The First Time on a Bike. How about 304 Miles?

I think 304 miles is not too bad for an eleven year old, on the back of a bike for the first time. Here is the story of how that happened.

Last week, I was in the Seattle area to collect my step-grandson, Talon, and bring him back to the UK to spend a few weeks with Jackie and I. He has been to London a few times before to see us with his parents, but at eleven years old, to do it on your own must be more fun because he didn’t mind leaving them at home at all.

The only direct flight between London-Seattle-London is British Airways and something rare happened. I got upgraded on the flight out from economy to premium economy and the two of us were upgraded to business class on the flight to London. So an eleven year old boy, gets to sleep in an airplane bed on the way to London for a few weeks. Not a bad start, I would say!

So Talon is here in London and we have been going out to see places just about every day.

A few days ago I met up with friend Ian Solley and he asked if I wanted to join him on the HOG Meridian Chapter ride called HogsLegs, in France and Belgium. I said yes and asked Talon if he wanted to come along as well. It was only going to be a single days ride, so not a problem for a young man that hadn’t been on a motorbike before. We rode down to near Ian’s house the evening before so we could be within striking distance of the Channel Tunnel as we had to get the bike and ourselves on the train very early the next morning.

We woke early at 5am and met Ian and two of his friends Paul and Simon and the five of us blasted down to Folkestone on four Harley’s where we boarded the train to Calais in France....

You stay with your bike (or car) as the train goes through the tunnel....

The train takes just 35 minutes to travel under the sea and we arrived in France to a glorious sunny day, making our way to a local petrol station where the riders of 50-ish bikes met and received the usual safety briefing before setting off....

Warrs Harley-Davidson have two dealerships. One is in Chelsea in London where I bought my Road King and they have another in Mottingham in South London. The Meridian Chapter is based out of the Mottingham dealership.

The ride through France and Belgium is a gentle one, and perfect for just riding and admiring the view, with a few friends. We did about 130 miles in the two countries, stopping for morning coffee in Beruges where Ian set off on a conquest to buy cheese and wine.

We arrived in the town of Veurne in Belgium where we stopped for lunch in the town square, a picturesque quiet place, where the people of the historic town were enjoying a peaceful leisurely lunch....

That was of course, until 50 Harley-Davidsons turned up and part-filled the town square with gleaming bikes....

After lunch we wandered around the town, trying to find an elusive bottle of excellent wine. We found a good-looking wine shop, that was sadly closed, but I liked the scooter sitting outside....

At the appointed hour, the riders began to re-assemble in the square, ready to resume our ride in Belgium....

Talon next to the Leading ladies....

The ride culminated at a place called the Bikers Loft, a bar, hotel, museum and gathering place for motorcyclists. Some of our group were going to stay the night in the sparse surroundings of the hotel, but our smaller group left early, hoping to catch a train back under the sea at a reasonable hour. We rode alongside Belgium canals, which were straight but contained few cars. Reaching the French border, we resorted to using the motorway, for a blast back to Calais and the tunnel.

On getting back to the UK, Talon and I had further to go than the others and pretty soon, they would have been home, while we carried on a long loop around London on the M25, the last hour of which was in the rain.

We arrived home late-ish, having done 304 miles in one day. Tired. Wet. Cold. But, with big smiles on our faces. Especially Talon.

Meeting Bob and Sonja, part 2

By now, I had seen a lot of the sights of Vancouver and Bob had been a terrific guide to this first-time-in-Vancouver tourist. We made our way to Bobs house where I met his wife of 42 years, Yvonne. I had previously read about Bob and Yvonne visiting a night market and I asked if we could go there before going out to dinner. They kindly agreed, so we loaded into a car and made our way to the Richmond Night Market. It was quite a place.

A long time ago, in celebration of Bob’s pink crocs, I bought myself some and posted just one picture on my own blog of me wearing these. They were only just in view and only one person noticed them. That one person back in April last year was of course...Bob. Here is that picture....

Of course, I couldn’t travel to see Bob without my own Pink Crocs, so I bought them all the way from London as a surprise. Maybe it’s just as well a certain immigration officer didn’t ask to see in the saddlebags of the Harley I was riding!

It was only right that I wore the crocs that evening and so, here are Bob and myself near the entrance to the night market....

The market was busy and with more people arriving all the time we were there, it was going to be almost impossible to move around freely pretty soon....

Here are Bob and Yvonne, in the crowd. Without realising it, we had all worn pink....

Even though we were soon to go to dinner, we couldn’t resist getting a small snack as we walked along all of the stalls preparing, cooking and selling food....

I guess it was inevitable, but here is Bob with food again....

Bob and Yvonne on our second tour of the food stalls....

One of the features of the night market was a stage had been set up and (mainly) children were singing Karaoke. Some were good, but most were applauded for their enthusiasm, not their good singing voices! It must be a popular thing to do, as the crowd watching them was a reasonable size....

I had hoped that Sonja, of Two-Wheelers Revisited would be able to join Bob and myself for the riding we had done during the day, but work pressures and a recently re-injured knee meant that she wasn’t able to make it. I was delighted however that Sonja and her husband, Roland, were able to come along to dinner that night. Yvonne had chosen a restaurant in Richmond and we had a plentiful and wide ranging meal of Sushi and other Asian delights. I wouldn’t have known what half the items were on the menu, so I was grateful that Yvonne selected for us.

We chatted about recent trips and football (real football, not American Football) and we all had a great time. It turned out that through reading her blog, I knew Sonja better than her husband, but Roland and I had plenty in common, having had similar aspects to our work backgrounds.

I should have taken more pictures that night, but took just one, of Yvonne, Bob, Roland and Sonja as we left the restaurant. Apologies for it being slightly out-of-focus....

After the events of the day, walking around the market and dinner, I had a excellent night’s sleep at Bob and Yvonne’s house!

While at the Asian Mall the previous day, I saw a peculiar looking fruit called a ‘Durian’. Large and spikey, I had never seen one before and Bob advised that Yvonne liked to eat these, so I bought one. We decided to taste it and so wielding a small axe to break through the formidable husk, Mrs Skoot attacked the beast to reveal its contents....

To prevent injury from any wayward axe blows, the two men watched whilst wearing protective crocs!

The task of breaking into the fruit wasn’t as hard as it looked it might be and I was warned the smell puts many people off eating it, but I gave it a try and could hardly smell it at all. Durian has an odd texture and taste, but I can understand why it is known in some Asian countries as ‘The King of Fruits”....

It was Sunday morning and we had heard that the main border crossing near Vancouver would be.... wait for it.... closed for most of the day to accommodate a once-a-year Girl Guide event called “Hands Across the Border” where Canadian and American Guides have a party at the border crossing!

We listened to the radio station that gave reports of border crossings and suspected that as the day went on, the alternative and smaller crossing points would get busier and busier. We decided to leave early and Bob accompanied me to the next available nearest crossing which we when we looked, Bob estimated it would have about a two to three hour wait time in the very long queue that had developed. We travelled further east by about 40 miles to get to the next crossing where luckily, the queue ws nowhere near as long and we got across in about 10 minutes....

Bob in the queue....

I was pleased that Bob was able to join me for the day and we rode south back into the USA. One of the places we went to was Edison, where we took pictures in front of the western-looking Longhorn Saloon.

Bob taking pictures....

We stopped for lunch at LA Conner and sat on the deck overlooking the river. Being a Sunday, there were many motorbikes out and about and it seemed half of them were in LA Conner. Bob ate a sirloin sandwich and I went for good old ‘fish and chips’. There were far too many chips, but I couldn’t resist them. By the time we finished eating I felt way too full.

One thing I have learnt being with Bob for a couple of days is that like quite a few people, he carries a camera almost everywhere. But, unlike most people, Bob uses his camera almost everywhere! He has an seemingly unstoppable appetite for taking pictures and his blog posts are full of the type of detail that comes with being a very active and interesting person. I watched him in action in La Conner, walking around, taking pictures....

Bob wrote on his blog about the trip to La Conner, but we agreed not to mention the two of us meeting for a few days, deciding to wait to see if anybody worked out that my encounter with the immigration officer was actually at the border into Canada. In turn, Bob wrote about La Conner, didn’t mention me being there, but did include a photo with me included in that post, but I don’t think anybody spotted this.

When I compare what I have written here about LA Conner and then compare that to Bob's post about the same place, my words seem weak and feeble compared to the fantastic way that Bob wrote about it. Click here to see what I mean.

Meeting Bob was a real pleasure that met all of my expectations of the man, and more. He gave up a couple of days to ride with me, show me around, entertain and educate me. Bob, it was a real privilege to meet you my friend. Many sincere thanks for a fantastic time.

One last photo before we parted, with Bob heading back north to Vancouver and I headed south back towards Seattle....

Meeting Bobskoot and Sonja, part 1

When I travelled around much of the USA last year, one area I didn’t go to was the Pacific Northwest, specifically the states of Washington or Oregon. I could have easily gone to Seattle, as this is where Jackie’s family live, but as I have previously been there many times, I felt I didn’t need to see it on my tour of the USA.

This decision had one drawback though. I wanted to meet some fellow bloggers on my tour of the USA, but not going to Washington meant I also wouldn’t get to see one particular blogger that I had really wanted to meet, Bobskoot. I did know however, that I would be able to rectify this one day and last weekend I had my chance. I was in the Seattle area to visit Jackie’s family, so I rented a Harley and rode north into Canada to meet Bob.

I left early and rode an Electra Glide Ultra Limited as quietly as possible for the first few minutes, trying not to wake the neighbours in the leafy residential district. Maybe I shouldn’t have worried, as the big Harley was still fitted with its stock factory pipes and barely made a sound. Heading north on I-5, the traffic was light and I made good time, arriving at the border in time to meet Bob, who had kindly ridden down to meet me and was, I assumed, waiting as planned just out of sight on the Canadian side of the border crossing. It was here that I made the mistake of saying something stupid to the border control guard that I had written about in my last post.

Having crossed the border, I rode the very short distance to the place I had arranged to meet Bob, and there he was, wearing his famous pink crocs….

It was like meeting an old friend! We had never actually met in person before, but through reading his blog for so long, I felt that I knew Bob well. I had regretted not meeting Bob on my tour of the USA last year, but it was good to now be able to put that right and spend a couple of days with the person who I had admired from afar, the person whose blog had entertained and interested me for a couple of years, the person who had given me lots of help about both blogging, video editing and choosing a new camera, the person I had become friends with.

Bob had previously asked where I wanted to go and what I wanted to see in the Vancouver area. Having never been to this part of Canada before, I knew I wanted to ride with him, but I had left the choice of where to go firmly up to Bob. I knew I could rely on Bob to show me some terrific places and he certainly did that!

We first went to an area called “White Rock”, along the edge of Boundary Bay, close to the US / Canadian border. The city of White Rock runs alongside a 5 mile / 8 km stretch of sandy beach and is well known for its 1,500 ft. long pier, its beach promenade and a large white rock which weighs in at nearly 500 tons, a glacial deposit.

Running along the back of the beach is a railway track, a great place to put your camera down and set the shutter timer!....

We had parked the bikes, the rented H-D and of course, Bob’s famous V-Strom, in a car park and only noticed what we had parked next to when we took a photo….

As we rode along, it was a strange feeling to recognize some of the places I was seeing. It occurred to me that I had seen some of these places before from Bobs blog and Sonja’s blog also. One of those places was Ladner where we wanted to get breakfast, but sadly the restaurant next to the river hadn’t yet opened for the day. Instead we took some pictures of the river, a view that looked familiar to me….

Whilst writing this post, I looked back at Bobs blog and from July 2010 found a picture of the same place, so I “borrowed” the picture below from his blog for comparison….

Bob then took me to see another familiar looking place. Finn Slough is a small fishing community located on one of the surge channels of the Fraser River. There are about 30 residents living in wooden houses that sit on stilts along the marshy river bank. Most of the houses are decaying badly and have survived in this harsh environment since being built between the late 19th century up to the 1950’s. The channel makes for a confused sight, with both wooden boats and wooden houses set in a green scene that makes your eyes jump around while you try to take in what you are looking at....

One of the things I have learnt about Bob from his blog is his love of food. Hardly a post goes by without Bob mentioning or photographing food. We were hungry, so food finding food jumped to the top of our agenda and we sought out something to eat at the Wharf at Steveston. Exploring this fishing port would have to wait, as we first went in search of a restaurant that would serve brunch. Sockeye City fitted the bill perfectly....

We both ate crab cakes....

After eating and being suitably sustained, we wandered around the fishing port. Unusually, the fish caught that morning were sold directly from the fishing boats moored at the port.

The ramp down, over the surprisingly murky water....

There was a huge choice of different types of fish for sale, from prawns to salmon....

Some of the fishing boats are huge...

Many of people buying fish were of Asian descent and Bob told me most of the fishermen were Vietnamese. Steveston is a part of Richmond, a city that forms part of the Metro Vancouver area. I looked on Wikipedia and read “Richmond has an immigrant population of 60%, the highest in Canada. More than half of its population is of Asian descent, many of whom immigrated in the early 1990s, most of them from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Mainland China.” Bob had told me many people moved to Richmond when Hong Kong was given back to China by the British in 1997. I can remember that at that time, many that lived in Hong Kong feared what the reaction of the Chinese Government to those that had moved out of mainland China and enjoyed the different, western and more modern lifestyle of Hong Kong. Many either held or were given British Passports and presumably, this meant they could travel and live many places in the world, including Canada....

Is Bob a Gift or a Souvenir?....

Soon, we were riding again and I was taken to something I had never seen before. We went to the Yaohan Centre Mall, which is a large Asian shopping centre. Most of the products for sale were from different parts of Asia and written in their native language. Bob was of course, interested in the food....

A huge sushi counter....

Cans with contents I could only guess....

Delicious looking cakes....

I remembered to take my GoPro camera with me, so we stopped to attach it to the Harley, so I could make a short video of Bob. So, for your viewing delectation, I am pleased to present Bobskoot in glorious techicolour....



Much of the video was shot in Stanley Park, a 1,001 acre urban park located on a peninsular on the northern side of Vancouver. With an estimated 8 million visitors each year, the park is very popular and I could see why. Many city parks are mainly grass, but the majority of Stanley Park is kept natural with a forest making up a large proportion of its natural environment. However, the park also has a 5 mile / 8 kilometre seawall path and the views across the water are both interesting and spectacular.

Looking across the water to downtown Vancouver....

We did spot a group of women out for a bicycle ride as part of a hen party in advance of a wedding. What happened to good old fashioned drinking and other nocturnal activities?.....

Brockton Point lighthouse, in Stanley Park....

Bob, with Lions Gate bridge in the background....

Looking over the water at huge container cranes....

We saw a seaplane taking off. This picture shows the importance of sometimes getting a clear background, as it is difficult to see the plane clearly....

However, I swung around to try to capture the plane as it flew near us. I think I did a pretty good job!....

The bikes waited patiently for us to return....

Still within the park, we crossed the approach to the Lions Gate bridge and stopped to look at the view....

A zoomed in shot of one of the lions on the bridge....

Sometimes, a photo can be deceiving. This is a shot of one of the lion plinths at the side of the road. It looks huge, clearly built to match the sheer size and grandeur of the bridge it signifies....

... or maybe not. Not so much a lion, more of a pussy cat....

We needed something to drink, so Bob took me to the Granville Island Market where we parked under the Granville Bridge....

The market area is very cool, selling both food, produce, and the usual market arts and crafts. Street entertainers did their best to earn a few dollars while we sat and enjoyed the view of False Creek and its boats....

The market is indoor and was very busy with weekend shoppers...

We liked the tip jar where we purchased our drinks....

It had been a long day so far, but we had the evening festivities to come yet!

To be continued.....