get a throttle locker! Keeps that cruising speed, and you don’t have to hold the throttle!
Don’t camp in the Alps, unless you have winter gear! Bloody freezing!
Get a comfy cushion, or your bum will ache!
Some knee sliders to try and get that knee down!
Don’t do stupidly long distances in a day!
Avoid toll roads when possible!
Extreme filtering is fun!
Oh, and don’t go riding through torrential rain unless you have some good waterproofs on!

Now Spain was fantastic! Excellent weather, hardly any rain (except the torrential one that we rode through!) and some of the roads are amazing!
I must thank the family out there who made it awesome, lovely house, good company, and excellent hosts!

While in there I got to walk through some fire/burning embers and get covered in smoke. Got to make some wish for the following year (I think). Got attacked by some people with fireworks. Watched some fireworks synched to music, and also got to watch a massive display get set on fire! But I didn’t get to run will bulls, Maybe that’s something for next year if I go again.

However my thoughts on Spain, Very laid back, friendly, and lazy! I can sort of see why they have no money left… But they sure know how to party!
Most of the time when I went out it was during the siesta. 
Not helpful as most of the shops were closed during this time and when they reopened they only have about an hour left of trading time.
They do have some good food, and very nice tapas.

The trip back was fun, from Xabia to Valencia, to go on the F1 track. Had to miss out Barcelona, as time was a bit tight. So missed out on  circuit de Catalunya. Visited Perpignan, worked our way up towards Montpellier, Marseille, stop over at Cannes. Then along the French Riviera, Nice, Monte Carlo to have a look around and go around the circuit! (shame the tunnel was closed).
Into Italy, where we found an extremely expensive stretch of toll road! and up through some of the alps to Cuneo. Absolutely amazing roads! (Knee slider moments!)
From there to Torino (Turin) to have a look around at the city of the Italian Job. Up through the Alps again towards Switzerland!

The Swiss border was interesting as there was signs for Italy, Switzerland, and No Mans Land! (couldn’t get a picture as the border guards were looking at us very suspiciously!)

We did have an interesting conversation with one of the guards where he was making sure we knew about the vignettes for using the Motorways/express ways.

The guard asked us where we were going, and I responded about five to ten times trying to say the destination of where we were heading.
Now I don’t know if the way I was saying it was incorrect, or he just didn’t know where it was. But I was pretty sure I was saying it correctly! The guard looked slightly confused and after that he just asked if we was using the motorway/expressway. We both shouted “NO” in response, and with that we got a nod and an “OK”.

From there we headed down the alps, towards Lake Geneva, in the direction of Montreux, towards Lausanne, and then towards Saint-Cergue.

I must say, the area around Lake Geneva is very nice! We saw an old-fashioned style passenger boat chugging along which looked absolutely awesome! A real postcard moment! 
 That night we camped somewhere up in the Alps, and boy was it cold!
In the morning I managed a small conversation in French with a local person who said that night was freezing compared to the previous nights! Obviously we picked the correct night to camp there then! 

From there on we had a slightly bit more time to work our way through France, and save some pennies by avoiding some toll roads!

We went from Saint-Cergue towards Poligny, and into Dijon for lunch! Dijon looked a very weird and small city that I didn’t really like. I just found it really strange.

Onwards form Dijon to Troyes, and ending up in Reims.

Yes we avoided Paris. We assumed that it would be too much traffic and with the luggage that we were carrying, it’s a bit hard to filter with it. And would have been stuck with the rest of the traffic.

And finally from Reims to Saint Omer to visit our local watering holes, and then onwards to Calais the next morning for the Euro Tunnel.

Well, That’s a brief-ish note of what I did in the two weeks I was travelling around, and no I don’t have any photos to upload yet as I have not sorted them!
When I do sort them I might link them somewhere for you all to have a look!

If you read this far, I am impressed! 

And thanks! 

Mike

Thursday, 6 June 2013

A Half Finished Post


Hello world.

Yes, its me again.

Well, who else did you expect?

I guess I’ve already failed as I wanted to blog a bit more about my boring days, and I haven’t actually done that.

Anyway, I guess I will update you all on what is happening so far in my life!

I have moved into my new abode! Its a lot nicer than the old place I must admit! But the bills are working out to be more expensive, so I guess its both pros and cons against the old place.
The only issue with me moving is that I have no furniture, only a mattress. Oh and a bed side table.
The other day I went into ikea to look at some “cheap” furniture, the only issue with that, its not so cheap, its surprisingly pricy! Whodathoughtit!
However from all of that I did see a bed frame that I quite liked, so I might actually end up buying it. And then I have to work out how to get it home. As I don’t have a car. Only a bike….
Ive also looked at a charity shop to see what furniture they have. There was quite a nice desk, it was a simple and white, with couple of draws and a cupboard style door on it. I was about to buy it over the weekend, but then I didn’t want to disturb the members of staff having a good old chat about their weekend lifestyle. so I moved on.
I will continue the hunt for furniture later on.

My holiday/bike trip, is coming around super fast now, and I’ve got so much to do, and get organized!
My bike is going in for a service today. Hopefully it will be tip top and ready when I go and pick it up.
I’ve then got to fit quite a few bits and bobs onto my bike to make it ready.
Oh I’ve also got to go back home to the IOW to pick up a few things… a tent… cooking stuff, etc. so we shall see!

I hope to take a lot of photos on the trip, and do lots of crazy things, but we shall see…..

I do have more to say, but this is just getting too long. So I will leave it here. Maybe I will mention more in the next post!

Ciao!

M