Scotland bike tour d-day minus 6!!

 

Prepping the bikes for a late summer tour of Scotland (don't say we never gamble with the weather!).

Sticker design is sorted and at the printers.  Toying with the fact that Scots are voting for their independence while we are there, we've named it the Scottish Quest for Freedom Tour - since that's also the reason we're going too.  Freedom!!!

 

Paula has new waterproofs on order, we have a storm proof tent, plenty of anti-midge spray and thermal pants ... now all I need to do is get my bike through its MoT and we're sorted! 

 

 

Giant steps are what you take ...

.. Walking on the moon! Unbelievable country that photos just can't prepare you for. Fantastic landscapes, the friendliest people, stunning attractions and the best roads I have ever ridden.

We have been here four days and seen icy lakes, epic fjords, barren plains, mountain passes, snow capped volcanoes, bubbling rifts, boiling mud, steaming ground, sulphur rocks, pure blue geothermal pools, blue, humpback and minky whales, dolphins, colossal waterfalls, perfect roads, 21 degree sunshine, black sand beaches, hills of blue lupins and craters the size of a town. Unreal!

boat folk...

Still sailing but seeing some amazing things all the same and having fun xxx

Iceland bound!

Day 4 and I'm glad to report we are still alive and kicking!  Boarded the cruise liner Norrona this morning from Hirtshals,
Denmark and having tea and cake while we watch viking ships sail past Norway out the window!

Friday's ride to Dover after work was nice, out running the bad weather and setting up camp in time to cook up before sunset.
 Listening to England win on the radio while sitting in the sun, watching ferries in the channel.  Happy days!

Saturday - up early for the cross channel ferry, sunny morning for driving on the wrong side of the road and our first blat
up the motorways of France, Belgium and Holland before reaching Nijmegen and Arnhem to see the Bridge too Far.  Camped at
cool campsite next to canal just in time for massive rainstorm with lightning to pass over.  Owner made us Dutch coffee while
the weather passed and we pitched in the Sun again.  Really nice evening, wandered round the streets of the local village
then up to the castle grounds, watched three huge fat bats flying round just above our heads at camp while putting the world
to rights over ghurka curry and the best chocolate brownie, slept really well in the fresh air.

Sunday - despite local knowledge saying "it always rains here in the morning", we woke to yet more Sun and had another nice
day riding past windmills and plantation fields.  Bit of a long mileage day so we broke it up with a couple of hours visiting
Bremen, which turned out to be really good to wander - and yet more Sun! 
Bought stickers, ice-creams and took photos of tourist attractions, before heading back out across Germany again.  Autobahns
we crap, give me the M4 every day, road works for the entire duration across Germany interspersed with black BMW's driving
160mph. 
Arrived at Lubeck, Germany in good time despite the miles, really good facilities including gadget lovers paradise in the
toilets and luxury showers that were nice after the days riding.  Spent the evening in beautiful medieval Lubeck while
Germany were beating Denmark to qualify for the Euros finals.  Cheers, fireworks and beeping horns like they'd won the whole
thing so riding back to the campsite we gave our horns an airing...well....when in Rome and all that!
Really nice night and another good sleep.

Monday - awoke to yet more Sun to ride north out of Germany in, but as soon as we approached Denmark the sky turned several
shades of black, lightning shot across the sky and we took shelter in a bus stop and drank tea and ate biscuits like
eccentric english  folk at a tea party, a lightning strike hit the ground about a 50 meters behind us into the forest we were
surrounded by, the rain eased, rain suits were pulled on and we continued on our way.  Only problem with that was we rode
back into it and for the rest of the day it just rained and rained and rained and rained until there was no part left that
was dry!  Rolled into the campsite with spirits slightly drowned and cold setting in, a hot shower was never more needed.

Today - very early start to get over for the ferry.  Sun now rising at about 3:30am and didn't set until 11ish.  Packed up
and put on damp bike gear, but too excited to be worried about cold and after yesterdays 300 mile drenching, damp was a piece
of cake!  Met more interesting bikers at the ferry -thankfully back in the Sun again today.  Strapped bikes down and set sail for the next 48 hours. Time to relax, slow the pace, catch up on sleep, dry out, warm up, chill out and do a blog...

 

D-day minus 1

It's a strange feeling the day before a tour I'm learning, not lessened in the least from being a veteran of the Sahara tour, although I must admit that we've had quite a few distractions with selling my car and moving house all at the same time.  Life is certainly not mundane, it has to be admitted.

Sat nav is now loaded with the checkpoints for Europe, not really needed since it's a simple route, but I get to listen to music on it too, so worth it's weight in gold.  Old school paper maps for Iceland though, complete with custom scribbles of places we want to visit - waterproof too, which might be handy while we look over the route ahead from the geothermal blue lagoon.

Weather looks like it may well spice things up on the England leg of the journey, with heavy rain and gusting winds tentatively forecast (it seems to be changing all the time).  Should be an amusing welcome back to camping for Rob who hasn't slept under canvas since the scouts, MANY years ago!  ;o)

Had a few people asking for my sponsorship form for this tour, which was a little surprising.  I'm proud of the money we raised for the MS Society last time around, but there was definitely a portion of people asking "why raise money while you ride around on holiday"?  Which - since this holiday should be more leisurely than the Sahara tour, convinced us not to raise money this time.

Right.. I'm off to sort out the rest of the things on my to-do list and then go for one last English pint down the local...

The route ...

Trollbound!

Preparations for the next tour are almost complete, not least the all important stickers have been designed and printed, ready for pannier adherement ...

Bikes are all serviced and ready to go, trusty ex-Morocco kit is stowed away, unreliable ex-Morocco kit has been thrown away, money saving ration packs are awaiting sorting, waterproofs find themselves at the top of the pile this time instead of being buried or left behind!  Overall we are carrying about 2/3 the kit we carried to the Saraha desert (still feels weird to say that), with a fair few items crossed off the kit list and one or two downsized - all at minimal expense to the wallet.

Iceland on a budget - can it be done?  That is the question.  Notoriously expensive, but with "bikes go free" ferry tickets, economic motorcycles, panniers full of army ration packs, a mobile tent village on-board and a willingness to go alcohol free for (at least) two weeks, I think it might just work...  

Here we go again!

We are now officially on the count down to the tour.......One week to go, passports...check!, sporks...check! Bikes serviced...check! crazy ol' fella that can't put his tent up....check! (that's Rob or pop's as he will lovingly be called for the duration, riding the starship enterprise....lol.....well a honda pan european, a massive tourer several times larger than it's rider) Tour stickers fashioned by the master himself...Check! THAT'S IT!!! lets go.....what do you mean one more week of work?!........OW! OK if I have too BUT, when we do start you can keep up with us here as before I will post when I can and there is a wifi spot for my little seashell (PC) to connect to.  Heres the stickers to be getting on with......

Memories of Morocco

I learnt yesterday how to stitch together a panoramic photograph (so you will be seeing more) and am now feeling suitably pleased with myself for learning a new photographic skill *smiles from ear to ear*...
I also decided that more than enough time had passed without any sign of a tour blog so here is some more from the travel journal and stash of pictures we have.

Chefchoan to Fez. Thurs 22nd Sept.

Day started really early with camp dogs fighting, needed to be up anyway. Cold shower and on the road  but an easy slow start stopping at a little roadside place for great coffee and lovely little potato cake with cheese which seemed to make the world a better place and the riding 100% better. Enjoyed the roads doing a fair bit of overtaking through the farm lands, small hills, and plains of yellow and black scorched earth, mile after mile of people on donkeys carrying heavy loads, farmers herding cattle, sheep and goats stopping to take photos and getting friendly smiles and waves from people with astonished looks on their faces, lots of children. Stopped at Valoublis, the most astonishingly beautiful Roman town with columns, houses, places of worship, baths and so many mosaics with bright colours still just laying in the open air in so many rooms, we just couldn't believe our eyes, there were court houses and streets, courtyards as far as the eye could see...truly amazing! an experience you just wont get anywhere else because there IS no other place like it in the world...

Loads of photos and catch our breath in the cool shade from the hot, hot sun. Lots of pussy cats and dogs just wander around here, they just seem to live wild...a really hard life for them but the lives of all seem to be hard here, living on largely dusty unfirtile earth in little more than shacks on the side of the road with baskets of melons (the one thing that seems to grow in abundance along with prickly pear fruit) or handmade rugs, hats, pottery for those slightly better off, it's a dusty, hard life.

clothes washing  at the local river..

Went to Meknes with the idea of staying but after an hous and a half of the scaryest riding I have ever done we left empty handed,no clue, no room/campsite just the memory of a bus so rammed full of people and children waving and giggling at the scared face I was pulling as I tried to avoid the holes where drain covers should have sat, traffic that crossed your path in every direction, donkeys, took,took's and old wooden trucks belching out plooms of black smoke, cab drivers with beat up fourty year old cars (all the same cars and all the same coulour....colour changed from town to town) scooters everywhere, we just could not spot a place to stay so we rode on towards Fez. So hungry we stopped at the roadside for a tagine,some bread and watched the bustle of life as it rolled on by. Our host was nice enough and smiled at me, only after I realized his odd face when we ordered two....they were huge when they arrived and were supposed to be one for two people, he was smiling as he knew he was getting double money! Race the sunset to Fez hooked up with a cab driver, friendly guy who we chased through the streets to a hotel (an exciting, fast ride) happy days...went walking in fez's bustling streets for supplies and the most amazing fruit and yogurt desert (well earned) showered, film then tomorrow we will meet back up with our new friend for a trip to the ancient medina of Fez. Another crazy day, looking forward to the quiet south now and the promice of open views and desert.

Fez...

The amazing tanneries where Morocco's  leather  are bought to treat and die befor it's made into the finest goods.

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake, my mother told me once I was a gypsy...I'm glad to say she is right. The great affair is to move, it's like talking with people of other centuries, Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover!

Happy valentines...

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.

I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.

I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

Mr Mcoo...thank you for making my strange engine :) xxx I love it and you very much.

The yellow peril.

 Long time since I posted here so today I thought I would indulge my love of the yellow peril, my trusty steed.....here she is in several different countries, starting with UK Dover campsite and followed by the Millau Viaduct France.

The Pyrenees...

 Tizi N tichka pass in Morocco's high Atlas.

Marks movies no 1....

Thank you for my suprise babe, I love it so much.


You can ...... Watch movie here!

Charity total

Thank you to everyone who donated to our charity, we managed to raise £776 and hopefully a bit more awareness about Multiple Sclerosis.

http://beatms.mssociety.org.uk/netcommunity/Melksham2Marrakesh

If anyone still didn't donate we'd be more than happy to see it topped up to £800! :)

Dover to Epernai.....sun 4th sept.

Woke early and was on the ferry in a jiffy, it was all nice and easy peasy. Text my goodbyes as we sailed across the channel. Got chatting to a guy called David who gave us great info on the pyrenean highway and told us of his many adventures climbing mountains and of his travels, he seemed a kind natured man and was hugely excited about our adventures. we had a good old English brecky, a deep breath then out into the great unknown....was pretty close to being flattened by a black 4x4 doing about 120mph on the french highway the F***er. Adapted quickly to life on the right hand side of the road and had a great half day riding stopped at Tournai for a very quick look at it's grand Cathedral a pee and off again, stopped in a little village next to a river for one of our left over rolls, saw a sad old cat looking a bit worse for wear so shared my bread and cheese, hope he finds somewhere  warm. On through Reims to Epernai passing through wide open prairie like spaces, huge fields of grain and silos, did a little off road through a field thanks to the sat nav then a fantastic decent down into a wonderful valley full of  champagne vines. Great little campsite,shower and a cook up of pasta...Great fist day in France!

Let us take you on a journey....

After a few weeks being home and readjusting to what the hell is it I normally do?, catching back up with everything after 6 weeks away, both of our birthdays and a nasty bout of germs here we are, wading our way through a crazy amount of photos and film. I think we have decided to take this in stages and as we both kept a journal whilst on the road and so a mix of writings from those along with the pictures to match that day seems like a cool way of doing it so you can redo our tour with us and after not reading any of it since being back I am looking forward to going on the journey again..........


27 AUG 2011. (At Home)

One week to go, were sat in the living room actually, more like spread all over it with maps and laptops, sewing kit, radios, sorting stuff out and both feeling a bit weird, it's all very surreal. Great fun looking at the maps and wondering were we will go. One week to go...ONE WEEK TO GO!! :)

DAY 1
3 SEPT 2011.  (Home to Dover)

Tour starts here! The day has finally arrived, strangely with excitement of a much smaller kind than expected, must be all to do and remember that's doing it. Readied the bikes and said bye to mummy Coombes and thank you...rode A4 to Reading through Marlborough market and found myself wondering what the markets in Morocco will be like, carpets certainly much better. The weather is good the M25 is bad! got chatting to a really nice northern guy in a camper van at the petrol station while on our first coffee break, on his way to Germany to revisit the place he and his late wife once lived in his old barracks, hope he finds some good memories there, I thought this was a lovely thing to do but couldn't help feel a little sorry for him all alone in his old van.
Redbull and home made rolls rock and saw us on our way to Dover, the sugar rush made me enjoy the motorway and we made good time to the camp site, fantastic spot looking at the sea. Strolled along the pebbles to the pub for a pint and an Ice cream wandering back through a real cool old (flappy bat) church, stayed to watch while listening to the local bagpiper before crossing a field, seeing a fox, on the way back to the tent...Good first day.Raining hard, hope it stops for pack down and crossing.

chaos reigns...packing the night before.


 

nice guy with his trusty old van.

Camp Dover.

Batty church yard!

Read all about it!

A scan of the sizeable article the local paper gave to our trip - as traditional with UK papers the details aren't exactly accurate, but it's roughly about right...

Its all a blur!

Blimey - well it's all well and truly over now, back to work for a week and it's all feeling very surreal. I've finally downloaded all my photos after a very lethargic week, so you'll have to excuse the lack of posting, I apologise to those anxious to see some pics.

I will start writing up an account of the trip at some point, along with photos when I get a chance. I want to put up a list of the kit we took in the end, along with a mini review of each item and whether we'd take it again or not.

Far far too much stuff went on to start talking about it now, but it all went extremely smoothly and we impressed ourselves how well we coped with all the daily dilemmas and physical stresses. My two over riding general feelings for this tour were: 1 - just how amazing it was for variety, in terrain, landscape, people, culture, roads, weather etc and 2 - the sense of freedom by the 2nd week, freedom from everything, including the time and what day it was, just using the Sun to judge direction and when to find a place to stay - an amazing feeling that we both totally immersed ourselves in for a good few weeks.

A nice warm up ... now I'm ready for my 12 months round the world trip ...

It all adds up!

And every little helps...........THANK YOU!


http://beatms.mssociety.org.uk/netcommunity/Melksham2Marrakesh

completed dream!

Not often you get to do that so here's to it and just a few pics from the thousands we must have taken, a postcard to you all........our Africa!

M&P XXX