England is enjoying an "Indian Summer" after their traditional summer had been a bit damp and miserable on all accounts. We enjoyed the fine warm welcome as we headed North-West to our friends place outside London. After such a long period in Europe we were immediately struck by the extra traffic congestion and the unbelievably bad highway "manners" of the GB plated drivers. In Europe drivers will move across lanes to allow merging traffic to merge safely into the inside lane at speed. Our first merge was met by a driver holding his fixed position even though he had 2 clear lanes beside him. We saw cars blocking the fast lane by sitting dead on the speed limit and trucks three wide on the motorway. We had not seen these practices at all in Europe and now we had it all within a few miles of being back in England. If it is any consolation to our English friends, Australian drivers are just as bad.
It was great to catch up with Peter & Di again before we headed home. Next morning we rode together to the small village of Finchingfield for lunch before we bade farewell and rode back to Felixstowe where our incredible journey had begun 4 months earlier. The Gray Ghost was given a very thorough bath before being dropped back to the shippers with barely a litre of fuel left in her tank. She had covered 22,263 kms on the trip and was just nudging 70,000 kms in her life. The only problem we had was a blown headlight bulb. We had fitted new tyres, I had undertaken her 60,000 km service and she had two oil & filter changes. Great service so she deserves a rest on her long sea journey home.
For us it was rail travel back to London and then out to Heathrow for our long flight home via Singapore.
Trip Details:
22,263 kilometers covered
Duration121days
14 countries visited
Over 70 Mountain Passes ridden
15 Ferry crossings
50 accommodation places
Recommended Accommodation
A trip of this scale requires a lot of planning and we used various motorcycle forums to source suitable Biker friendly accommodation. The UK GS Riders website (ukgser.com) was particularly useful and provided a lot of our preferred sites. We also used word of mouth recommendations from other bikers we met along the way, Booking.com and Venere.com. Ibis Budget (Etap) were our preferred budget hotel where we were just passing through an area.
These sites we fully endorse where the hosts treated us as friends and were free with good advice for bikers. They are listed in trip order:
Isle of Man - We have stayed with Peter & Jacqui on both of our IOM visits. We won't give up their address as we intend to visit again but endorse the IOM Govt Homestay program.
Brittany Region France - Brittany Biker Breaks (Les & Kim); Les Petits Gallais (Ian & Sophie).
Aquitaine Region France - La Grenoville Verte (The Green Frog) - (Steve & Hazel).
Switzerland - 'Chalet Mack' self catering studio for two (source through Homeaway.com). Angie and Mike know the Alps backwards and will ensure you enjoy the Swiss Passes.
Austria - Gasthof Hochalmspitze (our home away from home). John & Ros and their friendly staff will ensure you enjoy your stay and John will set you up for the right roads.
Harz Mountains Germany - Pension Roseneck at Bad Lauterburg (Greg & Jacquie).
Westerwald Region Germany - Vine Cottage at Pirzenthal near Wissen (Bob).
Verdun Region France - Two Wheel Moorings at Dun sur Meuse (Ian & Carol).
Somme Region France - Orchard Farm at Combles (Martin & Kate).
AS well as our friendly hosts at these great places we would like to thank Peter & Di who provided warmth, friendship and accommodation, Australian friends James & Katrina who have welcomed us into their London digs with open arms and Royal & Ann who we started this journey with on a road trip to load our bikes on the ship in Sydney way back in March. And to all of the wonderful people (especially Bikers) we have met along the way - too numerous to name but you know who you are, thanks one and all for making this a truly memorable journey for us.
