One heck of a USA road trip on a Harley-Davidson

Okay, my regular readers will have seen some of these pictures before and people who have read my book 'France In America' certainly will, but I thought I'd make a video that tried to show the spirit of my tour of the USA.

This is what I came up with.....

One heck of a USA road trip on a Harley-Davidson

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Toasting the end of the 2013 foreign riding season with Champagne.

I often ride with the Chelsea and Fulham (C&F) Chapter of the Harley Owners Group (HOG). September this year saw the conclusion of my 2014 foreign riding season with a four-day C&F HOG trip to Reims, in France.

The night before we left, we stayed just five minutes from the Channel Tunnel rail terminal in Folkestone. However, this closeness didn't mean all of our group would make it onto the train. One scallywag, who will remain nameless, had a problem with the visa in his passport and knowing the immigration people didn't always check passports on the way to France, he decided to chance it and see if he could travel anyway. He didn't make it as the eagle-eyed immigration officer spotted the error. Gavin (oops) is now going to make sure he gets his visa up-to-date.

Those that did make it were missing Gavin badly.…

The trip was organised by C&F Road Captain Nick Deal. I never knew that Nick was quite so organised. In the weeks before he led the C&F ride to Reims in France, he produced a briefing note, a short lesson on French road signs (I have ridden in France a lot and I did learn something) and gave us options where we could go while on the four day trip. It was impressive stuff, so hats off to Nick. This is Nick with his wife Jane….

The ride down to Reims was in two parts – a blast on the French motorway system through less interesting parts of northern France, followed by great back roads in the afternoon. Under blazing hot skies, we cruised along twisting roads through farmland and seemingly deserted small villages. It never ceases to amaze me when riding through rural France were the people go. Just occasionally we glimpsed a person tending their garden or working on their house, but for the rest of the time, nobody could be seen.  Where do they all go?

A break was needed and we rumbled into the town of Bohain-en-Vermandois, famous for being the place where painter Henri Matisse grew up. The quiet ambiance of the town soon became a little louder as we parked our motorcycles in the centre of the town square and re-arranged the café furniture so we could eat as a group. After lunch, the C&F Chapter flag was unfurled, the bikes aligned and a shot of the group taken with their Harleys….

188 miles later on day 1, we arrived at our base for the weekend, in the city of Reims, which is important in French history as it was the traditional site where the kings of France were crowned. More importantly to us however, is its location at the very heart of the Champagne region.

It was a Thursday night and the place was buzzing. Street cafes, bars and restaurants were full with people. It was a good job that Nick had made a reservation at his favourite restaurant, the Grand Café, for our group.  Nick and Jane come to Reims often, as evidenced by the warm greeting they received from the waiter (hugs all round). By now, Janet (the partner of the errant passport owner) had arrived having left Gavin to sort out the mess with his missing visa. It would have been wrong to ignore the regions local products, so we tucked into a few bottles of Bollinger champagne as we ate a good meal on the warm September evening.

The next morning, after the obligatory visit to the local Harley-Davidson dealership, we were in for a treat. Between 1926 and 1972, there was a major motor racing circuit called Reims-Gueux and we went to see what was left of this historic place. Built on public roads with permanent facilities, Reims-Gueux hosted 14 French F1 Grand Prix, with the likes of Juan Manuel Fangio, Lorenzo Bandini, Stirling Moss and Mike Hawthorn all having raced here. This video gives a taste of what the circuit was like in its heyday....





A lot of the track, the pits and main grandstand survive today and that was where we chose to park our motorcycles….

I liked the look of the old BP pavilion, so later parked my custom bike Amelia there….

The Chelsea and Fulham HOG Chapter is centred around Warrs, the London Harley-Davidson dealership. Les Channing, from Warrs parts department was on the ride and proudly posed in front of one of the old pits at the circuit…

Les, along with Ken and Dof decided to use the track for the purpose it was built and went for a blast along the main straight. They roared past at just over the speed limit (!) and flashed past the pits just as Geoff Duke would have done in 1955 when he won the 1955 French motorcycle Grand Prix.

On their return run, they came past us a little more sedately and it made for a great picture….

The afternoon saw a change in pace when we went to see what must count as one of the most oddest visitor attractions in France. Situated 140 miles from the sea, Phare de Verzenay is a lighthouse perched high on a hill, surrounded by the grapevines of the Champagne region. The lighthouse is flamboyant centrepiece of a museum built to celebrate the Champagne produced in the area….

Photo by Keith and Susie

We then rode along some fantastic twisting and fast roads through some glorious French countryside. We passed a few immaculately kept war cemeteries with their neat rows of headstones. These bring powerful feelings, as the sadness of all of these men that died is a very strong emotion in me. I am also very proud of those men. They fought and died for our freedom from an evil tyrant, and for that I am forever grateful. I like to say a silent thank you to the men that lay in those cemeteries every time I pass one.

Photo by Keith and Susie

I have often stopped and walked around the graves of different allies nations. I can recall being in British, French, American and Canadian World War I and II cemeteries. On this day when we were out riding through the French countryside, we stopped at a German cemetery, a first for me.

This was the Fort-de-Malmaison cemetery which contains the graves of 11,841 German soldiers who fell between 1940 and 1944 in France. Many of them were killed during the liberation offensive of the Allied forces in 1944. With their simple black crosses, the graveyard was a sobering sight.

I was born just 12 years after the end of the second World War and the memories of those dark days were still engrained in the minds of the adults around me. It was understandable therefore that as a small boy, I learned the German soldiers were bad and were the enemy. It wasn't until I stood in that German cemetery that those feelings finally left me as the sadness of the German men that died really hit me for the first time. They were only doing what their deranged leader had told them. They were just following orders. As I read the leaflet from the cemetery, I discovered that just under one million German soldiers are buried in France. I had no idea it was that many….

The next morning, we had planned to go on another group ride, but not until 10am. Being an early riser, this was way too late for me and I discovered the same applied to Ken and Dof as well, so we did what any keen biker would do and went for a pre-ride ride. It was only for an hour or so but there were very few cars on the road, so we headed east, found some deserted roads and, well, blew the cobwebs away. This was hardcore riding at its best and both Ken and Dof can ride pretty darn fast. It was as much as I could do to keep up at times, as while Amelia is fast in a straight line, her long forks means she needs to take the bends a little slower. We did hit some amazing speeds though and our bikes must have sounded incredible to anyone that was awake.

After the rest of the group finally got out of bed, we reformed and went riding again. We went to see the monastery in Hautvillers where Benedictine monk Dom Pérignon lived. He did much to improve the process of making quality champagne and of course, one of the most famous champagnes is named after him. Across the road from the monastery, we went to taste the champagne and at 10.30am, the one glass we each had really hit the spot….

In the afternoon, we left our motorcycles at the hotel and went to see another great champagne producer, Taittinger, or more precisely, one of their cellars where they keep their wine during the manufacturing process.

During the French Revolution, the Abbey that used to stand on this site was destroyed, but the caves underneath, once a chalk quarry, are now used to store 3 million bottles of Taittinger champagne. This is the smaller of the storage cellars and the other holds an incredible 16 million bottles! Each bottle stays in the cellars for between three and seven years while the fermentation process happens. The tour of the cellars took about an hour and covered all aspects of making the champagne. Of course, we had to try some….

Our time in Reims ended with a visit to the magnificent Cathedral. It is easy to see why French kings were crowned here….

Congratulations must go to Nick and Jane for organising such a terrific long weekend away. They made everything work so well and all the rest of us really had to do was turn up and do what they said.  Many thanks also to Les, for being Last Man the whole way.  A great foreign ride all round!

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The Printing of my Book

I had the opportunity this week to see my book being printed, so of course, I grabbed that chance with both hands and with my son, Jeremy, we went to the plant of one of the UK’s few large format book printers, Butler Tanner & Dennis.

Located in Frome in Somerset, Butler, Tanner& Dennis have a 166 year printing history and their reception contains a very old printing press used by the firm.

The plant is very large indeed and contains all manner of machines needed for book printing and manufacturing. BT&D proudly claim they are one of just a few companies that do everything under one roof in the production of books. For someone like me that has no experience of or any prior knowledge of printing and making books, the plant is a marvel of machines and looking at most sets up a guessing game of trying to work out what they do. Some of the machines are brand new and a marvel of modern technology, but at the same time, these are used alongside many that are decades old and still work perfectly well today.

The plant is laid out broadly in the order that a book is produced, with incoming materials such as paper at one end and the completed book exit at the other. The paper store is large but paper having come from specialist plants in many countries. Unlike newspaper production, all of the incoming paper is cut into flat sheets, not rolled.

My book was printed on the newest and biggest printing machine in the plant, a Heidelberg, which is capable of printing 15,000 sheets an hour at peak. Yes, you did read that right, 15,000 large format sheets an hour!

At about 12 inches by 12 inches (30cm) mine is a large book, and each of the sheets going through the printer contains 20 pages of my book on each side. The printing of the book pages is therefore done at a phenomenal speed.

This is the machine that makes the plates. They are very thin and made from aluminium. Each sheet going through the printer needs 4 plates (cyan, magenta, yellow and black)....

This is one of the plates ready for printing.....

A close up of part of one of the plates – and a picture of Chris Luhman of Everyday Riding....

The huge Heidelberg printer. With its six printing positions. Just four were being used for my book. The paper gets fed into the far right hand end, passes through the six printing positions and the left hand end is where the printed sheet is dried. The completed sheets are delivered in a neat stack at the left hand end.

The top of the yellow printer. It is hard to see from these pictures just how fast everything happens. This drum is spinning at an incredible speed....

The guys opened the side panel of the drying area, so we could see the sheets going through that part....

A not very good picture of the completed sheets being stacked. It is really just a blur....

The printed sheets measure 63 x 47 inches / 1.6m x 1.2m and each contain 20 pages of my book. Due to the way the sheets are folded into sections of the book, half of the pages are printed upside-down.

Each machine in the plant has a “minder”. This is Julian Keel (AKA Biff) who was looking after the Heidelberg printer. He can adjust many aspects of the print as the machine is working. We watched him run off a couple of stacks of different sheets while we were there and I would say he has a very challenging job....

As each stack of printed sheets is finished, they are moved by a fork lift truck to a waiting area. These are not my stacks, but a book just ahead of mine in the production process....

When the whole book is printed, the large sheets are folded into 2o page book sections by some amazing folding machines. Prior to actually folding the sheet, each is perforated to make the folding flatter. Depending on the size of the individual book pages, these machines need to be set up for each book....

Once each 20 page section of the book has been folded and prepared, these are loaded into a long machine that first stitches the sections and then collates those sections. Each section has a printed mark so the machine can automatically check that the collating has been done properly and all sections are in the correct order....

The collated sections then begin to take the form of a book. These are known as book “blanks” and are stacked ready to be moved to the next part of the production process. Note how the pages are just rough cut at this stage....

On a separate production line, the hardback covers are manufactured. This is still done in the same plant, by a different team. Known in the trade as “cases” these are not for my book, but another just ahead of mine....

Next is a very clever, multi-function machine that brings together the cases with the book blanks, trims the pages to the correct size and glues the book into the base to make the completed book. All that is left after this is to add the dust cover, or “jacket” as the printers call it....

A similar process happens with the softback books, but a totally different machine is used to bring the various parts of the book together....

Quality control is important at every stage of the process, with people having to sign off every part of that process. If they didn’t check each stage until the book was completed, a minor problem in one process would mean rejection of the whole print run. This is where the completed books are checked....

Overall, the visit to the plant was fascinating. Having never before understood how a book is produced it was terrific to see each part of the process. The guy managing the production of my book, Clinton Walker, went out of his way to show us around and explain the process to us. Along with the Key Account director, Jeremy Snell, we were made to feel very welcome and it was clear the team at Butler Tanner & Dennis are excellent at what they do. I am really looking forward to seeing the end result.

When the book is finalised, they need to be shipped to the various supply locations and then we will be ready to go, in time for the book launch on 4th march.

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Book Update - France In America

My regular readers already know I went on a pretty long ride on my motorcycle across America. It was 21,475 glorious miles of getting to know the country and its people. The journey was a tremendous experience, as I visited 27 different states and witnessed many of the great places America has to offer.

What started out as a simple blog journal of the ride eventually led to the decision to write a book about the road trip and I am pleased to report that book is almost complete. To give you an update, about a month ago, the writing was finished, the photos to be included were chosen, the maps were all drawn and editing was completed.

I then travelled to Thailand to undertake the next stage in the evolution of the book – to create the layout of the book by deciding exactly what goes on each page. Sizing and locating each of the many hundreds of pictures in the best place within the text isn’t easy, so I needed the help of people with considerable experience in this.

My brother Tim lives in Thailand and it was to him I turned for help. He runs a communications company, Inis Communications, that writes, edits and publishes documents to help global health and development organisations achieve greater impact through high quality publications. Tim had helped me with guidance and advice about writing the book and I now needed his help again. Here are the two of us, working on the book....

Tim and his team made the task of creating the book layout very easy and it was a pleasure to watch experienced people at work. At four hundred pages this is a big book, and they worked their way through it with the ease that only experts can. The main graphic designer, Benya, did a terrific job and produced a layout I am very happy with. This is Benya discussing the cover of the book with me....

Many, many thanks go to Tim and his whole team for turning my words and pictures into a fantastic-looking book. I am thrilled with the end results.

You can find out more about the book here.

More updates will follow. The next stage is another area of complete mystery for me - choosing the right printer. Now, just how do you go about that.....?

Next week, I will tell you about fulfilling a promise I made......

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Trip to the Champagne Region, northern France

What better way to spend three gloriously sunny days than to jump on your motorbikes, take the Channel Tunnel train to France, ride to the Champagne region and drink fantastic bubbly with some friends?

That is precisely what seven of us did last weekend.

05:30 and the alarm shook to life, but as before many long riding trips, I was already awake.  30 minutes later I was loading my new custom bike, Amelia and trying very hard to ride it down my street as quietly as possible, in order not to wake the neighbours.  I probably failed. 

It was chilly as I rode the almost 100 miles to the train terminal and I was glad to get there and warm up while waiting for the train.  Nick (HD Street Glide) and his wife Jane (HD Sportster 883 Superlow) were already there.  Sumit and Raj (HD Sportster) and Keith and Sue (HD Road King) all arrived soon and we were soon speeding through the tunnel on the train to France. After arriving at Calais, we then rode about 200 miles to get to our base, in Reims.

This is Sumit and Raj on some picturesque French country roads....

We spent Saturday riding around looking at the region, the centre of Champagne production.  Only wine produced in the region can be called Champagne, which has been produced here since 1531.  From everywhere else, it is called sparkling wine.  It was pointed out to me that each field is marked with stones, showing who the grapes belong to....

At one point, we saw a huge sign showing the maker of one of the most well known Champagne producers and of course, had to park the bikes right under it....

With the exception of a few crops, almost nothing else is grown or farmed here but grapes.  There are certainly a lot of grapes.....

Overlooking the fields is a strange sight.  At about 150 miles from the sea, stands a 200 foot tall lighthouse, built to celebrate and promote the champagne region.  We climbed its narrow steps and looked over the straight lines of grape vines....

We went to see the Abbey of Saint Hilaire, where Benedictine Monks made the first champagne.  Dom Perignon stayed at the Abbey and gave advice to the monks to improve the quality of the wine.  This is Nick and I, leaning against the wall of the Abbey....

A UNESCO World Heritage Site, we went to see the Cathedral in the centre of Reims.  Rebuilt after a fire destroyed the original building in AD 1211, the ‘new’ Cathedral is a marvel of design and construction....

At 455 ft long, 98 feet wide and about 125 feet high, the interior of the main Nave is huge.  Dark stained glass windows do not let in much light and so the Cathedral is dark and somewhat gloomy, but the side aisles are much brighter....

It was all too much for a couple of elderly oriental gentlemen, who made the most of the quiet and grabbed a quick nap....

Trams run on rails through large parts of the city.  Not good on a motorcycle on a wet day, as the rails become very slippery.  Thankfully it was a screaming hot day when we were there....

This is Nick, the guy who organised our short trip.  Here he is considering the purchase of a new bike....

A graffiti art competition was taking place in the centre of Reims....

We had great food....

.... and even better company....  Sumit, Sue, Raj, Keith, Nick, Jane and yours truly.....

Sunday saw us riding back through France on mainly quiet country roads, arriving back at the tunnel just in time to get the train back under the sea. 

A great trip all round.

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