Plowing contest for vintage farm tractors
Very interesting was the steam powered combine-harvester. A big belt
went from a steam engine to the combine-harvester. It must have been
very dangerous in that time !
A combine-harvester
The engine powering the combine-harvester
During the steam fair I bought a hot dog and an ice cream and after
we left the steam fair we had a picknick by the bikes. The sun was
shining and Jen had prepared very tasty sandwiches so we had a good
time.
After the picknick, at about half past two, we went to Blackgang Chine,
an amusement park on the South coast.
The beautiful views you see when riding around the Isle of Wight
Blackgang Chine had a lot of nice attractions. There is a western "village"
Buffalo Creek, Fairy tail scenes a model village with beautiful miniature
models of buildings found on the Isle of Wight like Winkle street and
St Catherine's Lighthouse. It was interesting too, to see the big dino's.
Life size models of a Tyrannosaurus Rex and a Triceratops. Very nice.
A Triceratops in Blackgang Chine
I was captured in Blackgang Chine 
In the evening we had tea at the house of Paul's brother and after dinner
at paul and jen's house we went to the pub again. (Unfortunately no life
band playing tonight). It was about midnight when we went to bed after a
very nice and interesting day.
Tuesday, April 8, 1980
I woke up at seven. After breakfast, we went to Ryde to get some souvenirs.
From the main street in Ryde, you can see the sea and England in the distance.
The mainstreet of Ryde
From Ryde we took the coast route to Paul and Jen's house and after lunch we went
to Fishbourne where I got the ferry back to the mainland of England.
Leaving the Isle of Wight after a wonderfull weekend
From Portsmouth I drove back to Stonehouse Farm in High Hurstwood (near Uckfield)
and at almost five in the afternoon I arrived at the farm.
In the evening Wim, Albert and I went fox hunting but we did not shoot anything.
Because they had some more guest on the farm, I had to sleep in the small caravan. Not
to bad but when I turned around in my sleep, I ripped my sleepingbag open and now
it was cold.
Wednesday, April 9, 1980
On Wednesdaymorning I left Stonehouse farm at half past eight to get the ferry from
Dover to Zeebrugge in Belgium. I was driving to the East and the sun was just coming
up so it was hard to see against the sun so I put black tape on the upper part of
my motorcycle goggles. That helped a bit.
At half past nine I arrived at the port, bought a ticket and went through customs.
Unfortunately, departure time was half past eleven so I had to wait two hours in the
ferry terminal.
Waiting at the ferry port
I walked around the terminal, played some electronic games in the bar until it was
time to board the ferryboat.
Finally we left Dover and I saw the famous white cliffs getting smaller and smaller.
The white cliffs getting smaller
On the boat I met some other bikers, Derek and Phil. Derek was a sound technician
with the BBC and Phil came from Hongkong. They were on their way to Amsterdam on a
small Honda CB200 (They planned to go with four people in a mini but when a wheel
broke of the car, they decide to go by bike with the two of them).
There was another Englishman who had a Honda CB250. he was on his way to Germany but
he had a problem with his fuses blowing all the time. Fortunalely for him we found
where the shortcircuit was and solved it with some insulatingtape that I had with me.
The ferry arrived in Zeebrugge at six in the afternoon (Dutch time) and together with
Phil and Derek, I drove to Breskens via Knokke (B) and Sluis (NL). At the ferryterminal
I bought the tickets (at 3 guilders each). The lady at the ticket office told that we
could catch the ferry that was in the port now if we would hurry so we did and right
after we entered the ship, the doors closed and we left.
The ferry from Breskens to Vlissingen (picture from a postcard)
On the ferry, Derek bought me a coffe and I bought a sandwich with raw salted herring
(typical Dutch food).
At half past seven we arrived in Vlissingen. Together we went in the direction of Goes.
Then I went North, over the Zeelandbrug via Rotterdam to Voorburg and Derek and Phil
went East in the direction of Breda.
At half past eight in the evening i arrived home at my parents place after a very
nice weekend. I really enjoyed riding the almost 1400 km on my SR500.
|
