Messages

It's not a proper trip if you don't have to use your gills at least once. 

I gave up on my Garmin. It seemed to have no clue how to reroute effectively.
The car now has a TomTom and I use a Carpuride (Android Auto) on the 1400.
If you fire up your phone and load Google Maps and select the Traffic overlay it normally shows all road closures. Of course it will cost you if you don't have a data roaming package.

Being a Saturday you were almost certainly being blocked by bicycle races. They have far too many of them at weekends in the Ardennes/Eifel.

Actually managed nearly 3hrs in the saddle on Saturday. I took breaks every hour to ease my back which helped but I was comfier than I expected. Am hoping that the current bout will subside soon so I can ride more often. Did a wide loop around Chelmsford sticking to backroads.

I often used to do the Dunkirk-Lille-Namur-Luxembourg route when my Dad was still alive.
These days I am mostly heading to Brussels where my sister lives so just do the Bruges route.
I spent much of my late teens and early 20s riding the Ardennes/Eifel so am enjoying the pics 

I am hoping to get out for a ride this weekend but it won't be far. At the moment I can manage maybe 1hr before I need a break. Then once the pain subsides I can manage another hour. Then I need to lie down for a while to ease the pain.
Mine is a damaged nerve in my lower back. Have numb toes and the pain in the back & leg can be excruciating.
Sounds like yours is Arthritis or similar.

That it does. I have back issues and my better half also has problems that are both limiting my riding. Started both bikes at the weekend and even sat on the 1400 and blipped the throttle. BrooomBrooom 🤣

I hope you didn't get too frustrated about the 80kmh limits on their main roads, and worse the endless 30kmh limits in every town and village. It takes forever to get anywhere in France these days unless you use the Autoroute/Peage.
Look forward to your writeups if you haven't bailed from here like I did.

   Owen

Welcome back Asif 😁

I mounted mine on top of the mirrors. I used the small 10W LED spots you can get on Ebay and they work well to fill the gaps in the high-beam pattern.
I drilled holes in the mirror plastic and used large stainless "penny" washers either side of the plastic. They have been there for years with no problems and work well.
I powered them using power from an aux fusebox I added via a relay triggered from the high-beam wire.

Sorry Pete, but I won't make it. Hope it's a fun ride.   

   Kwakerguy,
You are probably thinking of the Corbin 2-piece seat with the Smuggler box that replaces the rear half of the saddle. Very nice but ££££.

Thanks. Enjoyable read 

Enjoying the write ups, thanks 
I always keep going until the road is physically blocked, especially in areas like that where you get occasional landslides. The Eifel & Ardennes are amazing riding roads.

   Shorty 
I am also in Saaaf Essex (Wickford) and have had my 1400 since Aug 2007, so have some experience of the bike. Any questions, ask away and we will do our best to help.