North Wales

In the blink of an eye our time in Wales is over. We have covered over 1,000km in this small but beautiful country and have visited some truly magical places and as always met many friendly people. We moved our base from Rhayader in mid Wales to Betwys-y-Coed in the Snowdonia National Park area of North Wales. This little village is set in a valley of two rivers running through town with sheer hill sides behind. Add in the bluestone cottages and pubs and you have a classic Welsh setting. This place is a mecca for adventure seekers trekking, climbing, mountain biking or canoeing across the diverse National Park region.Highlights for us included a train trip to the top of Mt Snowdon  (at 1085m the highest in Wales), the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct (a masterpiece of late 18th century engineering) and the adjacent village of Llangollen, Caenarfon Castle and the seaside towns of Conwy and Llandudno.

In some parts you could liken the countryside to the high Australian and Victorian Alps but at lower altitudes it is unbelievably green. Local stone has been put to good use in the buildings and endless boundary fences that give the place its character. Some of the A roads are magnets for English Bikers from Liverpool and Manchester who slip across the border for a ride over these more sparsely populated and more challenging Welsh roads. The Ponderosa Cafe at the top of Horseshoe Pass is similar to Brisbane's Maiala Cafe atop Mt Glorious with lines of Sports Bikes cooling down after a hot run up the mountain.

The Snowdonia area has been heavily mined for its slate deposits over centuries and many areas bear the scars of this activity. The area is also used extensively by the RAF for low level pilot training from their nearby Raf Valley base at Anglesea. It is quite something to get buzzed by a couple of Hawk Jet fighters about 300 feet overhead.

 As we head back into England the BMW has clocked 2,276 trouble free kms on this trip and is on the cusp of rolling over 50,000km in her life. We look forward to many more.

Cornwall to Wales

Newquay proved to be a good base for further exploration throughout Cornwall. We rode down to Lands End and had the obligatory photo taken with the bike at the signpost. The wind was blowing so hard the seagulls were flying backwards.The arrival of the Olympic Torch was 2 days away and the whole south coast route was adorned with Union Jacks and bunting. A visit to the Minack Theatre just north of Lands End was recommended and it did not disappoint. Google it and be impressed by the labour of one very determined lady. It is simply stunning.

We followed the Coastal (B) road north and in places this was barely wide enough for the bike let alone a campervan and lorry which came head to head. Coastal ports at Falmouth, Penzance and St Ives were all interesting and distinctive. You could spend a week dropping into and out of all of the little bays along these rugged coastlines.

We left Newquay for the run north visiting Port Isaac on the way. For those in the know (not us) this is the setting for the fictitious Portwenn of the BBC series Doc Martin. This fact had this picturesque bay swarming with camera toting location spotters. On this fine Sunday the roads of North Cornwall and Devon were also swarming with motorbikes breaking out after the cold and wet northern winter. They were intrigued to see our Australian numberplate and bemused on how far we had traveled.

Despite warnings to the contrary Wales has treated us with fine weather throughout. This small but beautiful country deserves to be better recognized as a holiday destination. From a motorcycling perspective the roads are in good order and far less populated than England. Their road gradings however only extend to (A) and (B) grade. The (A) roads are invariably smooth, 2 lane line-marked and well maintained. The (B) roads however vary from just below the (A) standard to what in Australia we would describe as goat tracks. These roads are often populated with great numbers of sheep which display the same level of intelligence as their Australian cousins. The rewards of traveling these roads however is the stunning scenery in very rugged terrain. The run around the five reservoirs of the Elan Valley was especially enjoyable as were the mountain descents into Aberystwyth and Tregaron.

 We have now based ourselves in North Wales in the Snowdonia National Park and look forward to more great weather and roads before we head onto Liverpool and the ferry crossing to the Isle of Man.

Bike collected and hit the road

Well the big day arrived – how would the Gray Ghost be after her long sea journey. Connected the battery and she fired first hit of the button. Good girl. All of the bikes had lost significant tyre pressure on the journey so a trip to the garage for fuel and air was warranted. A planned trip in the afternoon up to Norfolk was cancelled when the weather set in – a relaxed lunch with a few brews was a far more civilised way to pass the time.

Set off Tuesday to do battle with the greater London traffic on our way down to the South West. We had to keep reminding ourselves that it was late spring even though the temperature was still in single digit C. Our first night on the road was in a beautiful listed (historic) village pub in East Coker outside Yeovil. A highlight on the road was passing Stonehenge – just sitting beside the road like a selection of kids building blocks. We had visited this fascinating site on our previous trip so just admired it from a distance this time. We had heard that England was suffering its worst drought in many decades but the green rolling hills belied this – it is certainly a green drought very unlike what we suffer in Australia.

We left the quiet villages for a run down the motorway to Cornwall with an uninspiring look into Plymouth on the way. Home for a couple of nights is the ‘surfing capital of England’ at Newquay.  It really is a very pretty section of coast with steep cliffs leading down to a proper sand beach and a blue sea. The waves aren’t impressive and the surfers have full wet suits but it is still surfing. The bike is running smoothly. Fuel is about one pound forty pence a litre for super so that’s a bit over $2 in AUD so not too bad.

England Early Days

After 22 hours on a Jumbo Jet to Singapore and an A380 Airbus we safely arrived at Heathrow on time at 6am London time. Despite dire warnings about Customs delays we were through in the blink of an eye. Our first of many trips on the Underground system took us to Katrina & James place which was to be home for the next three days.

London weather was kind and we spent our few days playing tourist and getting our bodies back into sync. Highlights on this, our second trip to London, included the London Eye, Greenwich Village, Royal Observatory and parklands, Tate Modern Gallery, British Museum, St Pancras Station and  St Paul's Cathedral. It is impossible to ignore that London is to play host to the Olympic Games. The countdown clock at Greenwich showed 77 days to go and the city is abuzz with construction activity to have everything in readiness.

Sunday was our travel day after bidding farewell to our wonderful hosts and departing London for the sea port of Felixstowe.

Our Plans are Made

Our journey will take us across southern England to Lands End then exploring Cornwall & Devon before venturing into Wales for an extended visit. We sail to the Isle of Man from Liverpool for the TT races then back to England and across to France. Normandy, Brittany and the Loire Valley await then south to visit the Millau Bridge, Provence, the French Riviera before travelling the length of the French Alps north to Switzerland. A leisurely week in the land of cuckoo clocks and alpine passes before dropping into Italy to visit the alpine lakes and the Dolomite Mountains. Into the Karnten region of Austria with a sideline run down to lake Bled in Slovenia. Up into the Czech Republic and a round of the World Superbike Championships at Brno before some more exploring in this beautiful country.

Germany awaits with a trip across the east and north of the country with great biking in the Harz Mountains and with friends near Cologne. Dropping south through Luxembourg will bring us to the Western Front along the Belgian border and the WW1 grave sites where three of Tony's great uncles are buried. The romance of Paris will be in stark contrast to the WW1 sites so rejuvenated we will again strike north through Belgium and the Netherlands and onto Denmark. We will sail to Norway and explore most of their great adventure roads over mountain passes, crossing fjords and passing glaciers before our last sea journey back to England and home.

The Journey Begins

Our first overseas motorcycle trip to Europe in 2010 (our first trip to Europe) was a learning experience in many ways. There were many doubters who questioned the wisdom of touring foreign lands alone on a motorcycle. There are many books on the subject from Ted Simon's classic 'Jupiter's Travels' and its later day sequel 'Dreaming of Jupiter' to more local fare like 'The Last Hurrah' by Des Molloy. What these authors have in common is a spirit of adventure and a preparedness to suffer the discomforts in order to achieve that nirvana that only those who ride motorcycles can appreciate.

 Our 2012 journey has begun. We left Brisbane for the 1,000km journey south to Sydney where our bike was to be loaded into a container for her seven week passage to England. We were accompanied by new friends Michael & Ann on their '97 Harley who are doing their own trip. We will next see the 'Gray Ghost' in Felixstowe England on 14 May 2012.