Back home now, really horrible run yesterday with extremely heavy rain in France and little better on arrival in the UK.

The now expected chaos at Eurotunnel materialised on the way home after a good outbound journey, with delays and "rescheduling" being so frequent that it was difficult to follow the boards to keep track of when our train was actually supposed to leave!

Having said that, a really good few days in France with fine weather on all except the last (journey home) day.

A final update on this matter.

I've been travelling around the local area today (wife wanted a new hair style, shopping at a nearby Hypermarket etc) and having passed a number of filling stations, all seems well with no queues and all fuel types advertised on their signs as available.

I hope that the Old Gits have a really good journey.

Update: I went walking this morning and found a nearby Total forecourt that was expecting a delivery between 10:00 and 11:00.
I went back to the hotel for breakfast and asked reception to telephone at 10:30 to check, so as not to waste fuel if the delivery didn't arrive.
It arrived as expected and I went out immediately and refuelled. By that time, a queue had formed behind me and at the other pumps. I think that perhaps social media might have been used to spread the word?
I will visit the Tourist Information office later to try and obtain a more complete picture of the situation and advise findings.

We are currently in Deauville and, having just arrived thought that we would refuel tomorrow ready for the journey home on Thursday. Unfortunately this might be difficult as apparently both local filling stations are out of petrol and also diesel.

I was told that the problem is widespread and due to refinery strikes, although I cannot confirm this.

Apparently, in the outskirts of Paris, some 60% of filling stations are dry.

Obviously, if you are coming over research things properly yourself, however hopefully a little advanced notice might be helpful.

This might be of no help at all, however there is a chance that it could be, so let me tell you of a similar situation that an acquaintance of mine suffered around 18 months ago.

Some four years ago, I decided to take up building flying model aircraft again, after a break of some 40 years. I joined the local club and learned to fly them reasonably well once more and now spend a fair amount of time there.

Just after the worst of the COVID restrictions were lifted and our flying field opened again, one of the "regulars" who was approaching 80 years of age started to lose control of his models when they were in an almost overhead position - he said that he was having vision problems and when he looked up, was suffering from double vision. This did not affect him at other times, when he was looking forward.

He went to see the GP, who to his surprise said that it was probably not the bad news that he suspected, however a scan was need to confirm his thoughts. This was duly carried out and upon revisiting the GP, my acquaintance was told that occasionally with people of his age, the main blood vessels from the body to the head would lose elasticity in the neck area and when looking up, would narrow to the point that blood flow was restricted. Whilst he wasn't offered a cure (except to change hobby - I believe he sails boats now) he still drives and, so far as I know, has not had problems since.

Is it possible that with the "head down, look up" position that is necessary on some of our bikes, the same might be happening to you, particularly if this is the only time it happens 

Rae, it's a very steep ramp to the garage indeed!

Some years ago, my brother (Triumph Tiger, the early one with stripes) and me (Ducati ST2) visited the hotel for the first time and on asking for the garage, were told to ride to the bottom of the slope and press the buzzer on the wall for reception, when they would open the door. Upon reaching the bottom of the slope I pressed the buzzer and there was no response, so I waited and tried again, with the same result.

We realised that one of us would need to dismount and go to reception, however I couldn't either reverse or turn the Ducati, being on tip - toe to reach the floor anyway due to the slope, and my brother was completely stuck with the Tiger, for the same reason. (Note: the steep slope continues up to to the electric doors!). Eventually, I managed to wriggle off the Ducati and left my brother to hold it upright with one hand, whilst balancing the Tiger as well.

When I arrived at reception all was deserted and I eventually found the receptionist in the breakfast room having her coffee break, completely forgetting that she had told us to go the the garage.

After that, one of us would always ride down the slope whilst the other waited at the top, until the door had opened.

All of the tyres fitted to the bike (by both the previous owner and myself) have been dealer fitted. They also specified the tyre requirements and obtained them.

I used a tyre supplier and local fit only once, this on my previous K1200RS. After four years of ownership without fault, a vibration/shimmy was introduced when the tyres were fitted, together with not only scratches to the rims but gouges too. I had the tyres checked and wheels rebalanced by the original fitter and a Motorrad dealer, however nothing fixed matters so I sold it and moved on.

Never again the route of saving a few pounds for me!

Well, I'm not at all sure why Road Five's seem not to be available, especially as the Pilot Road Four GT is still, in comparison easy to find.