On my travels again

[Suff]

This weekend has been designated "get the bike from Brussels" weekend. It's out of MOT so I need to get to Brussels, get the bike to the UK (booked in for MOT), then get it back out to France where I can reach it the next time I fly in and ride it home.

So I'm out on the 16:50 from Edinburgh, take the 9pm train to Brussels, arrive in Brussels at 11pm, meet up with my friend. Get the bike started and running, leave at 5am, cross on the tunnel around 7am, MOT at 08:30 and my fixed plans end there because I have no idea if it will pass or not.

Once it's passed I have the rest of Sat, Sun and Mon to get the bike close to CDG airport (no free parking in Paris...), then get back to Edinburgh ready to start working on Tuesday morning....

Apart from getting the bike and getting to the MOT I intend to try and make it as leisurely as possible because the weekend of the 6th I'm flying back to Paris, picking up the bike again and riding it home. However I'm taking Monday 9th off so it won't be quite so bad.

Hopefully once this little piece of last logistics is over and done with I'll have a bike at either end and will be able to fly to Bordeaux which is only 2 hours from home by bike.

It's interesting that if I do the single return to Bordeaux it's only about 40 miles more than Mrs S doing the double return to pick me up and return me to the train in Poitiers. Except my bike does 20mpg more than her car.

I'll probably be offline a bit.

[tonicha]

Berlimey Suff

You take care on the roads, there are some blasted maniacs around and they just don't "see" bike.

But I'm sure you're very aware anyway.

Have fun - if you can

[saundra]

Hope everything goes to plan
It's alot of hassle over a bank holiday

[Workingman]

Suff, you do know this weekend is a bank holiday weekend with Monday as the BH ... the UK is closed!

[TheOstrich]

Safe journey, Suff. Remember to check your panniers for illegals before leaving France ....

[Suff]

Thanks all.

Safe journey, Suff. Remember to check your panniers for illegals before leaving France ....

Big panniers have to be a _very_ small illegal to fit. Might just get our Lakeland inside one...

Yep I know it's BH. Hence the MOT on Saturday. It's booked.

It may be quite a lot of hassle, but the hassle it will save me over the summer is huge. Ryanair will be flying into Bordeaux on Thursday evenings which will suit me just fine as it's later than the Air France offering which has me leaving work at 2:30 which is something they are very sensitive about.

It also saves Mrs S a lot of hassle in picking me up at near midnight in Poitiers train station.

Going home works like this.

Leave work 14:30.
Plane departs 16:50
Plane arrives 19:40, too late for the direct tains.
Take RER B to Denfert
Take metro to Montparnasse
Take 22:01 train to Poitiers
Mrs S picks me up at 23:55
Home at 00:55

Of course if the plane is late, the passport checks are late and the RER B is in a mess (often), then I'm stuck in Paris overnight, have to buy a new train ticket or hire a car and pay £300 or more to drive home and back and pay for the hire car.

Alternatives:

Take the Easyjet 13:15 flight. But that means leaving work at 11:15. Work not amused
Fly to Bordeaux, but that costs £100 more minimum, the airport is a 45 minute bus ride (departure every 30minutes), the plane arrives at 21:25 and the last train leaves Bordeaux around 20:00...

So what am I left with? Take the bike home, fly to Bordeaux and be in control of my journey at the other end. Even with a 21:25 flight arriving in Bordeaux I can be home before midnight, the journey has no tolls and Mrs S does not have to drive at night.

BTW, yes I'm aware of the idiots as I'm commuting into Edinburgh on the bike. Today I had two. One was the guy in the lwb transit van who pulled right across both lanes of the Queensferry road dualling, right in front of me, then stopped blocking the entire road. The other one was in the white Range Rover Evoque who couldn't find the accelerator when the lights went green and so I nipped between him and the bus that was leaving him behind.

Only to find him barrelling down the Queenferry road (40mph), at 60mph, trying to pass me...

<sigh>.. I was doing 45 as is my want...

[molly]

Blimey, your trip sounds like a nightmare but at least with the bike at the other end……………..

BTW, yes I'm aware of the idiots as I'm commuting into Edinburgh on the bike. Today I had two. One was the guy in the lwb transit van who pulled right across both lanes of the Queensferry road dualling, right in front of me, then stopped blocking the entire road. The other one was in the white Range Rover Evoque who couldn't find the accelerator when the lights went green and so I nipped between him and the bus that was leaving him behind.

Only to find him barrelling down the Queenferry road (40mph), at 60mph, trying to pass me...

<sigh>.. I was doing 45 as is my want...

I know Queensferry Road well, in fact I will be living along it next week, I'm going to Edinburgh on Sunday for a few days……will drive very carefully in case I come across some lunatic on a motorbike doing 45

People do drive too fast on it. As a child I was crossing it on a zebra with my two brothers and sister…..it is now a crossing with lights, down in the dip at Blackhall Suff…….all the cars had stopped so we started to cross. A coach driver coming down the hill just pulled out and passed all the waiting cars and whizzed straight across the zebra. If I had stuck my tongue out I could have licked it……that is how close it was.

Do have a safe trip home Suff…….I trust it will be warmer there than in Edinburgh.

[Suff]

Thanks Molly, well the road was clear except for the transit, so 45mph is no issue. The Davidsons Mains lights hold the traffic up so much that the stretch between there and Ferry Road is often almost empty....

Nightmare the way they drive isn't it... Everyone gets frustrated with the people driving at 25mph in a 40 limit and blocking all the traffic flow. Then there are all those people who slow down for green lights when doing more than 10mph below the speed limit. News Flash, if you slow down enough it's absolutely guaranteed it will turn red...

Hence the bike.

Hopefully it is warmer, it was snowing this morning when I set out.

[Suff]

So here I am. It's 23:55 local time. Am I in Brussels? Of course not. I arrived in CDG airport, 25 minutes late and ran smack into the passport queue. 2 desks open, 400 people....

So, eventually, they cleared it. Whilst in the queue I tried to cancel my train ticket but no chance, not enough data signal. €82 lost.

Down to the baggage hall and everything is En Attente (waiting for delivery). 40 minutes later the bags come out.

At least the 40 minutes in the baggage hall allowed me to pull out my laptop and research my options. More trains? 0. Hire car from Paris, left in Brussels, 4 hour hire? €300 - €500.

Finally I get a clue and go look at night busses. The first one won't let me book online, that one is French and they are in the online booking stone age, asked me to phone the closed phone line. FlixBus, however (German), offered me a seat at €13 to brussels. 23:55 leave, arrive at Gare Du Nord in Brussels at 04:00 and a 15 minute trek to my friends place. Better than a kick in the teeth anyway.

In checking I found they are running busses hourly and there was one at 10:55. A quick time check and it should be possible... But.... This is Paris and they are in a mess as usual. Also I've never been to Port Maillot before so I 'd have to find the bus station. So I opted for the 23:55. Just as well, I arrived 15 minutes before the bus left and, as predicted, it took me 15 minutes to get my stuff out, find the street, find me on the mobile maps and get there.

We're heading through Paris now on the way. Hopefully it will all be a little easier from here on in. Although I'm not banking on it... I'll be in Canterbury for the MOT tomorrow (UK) then back under the channel and probably to Disney to park the bike ready for the next instalment on Friday when I fly back into Paris and ride home.

I might have a quick look for busses from Paris to London and London to Edinburgh. I have time and my main idea is to save costs.

At least the bus has power so the netbook is bearable...

Now, hopefully, for some sleep...

[molly]

Sounds like an abolute nightmare Suff.

Hope you have no more delays……..