Thumper, the road and me.

Yamaha MT03 blog and photos.

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Vianden 2018

57th tourride with Jaap Schultz (Cees v/d Hoek). This year we had cool but dry conditions. The sunday went to the south, along the river Moselle.

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Evening tour along the Lek, crossing the river at Beusichem.

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Day 6, return to home. Escaping the weather in Normandy I decided to go back. The forecast for Netherlands was much better.

A 550km journey through France, Belgium and the Netherlands, avoiding Antwerp and Bruxelles. Via the Peáge in France and secondary roads in the Netherlands. 

Who says you can’t travel with a Yamaha MT03? I you can live with a moderate speed on motorways it’s a good bike to drive for 2-3h between breaks. For high cruise speed a naked bike is not the best option, but when you’re on your destination the small and bendy country roads are a delight with the MT03.

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Day 5, A final stroll through Rouen and a visit to it’s great Cathedral.

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Day 4, Lyons-la-Fôret and Les Andelys

From Rouen I made roundtrip to the lovely town of Lyons-la-Fôret. 

Lyons-la-Forêt is a commune in the Eure department in Haute Normandie in north-western France.

Because of its architecture which has been maintained as it was at the beginning of the 17th century, it is also a well-known landmark within the very distinct geophysical and geocultural entity that is the end of Vexin normandand the forest of Lyons around the town is the border with Pays de Bray known for its traditional bocage landscape of woods, orchards and cattle economy.

(Source Wikipedia)

On the way back, I drove a couple of km south to visit Chateau Gaillard. That is an old castle from Richard Lionheart boven the Seine.

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Day 3,from Houtot-sur-mer on the gorgeous D75, D68, D79 and a lot more, small departmental roads to Etretat. After breakfast at Maison Boivin it took of, in light drizzle, through a very nice landscape on top of the Cote d’Albâtre. Every now and then an inlet came across with nice hairpins down and up.

When I reached Etretat I became  a bit frustrated about the weather. The forecast went from bad to worse. I decided to proceed to Rouen and spent 2 days there for some sight seeing.

A wonderful mediaval center, a great cathedral and lots of history. Combined with a nice city center and good shops. A tip for a (long) weekend trip.

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Day 2, From Audinghen to Hautot-sur-Mer. Starting in lite drizzle I soon changed into the rain suite. After 6 cold and wet hours I decided that it was enough for the day. In Hautot-sur-Mer I found the lovely Camping Le Marqueval.  After setting up the tent I was even  rewarded with some sunbeams. It’s a nice and quiet place (especially during the week). Moorhen are chasing around the tent, no major traffic audible distance, it was very relaxing.

Hence the weather was still mediocre for photography.

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Day 1, From Vianen to Audinghen. The first leg with a lot of motorway brought me to De deux capes. After a shortchanged visit at Cap Blanc-nez, I set tent on Camping La musee and went shopping in Wimereux. The evening was planned for a visit to Cap Gris-nez. But you can’t beat the weather. Just as I arrived at the Cap it start to rain and it didn’t until sunset.

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Ready to go. All’s checked and packed for a couple of day’s in France.

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Last ride in 2016. Typical dutch winter colors, various shades of gray. A perfect tone sur tone match with the bike.

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First photoshoot in early September. One cylinder two exhausts, nice under the seat. Guess you will never have a cold butt on that bike.

The instruments are minimalistic. One rev. counter, the rest is not important enough to occupy much space.

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A black Yamaha MT03 (RM02) from 2009. With just under 20000km in a very good condition I bought Thumper in August 2016. 

The tyres are reasonable with just 5000 (rear) and 3000 (front) km. Brakes shoes are good, only the chains set needs replacement at the end of the year.