6-15-23 While in Meiklour started checking our destination Skye, there is no room at the Inn. The problem with traveling on the cuff is sometimes there is a music festival that has everything booked solid for the next two weeks. We decided to head to London or at least in that direction. We stopped in a little hamlet on the coast of England named Heysham. Spent the night at Abbey House Hotel which was very upscale but reasonably priced. While there we decided to head to the Isle of Man. The Isle of Man TT, one of the largest motorcycle races in the world just finished last week, this ought to be interesting. We were told that not all the participants have left yet and some of the banners and stands are still up. The race is on city streets. If you have never seen this, look it up on Youtube, amazing, these competitors are fealess.

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6-16-23 Left Heyshaw for a 3 ½ hour ferry journey to Isle of Man; staying at the airport hotel in Castletown on the island for until Monday, June 19th. Had dinner at a pub, real pub grub at the foot of the castle.

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6-17-23 First full day on The Isle of Man. Rained all night and up til noon, both low beam head lights on bike are out. Replaced left side, spring wire on right side is damaged and I cannot get it loose to replace bulb. One light but we are not running at night anyway so it will be good for now. Got a haircut, was starting to look like mad mountain Dean. Quit raining so we went exploring. We are staying in a village on the south end of the island called Castletown. We ventured to Port Erin, toured the steam train station, walked down to the harbor and listened to the brass band concert, did some shopping then just roamed the streets. Left Port Erin, made a quick stop at the hotel and off to Peel on the opposite side of the island. Visited the Castle at Peel, the bay, the beach, had coffee and wandered about. We left Peel and headed for Ramsey, the second biggest town on the island. Not much to see in Ramsey though but we did discover that we were on the road used by the Isle of Man TT, the race course. Lots of signage, barricades, banners, grand stand are still in place. We followed the mountain road that the TT followed and wound up in the outskirts of Douglas, the biggest town. It was getting late so we decided to do supper in Port Erin and then call it a night. It was a busy day; we are doing Douglas tomorrow.

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6-18-23 Up, breakfast at the hotel then off to wash clothes at Port St. Mary. Neat little place, had coffee while clothes were drying. Big thing today was to visit Douglas, the biggest town on the island and the seat of government, what a letdown. We did visit the Manx Museum in Douglas but beyond that, it is just a small place trying to be big. We abandoned that early, went to a local tractor and stationary engine show in Castletown then visited the Castle the town was name for. We had dinner tonight at Leonardo’s in Castletown, tomorrow it is back to the mainland. The port will be Liverpool.

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6-19-23 Up early and had breakfast at the hotel; went to Port Erwin and the old train station to have coffee. The three legged decoration is the national symbol for the Isle of Man. They have their own coinage, government and a real sense of national pride. Took to the ferry from Isle of Man to Liverpool, we stayed at the Holiday Inn at Ellesmere Port – most of day spent on Ferry. The Ellesmere Port, right outside of Liverpool is historical with roots going back many decades. Not much is left except for the canals and locks surrounding the hotel.

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6-20 & 21-23 Travelodge London – 20th was rain day, later went to Piccadilly Circus, then on the 21st explored London. Texas ranger playing ball in London, they were setting up for it. Baker street to visit the fabled Sherlock Holmes residence and count the 17 steps to Holmes apartment. The Travelodge we stayed at was on top of the tube (train station). There were two grocery stores and other stores at the street level. Very self-contained, indeed, the manager did not, as so many other Londoners, posses a driver's license or own an automobile. Public Transportaion can get you just about anywhere you want to be, you just have to learn the system which can be a bit of a challenge to the newcomer. Sheila took to it like a duck to water, me no so much. Hopped the buss and did all the touristy stuff and had a ball doing it, White Hall, Big Ben, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, the Palace and a host of other places. Where did the day go. Really, a month in London would not be enough but it is time to move on.

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6-22-23 Dinner at Le Casa de Tapas, did not get settled into the Kyriad at Rouen, France until 11 PM. Never found out what happened but the train left nearly 3 hrs late. Add the 1 hour time change going back to the EU made for a really long day. We met a fellow rider on the train named Chris, funny guy. Buys and sells bikes on ebay. Riding a Motor Guzzi with a side car to the Netherlands to meet up with some friends.

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Laundry day in Alencon, the cat is protecting the laundry mat. Had dinner at Au Normandy in the village of Sees, France about 15KM from Alencon. The cathedral is right across the street from the restaurant. Sees is much more interesting than Alencon but there is no lodging to be had in Sees.

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We are working our way through France, stopped to visit Le Mans. The museum at Le Mans is amazing. We took hundreds of photos, there is just too much to absorb at one time. Lots of cars on display, from the very early to the latest winners. Did you know (I did not) that Steve McQueen (know as the King of Cool in France) wanted to race at Le Mans. His personal insurance company would not allow it. He was allowed however by the insurance company and the race officials, to drive a car in the race to film a documentary. Ok, fine line I suppose. The very recognizable GT40 driven by the very controversial driver Ken Miles and Bruce McLaren was on display. If you have not see the movie Ford Vs Ferrari and you like action movies with a bit of drama, you might like this one, some fiction but a lot of facts. All of the cars displayed at Le Mans actually participated in the race; some not so successfully others quite elegantly. The last car is the Jaguar type D, the obvious pre-cursor to the XKE; the automobile described by Enso Ferrari as the most beautiful car ever built in the world. There is a room dedicated to miniatures. The count is 4,478 at the current time, next year that number will increase. Leaving the area, we found ourselves on the raceway track which uses some of the city streets. I have to admit, it was tempting to jump on the throttle a bit. Sheila was telling me to slow down.
We moved on to Bordeaux, it is a very dirty city, not impressed at all. We spent the night at Larmont, just out of Bordeaux at the Holiday Inn.

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6-25 & 26-23 San Sebastian, Spain, two nights, really like this place. We are in the Basque region of Spain. The people are very proud of being Basque. It defiantly shows. The town is charming, it has it’s old section and new sections. Tapas Bars are everywhere, the food is crazy good, the wine is not bad either. Everything is clean, flowers everywhere; this is a very dog friendly and scooter friendly area. We had planned just one night but liked it enough to stay two. The hotel is cheap (less than $100, with a balcony, just 3 to 4 minutes to one of the two beaches in town. A young lady and her friends were creating art in the beach sand; this display was a plea for Ukraine, the support is seen everywhere, not just in Spain. Mostly quite but flags, art and other displays indicate that the Ukraine situation is on everyone's mind. We have started planning for the return home, we were originally planning to return from Paris but we both want to go back to Italy for a day or two. Also with the riots and demonstrations in Paris, safety becomes an issue. We called the booking agent and she has agreed to the change even though we had paid and planned ahead to depart from France. It is causing them more work but the team is not charging us anything extra. I can’t say enough good things about Carrie at Motorcycle Express. There will be more about the service in the epilog.

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6-27-23 After two day we leave San Sebastian, headed to Leon Spain. San Sebastian is one of the key Basque towns. They have there on state and local police and the Basque pride is evident everywhere. The town is spotless clean to a fault, the people are fun, kind and friendly. There is a very strong sense of national pride that can be felt and seen everywhere, unlike Bordeaux, just 4 hours away which is grungy, derelict and dirty. Cool, cloudy, about 62 deg F as we pull out though the mountains next to the sea coast slowly gives way to rolling plains which, by the time we reach Leon we are in the high desert with temperatures close to 90 deg F and bright sun shine. Leon is a spectacular desert town, complete with old town, shopping locations, great food and friendly people. Our hotel is the remains of and old fort and monastery dating back to the 14th century, Hotel Real Colegiata San Isidoro. We were told when we registered that there would be a classic pop concert in the court yard starting at 9:30 and ending at 11:30, ok, go with the flow. Wow, ok this is Tuesday evening, right. Not much going on right; wrong. This place is alive and hopping. By the time our evening is done, we have been to 2 different outdoor concerts (not including the one at the hotel), a fashion show, shopping in a number of locations and had dinner at a fabulous restaurant that makes their own pasta in house. It is going to be hard to spend just one day here but tomorrow it is Portugal.

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6-28-23 Novotel Hotel in Caia Portugal – Just before the Spain Portugal border, the Spanish highway patrol pull us over for hidden license plate. (Bag was obscuring the plate) A ticket was issued which it is required to pay on the spot. You can appeal after the fine in paid. It is on the up and up, receipts were both electronically recorded and I was giving a paper copy. It cost a $100 euro, hate to imagine what would have happened if I could not pay the fine. I am sure it would not have been good, kinda bummed about the whole deal!

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6-29-23 Moved right across the street to the IBIS Hotel, still bummed about the ticket. The Novotel was a nice hotel but the air conditioning did not work and it is getting warmer. We are now on the hunt for Allen wrenches to remove the license plate; have nearly every tool we need to do minor repairs to the bike except for this tiny little wrench. Amazing how hard it is to find something in a foreign country when you are not familiar with the area and there is a language barrier. Thank goodness my wife has a calmer demeanor than I; She took most of the pictures while in Caia. If not for her, we would have no image evidence of being in the area. Even though we moved from Novotel because of the air conditioner, we would eat at their restaurant. The seagull apparently is part of their resident clean up staff.

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6-30-23 Lisbon, Hotel Golf Mar, on the coast in Praia De Porto Novo. On the way we stopped for gas and met Chris on the Triumph. Chris was from the US and had flown his Triumph from
Toronto to Gatwick just out of London. He had quit his job and was on a round trip journey of this big blue ball. He flew Air Canada and they mess up his rear spokes and had to have the complete hub replaced in England. Neat guy; seems that his brother recently died of COVID and he decided it was time to do other things than work. Mike pulled in on his Indian, he was headed to Lisbon as well after visiting with family. Mike was from Austria. Another bummer, I though a toll arm was up when it was not. I had seen cars in front of me flying though the toll area and assumed it was one of the unused toll ticket areas. Short story, hit the toll arm which shattered the windshield (new Wind Bender), scratched the front cowl and the L/H mirror. Luckily no one was hurt, the arm was breakaway. There was an attendant there that I had not seen. He decided that since no one was hurt and there equipment was not damaged, no further action was needed. I left, broken windshield, scratched bike, toll ticket in hand, both a little embarrassed and a whole lot concerned. Have I become a danger to both myself and Shelia?

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7-1 &2 -23 Checked into the World of Travelers Hotel, never heard of it but apparently, a fairly large franchised in Europe. Still licking the wounds from the ticket and the broken windshield but on the mend. This little town by the name of Vadea de Colares is really neat, on the side of a mountain close to the sea with a trolley that runs from Sintra to Colares and serves three separate villages. Locals and tourist use the trolley for public transportation. The place has a bohemian atmosphere with a number of social dropouts (we use to be called hippies) keeping a low profile. We went into Libson on Saturday the 1st to try to get a windshield for the bike. The biggest local Honda shop did not have one, but they could order it and have it in a week or so. Let's talk about the Goldwing. We have seen a few on the roads in our travels. For every Goldwing we have seen, we have seen at least 10 Harleys. There are more BMW’s than any other motorcycle. Scooters of every shape and size and name imaginable but motorcycle in Europe, BMW seems to be the king. Honda can never be a world class touring bike simply because of the failed dealer network. I have tried to get oil changed; 7 to 8 weeks by appointment only in the UK, Spain and Portugal. Trying to get a windshield (I can replace it, do not need a mechanic), forget about it. Honda Roma in Rome is the only Honda Dealer that has shown any appreciation for the thru riders unlike Harley, Triumph or BMW. Rant done, back to regular scheduled programing. We found a coffee shop that has been in existence since the sixties just down the street from the hotel, complete with ducks in a river that runs by the shop. We toured a supposed secret ceremony ground that was built specifically for the Mason’s. Visited multiple beaches and had a ball. We really hated to leave but the clock is ticking.

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