Zen and the art of motorcycle touring

Zen and the art of Motorcycle touring

(or in our case Steptoe and Sons European tour)

The catalyst.

Jonathan sends a message.

Of course in the old days one would write a letter or send a telegram, these days text and email are the thing with young people

My Nephew Jonathan has long had an interest in 2 wheeled travel, his father encouraged him by teaching him to cycle and as he grew older trips to Europe on two wheels fulfilled his wanderlust.

The Longest Day

I take a leisurely ride down to the big smoke and spend a few hours with my parents, my dear ancient father cooks me dinner and then true to form ( its a family tradition) tells me about the recent bout of the trots he got the last week after my mother eat something a bit toxic ! mm there is me tucking into a decent dinner hoping that sufficient time has elapsed to prevent me getting a dose of the trots and firing on all cylinders in my leathers, honestly I think he does it deliberately !! all that wartime generation are the same

Wipers and the Lions

Next morning a leisurely breakfast with our fantastic hosts, its a delight to eat, more German I think in its choice, but I find plenty to eat and eventually we have to leave our kind hosts and be on our way

Of course the planned route had changed so I decided to head for Ypres, but said to Jonathan to stop if he saw anything interesting along the way, after all its a holiday and its a shame to pass by something and then read about it later !

Payback time !

Nearing 8pm we descended a hill into the suburbs of Brussels fate was unkind, as we entered the area of street lights I noticed Jonathans riding style become a trifle rough, and then I laughed a little

at his misfortune . a puncture, deep joy, this I could photograph and dine out on for many years

The battle of the bulge

Sunday morning and we were to get back on to our original schedule punctures/breakdowns?rubbish navigation / permitting

The Yanks are coming ( well only one)

morning comes and I grab a shower while the youth slowly awakes, then down for breakfast , the shop as well as selling fuel runs a small supermarket, a bakery, and a cafe open to the public as well

its a nice set up and the owner is expanding the idea, himself eats his way through everything on offer, and I do my best, no complaints there and we are set up for the day

The First and Last

Early the next morning I am up early and taking photos out of the window, its a long way down though , once showered and shaved we made our way downstairs, now the night before I had noticed something odd about the decoration, but put it down to tiredness , a bit midnight cowboy?,but no I was not mistaken carpets knocking shop red and everything else hammerite silver , I would like to say it reminded me of a knocking shop, but never having been in one I might be wrong, perhaps the owners got a job lot of paint of a Belgian del boy ?.

Summing up, and home

We suddenly realised that all of the planning and organisation had paid off , and we had seen most of the intended sites ( always plan more in case of changes or weather).