Yesterday, we went out for a trip in Herman, the intention, to head toward the coast somewhere, potter about, find some nice driving roads and come back and watch the second half of the FA Cup.
I thought Hastings, maybe, then west to Beachy Head (not jump off) then back up to London.
It was raining when we left London, so chances of pottering around were reduced and somewhere on A21 going south, there was an accident, completely blocking up the traffic. Turned out to be a bit of a blessing, as heading west, we found some really rather nice twisty roads, and eventually found our way to Beachy Head…. and just in time as we both needed a wee.
It was around this time that Herman hit 1000 KM. According to the car’s manual: keep below about two-thirds engine power in the first 1000 KM. Hurrah!
So, armed with lots of sea air, a good lunch from the Birling Gap Hotel, and a mostly run-in engine, we head off home, due north and discovered the awesome A267. Lots of ups and downs and blind bits and tightening corners and single track bits. On balance, I’d say this road (and an interesting one we discovered on the way down) are more fun that the roads in Gloucestershire where I grew up.
The day was slightly spoiled by the Blackwall Tunnel southern approach being closed due to an accident just as we were getting to the Sun in the Sands junction. Blimey, I don’t know how many hours we got stuck in traffic trying to go west toward the Rotherhithe Tunnel.
Needless to say, we missed the second half of the FA Cup.
Update: some pics here
7 Comments
Oooh - you were stuck in a jam near my old neck of the woods. Funny how you only ever hear about Sun In The Sands in terms of how broken the Blackwall Tunnel is
Any reason why you’re not using Miles in Herman?
I can understand why you don’t live in SITS any more…. it’s not much fun.
Miles? Well, I do miles, and Herman is configured for miles and mpg, but the instruction manual is German and says 1000 KM… which is a nice round number compared to 621.371192 miles.
For balance I’ll probably celebrate 1000 miles, but that will likely be on the M6 next week just north of Birmingham.
nice piccies, its a nice area down there - though can see your having the same weather as us this weekend…
btw, herman? isnt it traditional for cars to be considered to be female - not going into why though… perhaps its just old cars
A couple of people have mentioned the usual female naming of cars… I dunno, Herman doesn’t seem that girlie and he is German….
Herman seems alright to me, I’ve just got (well found in a barn) a new motorbike and I’ve named it ’street-hawk’ in honour of it’s immense 80cc’s of power. Vroom!
does it have a built-in machine gun, like the original?
I think Suzuki had that as an optional extra, infact the only feature it shares with the original (according to, http://www.streethawkonline.com/bikeinfo.php) is the ‘on and off road capability’. It has already proved this by performing equally as well on the garden as the drive.
There’s no requirement over here for me to take any sort of test to ride it either (nor is there any MOT for bikes). Fortunately, it’s just like riding a bike and I’ve declared it safe. So, it’s all systems go.
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