Touring in Merrie Olde England

 

On another thread Mr. Schiffner mentioned Geoffrey Chaucer, famous for
_The Canterbury Tales_, which was about a pilgrimage in the Middle Ages
of approximately 65 miles SE from Southwark (near London Bridge)
to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral, Kent.

The journey could well have taken over a week in Medieval times, but
these days the pilgrims could probably make the trip on motorcycles
in an hour or two, giving them hardly enough time for more than a few
tales; in fact if the Wife of Bath were speaking (over an in-helmet
RF intercom, of course) she might not even get through her prologue.

It looks as though they could take A20 as far as Swanley, and then
M20 to Aylesford, M2 to Faversham and finally A2 to Canterbury, if I'm
reading Google maps correctly -- but the point is that with modern
machines like touring bikes we can rush around so quickly these days
that it seems we can lose time rather than gain it.

SQ

 


I think that I would prefer to travel down to Canterbury by motorcoach
from Victoria *Coach* Station in London since a motorcycle really
becomes an encumbrance when touring cultural sites.

While touring in the countryside, it's nice to have your own wheels
and travel according to your own whim, but you just have to worry
about what is happening to your bolted on bits and tied on luggage
while you're inside a cultural edifice you came visit.

Touring by motorcycle really becomes a drag when you have to wear bad
weather gear or some sort of riding apparel which isn't good for
anything else, and you have to leave your helmet and maybe a jacket
outdoors at the mercy of thieves
while you tramp around inside a building and get stared at by
gentlepersons who are nicely dressed and think you a buffoon at best
or a teddy boy at worst.

Then when you're done with your quick reconnaissance of the building
and perhaps have bought some postcards (or a souvenir book you'll
never read) you have to tramp back to the motorcycle, hoping
everything is all still there, suit up like a medieval knight and
motor down the road to the next point of interest and repeat the
process of doffing the gear and locking up the bike.

After you've done that four or five times in a morning's touring, you
just might be thinking about going with the flow and using public
transportation like everybody else does...

 




<chokes on supper>


--
Beav

VN 750
Zed 1000
OMF# 19

 

Beav wrote:

If the little man in his riding suit is not "nicely dressed" he needs some
better gear.

 



Get real. If you're wearing a 'stich in a cathedral, you're as out of
place as if you're wearing hockey gear.

One time I was at Meteora, in Greece, and a German couple rode up on a
BMW.

The Germans were wearing their swim suits under their leather, as
Germans tend to do in Greece and Turkey so they stripped off their
leather and went into the monastery, he in a speedo and she in a
bikini.

The ladies in our genteel tour group had been cautioned about not
wearing shorts or showing bare shoulders while in religious
buildings...

The Germans came running out of the monastery in about 30 seconds...