Ok, so I have been wanting to visit the WW1 battlefields of Belgium and northern France for many years. All the publicity which surrounded the centenary of the armistice this year has just made me more determined than ever to get myself there. However three stumbling blocks presented themselves. Firstly, I am so poor that the local church mice regularly hold fundraising events for me. Secondly, I wanted it to be a journey which I would remember. Something that was not just a case of jumping onto a train or a plane and ending up there. I wanted to feel as though I had actually achieved something by getting there. In short, I wanted it to be about the journey as much as about the destination. I feel that in order to actually understand what I am going to see, I need to have the time and space to reflect and immerse myself in the subject. Finally, I don't want to be completely surrounded by tourists - something which would undoubtedly have been the case if I had made my journey to coincide with the centenary itself.
This is how I came up with my idea for the Armistice 101 project.
The attached photos show the condition of my 1960 A7ss as she was a couple of months ago when I finally stripped her down. Six years ago she suffered a quite catastrophic engine failure. In short, it looks like someone lobbed a grenade into the crank cases. She has been sitting in a number of sheds since then as I tried to work out what to do with her. My plan therefore, is to get her back on the road over the winter and then ride her from Cumbria to France next summer. What could possibly go wrong?
