15 countries. Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania, Greece, Italy, France, Monaco, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Belgium

I live in Scotland and have always harboured an ambition to get my motorcycle licence, buy a big touring bike and take off around Europe. I finally did a direct access course in the summer of 2008 and passed my test in September aged 50. I did my training with Lothian Motorcycle Training in Bathgate, West Lothian and I can highly recommend them. It's a father and son outfit with Big Joe Duffin and Wee Joe Duffin. Although Wee Joe is actually the biggest.... They have a website on

http://www.lothianmotorcycletraining.com

I immediately bought myself a new Suzuki DL1000 V-Strom GT to do some touring. Soon after, my friend John invited me to go with him on a motorbike trip to southern Europe. I had some initial doubts about it so soon after passing my test, but the temptation proved too much and I agreed to go. We were joined by another pal Ron. We are all of a similar age and we joked it would be a bit like "Wild Hogs on Tour". John has a BMW R1150RT and Ron has a spectacular looking Kawasaki VN2000 2 litre cruiser complete with leather panniers and the biggest screen I have ever seen!

The route we agreed on was to travel from where we live, near Edinburgh and meet up at Dreghorn Services on the A720 City Bypass. We would then drive to Newcastle and take the ferry to Amsterdam. Our trip would last 4 weeks and take us through Holland, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania, Greece, Ferry to Corfu, Ferry to Italy, Ferry to + from Sicily, North though Italy to France, Monte Carlo, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Belgium, Holland and home via ferry from Amsterdam - Newcastle again.

This link shows the route we took fairly accurately except for the bit through Bosnia where Google Maps has no record of the road. The map image can be zoomed in and dragged around with the mouse.
 

Route Map 

To keep costs down we decided we would be camping most of the time. This involved carrying more gear on the bikes, especially as we wanted a tent each. Even blokes like a bit of privacy!

It makes sense with a trip like this to think in advance about what you need to take with you and what legal requirements you may have to comply with. For example in some countries dipped headlamps are required even in daylight (cars too!) and you should be aware that you will need to carry your driving licence including the paper counterpart, your certificate of insurance, MOT if your bike has one, and your registration document. The law also requires the carrying of spare bulbs in some places. I searched Google and found someone else's touring checklist then added to it as listed below.

MOTORBIKE TOURING CHECKLIST

GENERAL

• tent
• sleeping bag
• sleeping mat
• travel pillow
• folding chair
• mosquito repellent (check the "deet" content - mine wasn't enough)
• washing / shaving kit
• towel
• camping gas stove / pot
• plate / cup / bowl / cutlery
• multitool knife / tin / bottle opener
• tent lantern / torch + batteries
• 1st aid kit
• matches / lighter
• clothes line cord (take 20 feet of real clothes line - travelling ones are too short)
• sunglasses
• mobile phone and charger
• camera and charger
• toilet paper (don't go camping without it!)

MOTORBIKE

• spare keys and alarm fob (John and I kept each other's spare keys for the trip)
• chain oil
• engine oil (could leave the oil out unless you go somewhere that you can't buy it)
• spare bulbs
• some tools
• puncture repair kit
• tank bag
• waterproof pannier liners (bin bags)
• Suzuki European dealer list
• earplugs
• luggage securing straps
• waterproof holdall
• bungees
• cable ties
• duck tape
• road atlas / maps (spare tear outs good for tank bag window)
• GB sticker / badge
• Something to support your sidestand on soft ground(plastic disc)

DOCUMENTS

• passport
• ferry tickets
• driving licence including paper counterpart
• motorcycle certificate of insurance
• vehicle registration document
• euro health card
• travel insurance
• breakdown cover
• pen and pencil
• A4 notepad (useful for showing towns/ road numbers on route in tank bag window)
• Waterproof wallet for documents

CLOTHES

• cordura bike suit with zip out waterproof and winter linings and hot weather vents

• helmet with flip down sun visor
• waterproof touring boots
• summer and waterproof winter gloves
• thin microfleece top in case of cold
• some decent casual clothing - non iron - shirt / trousers / shoes
• a few days supply of t-shirts, underwear etc (wash as you go)
• swim shorts
• flip flops

Final check of what to I had to pack on the bike.

Dont forget to have somewhere waterproof 

for your documents!
(photos expand to fullscreen if you click on them)

Bike packed and ready - and there is still a space for me to sit! Waterproof holdall has sleeping bag + camping stuff. Tent inside blue plastic bag. Green bag is folding chair. Don't try and secure a load like this with bungees you will come to grief. Use proper lashing straps like those sold for roof racks, cut them to size and make sure it's all on real tight. Tank bag has camera, chargers, documents, coins for tolls, spare gloves, some food and water and other odds and ends.

Further advice on preparation for motorcycle touring abroad can be found  here and here

 

The folding chairs were almost an afterthought, but if camping it would be a pain to have nothing to sit on each evening. We took one each, and they cost little and weighed next to nothing. Easy to secure on the bike and well worth it. We also made sure our bikes were serviced and the tyres would last the journey. I filled my scottoiler (and additional "lube tube" reservoir) to the brim so it would do the chain for the whole journey. The others had shaft drives. They took bike locks and I have a good alarm fitted.

We had a couple of meetings in advance of the trip to agree the basic route and also to agree some basic rules between ourselves. Even with friends, disagreements can arise over where to camp / eat / sleep etc and these can develop into an unpleasant argument. We agreed that if 2 of us voted for a course of action the third one would go along with it. Democracy! Google Earth also provided us with photographs of some of the roads along the way. This gave us an idea of what to expect and what roads to avoid.

Sunday 24/5/09 - The Journey Begins. 149 Miles

I didn't sleep much thinking about the journey ahead. Unknown territory for me. I woke up early, had breakfast and checked the bike over yet again. Finally I locked up the house and at 11am drove to meet up with John, who lives nearby. We made our way to Dreghorn Services on the Edinburgh City Bypass and met up with Ron. This was the agreed meeting and starting point for our adventure. The sun was shining, the roads were dry and it was a great start.

 

The Departure Point at Dreghorn Services.

I'm on the left, then John and Ron

 

We took the A1 down the east coast of Scotland, enjoying the great views out to sea, and had an uneventful journey to Newcastle. Although sunny, there were strong cold sidewinds and I was glad I had the warm linings in my suit and my winter gloves on. Dinner on the ferry is expensive so we found somewhere to eat close to the port and relaxed with a meal before getting on board.

It's a big ferry and there were lots of other motorcyclists in the queue with us, of  varying nationalities, all friendly and happy to chat about their experiences. Once we were on board (always treat slippery metal ferry ramps with care) it was up to us to secure our own motorcycles for the journey. Securing straps with hooks and ratchets are provided, hanging on the wall and 3 of these are needed. There are eyes on the floor for securing the hooks at various points, just find the ones in the best position for your bike.


Rules for securing your bike safely if you take it on a ferry.

1. Bike on sidestand NEVER on centrestand
2. Leave it in 1st gear to stop it moving
3. Strap 1 - from front of bike 45 degrees to left, secure hook to floor and tighten
4. Strap 2 - from rear of bike 45 degrees to left, secure hook to floor and tighten
5. Strap 3 - from right to left side over the seat, secure to floor and tighten it down. Dont tear your seat - if you can put something under the strap to pad it all the better.

Do it right and your bike won't move, even if the sea gets a bit rough. On some ferries there might be a rail or a sidewall you can secure it to - but always on sidestand in 1st gear. John also takes a strong elastic band and secures his front brake lever on with it just to be extra sure it won't move.

The ferry left at 5pm. We had a room with 4 bunks and en-suite which did the job nicely. A quick change out of the bike gear and we got ourselves out on deck with a beer. It was a lovely evening and we sunbathed on the rear deck (sorry Ron should that be aft?) as we watched the British coast disappear.

 

Leaving Newcastle on the Ferry. Our  toast was "Livin' the dream!" and we drank to that many times during the trip.

Later on we enjoyed the on board entertainment - with more beer - and then got our heads down for the day ahead.

Day 2 - Monday 25/5/09. Holland and Germany 337 miles

We did pay extra to have the buffet breakfast on the ferry, which is well worth it. We had a real feast and that set us up for the day. The ferry docked at Ijmuiden, by Amsterdam just before 10am but it took us a while to get off and through the passport checks. It was roasting hot on the vehicle deck as we waited to disembark - and there are some twits who start their bike engines way too early and everyone gets gassed! We were on the road by about 10.30am.

John took the lead as he had been this way before and got us on to the motorway leading south east into Germany. The day warmed up quickly and by the time we crossed the border into Germany we were absolutely baking in our suits. We found a service station for a break, got all the linings unzipped and I dug out my summer gloves. I also discovered that the washing up liquid I had brought had leaked all over the inside of my holdall. I was rinsing foam out of my stuff for the rest of the tour!

 

A sunny autobahn break. Check out the bay window on the front of Ron's Bike!

Today was going to be an autobahn day as we just wanted to make some miles across Germany. Our first objective on the tour was to see the Eagle's Nest at Berchtesgaden which is right down in the south east. We figured an overnight stop somewhere in central Germany would be about right for today. As we travelled, I couldn't believe it was possible to be so hot on a motorbike travelling at autobahn speeds.

80 - 90mph gets you the middle lane on the autobahn. Occasionally you have to pass something slower, but when venturing into the outside lane you have to check very carefully before moving. Some of the cars are doing 130mph and more and they close on you at an alarming speed. ALWAYS do a lifesaver glance to the blind spot over your shoulder first or you will get your arse turned into a garage!  It isn't called a lifesaver for nothing!

We also agreed that about an hour in the saddle is enough at any one time and that the leader would look for somewhere for a brief stop about then. We found that Ron's big cruiser had the shortest range and needed fuel after every 150 miles, so every second stop was a fuel stop. Probably the drag from that bloody great screen bringing down his mpg! He must have murdered half the insect population of Europe as he went along. His visor was clean though!

We got to just east of Frankfurt by late afternoon and left the autobahn to find petrol and a campsite. We got petrol in a small village and asked directions for a campsite. A local biker kindly led us to the nearest campsite, obviously going well out of his way for us.  He went screaming up the autobahn wearing just flimsy casual clothes. Nice guy but if he ever falls off there wont be much left of him! We arrived at Mainparksee campsite at the town of Mainaschaff. Some sunbathing, an evening meal and a few beers with friendly locals at a nearby restaurant, and we got our heads down in our tents for the first time.

 

Mainsparksee Campsite - hot and tired

Day 3 - Tuesday 26/5/09. Frankfurt to Berchtesgaden 365 miles

We were all up early, although I'm not sure that Ron had a good sleep in the tent he had brought. He is 6'6" and it turned out to be a tight fit for him.

 

Ron's Wendy House!

We agreed it was a priority to find a new tent for Ron at the first opportunity. He did have a full size inflatable mattress though which we eyed with envy.

  

Mainparksee Campsite - packed and ready to go.

I found the system for packing the bike was OK and I stuck with it. This was another autobahn day and like yesterday it was pretty hot. The only  driving problem I had was a German biker pulling out into my lane without doing a lifesaver and nearly hitting me. He almost crapped himself when I pulled alongside and he realised his mistake.

We passed Wurzburg, Nurnberg and Munich then followed the signs for Salzburg. Eventually in the afternoon we could see mountains on the horizon so we knew we were getting close. As we approached the mountains the weather cooled quickly and it became cloudy.  A few miles off the autobahn and we reached Berchtesgaden. It is a very picturesque little town.

 

  

 Berchtesgaden - Nice place.

We found a nice little campsite on the road out of Berchtesgaden towards Konigsee which John had been to before and we soon had the tents up. It was really clean with excellent toilets and showers. We had some food and a few beers at the small hotel across the road and then returned to our tents where I fell asleep listening to the rain on the flysheet.

Day 4 - Wednesday 27/5/09. Local Sightseeing. 37 miles

We didn't go far on the bikes today. We went up to nearby Konigsee which is a real picture postcard little place at the end of a lake. Ron had been having some difficulty finding a replacement tent, but we struck it lucky in a small outdoor pursuits shop in Konigsee. After perching on a ladder feeling about on the top shelf the assistant found the last tent they had and it was perfect.

Konigsee

Konigsee. Hitler's Eagles Nest is on top of the mountain

behind.

Konigsee

In the afternoon we went up to the Eagle's Nest. You can drive up so far and then there is a bus service up the narrow winding road. After getting off the bus you walk into a tunnel through the mountain, then take a lift (the one Hitler used!) inside the mountain to reach the Eagle's Nest. It was built by the Nazis as a present for Hitler but apparently he didn't go there much. His Berghof home was nearby but this was destroyed at the end of the war and the Eagle's Nest is all that's left.

 

The Eagle's Nest

 

  

 The clouds roll in

 

 Gorillas in the Mist

 

John in the Snow at the Eagles Nest

View looking down from Eagle's Nest

In the evening we took the bus into the town to try and find a place to watch the Champion's League Football Final. We found a hotel / restaurant called the Golden Bear with a big screen TV so we had our dinner, drank some beer and watched the football. We got a taxi back to the campsite later, well fed and rested for the next day's journey.

Day 5. Thursday 28/5/09. Berchtesgaden to Croatia. 350 miles

The rain had stopped by morning but it was a bit miserable to think about making our own breakfast on the campsite. We planned to drive from Germany, through Austria and Slovenia into Croatia today so we decided to treat ourselves to a McDonalds breakfast. We packed up our wet tents and at 10am headed off on the bikes just up the road to the McDonalds we had seen at Konigsee. It was shut! Unlike Britain the continental McDonalds don't always open early. We abandoned that idea and just hit the road, hoping to see somewhere on the way.

Directions were a wee bit tricky through the back roads over the Austrian border but soon we were in Hallein where we found a petrol station and a McDonalds which was ideal.  John likes to buy some fruit on the road if he can and he was able to stock up here. We then got on to the A10 motorway south towards Villach. Despite being the end of May the wind was coming down off the snow topped mountains and it was really cold on the bike. I had to put the winter linings back in, dig out the winter gloves and turn the heated grips on (luxury).

The scenery was fantastic. The motorway climbed through the mountains to a fair altitude. There was some impressive engineering in the tunnels and elevated sections of roadway. You need to buy something called a "vignette" to drive on Austrian motorways as part of the toll system. Petrol stations sell them and you stick it to your windscreen. Not too expensive to buy, however I believe fines are heavy if you get stopped without one.

 

A break in Austria

We continued south on the motorway past Villach and passed through the amazing Karawanken Tunnel which is almost 8km long. When we emerged at the far side we were in Slovenia and suddenly the weather was much warmer. 

 

The Karawanken Tunnel

We headed south in Slovenia and stopped at a small town called Naklo for petrol. Slovenia is really beautiful and modern and the people we spoke to were very friendly. It seemed a pity we were driving through so quickly. At Naklo it was so hot we had to take the winter linings out again, find the summer gloves and open the air vents on our suits. Four seasons in one day!

 

John and Ron at Naklo. Note Ron nonchalantly ignoring the petrol pissing out his overfilled tank across the forecourt!

The motorway south and west through Slovenia is really good quality however after a while we realised from signs that we should have had a vignette in Slovenia too. Luckily nobody bothered us. We turned off the motorway on to route 404 which runs down to the Croatian border at Rupa. It was now mid afternoon and really scorching. As the road wound its way through villages heading for the border we spotted a nice little bar / cafe on the right and pulled in for a break. We had a cold drink which went down a treat, and a chat with locals interested in the bikes and where we were from.

 

A cold drink stop before leaving Slovenia.

On the way into Croatia even though we were passing out of the EU, officials asked for no more than a passport check and waved us through. If ever driving this way it is worth remembering that your insurance company might not cover you for driving in the Balkan countries and you need to buy third party cover at the border. It's usually not too expensive. After the border we cruised down into the coastal town of Rijeka and had our first view of the Adriatic Sea. Progress was slow through the town due to major roadworks.

At this point our day began to go wrong. John, who was up front, had a good system for direction finding. The night before a journey he would sit with the map and make a list of major towns and road numbers we had to follow along the way. He listed these on a piece of paper in the window of his tank bag and he was generally spot on with his pathfinding duties. Also if you need to ask someone directions to a town but you can't pronounce the name, it is handy to point to.

We wanted to travel south, the length of the Dalmatian Coast, and the road we were looking for was the E65 to Split. What we didn't know was that they had built a brand new motorway that headed off inland up into the mountains before returning to the coast much further south. They called part of this the E65 as well - and signposted it for Split on huge bloody signs which we followed! So we ended up on completely the wrong road at this point.

As the road climbed and the sea receded into the distance on our right, we began to get concerned. After about 20 miles we saw an exit for Delnice and pulled off the motorway, where we had to pay a toll. The friendly toll people tried to give us directions on the quickest way back to the coast but with the language barrier it was difficult. In trying to follow their directions we got completely lost in the mountains of northern Croatia. We ended up driving on minor roads with no signs, twisting up and down and round the wooded valleys. There is a maze of these roads and when you are surrounded by hills and trees it is difficult to figure out which direction you are going.

We passed through many quaint little villages with women in traditional clothes and our presence seemed to cause some surprise. Locals did try to help us but as ever the language barrier was a problem. Eventually an English speaking family told us we were nearly back in Slovenia! I think we lost a couple of hours and 60 miles at least and we were beginning to think we might have to camp rough until morning. Fuel was my main concern.

Luckily we eventually found our way back to Delnice (more luck than judgement) and after more directions we found our way back to the coast. A short run south took us to Selce where we asked directions to a campsite. Luckily there is one just south of the town and we got there about 9pm. We just managed to get the tents up in the last of the daylight, but the ground was rock hard and we couldn't secure them very well. The restaurant on the site was closed but we did manage to buy a couple of beers. We had emergency "hot packs" with us, kindly supplied by Ron, so we were able to sort out a self-heating meal for ourselves.

This was a long day - 11 hours since we left Berchtesgaden - and we were all pretty tired. The roads we got lost on were brilliant though! I think it's also the only time I have been in 4 countries on the same day.

Ron + John texting home at Selce campsite. We 

were all knackered at this point. 

Day 6 - Friday 29/5/09. Selce - Pirovac. 204 miles

Just our luck! As we tried to get to sleep, absolutely knackered, a bunch of German youths decided to have a very noisy party at the waterfront nearby. Then once they had finally buggered off, the wind picked up and threatened to blow down our precariously erected tents. I found myself out in the middle of the night trying to find rocks to weigh down the corners on the flysheet. The tent held out but it was a restless night. We all got up a bit bleary eyed but the view from our breakfast spot at the seafront soon raised our spirits and we were looking forward to the day's journey down the coast - on the original E65!

 

The waterfront at Selce

Breakfast by the sea

 

Something for the weekend sir?

It's easy cutting hair on my sparsely populated head - but Ron's thatch is like fuse wire! Needs to be short or it's too hot inside your helmet.

The sky was fairly clear but there was still a strong wind blowing. The coast road sits high on the mountainside and is pretty exposed. It is also pretty twisty and needs care at the best of times. We hadn't gone far, just south of Senj, when we saw a half barrier across the road with some symbols we didn't recognise. The car ahead drove round it so we followed. A short distance down the road we were stopped by the police who informed us that the road was closed to motorhomes and motorcycles due to the high winds - and we had broken the law by passing the prohibition sign.

Thankfully they had mercy on dumb tourists and didn't fine us. They  turned us back and gave us directions on how to get to the inland A1 motorway via Senj. From Senj we turned inland and the road began to climb through forests and hairpin bends. The view back out to sea was stunning but it was really windy on the bike here and as we climbed it got really cold again. Winter linings back in, winter gloves on, heated grips on. It was a pain but I'm glad we had the stuff with us or we would have been miserable.

 

Views looking back towards Senj on the way up to the A1

We got on to the A1 and headed south. It is a very new looking motorway I think about 2000ft above sea level and runs down the plain that sits just inland of the coastal mountains. The land looks desolate up here - mainly rocks and scrub. We grabbed some fuel and a coffee at motorway services then pressed on. After 100 miles or so we passed through the recently constructed 5.7km Sveti Rok Tunnel which passes under the Velebit mountain range. When we emerged we were looking at a stunning view as the motorway descended like a ribbon below us down towards Zadar on the coast.

We got back on to the coast road at Zadar and continued south. The wind was gone and once again we were hotting up in our suits. We decided as we had a hard day yesterday, we would have an easy one today, so although it was just mid afternoon, we began looking for a campsite.

We arrived in a picturesque little coastal town called Pirovac. Some friendly young people in the town square directed us to a campsite within the town which was actually the back garden of a large house, with direct access to the beach and the sea. An elderly German couple in a caravan there told us that "Bruno" the owner was having a nap and we should just put our tents up and pay him later. So we did. John and Ron were feeling the heat so they were straight into the sea for a swim.

  

The bikes and tents at Pirovac campsite

 

Swimming at Pirovac

Bruno appeared later and we paid our dues. The German couple recommended a restaurant in the town called "Konoba Vesela" and said the soup was magnificent. So we got washed and changed and there we went. It was a nice friendly little place. The soup was nice - if not the life changing experience we had been led to believe. We had 2 litres of wine between us and the chef sent over some "Raki", the local drink. It tastes of aniseed, a bit like Pernod.

After wine and raki, we got beer and breakfast provisions at the local shop and headed back to camp. There we met a group of Slovenian bikers who were having their annual run down the coast, and they invited us to join them for a drink. They were helpful with advice on how to deal with police in Montenegro if we were stopped, and how much to pay if necessary. "Never pay more than 5 Euros for anything" they said. I don't know if that's true and I'd rather not test it! One of them showed me a really crazy film on his mobile phone taken from a sportsbike being driven at speed, overtaking everything in sight. "Eez my bike" he said. "Oh you have a camera on your bike" I said. "No I just hold ze phone wiz one hand and drive fast as I can!" he laughed. Nuts!

We drank our beer, and they produced bottles of spirits from which they poured us large drinks. It was quite pleasant, although one of the bottles had some kind of hairy twig inside which intrigued me. When I asked they said they made it themselves.  God knows what it was. Then Ron got some whisky out to return the favour. Then it all gets a bit hazy. I have no recollection of going to bed. I know Ron and John went off to bed before I did, which was wise.

Day 7 - Saturday 30/5/09. Pirovac - Dubrovnik. 206 miles

I woke about 8am with my body inside the tent but my head sticking out from under the flysheet. Took me a minute or so to work out where the hell I was, what with my face in the dirt and birds singing overhead. God I felt ill. I headed for the toilets where I was violently sick. I then realised I had been sick in the tent during the night and had crawled through it to where I woke up. Lovely! I don't think I was even sober enough to be having a hangover at this point, let alone ride a bike. I had to apologise to the guys, clean the tent a bit, then go back to sleep.

We eventually got on the road about midday when I felt just about able to drive. Then as if my day wasn't bad enough - I felt something crawling inside my helmet. Being in a foreign land - I was in a bit of a flap as to exactly WHAT was inside my helmet. The sight of me gesticulating,  getting off the bike and dancing about trying to get my helmet off gave the others great amusement. After all that it was only an earwig! The lesson is - don't put your helmet on the ground. And don't get so drunk that you forget to zip your tent up!

After all this we got under way. It was a lovely sunny day about 20 degrees and the road down the coast is absolutely stunning. The road is often high up on the coast, offering great views. Also at this time of year the tourist season has not really started, so it is not as congested as in high summer.

 

The Coast just south of Pirovac

 

 

The Dalmatian Coast. Stunning!

We found a lovely little seaside town called Gradac where we had lunch (breakfast for me) in the open air right by the water in a little pizza restaurant. We relaxed for a while just soaking up the views.

A lunch stop at Gradac. 

 

John cooling his sweaty feet in Gradac.
My hangover must have cleared from the way I'm tackling the pizza! 

This was our view while having lunch in Gradac

Croatia is an unusual country in that it is in two parts. It is bisected by a short strip of Bosnia that meets the coast at Neum. Just before the crossing into Bosnia we saw these picturesque lakes and stopped to take photographs. Unfortunately when I stopped my foot slipped on the gravel and I dropped the bike. It is 252kg kerbside weight - plus all the stuff strapped on to it - so when it gets to a certain point you just have to let it go and make sure your leg isn't under it! Of course the others didn't slag me - much! No damage except a scrape to a pannier.

 
The Bacina Lakes, Croatia. And the gravel I slipped on when I dropped the bike!

The main road south only runs through Bosnia for a few miles so we weren't sure what to expect. When we arrived at the border post we approached slowly. The guards had a look at us as we approached and just waved us through. Whatever they were looking for we didn't interest them. As we passed through the town of Neum there were police watching the passing vehicles but again they had no interest in us. Within a few minutes we were at the border to enter southern Croatia. We approached slowly and this time the guards completely ignored us, not even looking the direction we were on. So we drove slowly through the border post and we were back in Croatia. No problem! We cruised on down the beautiful coast until we reached Dubrovnik - our destination for the night.

Trying to prove we really were in Bosnia - without getting wiped out by passing traffic!

 

Franjo Tujman Bridge just north of Dubrovnik.

We found a campsite just south of Dubrovnik at Zupa Dubrovacka. A nice little family run place with reasonable washing facilities and a supermarket at the end of the road. We got the tents up, bought beer and provisions from the supermarket then sat outside the tents chatting and drinking beer until about 11pm. This was a brilliant biking day (once my hangover cleared up) and I really enjoyed the roads, the scenery and the company. This day will stay with me for a long time.

Our Campsite near Dubrovnik

Day 8 - Sunday 31/5/09 Dubrovnik - Utjeha. 112 miles

Today we had three objectives. Firstly to spend a morning sightseeing in Dubrovnik, second to drive round Kotor Bay in Montenegro and third, to find a campsite in southern Montenegro from where we could make an early start into Albania the next day. We had our breakfast at the campsite and paid the lady owner.  The local currency is the Kuna but most places in Croatia will take Euros. The only problem is whenever you pay in Euros they give the change in Kuna. So here we paid the lady with all the Kuna we had accumulated just to get rid of them before Montenegro.

She let us leave our tents on site while we had a run along to Dubrovnik. It is a beautiful old town. Sadly it was shelled during the civil war but they have worked hard at restoring it and it is now a popular destination for cruise ships. There were 2 cruise ships and a huge motor yacht off the coast when we got there. The place was jammed with tourists.

Dubrovnik viewed from the south

Cruise Liner - Dubrovnik

 

Dubrovnik Harbour. The yellow and white boats in the background ferry passengers to and from the cruise ships offshore.

 

 Tourists in Dubrovnik. It was mobbed!

Right John - it's your turn to buy lunch - OK!

Dubrovnik Harbour

 

John on Dubrovnik City Wall. A lot of nice new roofs since the civil war.

After a couple of hours in Dubrovnik we headed back, packed our tents and set off for Montenegro. I remember presenting my passport to a very young policeman at the Croatian exit post. He barely looked at it, he was so overawed by our bikes. He just wanted to be doing what we were doing!

At the Montenegro border  Ron and I had to buy insurance. John had managed to get cover in the UK. The border post was very new and impressive. Insurance was 10 Euros each so not too bad. Montenegro is not yet in the EU but the official currency is the Euro.

 The Border Post entering Montenegro

After entering Montenegro we headed round Kotor bay. It is the largest fiord in southern Europe and very picturesque.

 

John at Kotor Bay

 

 

Kotor Bay

Risan, Kotor Bay, where we had lunch

 

John at lunch at Risan. Just one push.....

Once through the town of Kotor we headed south towards Petrovac and Bar on the coast to look for a campsite. We had a quick stop just outside Budva  for photos.

 

St Stefan, Budva

Montenegro is quite poor by our standards but has adopted the Euro and seems to be working hard to catch up. One unusual sight was a big gang of labourers carrying a large cable along the side of the road to place it in a ditch. The sort of thing that you would see a cable laying machine do in this country. We had to stop at the roadworks and the workers immediately started shouting in English "Where are you from?" I told them "Scotland" and they all smiled and cheered. The reception you get on a bike in this part of the world is terrific.

The roads are not too bad here, but you have to watch for unmarked roadworks and potholes, occasional nutty drivers, and if you go through a tunnel it may have no lighting and a lot of crap on the road surface. It just needs a bit of care and common sense. My favourite was one place where we saw a nasty pothole in the road. In order to attract the attention of drivers to it, they had placed small boulders all around it! You dont wanna hit that on a bike.

We found a campsite down the coast but it wasn't all that great. Ron shook his head and said he wanted a campsite, beach, restaurant and bar all together in one place. We laughed because the country is a bit basic and said "you'll be lucky"! Nevertheless, a few miles on, at a place called Utjeha is a little resort named "Rocky Beach". Sure enough, we got all of these things together. Very soon the tents were up and we were in the sea.

 

Rocky Beach at Utjeha. We got a campsite just behind the buildings in the trees, had a swim in the sea, and had food and beer right on the waterfront. Brilliant!

After dinner we got some beers from the local shop to drink back at the tents. When we got back to the campsite it got quite cold and I soon had to get into my sleeping bag to keep warm. I was out like a light soon after. Apparently I snored loudly every night in my tent. The guys were always suggesting a far away spot for me to put my tent up. Like Spain or somewhere!

Day 9 - Monday 1/6/09.  Montenegro to Greece. 280 miles

Initially we had intended to avoid Albania on the way to Greece as we didn't know much about it and the travelling advice online was not that encouraging. ("Gun ownership is widespread - don't fall out with other motorists etc.") This, however, would have entailed a very long detour through Kosovo and Macedonia. Once we got this far we had decided just to go for it and drive through Albania. There looked like about 250 miles of driving from north to south and all going well we reckoned we could get right through in a day. This meant all driving and few photos - but we just wanted to get through the place.

From Utjeha we headed south through Ulcinj toward the border. The closer you get to Albania the poorer the towns and people look. We hoped there was a crossing at Sveti Nicola near the coast. A friendly biker gave us directions to Sveti Nicola but he missed the bit that were were looking for a border crossing. We ended up going some miles down towards the border but the absence of traffic gave us a clue that this was a dead end. We stopped to discuss this, by chance outside a small primary school. The whole school came to a stop and the children and teachers came out to see the strange men on motorbikes.

The children were very polite and stood in a line. They would not approach unless invited. We let them see and touch the bikes and I showed them our route on a map, which drew gasps of amazement. The teachers managed to explain the correct route we should take and we headed off. The reception we had from this little school was lovely. Sometimes the poorest kids seem to be the nicest.

We had to double back to Ulcinj then head south east towards the crossing at Muriqan. This time we knew we were on the right track because we saw Albanian vehicles coming the other way. The road is narrow and poor quality though, twisting along and care is necessary. You wouldn't think it was the main road to anywhere. At Muriqan border post we saw there was a modern state of the art building almost complete but not yet in use. We had to bounce around it on gravel to the old crossing point. It was fairly quiet and we didn't have long to wait.

 

The border police were friendly and processed our papers quickly. This is one border where you WILL need all the correct documents. Despite our requests to buy insurance cover they said "No it OK!" and waved us on. We didn't want to argue too much so off we went uninsured into Albania. I think they thought they were doing us a favour.

 

Muriqan border post entering Albania. 

Now replaced by a modern state of the art building.

The first few miles to Shkoder were a real culture shock. Very obvious poverty. Kids generally had no shoes, but they all waved and smiled as we went by. There were many horses and carts, as well as things with lawnmower sized engines pulling huge trailers full of hay. Much litter about, and the odd stagnant pool full of rubbish. The road was lined with groups of men here and there, staring at us as we went by and this was a bit disconcerting at first. Later we realised these were men out by the road hoping for the gangmaster to pick them for a day's work. There was a mixture of beautiful scenery, cultivated land and grinding poverty all together in one place.

When we saw the bridge over the river Buna we thought it couldn't possibly be the main road and we took a wrong turn for a bit. We realised a bit further down the road and turned back over it. The bridge is metal with wooden sleepers. Really narrow and basic. I have since heard that it was built as a temporary measure by army engineers when the old bridge collapsed and a new bridge is currently being built.

Yep - this is the main highway!

The wooden bridge over the River Buna at Shkoder

Once we left Shkoder and headed south through Lezhe towards Tirane the road improved a bit. There is basically one busy highway that runs from the north down to the capital and thats it. It is a 2 way single carriageway and is fairly straight so we were able to crack on and make overtakes. Drivers in vans and lorries would sound their horns and wave encouragement to us. At one point we were all overtaking lorries and blasted past bemused police officers with a radar trap. They just stood there open mouthed. Everyone generally looked very pleased to see us. All the way through Albania we never saw other bikers like ourselves.

The highway was just a cloud of dust and diesel fumes all the way and you can taste it. You still had to watch out for horses and lawnmower things though and be ready to brake. We came off this road at Fushe-Kruje and headed south west to Vore. As we turned the corner, into Vore,  we saw a majestic new hotel, the "Continental" and decided that would be a safe bet for lunch. We stopped and had soup and nice bread.

 

The Continental Hotel at Vore. A welcome oasis.

John at lunch in Vore, Albania, writing his memoirs.

 

View from hotel at Vore, near Tirana. The hotel was nice but everything else is pretty shabby. Albania is working hard to catch up though and in this photo there is some kind of construction work going on across the road. I wonder what they are going to put on top of these concrete pillars?

We were amazed that the country had a large number of brand spanking new petrol stations. The place is littered with them and they just don't look as if they belong here. It's as if a lot of companies are currently competing to dominate the market. Can't see how they can all survive long term.

After lunch we headed out to the main port, Durres, in the usual cloud of dust and diesel. No catalytic converters here! We found ourselves on the main boulevard in Durres heading south, and it was really nice. Modern buildings, flowers etc for a mile or two. As soon as we reached the end of it though it was straight back to third world stuff.

We headed south through Kavaje, Lushnje, Fier and Patos. On part of that route we found a newly built motorway which lifted our spirits. There were signs saying horses, tractors  donkeys etc were not allowed. Nevertheless there they were on the road. Their motorways also have crossroads - so be warned if you travel through. It's a bit different. We stopped for fuel at a nice new petrol station on the motorway. No chip and pin here - they won't even take your card. Cash only. They will take Euros though (don't look for change) so I stuck 10 Euros of fuel in the tank. Very friendly staff too.

 

Planning permission for this not required I guess.

The Albanians are working hard to improve the place and there is construction all over. Note the nice new petrol stations in the background - the country is plastered with them.

The only place I've seen where you can buy fruit and wheel trims!

There was some disagreement about what route to take south to Greece. John wanted to take the coast road, hoping it might have had some improvements for tourism. Ron and I wanted to take the more direct inland route as we thought this would be the main route for freight. And we hadn't seen any tourists apart from ourselves. We were all in the dark really. The democracy rule kicked in here and we took the inland route.

It was not a good road by our standards and needed care.  (For info - the coast road is equally bad!) It was narrow, like a country lane, had potholes and broken ridges in places, and in one part the tar vanished altogether and we were driving on gravel, weaving to miss oncoming buses and cars. It is also covered in a layer of fine dust. Then it began to rain a little bit which didn't improve the grip any. We couldn't get any speed up with all the twists and turns up and down and round the mountains and we seemed to be driving on this road for ages. There were a number of  home made shrines beside the road, apparently indicating where people have been killed. Eventually we stopped in a town to stretch our legs and two rather poor looking teenage boys approached and looked at us from a respectful distance.

We invited them over and let them see the bikes. They were able to point out on the map that the town we were in was called Ballsh. My heart sank as I had hoped we were further on than that. We pressed on south down towards Tepelene before taking another break. As we left Tepelene there was a traffic cop doing a road check when we came round the corner. He looked really surprised, then grinned and waved us through with a big salute. I saluted back in passing.

 
This is the main road that runs south past Tepelene and through Gjirokaster

to Greece. It would be easy to come unstuck on this. I think Ron is indicating the actual width of the road surface!

(N.B. - a check of Google Earth after getting home confirmed the coast road is no better)

 

Miles of rolling hills and mountains on the way south to Greece and this road winds its narrow way through them. You can see the spots of rain on my pannier. Just enough to make the dusty surface slippery.

 A bit north of Gjirokaster the road suddenly improved. It turned into a straight, well surfaced modern road and with the exception of the streets in Gjirokaster itself, this continued all the way to the Greek border. I expect in time they will get round to improving the whole length of this road. We were extremely happy to be on this new road as we headed down to the border and we all relaxed a bit prematurely. John was in front, then me, then Ron at this point.

We were virtually at the border crossing and the road gently turned left and up over a small rise. I wound off the power, gradually losing speed, but as I came over the rise the road suddenly turned about 100 degrees very sharp right with no warning and I was carrying too much speed. There was also a concrete divider more than a foot high in the centre of the road which looked very unforgiving. I just had to lean right into the bend while feathering the throttle (and remembering that I was uninsured). I was convinced the bike would slide out from under me but amazingly it held on.

I stopped and looked round for Ron, really worried because he doesn't have the ground clearance to make a turn like that. To my relief I saw that he was still upright on the other side of the road. After his footplate grounded and he knew he wouldn't get round it, he had found a small gap in the centre divide, managed to pull his  giant bike upright and dive through it without hitting the divide and without hitting any oncoming traffic. We were both lucky and I was very relieved to see the big fella in one piece. Good escape by him.

The last right hand bend at Kakavie border crossing into Greece

that nearly did for us.

We got through customs into Greece with no complications and we set off south on a good road. We found these customs posts in and out of Albania OK but it is important to make sure you have all the right documents. The registration document for your vehicle is particularly important. We had identified the town of Ioannina, not too far away, as a destination for the night. The three of us and our bikes were covered in grime after miles of diesel, dust and drizzle, so we decided to seek out a hotel and treat ourselves to a bit of luxury for once.

As we entered northern Ioannina we saw 2 motorcycle cops, so  John asked them if they could point us in the right direction. They were very friendly and one of them decided to lead us to a hotel. He set off at a cracking pace through the busy town, where I found myself at the rear of the pack, having to run red lights to keep up! The first hotel was full, so he took us to another, right in the centre of town, the Bretannia strangely enough. There was a very close shave when he stopped suddenly for someone at a pedestrian crossing and John couldn't stop in time and nearly took him right out. Missed him by a whisker. Luckily the cop was OK about it. He spoke to reception and we were sorted out with a room each for a reasonable rate. Good game!

While looking after the bikes outside the hotel, passing vehicles kept stopping and people asking where we were from. When I said Scotland, I got a big smile and a cheer, or "well done". The hotel also allowed us to put our bikes behind steel gates in their rear yard. A welcome shower, a change of clothes and we had a hot meal in a small restaurant nearby. We had a few drinks in a bar next to the hotel and everyone was extremely friendly. We are very lucky that so many people speak English. We had to watch what we said about Albania here as many of the people around us were actually Albanian. It was great to have a real bed and I slept like a log.

Most of the time I was in Albania today I just wanted out - but it was a great experience and one of the most memorable days of the trip for me. I don't think we passed a single kid who didn't wave to us. So did many of the lorry drivers and even police. I'm glad we went, because I think in a few years Albania will have largely caught up with its neighbours and some of its character might have vanished.

 

Ioannina, Northern Greece

It is a lovely little town 

Day 10 - Tuesday 2/6/09. Ioannina - Corfu. 76 driving miles

We were up at 8.30 after a good sleep and had a good breakfast at the hotel. I thought it might be a lightweight continental job but it was pretty filling. Got the bikes out from the yard and loaded them up out front. I was almost embarrassed putting on my filthy bike kit and parading about this nice hotel. By 10am we were on the road south and got petrol on the way out of town. 

We picked up the motorway for Igoumenitsa, which is only about an hour's drive away on the west coast. The motorway was really new and quite quiet so we had a leisurely drive. The only eye opener I saw was a bus entering the motorway the wrong way down an exit ramp then having to do a 3 point turn so he could go the correct way. There was a short break in the motorway due to an unfinished tunnel and we had a taste of the old twisty road over the mountains.

At Igoumenitsa we found the busy ferry port and got ourselves tickets for the island of Corfu, which lies a couple of hours sail off the coast. We couldn't see any means of securing the bikes on this ferry and we just had to leave them on the sidestand in gear. The sea was very calm so thankfully there was no problem. We took the welcome opportunity to chill out on deck in the sunshine. We planned to have a few days break in Corfu and we were all happy looking forward to it.

 

3 Singles to Corfu please!

Ready to board the ferry for Corfu behind us. 

Just leave them on the sidestand lads. Gulp!

We were all very happy going to Corfu to relax for a few days. Good to get the bike boots off. You can't make your socks smell any better but you can dry them out a bit!

 

Entering Corfu Harbour

I had been in Corfu about 15 years before and I stayed in Sidari on the north coast. I knew we could find accommodation and some decent food and beer there - so that's where we headed. As I (just about) knew how to get there I led the way off the ferry. It's quite a nice run up over the mountains and down to the coast, but the signposts leave much to be desired. They have a habit of putting the names of about 20 villages listed in small writing on one signpost and you have to stop and read the whole bloody list to see if the place you are looking for is there.

When we arrived we had a beer then Ron looked after the bikes while John and I visited local tourist accommodation to find a place to stay. We both found places about the same price but the place John found was better so we took up that offer. Target Studios, run by Costas who is a local, and Chelly his partner who is English. They were great hosts and gave us a room each on the ground floor, with parking for our bikes right outside. It wasn't long before we were splashing about in the pool and having a few beers from the bar. It was a great little place and we really enjoyed our stay here. We were the only residents. It's a good place to stay if ever in Sidari and they have a website on

http://targetcorfu.gr/

On the sunbeds at Target Studios. We had the bottom three rooms on the left and the bikes are visible behind the sunbeds. Brilliant!

 

 We had some lovely ice cold beer by the pool.

 

Ron with Costas and Chelly at Target

 

 

From the front of Target it is a short walk through the gardens to the beach or along the street to the bars and restaurants.

Great location for us to unwind!

 

Dionysos Apartments, Sidari. I flew to Corfu and stayed upstairs here about 15 years ago. I never imagined I would be back on a motorbike!

We couldn't believe our luck arriving in such a great wee place. After some beer and a splash about in the pool we got washed and changed and headed for some food. The restaurants along the main street in Sidari serve really great food and you can sit outside virtually on the beach. 

 

Dinner on our first evening in Corfu. Happy to have made it this far.

Day 11 - Wednesday 3/6/09. Zero miles today

A rest day today with no driving at all. We had a great breakfast up the street for not much money, then came back to Target where we gave the bikes some necessary attention and washed them. I also washed my motorbike suit as it had half of Albania stuck to it.  Then washed all my sweaty t-shirts and underwear.  Camping is fine but I was beginning to whiff a bit. We had a walk round by the "Canal d'Amour" - a local tourist attraction, then John beat me at tennis. Then a splash in the pool, then a beer. Then we all got washed and changed for dinner. Ron wanted to watch Rugby so he stayed at the apartments. John and I had beer and food at "Madisons" and watched an Abba tribute band. A nice easy day and brilliant weather.

Day 12 - Thursday 4/6/09. 50 miles

Woke up about 8.30am and wandered the ten paces or so to the sunbeds by the pool. John and Ron joined me soon after and we had a good breakfast cooked by Chelly. Magic!

Ron went off on his bike to Corfu town as he wanted to see it, and while there he was going to book our ferry passage for Brindisi in Italy. I took my bike for a spin round the north east of the island. I went through Roda, Kassiopi, Aghios Stefanos, and right down the coast to Gouvia before heading back through Troumpetta over the mountain back to Sidari. I took some more photos on the way.

 
A view to Albania from the north east of Corfu

 

Kouloura, Corfu

 

 

 North East Coast Road, Corfu. Really narrow and twisty with some nutty drivers who came round bends towards me on my side of the road. OK with a bit of care and very scenic.

When we all got back to base, Ron told us the ferry we had hoped to get on Sat 6/6/09 had been cancelled due to lack of passengers. He booked the first one after that which was at 1am on Monday 8/6/09. 50 Euros each for passage, plus a bed in a shared ensuite cabin, plus the bikes. Not bad. Luckily Target were able to let us have our rooms for another night. So this meant we would have to laze around in the sun and drink beer for another couple of days. What a bugger!

We had the usual meal and beers up the street and watched a crap cabaret act with 3 dancing females, one of whom looked like Bella Emberg in a leotard. It was quite funny although I'm sure they didn't mean it to be. In a small resort like this you find the same performers turning up in a different guise. The guy who was Robbie Williams one night was Elvis the next.

Day 13 - Friday 5/6/09. Zero miles today

Usual 8.30am start lazing by the pool in the sun and having breakfast  at Target. It's a hard life. We go up to the supermarket for some supplies for when we get back to camping - like cereal and camping gas. John then went off and booked a 40hp speedboat for 2 hours 3 - 5pm for 60 Euros. This was great fun. We went west to Sunset Beach and East as far as Roda in fantastic weather. I had to cover up a bit as I was beginning to fry.

 

Cap'n Ron at the helm of our speedboat

 
Kate Winslet does the front of the boat thing much better.

  

Cliffs at Sidari

 

John checking out the Canal D'Amour

Would you let this man drive?

 

Ron diving off the rocks near Sidari. Not bad for an old biker!

Note the safety wire round my leg. If I fall out the boat stops. Apparently.

 

Sunset Beach near Peroulades. Having seen the rubble that's fallen off the cliffs further along - I wouldn't be too happy walking along the bottom like the folks on the left.

We had a great time on the speedboat and came back to Target  where we chewed the fat over a beer by the pool. The weather was fantastic. My only problem by this point was that I was picking up a fair collection of mosquito bites. I plastered myself in repellent before going out for dinner to try and avoid adding to them. We went out later for the usual beer, dinner and bed. No biking at all for me today.

Day 14 - Saturday 6/6/09. 18 miles.

After a rude awakening at 8am - roadworks outside with a jackhammer - we enjoy another nice breakfast at Target. We had a walk along to the town, then I took the bike for a short spin out to Sunset Beach at Peroulades and a little bit further down the north west corner of the island. No more biking today. We have enjoyed our break here but we are all impatient to get back on the road. I found the roads in Corfu narrow and winding but they were reasonably surfaced and away from the tourist resorts the villages have character.

More good food and beer along the main street in "Madison's". Then we watch football on TV in the "Karaoke Bar". England beat Kazakhstan 4-0 and we have some good banter with the English tourists there. I wander back to Target and have more beer with the proprietors before getting to bed about 2am.

Day 15 - Sunday 7/6/09. Sidari - Corfu Town

Our last day on Corfu. We had to pack up and be out of the room by 12 but they let us keep our stuff in John's room until we left in the evening. Costas and Chelly were very kind hosts. It rained briefly in the morning and I didn't go anywhere. I just lazed around the pool and later on we had lovely beef stifado cooked on the premises. Corfu was a great place for a break at this point in our journey. The only downside is that you can't flush toilet paper away  because it will block the narrow pipes. It has to go in a pedal bin and the maid takes it away.

We said our goodbyes and left about 8.30pm to make our way down to the ferry port in plenty of time. Corfu is absolutely covered in olive groves and the vapour from the olive oil settles on the roads. This is OK in the dry but the roads were still damp when we travelled the twisty route over the mountains. Even driving carefully the back end of my bike stepped out quite badly at one point. It was really greasy.

We got ourselves parked up at the port then settled down to drink coffee while waiting for the ferry at 1am the next morning.

Day 16 - Monday 8/6/09. Corfu - Sicily. 393 driving miles since Sidari

Just before 1am we joined a little band of travellers on the quayside to await the arrival of the ferry to Brindisi. It arrived about 1am and we got on soon after. Unlike the Newcastle ferry there were few vehicles and there was plenty of parking space on the vehicle deck.

The ferry for Brindisi arrives in Corfu Harbour

We met a British couple on a Honda CBF1000, who spoke as if they were experienced in taking their motorbike on ferries "been there done that blah blah". When they got on board, however, he stuck it up on the centrestand and off they went to their room! Crazy - all it takes is a bit of a swell and it could roll forward off the stand. We made sure our bikes were secured - and nowhere near that one!

We had a very calm crossing and got some sleep in our cabin. We were up sharp and showered though because the ferry arrives about 7.30am in Brindisi.

Entering Brindisi Harbour

We were off the ferry fairly sharp and the police and customs waved us through, simply pointing to our heads and shouting "casco!" (helmet) as we hadn't put them on yet.  The idiot's Honda was still upright after the crossing too - lucky man. We found ourselves on good roads and headed west on the E90 through Taranto. We didn't stop in either Brindisi or Taranto as we had a lengthy drive ahead and they looked like very industrial towns.

We followed signs for Reggio di Calabria which is the port for Sicily, located right down on the toe of Italy. We expected the signs to direct is on to the A3 motorway but eventually we realised that we had passed the junction we should have taken. John had a compass and it was indicating south east, which gave him a clue something was wrong and he stopped.  That was good except we nearly ran up his arse as we weren't expecting it. We lost about an hour trying to retrace our steps to find the junction. Not much English spoken here it seems and locals were  struggling to help us.

Eventually we found the E844 road and headed a short distance along it to the A3 motorway. When we got there, the entire intersection had been dug up as part of major roadworks, so we couldn't get on to the motorway. Another 15 miles or so down a side road and we eventually joined the main motorway south. The first part of the journey on this road was fine and we found a service station to stop for petrol and lunch.

  

Lunchbreak at Services on the way to Sicily. The day is getting hot!

Soon after our break, however, we ran into roadworks. The motorway was undergoing a serious upgrade with new tunnels and bridges under construction for many miles. A contraflow was operating on one carriageway with miles and miles and miles of cones up the middle preventing us from overtaking. I would say there was well over 100 miles of this. It slowed us down to 40mph or so and seriously delayed us.

We found the Italian drivers had a good attitude though and if they saw us in their mirrors they would pull over as far as they could to let us slide past. Lorry drivers practically drove in the dirt to wave us past. It didn't help us make much progress though.

We didn't have to go all the way to Reggio, as we spotted a ferry terminal at Villa San Giovanni a bit further up the coast. We got on to the ferry just after 5pm and arrived in Messina about 6pm.

On the ferry at Villa San Giovanni looking across to Sicily

 

Leaving Villa San Giovanni

 

John crashed out on the ferry. It was a long hot day, nothing went to plan and we didn't have much sleep the night before.

 

Ron, with Reggio Di Calabrio in the background

Villa San Giovanni. The coastal motorway down to here has stunning views.

 

Messina, Sicily. We were actually on Corfu and Sicily on the same day.

When we got off the ferry at Messina we needed fuel, cash, a campsite and somewhere to get food/beer. We found a petrol station just off the ferry so that was one problem solved. We had decided we would avoid the motorway and travel down the coast road south towards Taormina - maybe 30 miles or so. 

This turned out to be a mistake at this time of night. It was still rush hour and the traffic in Messina is totally nuts. Drivers crowd us and push their way across the lanes and at first it all looks like chaos.  At one point I was closely surrounded by several mopeds, one of those 3-wheeler scooter truck things and an old primered van with no windows at all - wipers perched in mid air! They all wanted to go different directions. You quickly get used to it though and the only solution is to drive like the locals. You have to be very assertive but just stay on the safe side of suicidal.

The coastline is built up almost all the way and one small town runs straight into the next. They also have very narrow congested streets. The traffic was all snarled up and even on bikes we couldn't make progress. We found a cash machine so that solved another problem, then we got directions to a campsite from the local police. We were hot, sweaty and absolutely knackered by this time. It had been a long day, nothing went to plan and we hadn't much sleep the night before. (I had 2 cards with me in case I needed to draw cash and I wrote to both banks and told them where I was going. Despite this, one card refused to work overseas. When I put the other card in the machine the bank immediately phoned me to verify my identity and only then did the machine pay out. Big brother or what!)

Eventually we found our way to the village of Sant'Allessio Siculo - and found the local campsite "La Focetta Sicula". After John - our chief negotiator - had haggled a decent price for 2 nights, we got the tents organised, washed and changed and made our way along the street where we found a little restaurant. It's amazing how some food and a few beers can really improve your evening. After that it was back to the tents and I slept like a (noisy) log.

Our Sicilian Campsite right on the beach. I dropped the bike again here. 

John reckons I need stabilisers. And I was eaten alive by 

mosquitoes - just as my tin of repellent ran out!

View south from our Sicilian campsite.

A vehicle near the campsite. 

Obviously the MOT test here is different from ours! 

Day 17. Tuesday 9.6.09. Sicily. 87 Miles

We woke up reasonably refreshed today. We wanted to see mount Etna and asked the little campsite worker if he could give us directions. He was a bit like Manuel from Fawlty Towers - really nice but hard of understanding. We gave up and headed in the general direction we thought would get us there. The weather was roasting hot and John elected to drive the bike in his shorts. We left all the tank bags and stuff at the campsite - nice to drive without luggage for a change. We took the toll motorway south towards Catania and a motorist there pointed us in the right direction. We found the approach road through Nicolosi up towards Etna Sud visitor centre and began to make our way up. This was my first view of a live volcano.

 Look! A volcano!

 

The southern approach to Mount Etna

The visitor centre sits over 6000ft above sea level. It all looks fairly new - the last one was wiped out by an eruption just a few years ago.

 

Recent lava flows. Roofs of some buried buildings just visible in the lava.

 

John at Etna Sud. Nice new roads and buildings

with the recent black lava visible

 

The view down to Catania from Etna Sud

 

Etna Sud

 

John on Crateri Silvestri, Etna

 

Me and the bikes at Mount Etna. This is as far south

as we got on our trip. It's all north after this.

We found a nice twisty road down the east side of Etna to take us back up the coast to our campsite. It was fine until we got down to the built up area, then the condition of the road became poorer and we got lost in the maze of streets trying to find the coast road. John decided to take the motorway back, while Ron and I took the narrow coastal road through the small towns. We stopped for some photos on the way.

 

Taormina from Giardini Naxos

 

Ron at Giardini Naxos

 

Isola Bella, Taormina

 

View over Taormina

Ron and I followed a car into a car park to take these pictures of Taormina. When we looked round the barrier had closed behind us. The car driver must have had the pass to open it and he had buggered off. I hope the barrier still works after we rearranged it to get out!

We went to the same restaurant, had a quiet meal and a few beers, then bed. Back to the mainland tomorrow!

Day 18. Wednesday 10/6/09. Sicily - Salerno. 305 miles.

We were up early, washed, breakfasted and packed so we could make progress up the leg of Italy today. I managed to drop my bike again - left side this time. Lost my footing on gravel in the campsite. My panniers now have matching scratches so that's OK. I bent the clutch lever too - luckily it didn't break or that could have really wasted our day. More piss taking from John about the stabilisers!

We set off up the autostrada to Messina. Once we got  on to the city streets it was back to the crazy traffic. Messina is certainly a crazy driving experience. We arrived at the port, bought our ferry tickets and expected a short wait to cross to the mainland. We had to wait more than an hour. Every time someone asked the man selling the tickets how long before the ferry arrives he said "ten minutes". Eventually we realised this was just his standard answer and he had no bloody idea. You just have to accept that this is southern Italy and things move at a slower pace (apart from the traffic). Eventually the ferry arrived and we were able to board.

Boarding the ferry to leave Sicily. Vehicles go up top because the lower deck is actually for trains!

The train deck on the ferry

Our Ferry back to Italy with the ramp leading to the upper deck.

 

Leaving Messina Harbour. The sizeable coastguard fleet is moored

just to the right.

It was about lunchtime when we got to the mainland and we immediately set off north up the A3 autostrada through all the roadworks again. Lorries and cars did a good job of moving over to let us past - the southern Italians were very considerate. Nevertheless we started to get seriously pissed off with mile after mile of cones. Eventually we decided to treat it like a normal 2 way road and do some overtaking. So a few times we dodged through the cones to blast past slow traffic and dodged back in.  That was fine except for the one I hit with my foot at 80mph - ouch! Fortunately the police didn't see us and we made better progress. This was the longest motorway contraflow I have seen in my life.

This was also the hottest day I have ever spent on a motorbike. I had all the linings stripped out of my cordura suit, all the vents zipped open, helmet vents open and summer vented gloves on, but I was still sweating. We passed Cosenza about 2.30 in the afternoon and I remember being glad I was covered because I could feel the sun burning through my suit. It would have had the skin off me. I could also feel the heat of the bike through the suit and my feet felt as though they were baking in my boots.

The Italian motorways are an amazing feat of engineering. They have to cope with line after line of mountain ridges divided by deep valleys and in some places the journey consists of a long sequence of tunnel - bridge - tunnel - bridge - tunnel - bridge and so on. They must cost a fortune to construct. The downside of this for me on such a sunny day was that my eyes were constantly trying to adjust from bright sunshine to dark tunnel and back again. After 20 or 30 tunnels it was starting to give me a sore head. Luckily for Ron and I we had helmets with flip down sun visors. By flipping these up and down we could take the edge off it a bit. John only had his sunglasses on however. This was fine in the sunshine but he said when he entered the tunnels he could see bugger all and had to follow the tail lights at times.

Once we got further north we escaped the roadworks and the scenery was stunning. This is one place you don't need to take the back roads to see the scenery - it's all on view from the motorway. As the afternoon progressed we did our usual and pulled off the motorway to ask some locals where we can find a campsite. On the slip road at Sala Consilina we saw a traffic police base so we pulled in there to ask. They were very helpful and explained that we would have to continue to the coast south of Salerno - so we did.

After a further enquiry with locals we eventually arrived at "Camping California" at the village of Magazzeno just south of Salerno. This was right on the beach with a view over the Amalfi Coast. Like other Italian campsites you have to buy tokens for showers here. Put token in - get covered in soap - token runs out and water stops - swear loudly.  So it pays to have 2 tokens - one to rinse. Unusually this site gave us the key for one locked toilet cubicle to use between us (you don't wanna be last!). There is never any toilet paper on these sites and for some reason toilets without toilet seats attached seem to be the norm. However staff very friendly and lent us a hammer to get our pegs into the hard ground.

Salerno Campsite, squeezed between rows of caravans.

Did the trick though - just somewhere to crash out for the night.

Nightfall over the Amalfi Coast

We had our meal and some beers at the campsite restaurant It was cooked by the same guy who sold us our pitches. It was OK but that's about it. It was a long day today - mainly because of the wait for the ferry and the roadworks, but we still made good miles and it was a great afternoon's biking through the scenery of southern Italy.

Day 19. Thursday 11th June 2009. Salerno - Ladispoli. 207 miles

We were up about 8 had our breakfast round the camping gaz stove as usual. We always had cereal and filled rolls with a cuppa, and sometimes boiled eggs on the stove. That pretty much kept us going until evening meal each day, with just a coffee and maybe a snack during the day.

Once we had paid our dues we set off about 10am north, round Salerno on the A3 and then on to the A1 motorway for Rome. The Amalfi Coast was right next to us but the roads round it are very narrow and twisting along the cliffs with slow moving traffic. We reckoned it could take up a whole day even though it's not that big - so we gave it a miss.

We had great views on the road north. First we passed Vesuvius, the second live volcano we saw on our trip. Then a bit further north we had a great view of the monastery at Monte Cassino. It was a nice hot day again but more comfortable for me on the bike than yesterday. We skirted the south side of Rome out to the coast and made our way to Ladispoli. After the usual enquiries with locals we found the campsite "Camping Queen" right on the beach by 2.30pm.  Despite the name there were no men holding hands - thankfully.

We weren't long in getting the tents up and on to the beach for sunbathing and of course a beer. We booked in for 2 nights here so we could have a day in Rome. Not a bad site but still tokens for showers, no toilet paper and missing toilet seats. Is there a national shortage of toilet seats?

Ladispoli Campsite - with handy sunshades over the tents and bikes

A short walk down here and we were on the beach!

We had a walk round Ladispoli in the evening. Nice enough in a way but blighted by graffiti as are many Italian towns. It's a shame to see nice places defaced in this way. We didn't see anywhere to eat so we returned to the campsite restaurant "La Cariola" which turned out to be remarkably good. We had the fastest, most motivated waitress I have ever seen. Pretty much running between tables.

Day 20. Friday 12/6/09. 2 miles.

We got up early with the intention of leaving early for Rome but were uneasy about some dodgy young males camped next to us. Campsites are generally very safe places but we didn't fancy leaving our kit around next to these guys. They packed up and left eventually.

We drove the short distance to the rail station, parked the bikes and took the train into central Rome (the main station is called Roma Termini) - about 40 minutes or so. We got some lunch and set off to see the sights. It was a lovely sunny day and the ancient part of Rome is certainly worth seeing. I hadn't realised so much of it was so well preserved.

OK - which way to the interesting places?

Statue of Julius Caesar in front of the Forum

The Temple of Saturn

 

The Coliseum. And me playing chicken with a bus.

 

Inside the Coliseum

 

Obviously putting new laminate flooring in!

The Palatine Hill, Rome

 

Triumphal Arch of Constantine 1st, outside Coliseum

 

Castel Sant' Angelo

River Tiber and the dome of St Peter's

At the front of the Vatican

Vittorio Emmanuele 11 Monument

Beer by the Coliseum

We got the train back early evening from San Pietro station just behind the Vatican and had our dinner at the same brilliant little restaurant at the campsite as it is handy for a few beers and a stagger to bed.

Day 21. Saturday 13/6/09. Ladispoli - San Remo.  387 miles

We are aware that the days are passing and we have to travel a long way north to reach our ferry at Amsterdam in a week's time. We knew we should put some miles in today and at least get close to the French border. We were up early, showered, breakfast, packed up, paid and on the road north. We took the coastal dual carriageway E80 which is a good road and took us up past Livorno, Pisa, and La Spezia. The E80 becomes toll motorway (A12) near Livorno and we stayed on this all the way round Past Genova to San Remo.

The weather was great again and the scenery in Liguria is stunning - as is much of Italy. It is much greener as we drive north. As usual the motorway engineering is fantastic. There are direction signs here and there as the motorway splits one way or the other and we keep looking for "France" or "Nice" as we get closer to the border, but the Italians don't put this on their signs for some reason. It's as if they think the world ends at the Italian Border. We are fortunate enough to meet an Italian garage attendant who sounds like he just stepped off the plane from Manchester ("Eh up lads!"). He used to live in Britain and tells us the place to look for on the signs is "Ventimiglia", the last Italian town on the French border. This was very helpful.

Other people at a service station told us there was camping in San Remo so we headed there by early evening. As in Greece we found motorcycle cops and asked them directions to the campsite. They kindly offered to lead the way and we followed them amid the usual swarm of scooters through the town. They took us right to the gate.

This was a nice location right on the seaside, but a weird campsite. First they wanted 32 Euros each - for camping! Then they told us to put the tents up on a monoblock area usually used as a path. Then we found the pool had closed at 6pm just before we could cool off. Then when we decided to eat at the campsite restaurant the service was truly awful and I had to go hunt for the waitress more than once.  A real contrast from the brilliant service at Ladispoli.

After we had showered and changed an English chap with a motorhome stated his amazement that 3 dusty bikers could clean up so well for dinner. He was very pleasant and we joked  about how we could have done with a drink when we arrived. When we came back at night he had placed a miniature of whisky at the front of each of our tents. A nice gesture and we thanked him the next morning. 

This was a long day but it put us within easy striking distance of the ferry in the time we had left. We were careful to keep a day in hand when planning our return to the ferry in case any problems delayed us. I remember falling asleep at San Remo to the sound of the waves lapping on the shore. The only problem was the monoblock which radiated heat all night.

San Remo - where we were told to pitch our tents on this monoblock path. We thought the bloke was joking but he wasn't. 

We managed to get most of our little tent pins down between the blocks. The approaching walkers were bemused to see us blocking the path.

Nice view though - right on the sea.

These blocks had soaked up the sun's heat all day and radiated heat all night into the tent. I was a greasy blob by the morning.

That bloke is in the wrong place, apparently. Should be on the monoblock, not the cobbles. What a weird campsite.

Day 22. Sunday 14/6/09. San Remo - Sisteron. 174 miles

I woke up sweating in my tent and couldn't wait to get a shower. John  the negotiator went to reception and told them this camping on monoblock business was very poor. He challenged the price of 32 Euros each and got them to agree to 32 Euros for all 3 of us. A much better price. We got packed up and set off about 10am west along the coast road. We entered France via Ventimiglia.

The abandoned customs post between France and Italy at Ventimiglia

We plodded on along the coast road to Monaco. It is pretty but it twists and turns, is busy with traffic and progress is painfully slow.  Getting down through the streets to the centre of Monaco is a bit of a maze as well. Monaco is much smaller than I had imagined. We stopped just above the marina to take photos and saw there is a sign banning motorcycles from driving into Casino Square. Snobs!

Monte Carlo or Bust. This is as close as we got to Casino Square.

 

As you see from the sign behind - no motorcycles allowed into the posh bit.

I think there could be some wealthy people in these parts.

As we set off again a police woman wouldn't let us turn left out of the junction because of the solid line in the middle of the road. "150 Euros fine" she gloated. So we all turned right, went round the corner out of her sight, then U-turned over the line and drove past her again with a smile. We followed the signs for the A8 motorway which sits up in the mountains behind the town. It's a real maze getting up there too, but it did give us one more photo opportunity before we left.

A last look at Monaco on the way out

We headed along to Cannes on the A8 Autoroute. It is a toll road and we found ourselves having to stop and pay quite often which, if you're on a motorbike, is a right pain in the arse. Into neutral, gloves off, try not to drop them, fumble about for change to put in the machine, drive through then pull over to put gloves back on etc. In Italy we had taken a ticket entering the toll system at Livorno and didn't pay until we left it at San Remo. Much better organised.

From Cannes we headed north past Grasse up on to the N85 "Route Napoleon" heading for Grenoble. This was very scenic and we had a great drive on it. The road twists and turns and there are some parts that require great care on a bike, but the road surface is excellent and in some places it opens up and there are great sweeping bends through fantastic scenery. We stopped for lunch in Castellane before continuing north to Sisteron where we fuelled up and camped for the night. It is worth remembering that rural France pretty much shuts down on Sundays and we struggled finding a petrol station. We just made it to Sisteron inside Ron's range.

A break in Castellane. The Market Square - complete with market.

The Church on the Rock - Castellane.

 You need to be a fit christian in this town to get to church!

Lunch overlooking the square.

Napoleonic Route just north of Castellane. Stunning!

Sisteron Campsite. Typical arrangement where John, our chief negotiator talks them into giving us one pitch between 3 of us. Much cheapness!

The French support camping throughout their country and some of the sites are really excellent.  This one had a pool so we were able to cool off. The shower / toilet block was excellent too. Unisex toilets can be a bit disconcerting though when you are standing at the urinal and some female passes going into the cubicles saying "bonsoir!" Seems to be normal here though so what the hell. We got ourselves a (poor) chinese meal up in the town. Their idea of a varied buffet was to have different meats - but all in the same sauce! Accompanied by really crap service. Then we returned to the site with some beer and settled on our folding chairs to watch shooting stars and satellites pass overhead in a beautiful clear night sky. A great day with some real varied sights.

Day 23. Monday 15/6/09. Sisteron - Gex.  204 miles.

Up at 8am and left at 10am. Sisteron is lovely and we took a few photos before heading off.

Rock formation, Sisteron

The Castle at Sisteron - and John's head

Bridge over the River Durance, Sisteron.

All the water in the Alps seems to be this turquoise colour.

We headed north to Grenoble on brilliant roads through fantastic scenery. When we got to Grenoble we jumped on to the motorway for a short time and stopped at services for an "al fresco" lunch.

The mountains south of Grenoble. The layout and surface of this road is every biker's dream. My favourite biking route ever.

Service area in Grenoble. Lunch with a view!

We intended to take the A-roads in France to reach a campsite at Gex, which is close to the Swiss Border. The road signs were hopeless though and we got a bit stuck around Aix-Les-Bains, so we decided to use the motorway into Switzerland and cut off back into France soon after. The Swiss customs stopped us and "invited" us to buy a vignette for the motorway. When they found we were just going to Gex they let us off with it.

John had been to Gex before and soon found the way back over the French border on a little back road with no customs. We arrive on another immaculate French camp site with dolly bird council workers planting flower beds and a really friendly couple running the site.  After putting the tents up, sunning ourselves a bit and getting washed we had chicken  and chips cooked by the proprietors. These French camp sites are mostly municipal but the people running them always seemed to take a real pride in their job. It started raining heavily in the evening so we had to retreat to the site library with some beers, then off to sleep with the sound of the rain on the flysheet.

 

What a sight! Relaxing at Gex campsite.

The folding chairs were great to have - glad we took them. 

Day 24. Tuesday 16/6/09. Gex - Epinal. 188 miles.

We were up early but it took a while for the weather to clear enough for us to get our tents dry before packing them up. We headed off late morning northwards out of Gex into the Jura mountains. The road climbs steeply out of Gex via a system of hairpin bends and we took a couple of photos before we climbed into the clouds.

The view from just above Gex back over Lake Geneva. 

The fountain on the lake is just visible to the left of me. 

Clouds on the Jura. We drove up into them.

It was a bit cold and damp up in the clouds but soon we began to drop down on the north side and we found a little town to get petrol and buy some nice French bread and meat for lunch, then headed further north where we stopped at a picnic area.

Lunch by the road, Jura

We continued north via Besancon, Vesoul and Remirement to a little town called Epinal where we managed to find the "Camping du Chateau" site. It was a nice run through nice scenery in nice weather and we arrived fairly fresh as we hadn't done too many miles.  No motorways today and we commented how good the French "A" road system is. John bartered his way to getting another single plot for the three of us and we set up camp again. We had all this setting up camp routine down to a fine art by this time and there would be half an hour's silence while we all went about our business.

Epinal Campsite. Still warm and no mosquitoes. Lovely!

In the evening we walked into town. The centre of Epinal has many fine old buildings and quaint little streets. 

 Looking over Epinal Old Town

Looking for a restaurant in Epinal. Lots of nice outdoor places to choose from.

We found a really nice restaurant and ate outside in the evening air. served by a nice Thai waitress. The only thing detracting from the charm was the unusual number of alcoholic tramps who approached the tables begging for money. We call them "Jakeys" in Scotland. They were a pain in the arse, but they did understand the traditional Scottish phrase for "Go away". A lot of police patrols around too for such a quaint wee town - probably because of the "Jakeys". Despite alcohol and darkness we managed to find our way back to the campsite without too much of a problem.

Day 25 - Wednesday 17/6/09.  Epinal - Sint Geertruid. 249 miles

There was a really heavy dew overnight and we awoke to find our flysheets soaking wet. It's always best to pack it away dry if you can so once the sun was up we spread them out and got them dried off. By this stage we were well within striking distance of the ferry with time in hand so no rush to get moving this morning.

We didn't get any breakfast on site so we decided to look for a McDonald's on the way. We set off north towards Nancy and Metz and after about an hour we saw one. They stick the big "M" on a huge pole so you can see it from the main road and find your way there. I had decided on the way that I would treat the guys to lunch as the trip was nearing it's end. I didn't expect it to cost 26 Euros though - for a feckin' McDonalds! Ah well - it's no loss what a friend gets - as they say in Scotland.

We continued north into Luxembourg where fuel is cheaper so we stopped to fill up. We met a dusty solo English rider on an FJR who asked us where we had been. We proudly answered with the long list of countries "Oh yeah, been everywhere blah blah...." We were humbled when we found out he had been much further than us for much longer - Cyprus, Turkey etc - on his own. Serves us right for boasting.

John knew of a campsite in a little place called Sint Geertruid just south of Maastricht. So we headed north through Belgium and just at the south east corner of the Netherlands we followed John off the motorway. He had to try a couple of side roads to get his bearings but he found the site (Camping de Bosrand - recommended) very quickly and we set up camp for the last time. We would be here for 2 nights then off to get the ferry home. I had mixed feelings about the end of the trip approaching. I was having a whale of a time but also looking forward to my own bed.

Sint Geertruid. Our last camp site. Still sunny though!

We were really lucky with weather the whole trip.

We lazed about, drank beer and sunbathed for a while then had dinner - and more beer - at the camp site restaurant which was excellent. It was just a short stagger from there to the sleeping bag. 

Day 26 - Thursday 18/6/09. Maastricht. 8 miles

We woke up about 8.30 am to find it was raining. Bugger! We realised we had actually been very lucky with weather throughout the trip. Rain and camping don't go together. We managed to set up our gas stove and chairs under the eaves of the shower block  and had our breakfast there.

The weather cleared and warmed up quickly so we decided to go into Maastricht and see the town. We had been advised not to take our bikes into Maastricht as they might get stolen so instead we drove to the centre of the village, parked the bikes and took the bus just after 11am.

A nice Dutch house in Sint Geertruid

 It was really sunny and warm in Maastricht and we found the centre of the town to be a nice old fashioned place with many outdoor cafes. It didn't look like the crime ridden place described by some of the Dutch people we had spoken to.

Coffee outdoors in Maastricht

Vrijthof, Maastricht

City Hall, Maastricht

Marketplace, Maastricht

When trying to get the bus back, we asked a bus driver if he went to Sint Geertruid.  "Yes" he said, so we got on. We ended up on a long bus trip which came to an end in a town called Gulpen, where we had to get off. I said to the driver "I thought you said you went to Sint Geertruid". "No" he said. Twat! We managed to find another bus there that took us where we wanted to go - and actually we were quite glad of the unexpected tour of the countryside that only cost 5 Euros.  The area south east of Maastricht is very nice.

Once we got back we went a short run on the bikes to the nearby town of Eijsden to see if it was worth going down there later for dinner. It was a nice enough little town - picture postcard Dutch stuff, and we see lots of kids on pushbikes making their way home from school. They are all in groups, each with a "mother hen" on a bike ushering them along safely. We stopped on our bikes on one road to let a whole bunch of them pass safely and all the kids waved thanks, the mother hen nodded, and even some unconnected pedestrians waved their appreciation at us stopping for the kids. A nice place and nice people.

Even so we decided the campsite restaurant was the best option so we had our food and beer there again before the short stagger to the sleeping bags.

Day 27 - Friday 19/6/09. Sint Geertruid - Ijmuiden. 152 miles

Our last day on the continent. We got up about 9am and had our usual breakfast on the site. We took our time packing up as we knew we didn't have too many miles to cover to reach the ferry at Ijmuiden. We left about 11am and headed north. It should have been a very simple and quick journey - all motorway - but we ran into some fairly extensive roadworks and queues of traffic. In southern Europe other motorists made a great effort to let us past, but here we found attitudes a bit different. When we tried to filter between lanes of stationary traffic very few people would move over and some even tried to close the gap to prevent us getting past. The attitude seemed to be "If I'm stuck then so are you". Sad really. We managed to pick our way through though and we got there in under 3 hours.

The street to the ferry is called Halkade and as we turned on to it there were some fish and chip restaurants on the right hand side so we decided to eat there before getting on the ferry. Calling them restaurants is a bit of a compliment - they are cheap and cheerful but the fish was good.

After we ate we made our way up to the queue for the ferry. We had a little time to wait before boarding.

Tired and a bit whiffy - waiting in the queue for the ferry at Ijmuiden

The King of Scandinavia - our ferry home

We got soaked in a big shower waiting for the ferry, but when it sailed at 5.30pm the sun came out and it was a lovely evening. Time for another beer on deck!

A beer on deck as our homeward ferry leaves port.

It was yet another really calm crossing - we were lucky with all our ferries - and we had a good night's sleep after enjoying a few beers and onboard entertainment.

Day 28 - Saturday 20/6/09. Newcastle - Home. 148 miles.

Last Day. We got ourselves up, showered and full of breakfast before the ferry docked just after 9am. The accommodation is compact on these ferries but the beds and showers are good. When we got off the ferry on to British roads it felt a bit strange to be driving on the left again. I also felt a bit sad that I wouldn't be spending any more days driving in formation with the other two, after all the places we had been and the sights we had shared.

Suddenly Ron was missing and we pulled in on the A1 wondering what had happened to him. Thankfully it was just his 2 litre guzzler needing fuel and he had to make a dash for a petrol station. He reappeared soon enough and we all set off north. An uneventful drive except when John forgets he is back in Britain and turns right into the right hand side of a junction when there is a lorry coming out. Easy to get your head stuck in continental mode.
 

We stopped again at Dreghorn Services on the outskirts of Edinburgh. This had been our meeting point and we decided it would also be the parting of the ways. As we arrived the place suddenly filled up with motorbikes. We met a large number of English bikers who were doing 1000 miles in 24 hours for charity. We got them to take our final photo.

The parting of the ways - Dreghorn Services.

I got home about 1pm and my bike had recorded 4800 miles exactly for the trip. The back tyre was squared off with all the motorway miles and needed replacing. And the bike needed a service after all those miles. The Scottoiler had done it's job and the chain was as good as when I left. The only downside of the chain oiler was that the whole arse end of the bike was covered in a film of oil. The bike, my clothes and I were all filthy and needed a good wash. I had a scrape on the right pannier from dropping the bike in Croatia. I had a scrape on the left pannier and a bent clutch lever from dropping the bike in Sicily. Bugger it - it's there to be used! The whole trip cost me about £2500. Considering we were away for a month and I would have spent about £1000 just staying at home I thought that wasn't too bad for the experience of a lifetime.
 

It was a strange feeling to sit in my own house with a mug of tea and reflect on all the places we had been on 2 wheels. It was REALLY good to sleep in my own bed again though!
 

Would I do it again - absolutely! John and I are already making plans for another trip not far short of this one in 2010. Having done this once I realise that apart from a little preparation and the necessary funds - all you need is the bottle to get on your bike and do it. And ALWAYS do your lifesaver checks over your shoulder on the bike! I lost count of the number of times they saved my skin on the trip.

So what are you waiting for?