DAY 6 TUESDAY 12TH JANUARY 2010

First priority this morning was to go to the medical centre to get my infected knee sorted out. It was only a short walk around the block from our Ibis hotel. I walked in, rolled up my trouser leg and said " Infectado. Antibiotics. Por Favo". The lady there reached behind her gave me the antibiotics and rang up €4.75 on the till. I was in and out in under a minute, what fantastic service! Back at the hotel I put the cream and other stuff on my knee and then we packed up and left. We stopped for petrol for all three of us within one mile of the hotel so we would all be ready to clock up some decent miles today. Unfortunately, the lovely early morning sunshine of Zaragoza soon gave way to driving rain as we headed south towards Valencia. It then got worse as we road along the southern side of the Pyrenees with large snow drifts. We had thought we had left the snow behind us in France but it was back with a vengeance here. When we pulled off the main road at lunchtime to stop for a coffee, it was back to UK like condition and we even struggled to park the bikes in the snow and ice outside the cafe. At times the dual carriageway was reduced to effectively one lane where the snow ploughs had piled up a few feet of snow at the edges of the road.

Later on we stopped for a traditional Spanish tapas meal which was excellent. This was just north of Valencia and we were ahead of schedule so the plan was agree to ride the motorway ring road around Valencia and stop at the next village on the coast.

Unfortunately we let John "TwatNavMan" take the lead. No sooner were we on the ring road around the town when his twatnav told him to turn off and ahead directly into the centre of town. And of course, John always obeys everything his satnav tells him even it is patently and bloody obviously wrong! I´ve read stories in the papers of people who have supposedly driven their cars into river because their satnav told them to but I always thought it was a tabloid exaggeration. Now having ridden with John, I believe those stories as John will always trust his satnav 100% even when it defies all sense and logic.

So I rode up the inside of John and called across "You silly fellow. We are on the blooming wrong road again" (or it was something like that I shouted!).

Once out of Valencia, we called down to the coast but the small villages were like ghost towns, all being shut up for the winter. We therefore decided to ride on to good old Benidorm. We thought even us muppets must be able to find a hotel in Benidorm as it probably has the highest number of hotels per square inch of anywhere in the world.

Whilst John looked after the bikes, Glen and I went to haggle with the hotels for the best deal. They have lots of empty rooms at this time of year so we figured a good deal was possible. After the long ride of 321 miles today in poor conditions we felt we deserved a decent hotel. I thought I had done a good deal at the first hotel but just as I was about to hand over my passport and credit card, Glen came in and told me he had done an even better deal at the posher hotel up the road. Well done that man! We managed a quality 4* hotel with a double room each, underground parking and full breakfast for around 40 pounds each.

Wonderful rooms, best so far on this adventure.

Back to my infected knee. It is definately getting better than yesterday back it is still bad. I´m no expert on medical matters but I know enough to know that it should not be green and yellow. I´ve put a clean sterile dressing and antibiotic cream on it and the pain is reduced.

Tomorrow we plan to cruise down the Spanish coasat to Algercias and finally meet up with all the other riders on this trip. The original plan was to meet up in Scotland at the original Calum´s road. Plan B was to meet at Folkestone but the weather also distrupted that idea. Plan C is to all get together in Southern Spain before we all cross together into Africa. Then the real adventure begins...

DAY 5 MONDAY 11TH JANUARY 2010

Left Bordeaux at 10.00 am. Third attempt at riding as a group of three. Exited hotel car park and John turned right and I turned left, not a good start. We had set our satnavs to the same destination but it was giving different directions. At end of street, John's said turn left, mine said straight ahead. Glen's said left so I went with the majority decision. Down next avenue, John's suddenly sent him off up minor side street. My patience was already exhausted so I carried on main road and rode on my own. Oh well it lasted all of 2 miles this time!

A few miles later we all met up again on autoroute. John pulled in behind me and we were riding as a group of three again. Then he suddenly disappeared again. Eventually I needed to stop for fuel and they rode past whilst I was refueling. Flew out of petrol station and caught them up just as they pulled in for fuel at next services. This continued for a while until we finally managed to ride as a group of three and we let John ride up front.

We crossed into Spain without even knowing it. Suddenly, John turned off to the right for no apparent reason, his infamous satnav was leading him astray again. John explained later that he mind ofter wondered and then he would notice his satnav telling him 'turn right in 100 yards' so he did, suddenly and without warning! He found his way back to us after going round in circles twice and having to pay the same toll road charge 3 times. Lovely roads in Spain and finally the sun came out and we could begin to enjoy riding the bikes.

I had a minor problem. On Day One my heated trousers had worked far too well and had managed to burn my right knee to the extent that a large blister developed. Unforunately, the blister burst and it got progressively worse to the point of being very painful. Today it was so swollen that the entire knee was red and obviously inflamed. I went into chemist in Zaragoza and they kept telling me I was 'infecktado' as if I was carrying bubonic plague. Apparently that is Spanish for 'infected' and the whole kneecap is infected and I need to go to a medical centre. I'll follow up in the morning.

We had an excellent tapas meal this evening washed down with some very nice Rioja wine. We know the weather is getting better as the red wine is now being served at the correct room temperature so things are definitely looking up.

Mileage today 318 miles about average so far. Tomorrow we plan to cruise down towards Valencia.

DAY 4 SUNDAY 10TH JANUARY 2010

Rest day today in Bordeaux. Went for walk around town and found internet cafe to update this blog.

Hopefully, picture here should show woman driver trying to mark a Mark 2 Jag.

DAY 3 SATURDAY 9TH JANUARY 2010
Woke up in Orleans at 5.00am and weather looked good with no new snow overnight. Woke again at 9.00 am to find fresh snowfall and carpark covered. Hopefully, at later date I will be able to upload photo to show just how bleak the conditions were. Had very basic breakfast in simple Formula 1 style hotel. Glen rang to say he was already on the road but that John was planning to stop in Paris until conditions improved.

I got going at 10.30 French time but forgot to switch on my Spot satelite transmitter until my first petrol stop. Very cold again and light snow but roads were well salted and gritted with numerous snow ploughs on roads although only salting first two lanes of motorway leaving outside overtaking lane with snow, ice and slush.

Stopped for fuel early, fuel consumption dropped to low 40s mpg due to slow speed running in low gears in the snow. Painfuly cold at times with hands and feet worst. Made frequent stops for coffee and soup at services before cold got too bad. Good to be clocking up the mies and heading south to supposedly warmer weather. French Météo this morning showed Bordeaux at amongst the coldest at -6. So far since leaving home in Devon, I have only ridden in sub zero temperatures.

In afternoon, I stopped again at services and met an interesting Australian chap who was also a fan of BMW motorcycles. We chatted for ages about bikes and I even arranged to help him sell some sparess he had left over.

Another stage of 90 miles left me with only 60 to go to Bordeaux. I needed to stop again and had a decent meal but with the pitifuly small sized coffee you always get in France.

Eventualy Bordeaux was reached and Glen texted me to give me details of the city centre hotel he had checked into. I soon found it and rode around the block to the hotel carpark. Unfortunately, it had been a long day and I turned in to wrong underground car park by mistake. I realised my mistake when I exited the carpark an found I was locked out of it and my bike was locked in it! I managed to dive in behind a car before the large metal gates closed but now I had to work out how to get my bike out. Finally a car came to the exit and I was able to tailgate him out before the barrier came down.

In evening Glen and I went out for an excelent meal washed down with some of the wonderful local wine. Text received from John saying he had reached Poitiers and would join us in Bordeaux on Sunday afternoon.

DAY 2 FRIDAY 8TH JANUARY 2010
No rush to leave hotel as temperatures still well below zero. By lunchtime we realised that it was never going to warm up as all of France was freezing varying from-2 to -7 so nothing was going to melt today.

Leaving the hotel, it immediately became obvious that John was very wary of the icy conditions and was riding extremely cautiously, at no more than walking pace. Once we reached the motorway it was safe to get up to more normal speeds but John would not go above 40mph which caused congestion on the 2 lane motorway as all other traffic was traveling much faster. I overtook John and gradually increased speed to 45 then 50 mph but John resolutely stuck at 40mph which I personally thought was dangerously slow on a busy motorway.

Glen ahead slowed up to wait for us and then suddenly indicated to take the next exit off the motorway. I tried to signal that we needed to stay on this motorway but he turned off and headed down the exit ramp to the roundabout. As I had no idea where he was going, I had no choice but to follow him around this large roundabout which in turn meant I lost sight of John behind. Glen did a complete lap of the roundabout and then took the exit to continue on the original route. I waited on the roundabout so that John would know which exit to take when he came around. Only he didn't come round but instead did a U turn and was heading back the way we had just come! To say I was unimpressed by this display of riding and navigation would be an understatement. It later transspired that both Glen and John had been suddenly told by their satnavs to do a U turn on the motorway! I presumed that they must have set their twatnavs to avoid motorways.

Glen suggested that he would go and find John and I should ride direct to Orleans and we would regroup there. Apparently, Glen and John never did find each other and each made their own way south with with Glen arriving in Orleans around 5.00 pm and John missing in action somewhere around Paris.

By the time I got to Orleans, the temperature was falling rapidly so I opted for the very first cheap hotel I found. Glen phoned shortly afterwards to tell me he had checcked into a different hotel on the other side of town. So at the end of our first day in France what started as 3 riders together ended as 3 riders in 3 different hotels with 50 miles apart.

DAY 1
Received phone call from Glen mid morning suggesting that we finaly get going. Panic stations! Immediate problem is that bike is still snowed in. Thought of putting bike on trailer and towing to main road. Jumped in car but couldn't move at all due to snow and ice so had no option but to ride bike. Rolled bike out of garage into thick snow at least 6 inches deep. Only managed to move forwards thanks to big efforts of wife Ann and son Martin pushing. A fully (over) loaded GS is not light and took huge effort from all three of us to almost carry the bike to the end of the drive.

Finally it was time to hit the road after 12 months of preparation. Within 200 yards I had literally "hit the road" when the back end slid around and my leg slipped on the iceand down it went. I stood there with one leg either side of my horizontal bike shouting for help to pick it up. It took us about an hour to go the first mile from my garage and by this time I was boiling inside my riding gear.

Once I eventualy got to a salted and gritted main road I was able to speed up a bit. When the cold weather made itself felt, I was grateful for the heated clothing to keep me warm.

I was supposed to be at Glen's house near Shaftesbury at 1.00 pm but instead I rolled up just gone 3.00 pm. His wife told me he had left at 2.00 pm to get to Folkestone before darkness.

Darkess fell for me on the M3 approaching London and the temperature noticeably dropped and it started snowing again. At this point I thought to myself "What on earth am I doing here? Am I completely insane?". Then I rememberedd that I am insane so thats OK and carried on. The sign showingn upcoming servicess dispayed the bed symbol so I was very tempted to stop here for the night and go no further. Only the thick snow and ice on their ungritted carpark changed my mind so I rode on to the M25 in the rush hour at 5.00pm. The M25 turned into M26 and the realisation that I was only one hour away from Folkestone. However,I needed to stop as even with heated clothing I was still getting cold. The services carpark was ungritted and I worried that I would never get the bike out again.The other motorists who trudged into the cafe area looked at me as if I was a complete lunatic being out on a bike in this weather.

At Folkestone, the tunnel staff were very helpful and allowed me to go on the next available train without paying the £35 charge that the auto check-in had demanded. Once aboard the train, I was in a comparment with a large extended Orthodox Jewish family who were amazed when I told the, about our trip and they very kindly gave me drinks from their car.

Disemarking in Calias was a nightmare as there was thick snow that the French had made no effort to clear. Glen had told me that the hotel was a mere 1.5 miles away but in those conditions it took me over 20 minutes to get there. I slithered into the Ibis car park in conditions very similar to that whuch I had started the day in Devon but at least I had made it to France.
Milage total 315 miles but in these conditions it felt like at least twice that.

Change of Plans

Well the original plans should have seen us all heading north to Scotland today. Unfortunately, the weather in UK for the last few days has led to a change of plans. It is -15c in northern Scotland with thick snow drifts making travel by motorcycle basically impossible.

Plan B was to simply all make our own way down to Folkestone and meet up there on Saturday night 9th January. Unfortunately, the weather has again played havoc with our plans as the snow and ice has crept south. The forecast is for worsening conditions this coming weekend with snow right down south into Kent and northern France.

Plan C is leave as soon as possible to get to warmer climes. The problem I now have is simply getting away from home here in Devon. We awoke to snow and ice this morning as shown in attached photo. We live about two miles from a main road which means it is very difficult to travel by motorcycle as these minor roads are not gritted at all.

Latest plan is to review the situation on Wednesday morning and try to find a way to get away. Possibilities include loading bike on to trailer and taking as far as main road and then hopefully riding it from there in direction of Folkestone with the hope of crossing the Channel on Thursday.