Travel Through the United Kingdom on a Harley-Davidson
By Peter & Kay Forwood
The United Kingdom on a Harley (23/6/10 - 1/7/10)
Distance 889 km (570248 km to 571137 km)
This is part of the sixteenth section of our
around the world trip.
Complete Trip Overview &
Map
Coming from Germany
or read our previous visit to the United
Kingdom
23/6/10 The one hour time
difference gave us an extra hour to
relax and by the time we arrived at the rally site in Ripley, late
afternoon, we
were ready for five days of camping, talking, listening and drinking,
at least we thought we were ready. The site was already thronging even
though it was only Wednesday. A new enormous
marquee was already erected to accommodate the almost 700 people that
could arrive if weather was excellent which was the forecast. The
toilets had multiplied, doubled, compared to last year, and a new field
was available to extend the camping area. It took us a long time just
to ride through registration, and across to the camping grounds as most
of the people we had met last year, as we had volunteered and presented
then, were now helping to set up the, what has become the biggest event
of its kind in the world.
24/6/10 After last evenings sitting around the fire at Danny's Road
Kill area, chatting with Glynn, Joanne, Helen, Danny and other friends
last night we were this morning on the gate, volunteering, meeting and
greeting
arriving attendees. They started to rock in, in increasing numbers
about noon and continued through till dark. A quieter evening for us,
but as Grant and Susan's DVD series, "The Achievable Dream", had
recently
been finished, the last episode, Gear Up, shipped just before the
rally, so we were
easily recognised and were approached many times for comment and
introductions. Sometimes
it is a little disconcerting, as much is now
printed about our trip, either on the internet or now, on DVD, as
people feel they know us even though we have never met, but we
don't have that same advantage, of knowledge about them, and the
physical meeting can be a bit one sided. When travelling, we also tend
to spend many hours,
days or sometimes weeks just with ourselves, with our own company, and
a
full on talk fest can require more energy that we can sometimes muster.
25/6/10 Another couple of mental runnings through of our talk and at
noon
it was presented. This year they had a dedicated tech person at each
presentation, which made it much easier for the presenters to get ready
without stress. People who often have little or no prior presentation
experience. Also presentations were being video recorded for a possible
follow up DVD series, yet to be officially named, but composites of
travellers tales, snippets from their presentations. We also managed to
finally meet travellers whom we have been in email contact for some
time, some for
over 14 years, like Walter Colbatch, who was perhaps the first person
to create a web page describing a motorcycle
trip, the London to Tokyo
Project, back in 1995/6, and well before the term Adventure
Motorcycling became a popular description. Tiffany Coates, Chris Scott
and Lois Pryce,
people we have heard of but had never previously met. Guess there is a
hierarchy of who
wants to meet whom. There were also regular attendees like Ted Simon,
of Jupiter's
Travels fame, and Austin Vince, Mondo Enduro, who we had met at last
years
meeting. One of our nicest encounters was from Alex, an octogenarian,
who rode his motorcycle to the grounds and camped, moved around with
his ski sticks, and informed us he has been following our trip for many
years, never having emailed us, but was most moved to see the faces
behind the photos.
26/6/10 The main day of the rally and we did our second talk, a repeat.
Danny did the
now famous road kill presentation which lasted for almost four hours
with audience participation. Grant did his signature tyre change
demonstration. Ted Simon his always well attended and well received
part two of his two trips. Austin Vince, without argument, the most
entertaining
account of a motorcycle trip, interspersed
with adult
comment. We concentrated on Tiffany Coates and Walter Colbatch's
talks as we hadn't heard them present previously and are planning to
head
back to the Stan, Central Asian, region of the world next year, the
topic of their talks.
27/6/10 It takes three days for the campground to fill up and just
three hours for it to empty, particularly when England and Germany are
playing in the World Cup that afternoon. Vendors, tents, marquees, vans
and motorcycles had pretty much disappeared by noon and by 2pm when
Grant and Susan generously put on a lunch for the volunteers and
helpers they were all that remained. We stayed on the campground, along
with about six lonely tenters, taking advantage of a free nights
camping, and spent another, although early, evening, exhausted,
and fighting off the early stages of a cold couldn't have helped energy
levels.
28/6/10 A final farewell to Danny, Joanne and Simon, the few remaining
rally goers not having left and we headed to Coventry, to Merv and
Ruth's place for coffee,
and to leave our winter gear and some
collected souvenirs, items we will be taking back to Australia on the
1st of September. It was a quiet picnic lunch, alone, along the highway
on the road to Slough, near London, where mid afternoon we arrived at
the Thames Valley Harley Davidson shop to check on arrangements for
tomorrows booked engine exchange. For those who have been following our
web page and the engine replacement you might be aware of happenings
but for those who haven't or who have forgotten the drawn out engine
exchange here is a bit of a recap of what has happened. The
motorcycle's original
engine, after 540,000 km's, had a main bearing failure in August last
year. At the time we had discussions with Harley-Davidson America, (the
first time on our trip we asked for assistance directly from them),
and they indicated they could help, but it was determined, after
inspection, that the old engine could not be repaired to be reliable
for a reasonable cost, so Harley offered us a new engine. Due to
cutbacks and Christmas it was March before our new engine arrived in
the UK. In the meantime the motorcycle has been running on a temporary
engine, one we
purchased last August. We were in Spain when the
new engine arrived in
the UK so it has waited for our return till today. In the discussions
with Harley-Davidson, who was to pay for the original engines
dismantling and inspection, and who was to pay for the new engines
installation were not fully resolved and when we arrived at Thames
Valley it was still undecided. Another email, a phone call and an hours
wait and the decision, from H-D UK was that the costs would be covered
by Harley, or HOG, so we thanked them and headed for our accommodation.
29/6/10 We had booked in the motorcycle for its engine exchange a
couple of months ago knowing the shop would be busy during the riding
season
and we would also be pressed for time getting to the Germany HU rally
next weekend. We allowed a days grace
for delays and to organise shipping of the old engines (the original
and the temporary) back to Australia, and it seems we needed it because
by 1.30 pm today, as we left the shop, our
motorcycle was only just being wheeled onto a hoist, even though it had
been available since the shop opened. They had indeed been busy, and
even now we were told we were jumping the queue. Earlier in the morning
we had noticed the head of the swing arm
bolt had sheered off. It's the main bolt that holds the rear wheel to
the rest of the motorcycle.
A special order delivery should have a
replacement bolt at the shop by lunch time tomorrow, $150.00 US for a
bolt? Fatigue now seems to be occurring in a number of areas on the
motorcycle. We are
also having the new carburettor fitted, plus a couple of smaller less
significant worn parts replaced. We collected a 24 hour hire car,
cheaper than a taxi, and returned to our hotel, washing, diary and
resting taking up the afternoon. A
phone call just before closing, revealed the old engine was still in
the
frame.
30/6/10 We waited at the hotel for the morning trying to arrange
shipping for the old engines, and about lunch time arrived at the shop
and with the swing arm bolt not having arrived and work still
progressing, but slowly, on the engine transplant we extended the car
hire for another day, but by late afternoon the part arrived and
Russell, the mechanic, working hard and perspiring heavily in the above
30 degree temperatures, estimated the job would be completed that
afternoon. Meanwhile we packed the old engines, the original one plus
the temporary one, into a heavy duty cardboard box, previously used for
the importation of H-D goods into the UK, and attached it to a pallet.
Thrifty car rentals kindly accepted the car back, without the extra
days charges, just two hours late, and it was looking good till the
workshop's timing light could not be found. Not used on modern
motorcycles our 16 year old model was straining the memories of the
mechanics. We could ride it to our hotel but would need to return
tomorrow, once a new timing light had been purchased.
1/7/10 Back at the shop at 10am, the motorcycles timing was completed
within half an hour, and it was now running as expected, smoothly and
with power, however we needed to run in the new engine, so it was a
slowish trip to the Dover ferry and arriving 30 minutes late for our
booked sailing, not having expected to need to be back at the HD dealer
this morning, but P&O Ferries accepted our explanation and booked
us on the next available boat, no extra charge, despite our ticket
being time specific and non refundable, a nice gesture.
Move with us to Germany
via France and Belgium or go to our next visit to the United Kingdom