The beginning of a Great Adventure

As I write this the sun has just broken and begun to pour through the window of the small, fairly run-down cabin - my home for the night.  The engines are becoming louder as it approaches time to depart from Newcastle and begin the voyage from the Port of Tyne over to Holland - no turning back now!

Today has been a very mixed bag. Initial excitement this morning as I packed and prepared the bike, giving Betty one last quick polish. I popped in to see Steve and the crew over at Trackside  before running a final errand - dropping my house keys off at work (huge thanks to Si for agreeing to pop over and sort out my gecko whilst I'm away). Unfortunately it was at this point that some local figured it was perfectly acceptable to wrench the araldyted and gaffer-taped SatNav from the front of my bike.

So, seems it is actually impossible to leave anything out in the open in Middlesbrough. The depressing dead-end town when I've spent the last seven years working to try and make something of myself really does breed nothing but contempt for anyone with ambitions higher than getting wasted on Three Hammers Cider on a daily basis. Maybe it was simply my fault for forgetting to take the GPS device off the front of my bike, perhaps I'm just too trusting, but as of right now, I'm actually glad to be getting away from the UK; the rumble and whir of the ships engine reminding me with every passing moment that I'm off to pastures new. Should Middlesbrough be wiped off the face of the earth whilst I'm away, well, I can't think of a single negative in that scenario. 

It was a long two hour wait in the rain which greeted me when I arrived at the Port of Tyne. Making sure I was there in plenty of time was my main priority - all anger and frustration at the theft had gone, replaced with a melancholic sense of disappointment and disillusionment. After much standing about not doing a great deal I joined a convoy of other bikes heading over to Holland with me. Cruisers, Harleys and a couple of sports bikes, all with either German or Dutch licence plates and engines roaring as we were ushered through to have our passports and boarding passes checked.

Securing the bike down in the holding bay was a novel experience also, but having watched the RAC strap down my old 600cc Bandit more than a few times I had a fairly good idea what I was supposed to be doing. We'll find out how I actually got on tomorrow morning I suppose...

For now, I think a bit of a rest, a bit of a wander and maybe a bite to eat are on the cards. An eventful and not altogether pleasant start to the Yoo-Rup cruise, but none-the-less, whether this is the dream or not, I'm living it - and that seems to be the main thing.

The Impossible Dream

It's now less than 24 hours until I'm on the ferry sailing across to Holland. These last few weeks have flown by as I've gotten as prepared as possible for my trip across Europe. Whilst there's still a bit of time to tidy up the last couple of bits, essentially, if it's not done by now, it's not going to be.

I had hoped to put a test video up to demo the quality of the head-cam, however for reasons only James May would be interested in, that's probably not going to happen - at least not today. With any luck I'll have a solution properly figured out by the time I get off the ferry and start my adventures.

The panniers are packed and ready to go, the SatNav has been loaded with destinations for each day, I've just eaten a spectacular red pepper and onion omelette and there's a fine bottle of ale awaiting consumption. Certainly not a bad end to the day as I prepare to spend my last night before the Yoo-Rup cruise begins proper tomorrow.

Here's to a great trip, and to raising as much money as possible to support the great work of WhiteKnights EVS and BloodRun. Cheers!

Et Voilà

It was a very grateful Dan who arrived to pick up Betty yesterday lunchtime with a crate of beer in tow.

Steve over at Trackside Motorcycles had spent four hours working on the fender bolt that was getting in the way of attaching the final side spacer for the panniers before hammering out and replacing the entire thread; a job which he's insisted is free of charge. I figured supplying a few beers was the least I could do to repay his  generosity and support in seeing me right for the trip.

So, thanks to Steve sorting out the side spacers and the padlocks arriving to secure the panniers this morning, here's the result, all ready to be packed and ridden up to Newcastle to catch the ferry in ten days time!

Betty sporting her new panniers

Went for a little bit of a cruise earlier this evening to test them out and make sure there was enough room between the pannier and exhaust for the heat to dissipate properly. The lack of fire for the trial-run was reassuring, but I'll be heading out tomorrow to put them through their paces properly on a variety of roads.

 Possibly a *little* bit Blue Oyster Club. Shhh.

An ode to five minute jobs

Well, with but two weeks left before I'm due to depart for the port, the side-spacers arrived for my panniers.

The first one went on fine, and looks pretty good - it'll do the job, though it does leave me with *even more* chrome to polish!

Left side pannier spacer, fitted and good to go.

What should have been a five minute job to get the other side on has pretty much turned into a nightmare instead, with the final fender bolt sheering off completely when trying to unscrew it. A pain, but not the end of the world I suppose. The remainder of the bolt was soon drilled out, and a tap used to clean up the thread and remove what was left of the bolt. Well, that was the plan anyway, and it was going great until the tap itself snapped - leaving high tensile steel plugging the bolt hole.

The remains of the original bolt

Yeah, that's not coming out in a hurry

Betty is now back with Trackside Motorcycles, who inform me that the best course of action is to remove the rear tyre, strip down the fender and hammer/chisel the remainder of the tap.

So close, yet so far...

I've not really budgeted for any unexpected work, but in this circumstance I don't really have much choice. It takes as long as it takes, and costs what it costs. Lets just hope there aren't too many other small and easy jobs cropping up, especially those which turn out to be neither.

Giving something back

It has always been my intention to make this a charity run. I fully appreciate how fortunate I am to be able to be in a position to take this trip - I'm both hoping and expecting to have an incredible time whilst I'm away, and if by doing so I can help out a group of people less fortunate than myself, then that can only be a good thing.

Over the last week I've had a couple of meetings and taken some phone calls with a local biker group up here, the WhiteKnights Emergency Volunteer Service. They run a charity which provide free of charge urgent/emergency out-of-hours transportation service of blood and medical supplies to hospitals. This obviously saves the NHS a significant amount of money which instead gets used to purchase vital equipment and improve patient care.

In order to help fund this important and unique service, I've set up a donation page for the trip which you can visit by clicking either here, or on the link up at the top of the page. I'll be documenting as much of my trip as I possibly can whilst I'm away, and knowing me I'm bound to end up in a few scrapes along the way. It'd be more than fantastic if you could help make this trip extra special and one to remember, not just for me, but for hundreds of others who benefit from the continual work of WhiteKnights EVS and the North-East chapter BloodRun.

Thank-you very much.

WhiteKnights EVS                                BloodRun                                  Donations

Can you tell what it is yet? Part Deux

Well, here you are - the finished sleeve completed over the course of four evenings. I just couldn't resist adding a few more bits and pieces to it.

I've continued the Mario theme present on the back of the jacket with a block and a vine moving behind the flags, finishing up with a bit of text to give a bit of context to the trip I'm embarking on in just 28 days!

 The final sleeve

To say I've enjoyed the project would be an understatement, but I've also been busy tying up loose ends in regards to the trip. Paid for the RAC breakdown cover today, and I've picked Betty up from the garage. Got the call to say she was ready last night, so that's a one day turn-around for a complete service, front and rear brake rebuild and fluid change. Not normally one for plugs, but Trackside Motorcycles comes highly recommended to any biker in the North East.

I've also been getting parcels! The first aid kit came through yesterday (admittedly not all that exciting), and today the camera arrived. I've not got the SD card through yet so I can't test it out at the moment, but I've had a good hour of geekery fiddling with menus, setting etc, and already fitted what I need to onto my helmet.

After much deliberation I've decided to take the open-face helmet rather than my full-face one. I figure that I'll appear a bit more human to anyone I come across, and communication if / when I get lost will be easier as they'll be able to actually hear what I'm saying (although understanding is something else entirely)...

There have also been some developments regarding the charity aspect of the adventure, but I'll be able to say more about all that tomorrow.

Can you tell what it is yet?

With all the work sorting out documents, routes and gear - not to mention the hours of reading I've been doing, things have been a little bit samey and I've been feeling the need to do something arty and creative for a change.

Recognising that the language barrier and local customs might pose a problem when out and about on my travels meeting people, I wanted some way to connect with those who might be wondering what I was up to, where I was going, and maybe even where I'd come from. In addition, I wanted to do something to mark the trip and give me something a little more permanent to look back on when the dust has settled from my travels.

This is the result:

All 11 countries are represented here, in the order I'll be visiting them

It's taken a couple of evenings to paint the sleeve thus far. I've used acrylics, sealing the paint with nothing more than a liberal spraying of deodorant; as a result, the paint should crack nicely over the leather in time. I've finished with the flags, but can't help by feel there's something missing somewhere. There are some ideas floating around though, so expect an update...