Cats and Dogs, Mist and Laundry....

We had a quiet day today, caused in part by the rain this morning. Riding in the rain is OK, but starting to ride when it is raining Cats and Dogs is often difficult and it was for Paul and I today – it was chucking it down, so we left late today after thge worse of the rain had passed. Last night we stayed at a really good Bed & Breakfast called Elsa's Inn On The Harbor, in Birch Harbor, Maine. Here is a photo of the house....





















What was good about this B&B was breakfast, because many of the family arrived and sat and talked to Paul and I about the history of the house, work, travel and lobster fishing. Megan who runs the house now told us about her Grandmother who used to receive many fishermen and family members each morning for coffee and it seemed the tradition carries on to this day. We found the discussion about lobster fishing especially interesting and we learnt that young lobsters shed their shells as they grow and they are then called “soft shells” and are vulnerable when in this condition, so they hide away in the nooks and crannies until there shells harden – they are then hungry so are relatively easy to catch and as a consequence are worth less. As the lobsters grow they are called “hard shells” and are larger and are worth more. Crabs have seen a big decline, so the demand has gone down, and the price followed suit. It used to be more common to get huge crab catches, but not today.

We stopped for lunch near Ellsworth and had lobster and crab chowder – delicious!

After lunch we missed (it must have been the mist that prevented us from seeing it) an important turning to drive a loop road in Arcadia National Park, so we skipped that (we will do it tomorrow) and arrived early at our B&B on Deer isle, which is driven onto via an impressive looking bridge which is very high, presumably so that it could allow sailing ships to pass unhindered below. We took advantage of arriving early and did something really exciting instead – out laundry. Ho hum, but these things need doing when you are on the road. Here is a picture of the bridge to Deer Isle....

Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud!

We had some problems on day 5.

First my GPS / Sat Nav stopped working. Many weeks of planning and entering the details into the sat nav system were wasted in an instant. Luckily, Paul has an identical Sat Nav, so this morning we transferred in route info to his device and he was able to lead me on my chosen path. Thanks Paul. I have contact Garmin to see how they intend to deal with this problem.

Second, England lost in the football World Cup to Germany. Let’s not say any more about this! We crossed the border into Canada and back again very easily to find a bar called Dooleys to watch the game. Here are pictures of Paul waiting to cross into Canada, me outside Doolwys and then the USA border....

























































Third, I lost a set of keys for my bike. This is not a problem as I have a spare set with me, but it was very annoying. I will ask my local dealer, Warr’s to mail me a new set.

Fourth, had an off road adventure on some dirt tracks and then a very rough and wet and muddy dirt track!! Let me explain....

We left Calais in Maine and headed east and then south. Not far into the journey, near a place called Pembroke is a place called Reversing Falls. This is a tidal phenomenon where the incoming tide gets pushed between islands and forces a river to flow the wrong way – uphill. The tide then turns and the flow reverses in dramatic fashion with lots of water flowing quickly through the space between the islands. To get to see this you have to ride 3.5 miles on a dirt road. This was no problem because we took it slow and there wasn’t too much loose stuff and it was only rough in a couple of spots.

We went and saw the reversing falls, took photos, admired the view etc

As we rode back to the main road the GPS Sat Nav system directed us back via a different dirt road which we started down. This road soon turned into a track which very soon went from bad to worse with steep sections, overgrown parts and dips that were filled with puddles. Not too bad, but then it got worse – much worse. The track was so narrow we couldn’t turn the bikes around so we carried on. This was getting serious – this was track that many would think twice about taking a dirt bike down and we were on full cruisers loaded with all of our gear! Paul led and got through relatively unscathed. I didn’t. Nearing the end of the track, there was a huge puddle about a foot deep. Paul had got through OK, so I went for it, but I hit an underwater hole and the front wheel dug in, so down went my feet. Trouble was, my feet went down in about 12-15 inches of the softest mud I have ever seen. The bike was stuck. The exhaust pipes were underwater but I managed to keep the engine running and managed to get out with a lot of revs, to find Paul around the corner laughing like there was no tomorrow!

I was soaked and the bike was covered in mud. My boots were full of sticky mud and after riding a short way hoping it would all dry out, it was obvious I had to stop and get changed.

Here are some photos to show you what it was like......

Paul on the first dirt road. Easy......




























Me after riding through the mud....























Emptying my boots....






















My poor bike....


























































Me washing my clothes in a lake to get rid of the mud....

NYC to Canadian Border, via Boston

On Friday and Saturday the task was to get a long way north of new York so that the ride down the New England coast could then begin in earnest. The journey north was a total of 627 miles and only a small proportion of this was done on the faster Interstate roads. These Interstates are generally excellent if you want to get somewhere quickly, but they are pretty boring, not very safe for motorcyclists and show you little about the areas that you are passing through. I intend to avoid them like the plague and use them only when absolutely necessary.

Getting out of New York was simple and I passed the Yankees baseball stadium as I headed north. All over the world you see the logo with an N and a Y laid over each other on baseball caps and it wasn’t until I pass the stadium that I realised this logo belonged to the New York Yankees. I had assumed that it simply signified New York, but you live and learn!

Leaving NYC I experienced something I didn’t like. I discovered that motorbikes don’t like bridges with gratings in the roadway. I am not sure but I think it was the Willis Avenue Bridge I crossed and I felt quite uncomfortable as I rode over the metal grate surface. I am going to watch out for these in future and take it a little slower....

Going through Connecticut, my route took in the Merritt Parkway – a good road with is wonderfully green and has sympathetically designed bridges that are remarkable for their beauty. They are just regular bridges that carry roads that cross over the Parkway and you see thousands of such bridges everywhere in the world, but these are different. Whoever designed them took great care in making them look simple and stunning. Most use natural looking materials and they blend in very well with the woodland surroundings they are in. No doubt there are many roads that go out of New York, but the Merritt Parkway is a good one to pick.

My friend Paul from the UK is joining me for part of the tour and he arrived in Boston two days ago. Paul previously spent a considerable amount of time working in Boston and so was keen to ride with me in New England to see some of the people and places he knows well. Hence I was headed today for Boston, to meet up with Paul.

The ride from NYC to Boston was 254 miles but as I mainly took my time and kept off the interstates, it took all day. A couple of times I deviated from my planned route and took minor roads, just to see what was there. I think I will do this each day where something looks interesting. Simply seeing the USA from main roads is not going to let me understand much about the real America. So, while my route is already carefully mapped out, I want some spontaneity of just tuning left or right to see what is there. I did this a few times on route to Boston and found myself riding through residential areas both affluent and poor – the contrast was quite remarkable and I enjoyed seeing both. I will write more about this in later postings, but the owners of one house I saw must have been from England as the entrance and driveway was covered in English flags – not doubt to show support for the England football team in the World Cup....





















Near to a town called Deep River in Connecticut I saw and stopped at Plattwood Park and took a couple of photos of a strikingly beautiful park....








































Whilst the goal for today’s riding was to get quite a long way quickly, I had seen on a map the Chester – Hadlyme ferry that crosses the Connecticut River. The first ferry crossing of the river here was made in 1769 and it seemed fitting that I should use it. I am glad that I did. It is very small and takes probably no more than about 15 cars at a time. The crossing takes just a few minutes using two 150hp engines. Here are a few pictures of the ferry and my bike (I really must give it a name!) on it.

























































I arrived in Boston to be greeted by David and Mellissa who are friends of Pauls and whose house I would be staying in tonight. They live in the suburbs of Boston in a nice house on the edge of a wonderful lake. Then we immediately left for dinner at more friends of Pauls – Carl and Barbara. We arrived to find them both not getting ready for dinner, but changing the tire of one of Carl's motorbikes! Cool. Greasy handshakes followed and a quick tour of their garage – full of bikes! Carl does most of the riding and Barbara has plans to get a Ural with a sidecar. I will put Barbara in contact with some of my fellow bloggers in case she needs any advice about the nuances of these strangely wonderful machines.













































Dinner was fantastic – great company and great food. We had lobster and steak, with Pimms to drink. I have never seen lobster cooked at home before, so both the watching and eating were terrific. Many thanks to Mellissa, David, Carl, Barbara and Paul for such a splendid evening.

























































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Paul and I left Boston early with a long way to go today, about 360 miles. Here we are about to depart....





















Almost straight away I saw a road sign that made me wonder and smile “CAUTION. REDUCED SALT AREA”. Silly me, I thought reducing salt levels was a good thing, but Paul later told me it was to prevent salt water run-off into streams and lakes.

We stopped for coffee and something to eat in Betsys Kitchen in North Hampton, which turned out to be quite eventful, as there was a gas leak in the kitchen and we had to evacuate the building. We fled the scene, but in case it did explode, I took a last photo of the building....




















We stopped at Seacoast Harley-Davidson on route 1. There was a ride out just finishing and we guessed 500 bikes were parked in the parking lot. Amazing! This must be the only H-D dealership that has a boat hanging from the ceiling....



























Paul has the same Garmin GPS / Sat Nav system as I do, although for some reason the two were giving considerably different routes to travel on, despite identical set-ups. Try as we might.....

As we were riding along, Paul had the radio on listening to the soccer. My deepest commiserations go to the USA team that were knocked out by Ghana – you did well in the World Cup and each time you play, your soccer team gets better. As I type this we are in a bar in St Stephens in Canada watching England vs Germany.

We stayed last night in a B&B called Greystone in Calais, which is right on the border with Canada. Very nice place which I am pleased to recommend.....

Hot in the City....

On day 2 yesterday I thought it would be a good plan to ride around Manhattan. It wasn’t.

With record New York temperatures for this time of year, cars have it easy for one reason – air conditioning. On motorbikes, we rely on the wind from keeping moving to cool us down, but in Manhattan, with all of it’s traffic congestion, keeping moving is almost impossible, so in hot weather we fry. I certainly fried yesterday and it got to be so hot that I gave up and went back to the hotel to cool down. I was beginning to wonder why I didn’t see many bikes in NYC and now I know why!

I did however manage to get a short video of the ride....

Building Bridges....

Having tried to throw off the ravages of jet lag, I gave up trying to fight the sleep demons and went for a walk early. It was steaming hot even at silly o’clock, so I headed to the East River on the Brooklyn side.



















There is a tiny park nestling between the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge. It seems tiny because it is dwarfed on either side by these two gargantuan structures that seem to stand over this small patch of greenery in such a dominant way. The bridges seem even bigger than they are due to their height, no doubt built so the bridge decks would allow masted ships to pass beneath.

Brooklyn Bridge was opened in 1883 and is a truly impressive structure. I marvel at how the builders of the time managed to create this masterpiece in stone and metal. At the time it was the longest suspension bridge in the world. John Roebling who designed it and his son Washington who completed it has true vision and I take my hat off to them both. No wonder it was designated a National Historic Landmark.





























The Manhattan Bridge was completed slightly later, in 1909. It carries 7 lanes of road and 4 railway tracks and like its neighbour, is truly magnificent.




















































One of the things I wanted to do in New York was to see these two bridges and photograph them. I went back later to the park as the sun was going down to take a shot or two of the bridges. As it was a hot day, the small park was crowded with people just sitting there, like me, watching and photographing the bridges as the sun changed how they both looked.



















Yesterday was a busy day. As well as watching the football games and photographing bridges, I collected the bike from the airport. I had heard some horror stories about how long this might take, how difficult it could be to clear customs and that the bike might have been emptied of its life giving fuel, that I approached it with some trepidation. I needed have worried, as it was all very easy. Finding the right buildings in the cargo area was simple, the lady at Continental Airlines Cargo was very helpful, the Border Protection Customs Officers were really helpful (and had a genuine interest in my bike tour), the foreman at the cargo warehouse help me un-crate the bike and there was enough fuel in it to get me back into Brooklyn. No sweat! All very easy, so thanks to all involved.

I rode my first 14 miles on my bike in the USA!

I guess as I rode my bike, the 23rd June was the proper start of the tour.

Concrete Jungle Where Dreams Are Made Of....

Happy Days! I made it to New York City (with thanks to Alicia Keys for the snappy one-liner above).

I landed mid-afternoon yesterday and found the hotel in Brooklyn that will be my base for a few days. The trouble with flying from east to west is the time difference hits you hard. After travelling for a long time, by the time I had unpacked a few things, went for a walk and had something to eat it was 8pm in NYC, but my body was still working on UK time, so for me it was 1am and I was bushed. I stayed awake for as long as I could fighting the sleep Ninja’s, but they finally got me at around 10pm.

It is now early afternoon on Wednesday and later on I will go and collect my bike from the airport. There was a much more pressing matter this morning and that was to find somewhere to watch England play Slovenia in the World Cup from South Africa. At the same time the USA were playing Algeria. I found O’Keefes bar in Brooklyn to watch the games which both England and the USA won to qualify for the knockout stage. Both were tense matches with the USA scoring with just minutes to go. This started about 5 mins of the USA, USA, USA... chant – all very patriotic and exciting stuff and a great way to spend a morning in New York!

The good news was, England finally played well!!

Here is a picture from the bar....happy Americans.....

Good Vibrations

I chose to read this book just before I left for my own tour of the USA. I enjoyed reading it.

Written by Brit Ton Cunliffe, it describes the trip that he and his wife Roz took from Baltimore – Sturgis – San Francisco – New Orleans – Baltimore. Both on Harley-Davidsons, Tom rides a Heritage called “Black Madonna” and in-experienced on motorbikes, Roz is on an 883 Sportster called “Betty Boop”.

The book tells the story of their journey, from Roz’s unsteady beginnings on Betty Boop through the 12,000 miles they ride across the mid-States, Sturgis, the west coast, the heat of Death Valley and the deep South. I think the book achieves a good balance between appealing to bikers and non-bikers alike as there is enough in there about the bikes and riding to keep riders interested, but it also describes what the couple see and who they meet. If you want to read a lot of technical bike stuff, then this book isn't for you.

A well written book about an epic trip.

I took my bike to the Airport today....

After some last minute checking to see if all of my gear will fit in the bike, I took my Harley to London's Heathrow Airport this morning so that it can be flown to New York later this week or early next.


It will get crated and protected in the next day or so and I hope they look after it!

The next time I see the bike, I will be in New York.... cool....

Ireland Bike Festival

Last week, the Ireland Bike Festival took place in Killarney, in Ireland.

As I was in Thailand for my brother’s wedding, sadly I couldn’t attend the festival, but my red custom bike did!

The bike happened to be in Ireland back with Waterford Harley-Davidson where it was built to have some minor work carried out on it. Lenny, the Dealer Principal telephoned me and asked if I would like my bike entered into the custom show at the festival and I agreed.

I am very glad I did agree because it won 3 awards - Best in Show, the People’s Choice award and Best Radical Custom!




















How cool is that!

Thanks Lenny, for firstly building such a great bike and also for entering it in the festival.

I found this video on YouTube from the festival - it is pretty good.... thanks to Altezzaeve for making and posting the video....



Read about the festival here on the HOG Europe website

Check out more pictures here

Biker FM

A new internet radio station – Biker FM – has recently started broadcasting in the UK.

There are now two internet radio stations here dedicated to bikers....

Biker FM

Total Biker FM

We are spoilt for choice now....

Bikes in Thailand (ราชอาณาจักรไทย)

Mrs F and I have been in Thailand for a few days now and I took the chance today to take a few photos of the thousands of bikes that are here. Most are small scooter type bikes although there are the occasional bigger machines around. Safety is a huge cause for concern in Thailand and looking at these photos it is easy to see why. The number of bikes is staggering and as a guess I would say that bikes are close to out-numbering cars.

Here are a few photos....

I liked the shape of the fronts of these bikes....



















There are quite a few people that carry their children on bikes....



















Riding side-saddle is quite common by girls wearing skirts....



















The rider wants to protect himself, but it is a different story for his passengers....



















Two kids on one bike....



















Four schoolgirls on one bike....



















Not a good quality photo, but three-up is not uncommon....



















Cool looking skoot....



















If you look carefully, you will see the bottles of petrol being sold at the side of the road. This is a refilling point for bikes set up by somebody to make a little money and there are many of them....



















Parking is not a problem for bikes in Thailand....



















A few side-car photos....



















Home-made outfits to carry goods around in are very common. Here I am on one such bike....



















Some sidecars even come with roofs....



















A fruit seller on her bike with sidecar. Many traders move from place to place selling their wares like this....



















It may have started out life as a Kawasaki....



















I just had to take a photo of this....



















A few Harleys parked in a side alley....



















One of the streets in Patong (หาดป่าตอง) ....



















It is rainy season here and this was just after one of the many downpours....



























The rain is so warm, only a few riders stop for the rain....



















Finally, here is a family on their bike / sidecar outfit....



















As you can tell, bike riding is Thailand is very common, but the safety of the riders is a big problem. Traffic accidents are the second highest cause of death amongst Thai males. It is easy to see why.