France and Ireland the figure of 8 tour

I've had three Honda NC750x's. I am also a member of a forum that is focussed on such bikes and motorbikes in general - they are a good bunch of people. I'm also a member of the Honda Deauville forum - same vibe, I've got life long friends all over the country from being a part of that group for well over 14 years now.

So a motorcycle tour that picked up two meetings of the above groups was conceived in the dark winter months of 2022 with a get together in Brittany with the NC riders and southern Ireland for the Deauville riders. The fact there were lady riders and pillions in both groups encouraged Rachel to come along.... a decent tour for her having not done too many pillion miles in the last couple of years. 

So we booked the accommodation and four ferries and sat back and waited for May. As in life time seemed to pass slowly but on reflection it arrived so quickly we were off to catch the overnight ferry from Plymouth to Roscoff running late as always and the M6 was clear one minute then closed the next !! We made it with a couple of stop for leg stretches within the boarding time. Not done ferries for a few years but the guys on the Brittany ferry were very good at tying the Honda down and we headed for food and rest. 

France is a lovely place to ride a motorbike. Nice food nice people nice roads nice everything really. We met up with a fella from Scotland who was joining the party and I lead him down stopping for a coffee as you do on the way. It was a great few days - Saturday to Thursday, new friends made, lovely rides nice accommodation. We even had a three course three apartment meal one night where on the ground floor we had aperitifs, top floor main meal and we hosted coffee and dessert in our mid floor apartment  - a great night. We rode with French motorcycle groups, we had a day off the bike and walked the Nantes Breast Canal to a ruined abbey, got baguettes from a vending machine and ate and drank well. 

All too soon we were saying our goodbyes on the Wednesday night as we had to head off at 6am for a ferry from  St Malo to Portsmouth. Another sublime ride in the early cool French morning to the ferry port, a lovely smooth crossing where we got some sleep in our cabin - we pushed the boat out and had a cabin on all four ferry crossings. On arrival in Portsmouth we rode into the evening to a hotel and a friend meet up just outside Bristol via Cranborne chase another great ride. 

Next morning we set off for Fishguard, again choosing a route via the Brecon Beacons, more gorgeous riding and again just made the ferry. The Irish ferry was the least appealing and oldest vessels we travelled on but it was a short crossing and before we knew it we were heading to our base of Clonmel via Rosslare. 

Great catching up, Guinness drank, Irish stew eaten and the odd Jameson's imbibed. Great riding and catching up with old a new friends alike. 

Far too soon we were heading via Wateford to Dublin for the last ferry of the trip to Holyhead and home. Getting into Wales early evening it was a nice ride across north Wales  - wed' have preferred the A5 but did the A55 for speed and before we knew it we were home a few thousand miles later, memories absorbed friends made and met and just happy to be able to undertake such a trip. Rachel did very well for saying she'd not done many bike miles in recent years..... where next ? 

Because family is so important

We had a lovely day with our little family all together at our cottage in Mid May. Family is so important as is making memories  - another sadder post will follow on that point. 

The two grandkids like nothing better than getting the two boxes of selected toys we kept back from Tom and Callums extensive collection from the loft to sort thru and play with. It always amazes me that Tom our oldest remembers every detail of the toys and his childhood while Callum has little specific recollection un the same way Tom does.

One thing for sure is growing up for kids is so different from my childhood and even for Tom and Callums.

Lovely memory Rachel shines when the sons daughters and grandkids are round.

A few catch up posts for my memories - Solar and shocks

For those here for boating these may not be of interest really they are all for my reflections as I like to see what I was doing when and where ....

10th May we were getting our house battery installed as well as a car charger - no car yet. I had installed a off grid system with Pylontech batteries and Growatt inverter that worked as I planned it but there were issues around G99 or more critically for the install I did G99 notification to the DNO  - distribution network operator. 

In the end not being happy with the questionable performance of the Growatt inverter and the legality of the install  plus the limitations of the power it was providing  I took it all out sold it on and had a professional company come in and hook up my solar to a decent inverter and battery. 

It has exceeded my expectations to the point we had a second battery installed the other week and I added a bit more solar to get the morning sun. It's very much how most boater get and store their power albeit on a larger scale. The grand plan is to get rid of the oil and have electric heating .... but we have to run this system for a while and have our share in co-operative wind farm come on stream before we take that step. 

I was also fitting a new shock absorber in preparation for a interesting motorcycle trip. The stock shock that comes with my Honda 750 bike is limited - ok for solo riders but 2 up with luggage it needs better.

Next post our France and Ireland trip ...