Tuesday 17 December 2013

Motorcycle Live 2013 @ NEC, Birmingham


OK, so every year MCN do an expo known as Motorcycle Live in both London and Birmingham. In fact, last year Emma wrote about the 2012 one. It consists of many stalls, large and small, of various companies showing off their services, bikes and products (and models - by this I mean girls, lots of girls...).

This year was no different, except that neither of us walked away having purchased anything and I didn't take any pictures (sorry for that...). Also, I wasn't really too impressed. I didn't really see anything that I hadn't seen before apart from the new Honda CBR 650 F that replaces the 600 cc version.

I am not entirely sure why they released a 650 in place of the 600, but stylistically it is pretty much the same, except the front headlight seems a bit more bulky. Perhaps they are trying to appeal to the same market at the SV 650, presenting the CBR 650 F as an all-round bike with 4 cylinders? (It always was a good all round bike, comfortable, powerful, good economy, great handling). Lets move on...



So the question is what did we do and what did we see? We were only in there for about 3 hours including a stop for lunch. If I browse through my goodie bag packed full of leaflets, calendars and any other freebies I can present you with the following:

Real Rider


So, Real Rider is an app for your smartphone (Apple and Android) that can track your routes as you ride and lets you share and rate these with other riders. But it is more than that. It is also an app that can detect if you have a crash and automatically contacts the ambulance service with your location and medical records.

Real rider isn't the only company providing this service. The route tracking is free, but to use what they call REALsafe you need to pay a subscription of £25 a year. We were also told that some insurance companies may pay some of this for you or reimburse you in your policy, but not many have caught on to this yet.

flybikefly.com

website: http://www.flybikefly.com

We found this service rather interesting. FlyBikeFly is a company that can transport your bike to one of their depots in Europe, meaning you can just fly out there, pick up your bike and begin your touring adventure.

The only problem I have with this is that all their depots are in Europe, such as Nice, Malaga and I believe they have one in Prague. It would be nice if they added locations that are further afield so that you can bring your favourite bike and do tours in pretty remote places. That being said, this would save a lot of time and allow you to focus on the trip in hand rather than trying to get yourself down there in the first place. Not sure on prices, but check out their website for further details.

Carole Nash

website: http://www.carolenash.com

For the obligatory free calendar.... oh and they do bike insurance :).


Kriega

website: http://www.kriega.com

This was requested by me as I quite like Kriega gear. They are primarily a luggage solution for all types of bikes, from sports bikes to adventure and off-road.  If you have a sports bike, check out their US-Pack system with up to 70 litre of rear storage. Personally I am planning to fit this to my next bike :).

Hotel Gran Paradis


website: http://www.granparadis.com/en/

Luxury 4-star hotel in the Dolomites region of Italy. Not too expensive (€76 a night for bikers per person in the summer), but if you are looking for  something a bit up-market with great views and roads then check it out.


Hotel Sonnegg



A 3-star hotel in Austria. They are a biker friendly hotel, the owner rides himself, and are able to give you all the local knowledge you need - where to ride, stuff to see and do etc. A double room including their "Joker Card" (which gives you free entry to stuff) in the summer is €67 per person per night. This does not include local tourism taxes.

A Few Other Hotels....

Weisseespitze

website: 
http://www.weisseespitze.com/en/
location: Kaunertal, Germany






Hotel Condor

website: http://www.hotelcondor.com/en/hotel-condor/welcome.html
location: Dolomites Region, Italy









Hotel Enzian

website: http://www.hotel-enzian.com/
location: Landeck, Austria


Hotel Waldblick

website: http://www.hotel-waldblick.de/
location: Schenkenzell, Germany

After seeing all these hotels and locations I want to go on holiday again....









Stahlkoffer

website: http://www.stahlkoffer.com

OK so these guys do aluminium panniers, top boxes etc. for the "Global Adventurer". Not sure why we picked this up as its not suitable for what we ride but hey - if you have a BMW GS or perhaps a KTM Adventurer then this might be what you are looking for.

Gasthof Hochalmspitze

website: http://www.hochalmspitze.com

Yes.... we are back to another hotel. We had a chat with the guy there, in fact I think it was the first stall we came across. Really knowledgeable, great to talk to. Looks like you will have a great time if you go. Its in the Carinthia region of Austria. Most of the promotion by hotels seemed to be for Austria. OK if you insist maybe I will go and visit....

And that pretty much sums up all that we saw at the NEC this year. Hopefully some of these are of use to you and if anybody wishes to comment on some other things they saw that we perhaps missed, then feel free :)

Saturday 16 November 2013

Product Review: Michelin Pilot Road Standard Tyres

Michelin Pilot Road Standard Motorcycle Tyres:

Price: £260 appx. (fitted)

I can't actually remember the exact price to get the front and rear fitted but it was around £260. So my Bridgestone BT22's had lasted a year consisting of a long weekend trip to Normandy, an 8 day trek to the Black Forest and many ride outs in-between. Usually I swear by Bridgestone and have never used anything else, until I needed new tyres for the Pyrenees trip and Emma suggested I try the Pilot Road's. I didn't have much money so I went for the standards, but there are Pilot Road 2's and 3's available also.

Now it may (or may not) be known that I have a bit of an issue putting my SV around corners. The first cause of this seemed to be that my steering was off, so I rectified this which didn't really make too much of a difference. But these tyres, despite being the cheapest of the 3 types changed that. Their grip in the dry was great and even when it started raining en-route to Barcelona I noticed I was quicker around bends than I had been before (and I have always been very wary of water and drains on the roads). My confidence in the SV has now been increased and would probably explain why I always rode Emma's SV and CBR a lot better (as she uses Pilot Road's of some type on both bikes).

Apparently the Pilot Road 3's are absolutely amazing, but I can't really vouch for those. I would say if you are on a bit of a budget there is no shame in getting the standards as they have made me switch from the BT22's, which I have always used on all my bikes (along with the BT16's).

Take a look at the Michelin website: http://moto.michelin.co.uk/tyres/michelin-pilot-road

MCBlogSpot Rating: 9/10
(only reason it isn't 10 is because the 3's are apparently even better!)

Saturday 28 September 2013

Pyrenees: Day 1


OK so, it has taken me a couple of weeks before starting to write this up... However, you all know which routes we took (mainly), what we brought with us and where we went - brilliant! Onwards...

Pyrenees: Day 1, Leaving England - 27th August 2013
As I ran out of time the night before, I had to finish packing and loading the bike the morning we were leaving. This was a slightly stressful time as we were meeting the other two at 10am at the Ace Cafe in London for breakfast. Once sorted, we set off to Sainsbury's in Dunstable and then whipped down the M1. We arrived only 6 minutes late - not bad!

Rob was already there, his GSXR looking very tidy with his lightly packed luggage (increased by the backpack he took on his back). As it was approaching 11 we started to worry about Casey as he hadn't turned up yet. Finally getting through to him on the phone, I realised he'd never been to the ace before and was a bit lost. A few phone calls later he turned up on his brother's GS sometime around 12. By this point the rest of us had already ordered and eaten our breakfast so after a few introductions and handshakes we set off for Portsmouth.

We arrived in Portsmouth early, so we stopped at the local Sainsbury's for water and a few other bits, filled the bikes up and headed down to the ferry. The ferry was loaded more than an hour before it was set to depart. Once on the ferry, Emma and I left the majority of our luggage secured to the bike via our pac-safe's, Casey in his panniers and Rob carried all of his up to the lounge. We hung about for a bit, waited for the cabins to be cleaned and then had a wander to see what there was to do.

Considering the reasonable price this return journey was costing us, there was a fair bit to do. There were 2 cinema screens, an indoor pool, small arcade, few bars, couple of restaurants and then the usual duty free shops that you would expect on most ferries. The four of us got something to eat and then Emma headed to the cabin whilst the guys went to see a film - The Lone Ranger. 


At the end we headed to our cabins to sleep. The cabins themselves weren't too bad. They contained bunk beds, a wet room, a safe, a table bit and bits to hang your stuff up in. Obviously not a great deal of room sleeping wise, but functional. There were deluxe cabins available but no idea on the price of those....




Wednesday 18 September 2013

What Is The Best Way To Deter Motorcycle Thieves?

So this is possibly one of the most talked about issues regarding motorcycles. Many people have different ways of securing their precious 2 (or perhaps 3) wheeled bundle of joy, but what is the best way?

In all honesty, there is no true way to completely stop a thief taking your baby (if you ever figure this out I would love to hear it). However, you can make it as difficult as possible.



[Image from:  http://www.trimetals.co.uk/]


In the past 7 years I have had 2 motorcycles stolen and used a few different security methods. My first bike upon passing my test was a 1997 CBR600F. Owned for just over a year - I decided to stop at my grandparents one night instead of heading to my parents (as I usually do) and left it on the drive. Next morning it was gone. Lesson one - never leave your bike unsecured and on show, even for a short period of time.

Case number two: a few months after this incident I went out and got myself a 1997 GSXR750 SRAD. One evening I went out to meet some friends at a bar. The chain I had didn't quite reach the post, so I put the bike as close as I could, popped the steering lock on, disc lock and put a chain around my lid and rear wheel and locked my winter gloves under the pillion seat. Two hours later that was gone too. Lesson two - if you are going to put a chain through the bike, make sure it is through a fixed solid structure.


After this I got a bit OCD over my bike security. I went out and bought a 2001 CBR600 FS1 (and I am going to say it - the best bike I have ever owned). On this bike I had an acumen alarm, paging unit, chain and if I felt really overprotective a disc lock as well. What is a paging unit you ask? Well... it basically ran on an Orange pay as you go sim card and text my phone whenever movement was detected. I could also send it instructions to find out the battery level, set the alarm off etc. Yes it was a cool bit of tech, but I don't think it did my battery any good. A modern example of this would be the acutrac systems which you can find out about here: http://www.acutrac.co.uk/. On the plus side... this bike was never stolen. In fact the only reason I sold it was because of how much it cost to look after it in parts and maintenance.

On my next bike (and my current 2008 SV650) I pretty much stripped down to using two things -  an alarm and a chain. The alarm on my 1995 ZXR400 was a £20 cheap thing that talked (yes very odd...) but the flashing blue light did help to keep people away (plus the strange dude voice telling the thief to step away...). But more importantly I make sure the bikes are secured to something fixed and solid with a decent CAT 3 chain. I currently use a mammoth 1.8m chain with a shackle lock a bit like this: 


Best practices for using the chain are to put it through the frame of your motorcycle and then round the fixed object. If you can't get through the frame then at least pop it through the wheel (but these are easier to remove for a thief).

If you want to add disc locks and paging units that's fine too, but using an alarm and a solid chain should be enough. As I have said, if they want it they will have it one way or another. Also, check out security anchors if you need something to lock it up to when at home. There are a few decent ones, just make sure they have a high category rating.

I hope that helps solves the dilemma somewhat, any questions throw them my way and I'll see if I can help further :).

Monday 26 August 2013

No Pictures, the garage is flooded, and I'm not there!


When arranging to go abroad on the bikes you do the basic maintenance don't
you? You check your oil, brake pads, minor service if it's due and check
you've got insurance and an MOT. A couple of weeks ago I replaced the brake
pads, checked the oil levels, adjusted the chains and made sure they were
ok. I renewed my bike insurance as it expires while we're away, and then got
the tyres that needed replacing replaced. All done I here you say?

Not quite. 

Having taken the front wheel of the curvy, I went to put it back on and the
bike was sitting in a puddle of oil. Unfortunately that was the same day
were meant to be going to the Ace to meet Ginger (14th), so I went pillion
and off we went to the Ace. After the Ace, heading back the long way we
discovered Gaz seemed have an issue with his bike, the display kept
flickering as did the side lights, and it wasn't starting immediately like
normal. Home we went with another job.

I had a look at the pointy, it was charging within normal limits and the
battery screws were tight so he rang DBC to get them to look at it, and i
ordered a new clutch cover and o ring for the curvy as that was the only
place the oil could have come from. This was 15th.

The 16th the O ring I ordered turned up, unfortunately the dog decided to
eat the package. Not helpful. 

On the 17th my clutch cover turned up with another O ring, and DBC looked at
the pointy, turns out the wires weren't being held down by the bolts, so
that was an easy fix.  

I then spent the following week trying to stop my bike leaking oil, the
first 2 attempts had no luck so I was using the pointy to get into work...
up until Friday. 

Friday I woke up at 6am and couldn't sleep so got up, re-did the clutch
cover, and then went back inside and got ready for work. 7:50 I went back
out to get the pointy and though 'this is weird it's not normally this hard
to wheel the bike...' I looked at the rear wheel and it's flat, pancake
flat. Pointy is thrown back into the garage, and I cycle 3 miles into work
cursing the world but still managed to get to work for 8. Turns out there is
a tyre in the rear where and nowhere in Dunstable can fix it before the
28th, which is a bit of a problem as we go on the 27th. 

I rang Wickford Motorcycles (in Wickford) who answer the phone with 'oh
hello Emma' (it can only be a bad thing when the garage knows you by the
sound of your voice) and they said just post by Saturday and they'll fix it
and have a spare just in case. At this point I'd like to say the tyre is
only 150miles old and I'm praying to everyone that it can be fixed.

So today , I have ridden, in the pouring rain (my bike gear is soaked,
included my newer TCX's (they aren't waterproof again!)) to get the tyre
done. Luckily the puncture can be plugged (although the power went while
doing it which made things more interesting!) and the curvy hasn't leaked
oil. 
 
Now just to re-bleed my brakes again.. Oh and pack! Ginger has rung me to
tell me everything that he has packed already today, and Gaz is also packed.

Gaz has been saying that he's going to sell the sv, which is why i assume
the pointy is playing up. And i think my curvy is playing up just because it
can (same as normal really). I just wish they didn't choose the two weeks
before i go.

Tool kit to be packed:
  • Jump leads
  • Sockets to adjust chains
  • Allen keys to adjust chains
  • Selection of spanners to adjust chains
  • Gaz has chain lube
  • Bike's tool kit
  • 8ml socket
  • Brake bleeding hose
  • Brake fluid
  • Cable ties
  • Electrical tape
  • Ratchet
Here is hoping we need none of them!

(By Emma :))

Thursday 15 August 2013

Only 2 weeks to go until the Pyrenees Trip!

It has been quite a battle, but finally everything is in place for our trip to the Pyrenees, which is less than 2 weeks away!

One of the sticky points surrounding this trip is the enforcement of a French 1970s law that requires 4 reflective stickers on your helmet. I have been told that if you are caught without these stickers you will be given a €135 fine and incur 3 points on your driving license. For more information about these stickers visit: http://ukfrancebikers.com/2013/03/16/france-compulsory-reflective-stickers-on-all-helmets/

In this post I am going to attach all the routes that have been planned. Of course, this may change on the trip itself, but it may help those who are planning to go away to similar areas. If you would like to download the full route to see it in further detail then please let me know. They are all in Garmin format but I am sure you can use software like Tire to convert them to other platforms. Our journey in a nutshell starts at Santander where we gradually head across the northern Spanish border to Barcelona, head up to Andorra and then make our way back via the Pyrenees:


Our first day in Spain sees us head to an overnight stop in Etxarri as we are not expected to arrive in Spain until 18:15 in the evening. Unfortunately I do not have an individual screenshot of this route, but it is basically the fastest route from Santander to Etxarri, avoiding all tolls.

Continuing across the northern border, we head towards a campsite just east of Jaca, hoping to be able to spend some time in Jaca itself. This route mostly avoids the N240, opting instead to take the scenic route. If you would like a faster alternative then stay onto the N240 for as long as you can before you need the exit to Jaca.

One of the longest journeys on this trip is the route to Barcelona. This route goes via the Montserrat Monastery and is planned to utilise as many scenic and fun roads as possible. It will take almost an entire day to complete. There are motorway equivalents, although these may require toll payments. Due to the nature of this trip, most of our riding pleasure will come from heading from one location to another. Last year, Emma and myself opted to get to where we were staying and then head out for a ride, but we've decided to do it on the way this time round.

Whilst in Barcelona, we plan to head north to Figueres to visit the Salvador Dali Museum. To the right you will see a screenshot of the route returning from Figueres to Barcelona. This was set to the fastest route avoiding tolls. There are faster routes available, but these will incur toll charges. 

The next major part of the trip involves our activities in Andorra. Taking a pretty direct route via Manresa where the journey shouldn't take longer than around 4 hours. It is important to plan a time contingency so that you do not miss out on what is important to you on your trip. If you would like estimated journey times then please ask, although I will probably write this up when I post on my return (if I forget - remind me!).

Back in Spain, in the rather remote town of Llavorsi, you can take up rafting. Although only 58 miles away it looks like there are no big roads, so the journey time is estimated around 2 hours. There is no direct route either (although there may be some unpaved roads if you are have a suitable bike like a BMW or KTM) so you need to dip south before heading back up again.

Next route leaves Andorra and heads to the mid-Pyrenees. Judging by Basecamp, parts of this journey are pretty challenging, with some tight bends and narrow roads. Despite being only 210 miles, the estimated time of travel is over 6 hours. There will be plenty of photo spots along this route  so make sure you allow enough time for stoppages. Alternatively, look at the main roads that head across further north and then come back in towards the Pyrenees - although you will probably miss out on some quite spectacular views if you choose to do that.

Once in the mid-Pyrenees there is the Pont des Espagne waterfall and scenic bike rides to Luz Ardiden and Gavarnie to get stuck into. There are 3 screenshots for these, to the left, right and below (starting with the Pont des Espagne):


We will then leave the mid-Pyrenees and start making our way back towards Santander for the ferry home. Before this however, we stop just outside the west of the Pyrenees at Camping Uhaitza in Mauleon-Soule. Here you have the option to visit a couple of gorge's south of the campsite. The address of these are: Les Gorges de Kakuetta, 64560 Sainte-Engrace, France and Les Gorges d'Holzarte, 64560 Larrau, France. I have not created a route to these but have added them as favourites in my sat nav. The route to the campsite is shown to the right.

Just two routes to go. The first being an overnight stop back in Spain in a place called Orio. The last, being the final journey back to Santander to catch the ferry home.




 For those of you planning to visit any of the places that we are at the end of this month I hope this helps. As above, if you would like any estimated journey times, Garmin route files or just about anything I might be able to help with then just comment below :).

Sunday 16 June 2013

Booking Frustrations... :/

On Christmas Day 2012 I contacted several campsites in Spain and France to see if they would accept motorcycles at their premises. On the same day, most of these campsites replied. For the last few weeks I have been contacting the same campsites, who now (despite being open for business) have failed to reply in order to confirm any bookings.

Granted, I am only able to email these campsites as I don't fancy making phone calls from my mobile phone (I do not have a landline phone), but come on, Christmas Day is a fine day to reply but when you are actually open it is too much bother? And yes, to those who are wondering, I have been following up my emails to them.

My advice to anyone attempting to book a plot or two at any campsites in and around the North Spain/Pyrenees region is to do this way in advance so that you can contact other campsites in the event that your original choices fail to get in touch with you.

Today I have been doing just that - finding a few plan B's so that we are not left stranded in the middle of nowhere. Low and behold though, one has replied to me in a matter of minutes! This fine specimen is the site "Camping Etxarri" who are my second choice for the first night of our travels. Being the only campsite to acknowledge any of my recent emails I felt they deserved an honorary mention.

Although I can not vouch for their facilities, hospitality or location as of yet I can at least recommend their communication. If anyone is interested their official website is: http://www.campingetxarri.com/home.html and they are located within the Navarre region of Northern Spain.

So I end this blogging post with a thank you to Floren at Camping Etxarri for giving me a glimpse of hope that somewhere out there we may find accommodation for our trip.

Sunday 26 May 2013

Pyrenees 2013!

So it is finally happening, I am in the process of planning the 2013 trip - which this year is to the Pyrenees. We have about two weeks in total to enjoy riding the Pyrenees, throw in some sight seeing and activities and for me to finally visit Barcelona (which I have wanted to do since I was a kid).

I have provisionally worked out where we are staying and when and so far the only thing booked is the ferry from Portsmouth to Santander. But just to give a sneak preview of the rough route we are planning to take on this trip I have put together a Google Map:


View Larger Map

Over the next few weeks I will be adding more stuff. For information on equipment you might need or stuff you should know when driving in parts of Europe then check out the posts I did for the Black Forest trip last year as it would pretty much be the same. Only difference is we are planning to camp for the entirety of this trip but that shouldn't change the equipment list too much, although you may want to take additional stuff for cooking.

So keep checking the blog to see how this develops and maybe it'll inspire your own European trip ! :)

Tuesday 21 May 2013

Black Forest 2012: Day 8 - Durnal, Belgium - Essex, UK

Day 8: Durnal, Belgium - Essex, UK 02/09/2012
Miles: 268 appx. 

This is the last post of the Black Forest 2012 trip! I know it has taken me almost a year to finish it... but I have been swamped with Uni work :). Next up I will start writing about the Pyrenees trip that I am planning, but for now lets finish this final post :).

We got up fairly early on the Sunday, aiming to get to Calais for the 16:35 ferry. En route we wanted to stop in Belgium to take home some chocolates (as you do when in Belgium!). We stopped first in Gent
as there was a shop there that I had visited on another trip but unfortunately it was shut. We walked around the town just taking in some of the sights and just to show Emma around the place before we jumped back on the bikes. We also spotted a very odd looking bike, scooter, whatever it was with a side car :/.

Failing to get any chocolates here, we went back to familiar territory - Bruges. Here we bought chocolates from the shop with the chocolate king of the sea in the window. I asked for a mixed variety of white chocolates (as I am not really allowed cocoa due to my headaches) and Emma got whatever she wanted!

Now the ferry was a nightmare. We arrived pretty early, perhaps a couple of hours early and the port was absolutely rammed. It took an age to get through to the booking desk where we were told there was no chance we could get on the ferry. Our booking got migrated to a different ferry company (My Ferry Line) and we had to visit their offices to get booked in. Whilst waiting in the queue I heard that there was no space on any of their ferries until about 8 or 9 pm. Hearing this (and with her new job starting the next day) Emma marched over to P&O and demanded that we were put on their 5:30 ferry (I think, I can't remember the exact time now). We managed to get back to Essex within good time for her to start her new job the next day - despite perhaps being a little stressed out as a result of this !

Routes wise, we used motorways all the way back to Calais, including to Gent and Bruges to allow enough time to be back for the ferry. If you still wish to see the original map of this route then see below:


Tuesday 14 May 2013

Problems With Motorcycle Routes In Garmin's Basecamp

OK, so if like me you have had to revert to Garmin's Basecamp software and are having trouble with creating routes then this YouTube link will sort you out:




Basecamp is Garmin's map software, which allows you to create routes, view addresses and POI's and much more. Previously I used Garmin's older version known as Mapsource and never experienced any issues. Unfortunately, when I downloaded the new 2013.4 European maps, Mapsource would not allow me to use them and so Basecampe was my only option.

I tried to create a short route from my house in Northampton to the M1 via some back roads. However, the route that Basecamp calculated for me made no sense and made it far more complicated than it needed to be. The thing is, Basecamp utilises a profile system for cars, motorcycles, HGV's etc. You need to configure the profile in order for the routes to be calculated correctly. This YouTube video will show you how to do this and how to perform similar steps on your Garmin device. You can then tweak the settings so that they work for you. For example, the tutorial selects the fastest route option but I leave mine as the shortest route.

If you have any questions regarding Basecamp or other Gamin products then enter a comment below and I will do my best to help you. If you feel you can contribute some useful information regarding Basecamp then please do that too. Although I am still learning with Basecamp myself so won't pretend to know everything !

Thursday 9 May 2013

Black Forest 2012: Day 7 - Mosel Valley, Germany - Durnal, Belgium


OK, I know it has been forever since I last posted. As you can imagine University got on top of me and I spent the last few months finishing it off. But now I have completely finished, handed in my final piece of work on the 2nd May, so I can continue writing the blog!

Day 7: Mosel Valley, Germany - Durnal, Belgium 01/09/2012
Miles: 144 appx. 

Now, we originally planned to go the fast way to the campsite in Durnal, but as we had a bit of time and it was a nice day we set the sat nav up for the shortest route, avoiding all motorways and main roads. It turned out to be a great idea, as the scenery and sites were amazing.

Me and my sat nav did have a bit of a disagreement however on this route. Originally stating about 90 miles from Mosel Valley to the campsite, we ended up filling up the bikes twice on the way and it took about 3 hours. All was forgiven though as we really enjoyed the ride. Don't let the sunny pictures fool you though, it was freezing!

The biggest highlight were the castles we spotted. In fact, we rode past it the first time and decided that we would go back to see it. I do not know much about them other than they are called The Manderscheid Castles. There is some more information knocking around on google if you are interested. I wish we went up to them now and had a proper look, but as with most things on this trip time was pretty much against us =(. This is the only picture taken of me and Emma together on this trip too lol.

We got to Durnal and set up camp. My Grandad said that we should visit Dinant if we could so we headed up there for the afternoon, with Emma popping on the back of my bike. It's a nice town, not a lot going on really but sits by the river and is quite picturesque. There were large saxophones across the town and over the river, which represented different countries, which was cool. We had a look inside the chapel and had dinner by the river. The waitress didn't speak English but my (very little) french just about got us by.

There are no routes for this trip, but there are some nice roads around the Durnal area, so I would recommended looking some up if you are ever over that way.