RE: recommendations South England - 2

Zitat von himoverthere im Beitrag #15

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Having spent too many years riding in congested rubbish strewn southern England now ride around southern France. We have empty road, better weather, considerate drivers, parking is free food is better and cheaper

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I don't think you can lump all of southern england into the same category, there is a distinct difference between the south east and other parts of the south. If we think of the south as anything below the M4, I do enjoy the north Wessex downs, down to Salisbury and Cranborne chase. Wiltshire, Somerset, Dorset kind of areas. Plus Devon and Cornwall of course outside of peak holiday times.
Furthermore, if you're travelling from the Netherlands it will seem sparesely populated!

Zitat von Becksy im Beitrag #17

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I don't think you can lump all of southern england into the same category, there is a distinct difference between the south east and other parts of the south. If we think of the south as anything below the M4, I do enjoy the north Wessex downs, down to Salisbury and Cranborne chase. Wiltshire, Somerset, Dorset kind of areas. Plus Devon and Cornwall of course outside of peak holiday times.
Furthermore, if you're travelling from the Netherlands it will seem sparesely populated!

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The question below is no longer applicable, I have since found the answer.
"The bike shed" is outside the Congestion zone and therefore does not apply to me.


Since I want to visit "the bike shed" in London during my round trip, I registered my bike with Euro Parking Collection for the low emission zone (LEZ) and the ultra low emission zone (ULEZ) in London.
I have since received the confirmation for both zones, complient /accepted.
Now my English is not really very good, can make myself understood reasonably well but something remains unclear to me in the mail from EPCplc.
Below is the rest of the mail:
We can confirm that this vehicle meets the required standards, is exempt from the scheme or is subject to a 100% discount. This means you will not need to pay a ulez charge to travel in the zone.
You will still need to pay the congestion charge and the low emission zone charge (if applicable to your vehicle) if you drive in the zone you will receive a penalty charge notice.

What I don't quite understand is the last sentence, what is meant by congestion charge (I received a separate mail for the low emission zone, which is also okay) and what is meant by: if you drive in the zone you will receive a penalty charge notice.

Should I do anything now to avoid penalties?
Sorry for the long story but I hope someone can help me, I like to travel well prepared.

It means that if you drive your vehicle into the congestion zone (central London) AND your vehicle is required to pay the congestion zone charge AND you don't pay the day rate, you'll be fined. Motorcycles are currently exempt vehicles for London's congestion zone so you can drive into it and don't need to pay and can't get fined. But motorcycle parking bays are charged for in some places in central London.

Bunter,
thank you very much for this clarification.
Now I can still possibly deviate from the route without worrying about a fine.

Thanks again to everyone for all the advice.
I went for 5 days (unfortunately I could not go longer) in May and found it to be fantastic.
Despite the somewhat shorter period, I saw a lot of beautiful things and I am aware that there is still a lot to see.
Very likely I will come "your" way again.

Do tell us where you went, what was good / not so good etc.

Becksy, I will definitely still do that.
Right now I am in a renovation at home but fortunately the end is in sight and I have a little more time to ride again.

IMG-20230522-WA0000.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

Much later than anticipated, I still want to share with you the route (as promised)
I hope my English is good enough to follow the story

Day 1
From Hoogerheide, my hometown in the Netherlands, we took the scenic route to Antwerp (Belgium) and had a breakfast to get the vacation feeling right away.
Then we took the freeway to Calais to be in time for the train, eventually an hour earlier than planned but we were able to check in immediately to take the next train to Folkestone.
This was also the last stretch of freeway for the next few days, I tried to drive on the smaller roads as much as possible.
From Folkstone, on the advice of wessie, we didn't take the coastal road but went inland with the "Seven Sisters" as our first destination.
After this we drove on to Brighton and sat in the sun on the pier. After this moment of rest it was time to go to our first overnight stop in Portsmouth.
We slept and had breakfast at "Everley Guest House." Not a special place but the rooms were clean, the main street with several pubs and eateries around the corner, a delicious full english breakfast and a super friendly host with whom you could have a wonderful conversation about the most diverse topics.

Day 2.
The first thing we drove to was the viewpoint that wessie pointed out in response #2. The point from which you have a nice view of the city. We did not take the burgers mentioned, we had just had breakfast and full english had filled the stomach well.
The route went via Southampton, Bournemouth, Sandbanks (crossing by pound) to the Old Harry Rocks, Corfe Castle and Lulworth Cove.
Then we drove on to Shaftesbury to visit Gold Hill. Then to Salisbury to visit the beautiful Cathedral. Then to drive on to Porton for our next overnight stay.
This overnight stay was at "the Old Railway Porton" about 14 kilometers from Stonehenge. Upon arrival we had to report through the cafe area to ask for the key to our room. Here just sat the local darts club and I can say it turned out to be a great evening.

Day 3
First on the map is Stonehenge. On the internet I had seen that if you go via the north side (Larkhill) you can get close to it by motorcycle. After a bit of off road we were indeed close to it and we were able to stay just outside the paid area to still be able to see it very closely. We got there before it officially opened and were with about 4 more people at the time.
Through Westbury (White Horse also seen) we walked around Wells for a while, very nice. Then we drove on to Bath and did some sightseeing there as well.
I didn't quite have the route in my head and I thought we were on our way to our next overnight stop. How surprising it is then when you drive into Castle Combe, what a great place, here time really stood still.
The overnight stay this time was in Stroud, "the Old Lodge," a beautiful place on top of a hill. The name did it justice, it was indeed old (narrow hallway, small doors and so on) but no less cozy for that. This certainly had its charm.

Day 4.
This day is used to drive in a fun way towards London. As far as possible then, almost every town or village has things we want to stop for.
The first stop is Cirencester and then we visit Oxford. Of course we spend some time here as well. The destination for the day is The WatersEdge, Canal Cottages in Hillingdon.
This is just outside London, here we want to visit "the bike shed" on our last day.

Day 5
The last day in England. Today the program includes a visit to a Hindu temple, the bike shed and Canterbury.
At departure I first checked what time the bike shed opens and unfortunately this is much later than I thought. As a result, we had to drive to the ace cafe to compensate.
The visit to the temple was very impressive, for us this was the first time we visited such a temple. Ace cafe I already knew, we had been there years ago. After visiting Canterbury we drove back to Folkestone to take the train.
Since it was getting late anyway, we stopped for dinner in Bruges (Belgium) and drove home from there.

All in all, we had a fantastic trip in May, thanks in part to your advice. In those 5 days we didn't have a drop of rain and at times we could even sit in a t-shirt.
My next trip (another 5 days or so) will probably go to Austria and Switzerland.

Sounds like you had a good trip, and you must be some kind of weather diviner to have found 5 consecutive dry days in 2023.