Stator, The GSR travelling mascot.

[Charlie G]

Going to help Richard out by posting Stators picture while he's on the way to France. Tomo, did you get Stator a new jacket?

[tomo]

Tomo, did you get Stator a new jacket?

Hi Charlie, yes, gave it to him just before he flew out to the oil rigs. Dawn thought he might get a chill otherwise, plus he needed to look the part as John`s co-pilot.

[londonboards]

Another Visit to Tatu Before Going to France

We just had to go back and see Tatu one more time to make sure we had some good shots.

Tatu has a beautiful GS1000S which Stator was most impressed with:







But then there is also the Stinger:





And let's not forget the Kat:





Just to mention some of the bikes!

[Charlie G]

A Katana? I don't remember seeing a Kat! Looks really nice.

cg

[tatu]

A Katana? I don't remember seeing a Kat! Looks really nice.

cg

Thanks, It arrived just after you were here, Clearly Stator has a good eye, it isn't an ordinary Kat, the carbs give it away.

[pete]

Mmmmmm Kat... Stator has good taste

[londonboards]

Stator Goes to France - 1

We had one little job to do on the GSX1100 / GS1150 EF before we set off. I needed to upgrade the lamps in the speedo / tach console so that I could actually read them and to put some stickers on the KPH speedo so I knew approximately how many MPH I was doing.









We set off at the crack of dawn on Sunday the 18th October and I headed down to the Eurotunnel (Channel Tunnel Rail Terminal) at Folkestone - about 20 miles from me in Canterbury. It was very misty.



Stator was riding up front with me in my tank bag. We met the others and rode into the train.





In the train and looking out the window.





We went for 4 days riding and 3 nights stay over going to Honfleur and then along the D-Day landing beaches to St. Malo and back up to Calais.

[londonboards]

Stator Goes to France - 2

So after our early morning start, a good French lunch was on the cards.

We were following the coast road to Honfleur and there were plenty of sea food restaurants.







Then we rode on to Honfleur and found a little bar to watch the Rugby.









Parked up at the hotel. Stator sure was glad to come out of the tank bag.

[Charlie G]

Great pictures! Your lunch of mussels and bread makes me hungry.

[londonboards]

Stator Goes to France - 3

Next day we set off for the D-Day beaches of Normandy. They are not only beautiful. They are places of immense historic significance. Many of the beaches and towns are now a homage to the battles fought here and the lives lost.

The Allies arrived on these shores on June the 6th 1944. 156,000 were landed on the first day.

My wife's father came ashore on Sword Beach on June the 7th, 1944. A fact we only discovered a few years ago. The GS Suzuki generation (I'm 57) have never seen anything like it. Thank God. It was a humbling experience.

We started at Sword Beach and the first memorial was to the Royal Marines and Commandos (Sword Beach was attacked by the British):



and to the 23rd Destroyer Flotilla:



This was the actual beach:







We went into the Tourist Information Office to make sure we didn't miss anything. The lady gave us a local map to follow:



There were memorials all along the coast:





Further along the coast we came to Juno beach which was liberated by the Canadians. This is the fist house to be liberated and is now a Canadian War Memorial:

[londonboards]

Stator Goes to France - 4

Further down the coast and we are in Arromanche, where the Allies established the primary harbour for the landing of supplies. This was done by the towing across from England of many of these Mulberry Harbours to create an instant harbour (BTW "Harbour" spelt correctly):



You can see them all in the distance. They have been left as memorials:

[londonboards]

Stator Goes to France 5 - Omaha Beach - US War Cemetary

We head on to Omaha Beach an further to the American Cemetary.









Where the landings took place:



There was a map here carved from Stone, showing the beaches:



In a most remarkable coincidence, the map was signed by it's creator who had the same name as my wife's Dad.. My Father-in-Law had landed at Sword Beach on D-Day plus one. The name of the map's creator and my Father-in-Law are both the same - Robert Foster. And the map creator's name appears just below Sword Beach. Made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up:



For reasons of respect, Stator kept himself to himself in my tank bag. He came with us for the tour but didn't poke his head out.

He's in here:

[londonboards]

Stator Goes to France 6 - US War Cemetery (continued)

No words are needed from me for these photos:




















You may recognise the cemetery from the Saving Private Ryan film. The recent day filming was made here.

Over 425,000 Allied and German troops were killed, wounded or went missing during the Battle of Normandy which lasted about 12 weeks

[londonboards]

Stator Goes to France 7 - Omaha Beach - First Landing

Further on from the American Cemetery we come across the site of the very first landing. A dramatic sculpture marks the spot:

[londonboards]

Stator Goes to France - 8

After a long and emotional day, we made it to St. Malo. Me and the boys went for some beers and something to eat but Stator was pooped.





The next morning I decided to check out the reason my rear lamp, dash lamps and tach fuse was blowing. The boys told me that I only had one lit lamp in my rear cluster. When I had put in the second bulb, after about 5 minutes the fuse popped. Replace the fuse and the fuse popped again. I wanted to know what was going on and I really wanted both lamps to work. When you are doing motorway (highway) miles in the approaching winter days, you want as much visibility as possible.

So I got down to the underground garage in the IBIS hotel (lovely having the bikes parked up in a dry garage) before the others were up to see if I could find a problem.







I read the loading with my multimeter and with all the lights on it drew about 6.5 amps.



But then as soon as we set off the fuse popped again. So I took out the second bulb in the rear cluster and ran it with the single bulb. I still don't know why that is happening.