MooN

yeah but only cos I was always told that if nobody else sees it, it doesn't count. I shan't mention the other two times...

never sold anything on ebay. never bought anything there either...

I dropped it static Pete...

Weather was a bit odd on sunday, 10/10ths cloud cover with a warm wind from the south and an odd light so the pics might look a bit strange. Having spent all day saturday in the car traveling from here to Louhans, to Perouges, to Lyon and back here again my back was aching so I decided on a short ride, close to home allowing me to pull the plug and retreat if I got any pain or if the bizarre weather turned to sht. I rode south along the river to Bailly and visited the cooperative wine cellar there there are about 4 hectares underground (50 ish metres underground) where they make Cremant de Bourgogne, a local fizzy wine. This has remained open as it is, naturally, considered by the French as a "neccessary commerce". I started here because there are 3 of these underground systems along the east bank of the river between Auxerre and Cravant. Originally stone mines at the turn of the last century, this is the only one that is still safe to visit. Used today as a cooperative wine producer and seller, it was used as a munitions depot by the Germans during the occupation, the other two cave systems further along the valley were used as an aircraft repair facility by the Luftwaffe and were the target of a number of allied bombing raids. The acces is not easy and the airfield is the other side of the river, so they set up a cableway from the cave entrance, across the river and down to the valley floor. The remains of the site are still visible IF you know where to look, and I have seen at the local mayors office, photographs of a focke wulf fighter being hauled up the cableway from the runway to the underground workshop in the cliff face. the entrance/ Exit South along the river again, through Vincellottes and Vincelles onto the winding back road along the eastern bank between the cliff and the river you come across this first last time I came up here you could go in the pill box, and obviously many of the local "youfs" had done so over the years. The entrance is now sealed with a steel door and it has been transformed into a bat breeding site The other side of the pill box looks out over a 15 or 20 metre drop across the valley . A hundred metres further along is the first of the underground workshop entrances. the sign on the door says that there are "Pieges a feu" ( explosive traps) and alarms to discourage intruders. on the opposite side of the road are the vestiges of the winding tower for the cableway again looking out over the river below, but you cant see that due to the vegetation. another 100 or so metres along is the 2nd, smaller, entrance photo taken AFTER tigger had decided to have a wee nap I even had the presence of mind to think of you lot and take a pic befor picking it up! In the time it took me to pick it up 2 cars had stopped to see if I was ok or needed help, which was reassuring. On south again, past another pill box and then, as the cliff peters out somewhat, the remains of the soldiers and techniciens barracks from there I dropped down to the village of Cravant, crossed the river and headed back north along the main road to Vincelles, cut east across the railway and back towards the same place but the other side of the river and on the valley floor. The airfield is now a model aircraft club airfield from this position, if I turn northwards a little you can see the workshop entrances in the cliff face over the river ( just left of centre in the pic below) there are no traces left of the cableway gear down here, though I have heard that some are still visible down by the river. further along a dirt track from the airfield, about level with the far end of the runway is another, I presume, barracks or possibly workshop? they obviously had to dismantle wings and suchlike before moving a plane up the cables to the cliff workshop, and re assemble them again before flight. I rode straight in and took a pic looking back east straight across the valley to the cliff entrances. zoomed... I took a short vid of this place but have no idea how to post it so I'll have to work on that.

you should buy shares in that jet wash! @XTreme

we're looking into wankers redundancy, but the French employment laws are atrocious for trying to get rid of somebody, costs huge amounts of money unless you can prove professional misdeeds.

oooh thanks, I might have to try that. I have followed the various adventures of Colebatch riding that part of the world which has only served to fuel my desire to go there one day.

Dunno, try searching for Fred Coleman the Author

I'm already a lot slower than I used to be. the problem is, it's not really his fault, our main mechanic has been off sick ( piss taking) for a year now and despite advertising we've had 0 candidates for the job. That, on top of the covid situation means that he doesn't really have much choice. However, I ran with it for the 4 months of last season ( and ended with a ruptured tendon in my ledt shoulder and a split meniscus in my left knee) but said quite clearly that I was NOT prepared to do another season like that one. He is also playing the mechanic and painting boats etc, but that is, at the end of the day not my problem, it's his company and I am an employee and I need to look after me at the moment he can look after himself.

had to start back to work again this week. Not a happy Bunny. due to circumstances I have taken a step back 30 years and am now doing a mechanics job. Problem is my boss seems to think that I can do this on top of all the stuff I am supposed to do as manager like sourcing and ordering parts, fuel, gas, running the stock, fixing the bikes, client paperwork, client handovers etc etc etc. I have told him, in writing, that I am not physically capable of doing the mechanics job ( which is why they changed my job description in 2016 after my back operation) and gave him a copy of that letter. So far he has simply carried on as if he never got the mail. Not gonna last cos I will rapidly break down ( physically). Needless to say i haven't been up to posting much this week.

"Le Reseau Marcel" was originally written in English, but it was bought for me in French by my mother in law. Itis an incredible (true) story of Moussa Abadi, a Syrien jew and his french catholic wife who between them, and with the help of numerous others, saved 527 jewish children from the concentration camps. I have just go to the part where Odette ( Moussa's wife) is interned in Auschwitz. She avoided death because she was a nurse and volonteered to help in the "hospital" which was, in fact Dr Mengele's experimentation lab... the absolute pure and unadulterated horror of it is very, very clear. The book as a whole is a striking example of normal people taking extraordinary risks to do what they know to be right and just, whatever the cost. Not however, a book for the faint hearted.

I thought the kit under the triumph seat was a bit lightweight, but at least it has the neccessary bits to tension the chain. I still reckon that on most modern bikes, what with the ecu controlling the engine and most other stuff even the dash being digital and electronicly controlled, apart from changing a fuse, there's not much you can repair roadside anyway. so the quality of a toolkit is acedemic.

thanks @Sir Fallsalot I meant OPTICAL zoom, not mechanical, but I just couldn't think of the word for it. Brain dead having started back to work today after another 4 week furlough ( that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! )

if you're looking specifically at zoom capacities, most codern cameras ( especially compacts but some Bridge models as well) have a mechanical zoom and also a digital zoom, for good quality you want as much mechanical zoom as possible rather than digital zoom, which deteriorates detail quality. That's what I was told by a professional when I was looking at compact cameras. Other than that I am clueless

naaah, the French only worry about the rain if its getting in the pastis and watering it down...

MEDIC! MEDIC! I bet you saw your life flash before your eyes. I was expecting some ripe swearing in that vid though

well it wasn't me for once!

I can see that abs can render the braking power ineffective but would a locked wheel slide be more efferctive? in the dirt I mean.

can someone explain in terms an idiot (me) can understand about ABS and the desire / need to disconnect it when riding offroad? Now, I don't do "proper" hardcore off road riding but trails / dirtroads in the dry . Bike is tiger 800xc ABS. The ABS is deconnectable and I understand that this is most desirable for off road riding... what I don't understand is why? Whilst riding stony trails this afternoon, in a couple of steeper down hill sections, on loose stones, I distinctly remember thinking that I had to be really careful to not lock up the rear with the brake cos it'd become uncontrollable... a front wheel slide would be an automatic attack of "lying down with a motorcycle on top of me" . I then remembered that I had ABS so was able to relax a little. It may be that an experienced rider would be able to control a slide, a rear wheel slide at least but I'm curious as to what circumstances would make a rearwheel slide preferrable to controlled ABS braking?

I've no idea what the rules and regs are on the GR routes Bob, probably differs fron region to region, I just give walkers a wide berth and stop for horses. problem for horses is that if I switch off, the alarm runs its auto diagnostic and emits a crescendo series of beeps... no horses today though, just a couple of walkers.

I seem to remember that on XRV.org the first wave of subscriptions was to access certain parts of the forum, but I could stil post and read the general stuff, the 2nd wave meant only subscribers could post. I stopped going.

I decided to eschew the tarmac today and adjusted the suspension accordingly. having pretty much run out if ideas within the 10k radius I decided to ride some of the local trails, starting with the GR13 ( staying within 10 km of home) This is actually the first ever trail I rode on the transalp back in 2005 0r 2006 having been inspired by ride reports from, if I remember rightly, Grizz, Gnomad and one or two others on DSUK or maximum bikes. I picked up the GR13 at Champs sur Yonne and took a wrong turn almost immediately, but discovered the way into the village football field back tracked a couple of hundred yards and headed east along the correct trail I'm not very fit and am still learning the tiger off road, so I stopped regularly to think about what I was doing and to catch my breath, also to look at the map ( I use a paper IGN , (O.S. equivalent) for this sort of thing) and actually enjoy the "proper" navigation. as you can see, this is no technical "off road" riding a la Boboneleg or Sirfallsalot, but more or less wellmaintained, dry limestone trails through the vinyards. One of the things I love about riding these trails is that I came across no fences and no gates... at all. Looking out over the river, South East to Vincellottes and directly South through wooded sections above Irancy and back on the open trails across the plateau to drop down the other side back to the river and home. nearly 3 hours in all. Finished at the car wash to get the dust off,