Collection dwindling

Getting rid of a bike..........good grief what's the matter with him?

I've had an MZ TS125 cluttering up the shed for years. I got it in 1991 - swapped with a mate for a knackered Honda CG125 and it was my 'going to work on winter hack'. Change of job and a move down south couple of years later made it redundant but I kept hold of it for some reason.

Anyhow it's being donated to my mate Willy who will do something with it constructively.

Chips

Wonder what's in here

Open it up, and we'll just swap out that eprom for one I've found in the toolbox left over and never fitted when  i bought the GS seven years ago

Might as well give it a go.

Across, up, down, home

Five Round Britain places to find today made all the more interesting as I'm doing it old school with map and paper. Sat nav no good as its still got Lux/Germany/ Belgium maps on it from last trip. I forgot to put the uk maps back on it!!!

I found my way east to the sea, past Torness nuclear power station (its painted all white and virtually on the A1) and follow the coast to North Berwick. Sea is like a mill pond, Bass rock looking spectacular but plenty of day trippers to make it quite busy.

They've got a pretty bad bird fouling problem on that rock

 

 Onto Dalkeith and I get confused again around the new roads and roadworks ( happened before last time I was here) Anyhow, landmark located and on to Peebles and Glentress down the A6094/701. Good to be back on relatively quite scenic roads again and Selkirk next. Bike has developed a bit of a misfire on acceleration and is feeling a bit lumpy.

 

A duff spark plug would you believe.

I carry a spare coil stick so I change the left hand one. Little bit of improvement but I'm suspecting its a spark plug. Carry spare plugs as well so change the LH and all is well again. Put the original coil stick back in to confirm and still ok. Thats the cheap fix then - £4 plug instead of a £65 coil stick. Cant be arsed to mess about anymore and crack on for home again down the A68. Rest of trip is eminently forgettable as it involves the A1.

Just under 700 miles for the trip, and a bit more of the borders discovered.

Ghost town

A walk into Jedburgh for a few beers. Initial impression is 'where is everybody'?

Into the Belter Bar and I'm disturbing the barman at his crossword but he's pleased to see me anyhow. Even he was asking why the town was quiet. Anyhow, supp up and have a wander. Come across The Canon, and there's a few regulars in so a bit more lively and it states to fill up. All talk about the World Cup and who's got an Italian flag for Saturday and who knows how to swear in Italian. Seriously, someone offers to bring in Italian phrase book so they could be honarary Italians for the night!!

The Canon

Last time we were in Jedburgh we stumbled across the Railway Tavern. What a gem, its still there, an old style boozer no bigger than your average sitting room, vinyl & formica with a cathode ray TV. Should have a preservation order on it. Couple in there and I'm done for the night.

Border Raid

Couple of days in the Scottish borders on Round Britain duty!! There's worse ways to spend a few days . Was originally planning a few days in Wales but the weather forecast looked better up north. One of the best ways to travel to Scotland is up the A68 and over Carter Bar. Today the roads were empty so a good time was had. Just outside Toft Hill there's the A68 cafe and its a lunchtime stop to fill up on steak pie & mash. Great home cooking and now added to the list of "stops of choice". 

I'd missed alot of the A1 coming up as I turned off just after York and came along via Thirsk, Northallerton and Darlington. Then towards Barnard Castle and some RBR stuff, then cross country to West Auckland and the A68 to Jedburgh where I'm stopping tonight.

Commando MOT pass

Norton passes mot with no problems. Now to do battle with the DVLA about change to Historic Vehicle for £0 road tax

Al takes the high road and Nige/Steve the low road

After two nights in Vianden its time to head further east into Germany - Braunsfels in the Taunus. Unfortunately we get split up on the motorway again and eventually make our own way. Steve & Nige drop down to check out Cochem and Nassau whilst Al charges over to Braunsfels and has a ride around but we all get to the Brauhaus Obermuhle with a couple of minutes of each other.

The digs are a a brewery and top class, just having been refurbished. Quick wash & brush up and the bar opens at five. First beer is a black beer - ok, second is Weizmann for Al and pils for Nige. Steve can't drink beer so its apple wine (cider) and then Mosel wine.

 

Not happy - he lost me!!
 

A happy Nigel just after a vey nice steak

 

Up into town and a couple in the the Gasthof von Thurm - great local, we meet some scottish guys who give us some pointers for tomorrow.

 

Braunsfels - Von Thurm pub in right hand corner - recommended

 

Into the Fatherland and back

Big loop into Germany and along the Mosel to Zeltingen Rachtig where Al stopped last year. The attraction is lunch at the Kloster Machern, but the 60 miles or so of roads to get there are excellent. Stop at the viewpoint overlooking Piesport and its another picture opportunity of a river bend.

Another river another bend, this time Mosel

Down the hill, over the bridge and follow the Mosel to Zeltingen Rachtig. Stop at Kloster Machern for some lunch at the brauhaus, but its alcohol free beer this time to wash it down.
After schnitzel it's back towards Vianden via Echternach and Diekirch.

Echternach - man with fountain fetish andds another to his collection. Whatever you do don't google 'fountain fetish' -good grief.



Echternach and no dodgy characters in this pic - or is there???

 

Back in Vianden, Nige opts for a chill out beer at the auberge, whilst Steve & Al risk death and destruction falling from the chairlift and have a beer at the viewpoint at the top overlooking the town & castle. Good value I reckon only 4.80 euro return ticket.

No standing on the seats please

Nige is down there somewhere, I can see him waving

 

French Ardennes, Verdun and onto Vianden Luxembourg.

Weathers good and its onto the D roads from Givet, through the woods and hills towards Charleville Mezzieres. Stop off at a viewpoint overlooking a bend in the river Meuse at Montherme. Think the viewpoint was called Longue Roche.

 

 

Find our way through Charleville M with only one or two wrong turns in the one way system, and get back on the D roads and follow the Meuse towards Verdun stopping at a place called Douzy for a bite courtesy of sandwiches, pizza and fruit flans from the patisserie in the square.

 

Douzy - Steve not having pizza, he had a banana and started growing a tree out of his head.

Not far is Verdun, and we're planning to stop for an hour or two to have a look at the Ossuary and visit Fort Douamont. Steve & Nige not been before and its a sobering experience for them at the Ossuary. This is Al's third visit and Fort Douamont will complete the things to see.

 

Ossuary at Verdun

 

 

On top of Fort Douamont

 

History lessons over, its heading north into Luxembourg and two nights at the Auberge du Chateau in Vianden.

Home from home for the next two nights

 

Another castle

 

Bikes tucked up for the night in a garage across the road

 



On our travels yet again - France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Germany

Friday to Friday jaunt to the continent via the 08;35 boat from Dover. The boats packed as its a bank holiday weekend I suppose, fair bit of a swell but I must have got me sea legs as I put away a full English breakfast and feeling fine. Steve looks a bit green around the hills but Nige just has a moan about his sinus and has a kip.

Plan is to hit the A26 to Cambrai and then head across country to Givet on the Belgian border near Dinant via le Cateau, Hirson, Rocroi & Fumay.

However, Nige & Steve have other ideas are behind me and pulll into services for fuel on the A26 near to the turn off . I keep to the plan as I can't turn around on the autoroute, and wait for them whilst having a slice of pizza and a apple flan at a patisserie in a village called Beauvois on the D643 between Cambrai & Le  Cateau. Nige eventually gets in touch and they've managed to take a wrong turn and ended going the wrong way along the A2 and then coming off and heading for St Quentin in vaguely the right direction.. It'll be a hour or so for them to get here so we agree to meet at the digs. 

I get a great ride on D roads especially the Route de Fortifications between Rocroi and Fumay, then along the river to Givet, getting there for 15:20.

Very nice lady at reception says we can have three singles for the price of the original triple room we booked,so first come first served and I blag the single with a view.

Currently in the bar getting around the outside of a Leffe waiting for the other two to turn up, which they eventually do at 17:20 with many tales to tell.

They're here at last in Givet

Charlemagne Fort, Givet. Castles & rivers end up being a common theme on this trip

Hotel Van St Hilaire - good vfm just down from Dinant

 

Commando nearly there

Chroming back from Hull and fitted - very nice it is too. Carbs also rebuilt with new slides, jets etc and back on. Only thing waiting for now is for the front brake master cyclinder to come back from machining and the bike is pretty much done.
Put some fresh oil and  a new filter on the engine, and started her up - carbs need a bit of fine tuning but that needs a quick spin to warm up to do that right, but not recommended without a front brake.
Classic Bike show at Stafford next week, so might pick up a few more bits as theres a bit of slack in the budget - new stainless front mudguard and stay as some of the cross brace rivets on the old one have rotted.

Shiny bits from http://www.qualitychrome.co.uk/index.php

Wheres the front master cyclinder?

Shiny bits on, carbs back on, tank on, fuel in and started up

 

 Hopefully not long now and its MOT time followed by going into battle with the DVLA about historic vehicle status to get free tax.

What the hell has he bought now?

A Mercedes van that's what it is. All part of a master plan to be revealed shortly.

The dreaded Norton 'pinch bolt crack'

Noticed that the LH fork slider on the ES2 has cracked at the bottom pinch bolt area - not me i hasten to add as I'm well aware that this is a common failure as the pinch bolt can get over tightened. The recommended torque is something like 15ft lbs, and on the Commando I remember putting a washer in as packing so that it couldn't get overtightened.


You don't want to see this crack on your Norton single. I've slackened the bolt off to make the crack wider and more visible for the picture as you had to get up close to see it.

Anyhow, found a place in Lincoln that was willing to repair it - http://www.paintperfectlincoln.co.uk/ - Only around the corner, had a chat with them and they also have a dip tank big enough for bike frames and have done a number of motorcycle jobs in the past, so might give them a try when its time for the Commando frame etc next winter.


Many LH fork legs end up looking like this - ally weld repair.

Fork leg stripped down o.k, nothing to them really and even more basic than the Commando's. Fork oil changed and replaced with Castrol TQF.
Also did oil change on the engine as I wasn't sure when it was last done, but looking in the drained oil tank revealed a fair amount of sludge so off it came for a clean out before refilling with Castrol Classic GP50.

Been meaning to have to take a look at the pipe joints and drain plug as there's been a bit of oil weeping - copper washers I reckon that had been re-used but not annealed. So a quick blast of the washers with the propane torch and the tank's leak free now, so not so many drips on the garage floor now.

I'm Hungary.....

.....or actually in Hungary for few days with work.

A place called Gyor about 70 miles south from Vienna.

The place itself is quite charming in a central european oldy worldy way and its nice and warm this evening, a lot out and about having an Ice cream or a beer after work as the Europeans tend to do. All very civilised and quite unlike their antics when behind the wheel - the drive down from Vienna airport kept me on my toes I can tell you!!

Also had to faff about getting a vignette at the first truck stop inside Hungary to use the motorway, and also change some euros to Hungarian florints - daft girl at the exchange initially gave me Bulgarian money?? That would have been interesting trying to get a beer if I hadn't noticed.

Heading back

Weather is being kind again, cool but sun shining and blue skies. Leave Cambrai at 09:30 and head over to the Cambrai Memorial at Loureval.Ferry not until 13:35 so time for a meander cross country to avoid the Peage, and also to visit one or two more sights.
You can't come to Cambrai and not visit the Cambrai Memorial to the Missing at Louverval.
Its yet another memorial for missing soldiers of the Uk and South Africa, this time for 7048 of them who died at the Battle of Cambrai 20 Nov to 3 Dec 1917and have no known graves.

Louverval is only just down the road from Cambrai towards Albert, so I plot a route from Albert to Arras and come across signs for the village of Wailly.

There's Orchard Cemetery CWGC but not much else - there's some pics in previous posts of Flirt II here .This is where the Tank Training School was prior to the battle and there are a number of pictures in the IWM collection showing tanks in training here, including many of Flirt II (F4).(Dog and officers!)

Flirt II at Wailly Tank Training School 21 Oct 1917, in preparation for the Battle of Cambrai (http://www.iwmprints.org.uk)

Compare that with this pic taken of Flirt II abandoned in Bourlon a few months later

 

 

Its then Arras to St Pol - this is the place where the unkown soldier in Westminster Abbey was brought from. It's a very busy town traffic wise and I stop for Frites in the town centre.

 

 The weather is turning for the worst, really grey skies and the A26 is a dozen or so miles away so I opt for 2.70euro toll for the final stretch to Calais. Five mins of heavy rain followed by hail which lies in drifts on the road surface - interesting, but I follow a truck which breaks a path. Only a few minutes of this, just as well seeing as I didn't suss out what was happening straight away when the handling went a bit squirrelly.

Get to the ferry with 40mins to spare but there was a 30 min delay, just long enough to stand there and get another soaking for 5 mins.

 

Last off - not even pointing the right way either

One last visit on the way home and its into Ashford to have a look at their tank in the high street.

Another MkIV WW1 tank - only eight left in the world and I've seen three of them on this trip.

 

So thats the tank trip over. A good interesting couple of days following FlirtII as best I could.

 

However all is not as it seems and Flirt II in Lincoln may not be FlirtII after all but some other tank - apparently an announcement is imminent as its real identity has recently been confirmed.(so Philippe tells me but would divulge no more than a gallic shrug).

It means a return trip may be on the cards in the future tracing the Lincoln tank's 'real' activities.

**Update on the tank in Lincoln known as Flirt II is that during filming of the interior in November 2013, a serial number was discovered barely visible under the paint (Philipe told me about this as he was asked to check Deborah at the time to confirm her serial number was in the same position). The number didn't belong to Flirt II but to a tank called Daphne also built in Birmingham at the Metropolitan Carriage Works. Daphne was first used for training by F Battalion of the Tank Corps, and then transferred to 12th Company D Battalion who provided her with the name Daphne.

On 21/22 August 1917 whilst waiting to go into battle at Ypres, Daphne was hit by a shell, damaging her roof and was handed over to the Salvage Company.( D Battalion war diary.) Little more known after that, but in 1919 she was used as one of the Presentation Tanks and ended up in a park in Gloucester. In 1945, she was transported to Bovington and at some point painted to look like Flirt II and set up as a static exhibit at the gates to Bovington camp until the 1970's when Lincoln Tank Group managed to get her to Lincoln on permanent loan ending up in the Museum of Lincolnshire Life in 1989 still believed to be Flirt II.**

 

Hello, I know this really is a lot to ask, but I wonder if you would consider removing the information posted on your blog about the origin of the tank "Flirt II" at Lincoln. There is a huge amount of research going on trying to pin down the true story and some of the current stories doing the rounds are mere supposition which are muddying the water. An announcement will be made in due course, when the people who identified the tank will be given the credit they deserve and the full story can be told. Until then, things are a bit 'up in the air' but I assure you, I'll be in touch as soon as possible. Thanks very much and all the very best, Richard Pullen Chairman Friends of the Lincoln Tank

 

Seeing as I had inadvertently stumbled on a very close version of the tank's real history, I was more than happy to immediately comply with Richard's request and pulled the update info straight away, only adding it again to this page once the announcement had been made and after I had met the gentleman in question.

The person who has confirmed the identity of the Lincoln tank following some substantial research is a gentleman called Gwyn Evans. He did a very interesting talk at Lincoln regarding this and I was fortunate enough to meet him and Richard Pullen at that event.