Bit of rain after the bridges, raining more now on the tent. But as Roberto said, where it's green, they get a lot of rain & it's really green here in nothern Netherlands near the German border. I of course didn't go to Amsterdam, (snarly!) but saw this rather compelling route.  Those bridges were odd - looks like roads in the middle of the bay but there is no bridge, they're actually both isthmus & the 32km (20 mile) one is a 4-lane highway with 81 mph speed limit. There is a drawbridge at each end for boats & I assume these "land bridges" are total constructs. In another way the Dutch handle water, I rode at several underpasses that were not roads, but aquaducts - an overpass for a canal! On my way here is saw several Teslas and then I saw why, a huge Tesla facility! During my ride so far I have encountered lots of travelers from the Netherlands & now see it's a busy and properous place - they are obviously doing it right.

Back on the continent the last 3 days - France, Belgium & now the Netherlands. The English are experiencing "Brexit" but I saw no outward manifestation of the EU in the UK; they use miles and feet, the £-pound, drive on the left, etc. After leaving Belgium and entering the Netherlands, I drove through a town (Baarle-Hertog) that has no idea what country it's in. The picture shows a labyrinth arrangement of little sections of this town, each either in Belgium or Netherlands, even though the town itself is well within the Netherlands borders. Gas is the highest I've seen yet - €1.60 per liter at one place (that's $6.81 US per gallon!). The typical price for regular has been around €1.28/liter ($5.45/gallon). It's cooler here, rain at night with clouds & some sun during the day.

I have been resting for a couple of days at Dicky & Chrissy's house, which is the yellow star west of London in the satellite pictures. Having accepted the invitation from Dicky to come & visit, I am once again experiencing new places from a real-live setting as a guest instead of a tourist. I am once again eating well and living comfortably but I will be leaving tomorrow to continue the voyage. The picture shows Chrissy with the gaggle of dogs here - 4 of their dogs, a border and the 6 cavapoochon puppies - there are two black pups at Chrissy's knees. They make quite a bit of noise when they get going!

Ireland in good weather! Perfect riding temps with clear skies and sun - ideal. So as I get stopped by cops for a routine traveler check near Killarney, I of course respond with my trip plans. He never did ask for ID, but said "so you are headed to The Ring of Kerry?" Never having heard of this I looked it up and saw that only a few miles away was one of the world's nice rides! Others I know of would include Blue Ridge Parkway, Pacific Coast highway, Nova Scotia's Cabot Trail, Natchez Trace, Alcan Highway, Tasmania's Great Eastern Drive, etc. & all of these I have done, so of course I change my non-existant plans and do this thing, particularly since the skies are so favorable. And it took me here to the blue dot...

By the way, the star in France is Roberto's house, the two in England are the ferry and Dicky's house.

Northern Ireland! Imagine my surprise when I wake up in Scotland and find blue skies and sunshine - warm! This has continued into Northern Ireland, where it was awesome riding today (after taking the BFB over here) and a now a beautiful evening at the blue dot. People here are great and it is of course beautiful. Traveling is really all it's cracked up to be - to awaken in places you have heard about all your life & pack up and go find another.

Scotland! Finally got my tire and made it here. It sure is pretty; much the same as northern England, only bigger! And, it rained on the ride for a while afterward... It's been raining some, but at night while in the tent - no problem at all.  Not going to northern Scotland, and staying out of Glasgow & Edinburgh means I'll ride up the middle and down the west coast, where the ferry for Northern Ireland departs. So I'm coming up on Scotland and stop to check the road sign and its implications for finding the little road I was looking for. There are some strange town names around here, for sure...

Mix-up at Honda dealer means the new "tyre" won't be in until tomorrow so I am in a place called "Lake District National Park" north of Lancaster (called "The Lakes" here), where I can return for the tire in the morning. This is an awesome place & ranks as one of the prettiest I've seen. A great joy to ride through, if a bit twisty for my tastes. The "siderails" are stone, with no space whatever - don't want to miss a curve here!  A small delay is welcome in this case! Overall, the farther north I go the better England gets. Yesterday the trains came by near the campground, but they just "whished" right on by with almost no sound whatever! An iery sound indeed; electric trains with none of that nasty train whistle stuff - plus, smooth tracks so no rumbling or clacking. A strange experience for one used to noisy North American behemoths.

Well, England... I am surprised by the differences here, particularly in driving. I had to look up default speed limits online since they are not posted, only the deviations to them. OK, there are a lot of roundabouts, but quite a few have traffic lights, too! There are cameras, but everybody speeds. When in Canada, I have to mentally convert KM to miles on the Harley MPH meter. Here, it is the other way around - but I just looked in the Honda manual & tomorrow I will change the settings! And the wind continues - must be bad even for here since the Carriageway (not highway, mind you) even slowed down the default speed electronically with a warning about the wind. Went into Wales for a while today, real pretty. The picture is from last night, where I was right in the middle. North of Liverpool tonight (top yellow star) - still staying out of cities!

England! Last couple days have been horrendous for wind coming off the Atlantic - steady 45 kmh w/gusts to I guess 90 kmh. I was on my way to Calais and the ferry to the UK. Seems better this morning. I discovered that some things are as they say; the White Cliffs of Dover are just that! So now I am driving on the left again (does take some getting used to at first). I have alway answered the question "where around going?' with "wherever it's not raining". But now, I am purposefully heading into cold & wet. Oh, well...

As I entered the Fougères region, I saw the sign "1,000 years of history in Fougères". Makes the "Founded in 1815" signs seem a little whimpy. However, this being a riding trip and not an architectural discovery tour, I rode right on by. It was a nice day for riding with a bright sun, even if it was a little cool. Woke up in a campground in Bayeux, a little town in Normandy which I later learned is not far from the epicenter of the D-day beach landings. Saw a lot of commotion in the campground the night before, with British military jeeps parading around. As you can now guess, I had no clue about where I was! Turns out today is the official holiday & everything was closed. This being a riding trip, I packed up and moved on!

I found some truly original folks today - gypsies living as nomads! Actually descendants of Django Reinhardt! Called "Tsiganes" here, there are still many musicians among them. However, I was the only one today since the one family member who plays was not present. Quite an experience, as they were camped along the road, with the horse whose task it is to pull the wagon, near an intersection (I simply set up with them). The police did come by to chat, but it was friendly as their stay was already known and all they wanted to know was how long they had planned on staying at this location. Traveling as I do in order to meet people of all kinds all over the world, this was truly remarkable & goes down as an unforgettable experience. As an added bonus for me (and they said, them) my music was well received and much appreciated. As a traveling minstrel, I found kinship here. However, I must say that I am not quite prepared to join such a lifestyle - yet!