Grand Tour of Europe

Last Summer me (Gaz) and my girlfriend Cara traveled for three weeks around Europe on my GSXR 1100 visiting Amsterdam, Germany, Switzerland, France and Italy. Here's a few of the things we got up to:


A typical river shot of Amsterdam...We don't have many pictures of Amsterdam...I wonder why?!


Germany - The Nuremburg Ring

Yes, we are at the Nuremburg ring, we've bought our ticket for a burn around the famous track, some fellow Britts have offered to look after our luggage and we are at the starting line, adrenaline pumping, we're ready to go.........

Nicht so shnell! A shout and point at our trousers tells us we can't ride without leathers......great! Oh well there's always next time!


Camping rough in a field in Germany.

France - Morzine. Our main reason for coming here was to attend a weeks paragliding course, however we did have some good rides out on the excellent roads around Morzine.


Cara a spot in the distance...


....and landed, without falling over this time!


Mont Blanc, Chamonix. Bit steep for the bike so we took the cable car instead.....the pictures not that clear but it left you thinking perhaps the bike would have been safer!


It's all worth it for the view though. We were glad of our bike jackets...It was freezing!


Nice was a bit rubbish, the only thing we thought was worth seeing was the Roman ruins, good old Romans!


Itali - Pisa. Which is leaning more? The bike in competition with the leaning tower. (This was not an easy picture to get as no vehicles are allowed in this area so it was a quick snap and scarper!)


Florence. They are scooter mad in Florence, just one of the streets crowded with scooters!


The biggest beer....plenty more where that came from in Italy!


Good enough for an Iron Maiden CD cover......the ceiling in the Cathedral in Florence.

Bike highlights:

Traveling from Calais to Amsterdam at 160mph, using a tank of fuel every 25 minutes, behind a mad Danish guy we met at the ferry port on his way to Assen for the GP.

The N88 through the Grand Central Massif in France where the surface is brilliant and the bends leave nothing to be desired. Needless to say we scraped pieces of bike on both sides!

Battling with the irate Italians and the traffic in Turin.

Le Puy-en Valley to Birmingham in 13 hours, just under 1000 miles. We had very numb bums for the majority of the journey and Cara fell asleep for the last few hours. Keeping it below 140 mph on British motorways felt like snails pace!

We won't be doing a tour on the bike this year as we have decided to go to India in November. However we will be visiting the Enfield Bullet factory so will post some pics on our return.


The trusty Gixer that we completed our trip on is no longer with us as I have swapped it with a friend (Sonic) for this spritley young Srad 600.

However I can't be without an 1100 so I have bought a later water cooled model.


My babies!

Posted by Gaz

Cafe Standards

When ever we venture out for the day on our bikes I think it's fair to say that a stop off at a cafe is on the cards. But with such a large variety of cafes to choose from, quality of grub can be a bit hit and miss. So, I've decided to create the "JangleJangle Quality Standard" which is the benchmark that all cafes should aim for.

Let me introduce you to the JQS “Benchmark Belly bustin’ bacon bonanza”



A generously sized batch bap laden which maple cured back bacon, 2 fried eggs, a beautiful multicoloured arrangement of foliage topped off with copious quantities of HP sauce.

Weighing in at a heafty 1 lb 2 oz and a respectable 8.5 inches long by 6.5 inches tall this, my gastrobiker buddies must surely be what every cafe should be striving to achieve.

If anyone knows to a cafe that can live up to our benchmark standards then we want to hear about it. If you have the photos to back up your claims then you're clearly cooking on all four burners and can email them over to us at the usual address janglejangle@hotmail.co.uk.

Who knows, we might even start up a cafe league tables section if we get enough response.

Posted by Mike

Bourton on the Water

I was supposed to be going for a ride out with Matt on Sunday but he couldn't make it at the last minute so I went myself. I got myself onto the M42/M40, got off at junction 15 and headed along the A429 through Moreton-in-the-Marsh and into Bourton on the Water.







After a couple of brews I headed down to what must be one of the best preserved pieces of history in the country. Chedworth Roman Villa is situated about 8 miles south west of Bourton along the A429 towards Cirencester. It's worth noting that the A429 isn't the most inspirational road I've ever rode on. It would be a lot better if it wasn't littered with cars, have a junction every couple of hundred yards and have more bumps and undulations than a scramble track.


▲The Mosaic floor and heating ducts of the dining room▼



Under floor heating system

I almost came to grief on the carpark of the villa when I forgot to take my disc lock off. Needless to say I came to an abrupt halt and nearly dropped the bike. Luckily there was no damage done but I think it's about time I attached a brightly coloured piece of string to my lock and wrap it around my handlebar.

Posted by Mike

Sorry, I couldn't resist it!!!

Oooooh oooooh yeeeaah she believes in me!!

Posted by Mike

Welsh Camping

Ant's emailed over a few pictures from his and Loz's recent camping in Wales. Looking at the photos I've got a feeling they spent the entire weekend eating!










Ant's lad, Sam


Nothing like encouraging a few undesireable rodents in the middle of the night!

Posted by Mike

HMS Warrior

Not bike related I know but I was rattling to Dean and Matt on Saturday about a photo I took of my two kids and my niece on the HMS Warrior in Portsmouth earlier this year. I tinkered about with it in photoshop for a few days, then had a large print developed and got it framed. I like constructive criticism over the stuff I do so I'd like your comments on what you think. If you think it's no good and you don't like it, just say so, I won't be offended. I'm not the best judge as obviously I'm going to be a wee bit biased. Click on it for an enlargement. And if you like it (which is unlikely as it is a bit weird) please don't nick it without asking as it's mine and I own the rights and all that nonsense :)



Posted by Mike

Elan Valley

A few photos from Mid Wales on Saturday. The A483 heading south out of Newtown is undoubtedly one of the finest biking roads in Wales. Unfortunately we had quite a late start due to me having to wait for my bike to be MOT'd so we didn't get chance to have a ride all around the lakes but with such good roads in the area I'm sure we'll be paying the place another visit in the future.


Dean's spanking new R6...


... and the man himself


Matt


That'll be me







Posted by Mike

You know it's time for a haircut....

... when people start calling you Kenny Rogers! (check out the photo from Bassett's)

I can mention that about him now that's he's finished my luggage rack so I no longer have a great big spoiler attached to my bike. Cheers for that... a grand job.

Posted by Mike

Bassett's Pole

I got back off holiday on Monday so decided the best thing to do was get on my bike asap along with Loz, Gareth, Dean and Alan and take a trundle down to Bassett's Pole bike meet which is held every Tuesday at the Bassett's Pole Pub on the corner of the A38 and A446.


This is Dean who only passed his test a couple of weeks ago and went out and purchased a brand new R6. It's worth noting that he has chicken strips the width of which Bernard Matthews would be proud of!



Meet Alan, Loz's friend from Newhaven who's popped up to visit for a few days. Loz is currently building a trike for Al and I shall be sticking some details and photos on here shortly explaining all about it with regular progress reports.


Gaz and a bottle of Becks.


Kenny Rogers?





I'll just quickly mention.... I don't know what it is about my car but whilst in France on holiday it seemed to attract people on two wheels. The first week I had a Ktm rider ram the side of my car, fall off then quickly jump back on and ride off before I had the chance to tap him for a repair bill. And later on into the holiday I had a head on collision with a chap on a push bike who managed to headbutt my windscreen, knock himself out, squash his baguettes, tear his newspaper and break his sunglasses, and before anyone asks, no it wasn't my fault and after looking at the state of the poor bloke I didn't have the heart to ask him what he was going to do about the dent in my bumper and bonnet.

Posted by Mike

Speed Cameras & Other Stuff

I constantly hear bikers & motorists moaning about the amount of gatso cameras strewned along our favourite stretches of roads and it's beginning to annoy me a little bit now. Gatsos are fairly friendly things, they're in a fixed position, you get plenty of signposts warning you of their presence and once upon them you have clear visible signs by way of road markings and bright reflective backings on the actual boxes. And if you somehow manage to get nicked by one, you can normally, and with a fair amount of ease, get away with it by asking for a photo because you're unsure who was driving/riding the vehicle at the time as you don't want to commit perjury by giving false information

On the other hand you could always get nicked by one of those mobile camera vans, you know the ones, they lurk just the other side of the bend and cop you without any warning, no signs, no warnings half a mile up the road, no nothing, and if you're in your car they take a lovely snapshot of your face too for good measure. I know which I prefer. Mind you, have you ever been tempted when on your bike to stick your fingers up at them knowing you have no front number plate and just pray they don't clock your number out the front window of the van?

On another note, I'm away on holiday Saturday and not getting back until the 4th September so the blog's likely to be a bit dormant until then, unless Ant doesn't mind uploading some pics from Loz's two recent trips to Wales and the up and coming Bulldog Bash this weekend that I'm going to miss out on Gggrrrrrr. Oh, and Gaz... you have a pile of photos too you could make an effort to upload.

Changing the subject again, it would be nice to see more comments added to this place no matter how trivial your comment may seem. The only people apart from Loz, Matt, and Gaz (who's blog it is as well as mine) and Ant (who's a friend of Loz's) that have ever contributed are Rigs (good on yer) and someone anonymous (good on you too). So don't just read, make an input from time to time, it'll be good for the blog, good for all who visit. And don't forget the guestbook, they're nice to read, and don't forget to send us some photos and/or words about places you've been or anything else of interest, just click on the link on the right (your photos) to see what to do (although you'll have to wait until September to see them on here). More input the merrier!

Hope everyone gets some good riding in of one sort or another and I'll see you next month!

Posted by Mike