Setting off

So the day has finally arrived, we're packed, the bike has been prepared, and to get ready we have ridden about 600 miles together on the motorbike and sidecar around Kent. 

The weather  was very kind to us today, with the sun shining, and me all tucked into my "chair" with my blanket round my knees. I couldn't have dreamed that I would be travelling away like this again when I was lying in my bed 18 months ago, recuperating from the fractured vertebrae and coccyx that caused the end of our last tour. That ended near Pisa in Italy, with us flying home and the bikes having a special trip on their own in a van, via Sicily. 

This time, we plan to go back using the same route in reverse, to Italy via Portugal, Spain and the South of France, we have no real plans or set route, other than to visit Paul's Mum and Dad, so it will really be weather dependent, which route we take. 

We first took this route to Santander 22 years ago, when on arrival in Spain, at Santander, I made Paul ride all the way to the Algarve (650 miles), without an overnight stop because I was scared of stopping the night in a Spanish hotel! We rode all the way on A roads, no motorway, and from memory it took 17 hours......... I'm glad I'm brave enough for hotels these days 😜.

For now, we are on the ferry awaiting disembarkation, a beautiful Spring evening, full of excitement for what's to come.