Woke at 7am and the weather was dull and overcast.... so decided to pack up the toys and take a slowish ride to the Chunnel.... Hit a small patch of rain in the Somme (the Men of Mud would have approved).
Found a McDonalds for lunch and a final go at getting the Wifi on the Blackberry to work..... One Big Mac and a coffee and lots of "try this" and "try that" and it worked... so off went the back log of Blogs and in poured to many many Emails that I have been pleased not to receive....
Pleased as punch that they had gone it was back on the bike and away... the weather still over cast but getting brighter as I got nearer the coast...
.. and now I am here at the Chunnel having got the Chanel 5 perfune for my wife for putting up with me and... another coffee to keep me going - I deliberately picked a later train so that I could have a break they must have heard me as they cancelled it and there will be a 1 hour delay.....
The sun is warm and we are now set fair for the final leg.... except for the Stelvio Pass I had achieved all that I wanted to do... if I had known I was going to make such good time of the second half I could have ventured further into Croatia but not a problem... I am happy with the trip... and the new bile ran well - it would have been good to do it on Mugabe ... I am sure it would have done the job... Still not convinced that the BMW R1200GS is the bike for me.....
The thing about sitting for hours on a bike is that you get a lot of time to think... and I have.... some questions that are always on the table are:
- Is it better to travel solo or as two bikes, three or four.....? AV voting would go Two, Three, Four and One
- The problem is that time is always a factor; stopping and visiting towns and stuff, would be good but that all takes time.
- I did take more photos this time... and they can be all be found at
- http://nigel-grace1.magix.net/album under My Albums - 2011 Slovenia... another question is about the kit: was the tent right or too big.... probable too big !!
- what stuff did I take that I didn't use... half my clothes....
- what didn't I take that I should have.... a working laptop !!!
- did it all work - the laptop Wifi for example...
As for the riding- well, other than too long in the seat... it was good... and I suppose that the IAM Training has a lot to do with it... The French and Italians are looney drivers but they all drive like that and after a while they are predictable..... and allowances can be made - more to follow got to catch a train......... and there are three drunk Brits by the bike........................... Welcome back Nigel...
The ride from Folkestone to home was horrid - the British roads are so full - too fast - and the car drivers, well frankly they are aweful... two weeks away from this lots has been a blessing....
Days total was 345 and the fial trip total was 3326...