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.