West Midlands 3 - Solihull - Reflections on 2019 and looking forward to 2020/Zen sayings /Plans being drawn up /Where legends live on

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What a year it has been? Looking back two long holidays affected by bad weather and plans that went awry. The lithium battery tale . The toing and froing to sort it all out . Finally the relief to get something in that worked and enabled us to have a good Christmas away from home. Would we do Christmas away again? Most definately although 2020 being a Leap Year may cause problems. Christmas Day is a non working day as is New Years Day 2021 which means I have to ask for more time off than this year . Do I think it will be problematic ? Most definately . But then a lot of water will go under the bridge before next Christmas. We have a Spring holiday to plan and an Autumn one before then. Plans are starting to go into place but things are going on that mean we are putting off booking the tunnel for a few weeks .

Winter is creeping onwards . It is hard to believe that Christmas and New Year feel such a long time ago. We are halfway through the first month of the year. The gardens are wet and soggy with the rain we have been experiencing but the snowdrops are peeping through. A welcome sea of white nodding in the wind. Signs of Spring are there - buds on the Magnolia , on the Azaleas and on the Hyacinths. Winter though could still arrive. Frosty mornings and sunny days replaced by biting winds and snow. We are not out of the woods yet .

There is a Zen saying that I rather like . It seemed apt thinking back to our trip along the D Day beaches . "Man stands in his own shadow and wonders why it is dark."

Would we do the D Day beaches again? There are plenty of museums that were closed when we called on them. Pegasus Bridge , Grandcamp Maisie , The Atlantic Wall Museum . We could spend another holiday here easily at a different time of the year.

So what of our plans . Inverter being fitted this week . It should enable us to have power to our sockets . We will be economical with it . I don't need hairdryers or curling tongs nor do we need a microwave or electric cooking . We filled Gabby up with diesel . It is frightening just how much money it takes to fill her empty tanks. We have a few ideas of trips to Wales for a few days and up to Northumbria . We need to get out whilst we can and enjoy what we have.

On the day we have the inverter fitted we hope to pop in for the last hour of opening at the National Motorcycle Museum. Sion wanted to meet his best friend Woolly . Sadly we had to break the news that we were not even sure if we would get there and Woollys carer Jo works on the day . The thought of seeing motorbikes interested him but he missed not being able to meet up with his best friend to discuss their merits. Next time Sion . We will sort something out on a suitable day.

Our day dawned early and we had the hour and a half drive down the M1 to contend with. It was pitch black and the road was heaving . It was a long and onerous drive. We were greeted by the company RoadPro who settled us in, discussed the performance of the lithium battery and told us the plan for the day . The job would take at least 4 hours which would take us beyond lunchtime . We sat around wasting time. There was little to do on the industrial estate and we did not relish another visit to nearby Daventry. Lunchtime came and went. We had an update - at least another hour of work before they could show us the system and we could be on our way.

The job completed and the handover took place . We were shown the inverter and how it worked and were free to be on our way . Sadly though it was later than we expected and we sat for a while wondering whether to head home or try to get to the National Motorcycle Museum for their last hour of opening.

There was enough parking for us and our girl Gabby. Entrance fee was £7.95 each and we were going to see over 1000 motorbikes . We had a reason for coming here. Glenns grandfather cousin had been a famous bike rider and his bike was here in the museum. The National Motorcycle Museum houses the largest collection of British motorcycle’s in the world with over 1000 machines from 170 different manufacterers spanning no less than three centuries. The machines were displayed in five halls . What a sight - bike after bike lined up . They gleamed silver and even if you are not an aged Rocker or biker the mechanics and the condition couldnt fail to impress . The bikes filled the halls and just kept on going. The founder of the museum was a construction entrepreneur and self-made millionaire Roy Richards who started collecting good examples of British motorcycles in the 1970s. The museum opened in 1984 with an initial collection of 350 machines. A fire had devastated the collection in 2003 so it was amazing to see the rebuild. We walked around amongst the different makes of bikes. Some early and others late ones that we both remembered. Glenn wandered round and pronounced many times that he had had one of those particular bikes . The conversation went on all the time . He remembered one he had an accident on, another that was his first bike . It was like a walk down memory lane . The bikes were immaculate and works of arts. We saw the BSA's , the Triumphs and the Nortons. The modern racing bikes . The long journey of the motorcycle was set out from early models that looked more like push bikes with a small engine . There were motorbikes used during the war , a chocolate bike and a range of superbikes . The old AA and RAC bikes were displayed as were police bikes .

We were in search of the legendary motorcycle sprinter and hill climb racer George Dance who was the first rider of a bike to lap Brooklands in April Sunbeam 'Works' 350 sprinter distinguished by the small triangular tank. He rode in the Isle of Man TT races in the 1920's. We eventually found his bike in Hall number 5. It was clearly labelled and marked and seemed to be a star of the show.

We loved the museum and it lived up to its motto "Where legends live on" .

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