This blog was created to share information for anyone that wanted to come with me to the Czech Centre SOC Rally in Vernirovice in May 2022.
With the event over and done with it is time to retire the blog.
Thanks to the one or two people that bothered to read it and get the information they may have needed.
The rally was great and I am now looking at:
Just a week before we set off for the east of the Czech Republic for the local Suzuki Owners Club Rally. In fact, Phil and Giles will actually be setting off on Tuesday to come across from the west country to Dover. For me it's a 14 mile ride from door to door (as it were!).
As well as having everything printed I will have some of the details on my phone. In fact, I'll have multiple copies of all the stuff I need to have with me. One in the tank bag and others (!) in the top box. Belt and braces!
Today I copied the routes from MyRouteApp to the TomTom. At the same time I saw that there are map updates for Europe and the US. I don't usually bother with the US upgrades but whilst I am at it I might as well let it run.. 🤯
The updater came up to say that to do the download would take 10124 hours.... it changed before I could get a photo... to 1 hour 24 mins. Phew.
I also downloaded and installed the DFDS app to my phone and logged in. It shows the last check-in time to be 7.15am for the ferry we are booked on. I will aim for well before 7am arrival at the docks. Looks like a very early start. Just like going to work! The app also says that you can enter the API (Advance Passenger Information) using the app. I can't find that and so whilst I still have a laptop to hand I entered my passport details for the booking through the website! Is it worth an email to DFDS to ask about the app? Hardly worth it now.
Today it is a day for changing the bikes over in the garage and relegating the Suzi the Kettle to the back and getting Vera Strom to the front and giving her a check over. She is well within the service limits and the tyres are almost new. A bit of oil on the chain. I'll use the Scottoiler oil I have left over from when I had one fitted to the Kettle.
Oh and of course the UK sticker needs to be found a place! maybe on the back of the pannier? Which side? Decisions eh!
And finally. I have to fit and tune the new air seat cover to my butt's needs. The V-Strom is a really good motorcycle. It does everything you would expect from a 1000cc v-twin. The gearbox is slick and typically Suzuki in operating but... the seat is terrible. I have tried using the Alaska leathers sheepskin pad that I have used before on the BMW and Triumphs (since 2004!) I have had in the past. But to no avail. After fifty miles it feels like my butt cheeks are numbed and then painful!
So I bought a Hommiesafe inflatable seat cover. It gets great write ups on the V-Strom forums. It needs only a little air in it to take the pressure off. I will fit it and see about a few test rides to fine tune it. Perhaps ride up to Arsenal for the last game of the season on Sunday rather than take the train. It's 75 miles each way?
Once we leave the hotel in Friedburg we return to the Romantic Road. Phil wants to stop in Nördlingen where there is a town inside a massive meteor crater. I have scheduled a 30 minute stop there. It's only 50 miles into the day.
The next stop is in Dinkelsbühl. Only another 20 miles up the road. Both these towns are two of the only three fully walled towns in Germany. The other is Rothenburg ob der Tauber, and we stop off there on the way to the rally.
In fact after Dinkelsbühl we arrive at the A6 and tuen westwards. On the way from Rothenburg ob der Tauber on Day 2 we come to the same junction and go eastwards. By the end of the trip we will have created a huge figure 8!
From there we have about 200+ miles to Luxembourg mostly motorways. we pass by the Sinsheim Technical Museum and so I have added it back in. We can decided whether to go on when we get there! There's fuel and a McDonalds outside! lunch?
Was it an inspired decision to book the crossing for this trip with DFDS from Dover?
With P&O Ferries announcing that they have sacked/made redundant 800 ship staff with immediate effect having a confirmed booking with DFDS seems like a good idea.
Let's hope that as a result it doesn't cause the hassles that we have come to expect when the French are on strike for whatever reason!
Phew!
