Midnight at the Airport

At last ready for the off as they say. Already made one mistake. I left the Spot locator at home. Forgot to put it on the checklist. So no location update. Sorry Arthur. It was Arthur that reminded me last time to send the locations because if you crash we want to know where to find the bike ! It is good to have good mates that care. Anyway the apprehension is still present but the planning is improved. Not too much as the desire to follow the road more interesting. Looks like the flight will depart shortly so fingers crossed I will report in from the UK in 29 hours ! I not only left spot behind but my friends at home. Buddy is rising 14 now and prefers to be driven !

I remember summer

Yes it was not long ago and it was warm and sunny, and now it reaches 5c in the day and -5c at night and I am ready to go somewhere warm. So not week it is the off. I have been in touch with Alan in New Milton where the bike resides (picture) in air conditioned comfort on a drip (electrical)...but no doubt Alan will be as keen for me to go riding as I am. Two or more emails a day poor bloke. Can you find my gloves, where is the GPS, has the engine been run, and on it goes. On the matter of GPS I have used Garmin for many years. Once you start a bad habit it is hard to break. Garmin would be the most useless hostile greedy self serving enterprise I have ever dealt with and that says a lot. The GPS works after a fashion but try to do anything more than plug it in and listen to it, forget it. Do not attempt to use any of the extras like upgrade the map, even chart a trip, it will lead to serious anger management issues. But back to the bike storeage ( I feel like Ronnie Corbett, now where was I ?). It is a wonderful service. The bike is nurtured and it looks like there are about 15 of them now. I was the first I understand. He stores cars as well so if you plan to go to UK and buy a car, leave it with Alan until you have had your holiday trips and then bring it home. So the plan is : UK for a week to go to Land End and just by chance Padstow to dine at Rick Steins, just because he makes such good TV he deserves support but his food is pretty good as well, as a visit to Mollymook on the NSW Coast South of Sydney will attest. Then its to Bath for a Bath (of course) and to visit a couple of Cathedrals to hear some music before attempting the blockade at Calais. This "refugee" thing is very serious. No one has the balls to just say go home or we will shoot you as an invader. We talk about the flag that we fought under well it is time to get real. I happened to be in Norway in the Port waiting for a Ferry, and there was a Statue of one of the City father, who had "defended our nation" one assumes against invasion from wherever and there sitting on the footpath was a person with a begging bowl. Yes of course they are human like me and I have no idea how I would handle being born in Africa in poverty but is the answer to reduce every other country to lawless poverty any sort of a solution ? I guess its the opposite of delayed gratification, it is delayed hurt because the invaded countries will pay sooner or later for not preventing entry. The old story, if you have a problem, make it bigger or smaller to find the solution. If 500 boats of 100 people rowed into the Waitemata harbour what then ? Oh the Harbour Board would claim a victory because there was a place to land the boats at the new wharf. This is a serious indication I need to get away. So I want to visit the old parts of Europe where the Romans invaded. I doubt they could be called refugees they marched in and took over, despite the local defences. Is the same thing happening again ? Then to Spain where the Moors marched in and took over and it took many years to persuade them to go back to Africa. These invaders will not be going home any time soon I suspect. Oh and this time of year the biking is wonderful. Too early for the wine harvest which makes the small towns of France and Spain smell so good, but there is plenty in bottles from previous years to investigate.

On the road again (well nearly)

At last the plans are coming together and the start date is set for 1 July. The plan is that I fly to the UK and on to the New Forest to collect the bike. It has been at home in Brockenhurst in storage at an old chicken farm converted to vehicle storage and there it sits among the exotic vehicles of the south of England. The place is not far from Southampton and handy to British Rail. So I can fly to Heathrow, take a train to Liverpool Street on the Underground, and transfer to a District Train and head south as the countryside flashes by the window. UK trains are pretty good, not up to the Euro class which are very good and very fast, but still pretty good. So I am expecting my man at the storage to have had the bike serviced (fluids and filters replaced) so I can pack mount and go. The bike remains the same that crossed Europe from China to France and then rounded GB and Spain and then another France Germany Spain circuit that I am about to repeat, not the same route but similar because it is just a wonderful ride. Rivers, Mountains, plains, vineyards, Mountain passes, cities old and new, and so many wonderful and historic places. The influence of Rome is everywhere and is very interesting. First venue is at Rick Steins in Padstow. May take a day to get there but Friday I have a booking for dinner. That was not easy but I think it is now certain. Dinner, bed upstairs, and breakfast. From there it will be necessary to look at this site. The general plan is the South of England, Lands End, some Roman buildings at Bath ( and a bath of course) some Cathedrals like Winchester and Coventry, and then off to Belgium on the Chunnel. That is a very easy experience. Ride up, buy a ticket, wait for the next train and ride on when indicated by the lighting, park in a train carriage and stand there until the train stops half an hour later and ride off in France. Easy really ! One complication is that while I use NZ Registration for the bike ( I have no idea if they actually have a warrant of fitness) but insurance is required and for that I HAVE to go to Germany. The UK does not sell Insurance, which is apparently compulsory. We have inherited that sort of stupid rule making in the colonies. Anyway the Germans are happy to sell insurance, just walk in and they do it on the spot. It is essential in Spain where there are heavy fines for having no insurance. So it is France Belgium Germany and back to belgium, then off to the Rhine, the Loire Valley and thereafter lets see what happens. I hope you enjoy my journey, if anyone ever reads it, but it is essentially for me so when dementia sets in I can read the blogs I wrote and hopefully recall some of the life I have enjoyed. The experiences and the joy of not just being alive but living this short life.