Final Preparation

I'm like a kid just before a holiday. I want to go to bed now, so that it is morning sooner.

Irene's trying to be patient, but just before 9pm she burst out "Haven't you packed yet?" So I did. 10 minutes. I hope I can wash something en route. Hang it on the back of the bike to dry.

My family have insisted that no one is interested in my damned oil. But I'm sure you are really. The oil and the various chargers take up most of one pannier. Good job I am going solo. I bet Ewan McGregor didn't have this trouble.

I'm booked on the 09:50 Chunnel, but I expect I'll be there early. The Chunnel's website is a great example of opportunistic pricing. The price for the same crossing varies by a few pounds on a daily basis. If you are wondering if it is better to leave it to the last minute, don't. I paid £36 for my crossing a few days ago. It's £51 tonight.

The odometer on the bike is at 7,280 miles. I'll fill up with petrol in the morning, but I promise not to bore you with a daily calculation of mileages etc. Well, maybe the occasional one.

I'm afraid I've sent the link to this blog to nearly everyone I know - just desperate for readers. The counter at the bottom not only records the number of visits, but where the people who visit are located. Some guy in the States visited today. How do you find a blog as obscure as this among the millions that must be available?

My retirement officially starts tomorrow, and I'm ready for it. I'm off to bed!

Identity Parade

I can't work out how to save a photo in my profile. Any suggestions would be welcome. In the meantime here is a photo from my retirement party last week. Left to right: Graham, my son, me, Irene, my wife, and my daughter Jill.

Preparation

So what do you take with you for a bike trip of about three weeks - apart from a lot of oil?

I'm sure jeans and polo shirts will do for formal wear. My leather jacket and trousers will do for during the day. I've got some wet weather gear too. So, not much really. My daughter has just given me a white silk scarf, so my riding outfit is complete.

I'll take the portable sat nav in case of emergencies, likewise the mobile phone. That may sound obvious, but as someone who has avoided mobiles for a long time, that is a big deal. I'll need the camera. And my MP3 player - (Not an I-pod you note. I'm an inverted snob when it comes to brands. I just don't usually admit it. I dress it up as "preferring superior functionality", but I reckon I just don't want to be seen with what everyone else has and I dress it up as something different. So, I've got an I-River, and use WMA, not MP3. I'd always avoided BMW cars on this basis I think. I'd never even driven one, but claimed I "didn't really like them." Then our Fleet Manager gave me a new 3 series to try. My wife has a Mazda MX-5 which I think is all a sports car should be, but the 3 series performed just as well as it did! Tight, positive, responsive; it was really great. I now have a BMW 3 series. I have to ignore my son's joke: "What's the difference between a BMW and a hedgehog? - The hedgehog has the pricks on the outside.") And my electric toothbrush. That's an awful lot of chargers. A universal charger would be a great invention.

Since I am going through France I expect to picnic on bread, cheese and pate and bits, so I'd better do it properly and take cutlery etc. I'll draw the line at a tablecloth though. I remember coming back from my first (and only) motor cycle trip to France. The M20 was still only open in a few places - 25 years ago. On the hard shoulder of one stretch a French family had set up their table and chairs, complete with tablecloth to have their picnic. French style.

Reading material is a problem. Not a lot of room for books. Whenever I go on holiday I always take some worthy books I've been intending to read for some time. But at the last minute I throw in some more easy reading, so the worthy ones don't get read in the end. I'll have nothing else to do in the evenings, so this is the opportunity to take only the books I've been meaning to read and stick to it. Choices so far are:
The Nation's Favourite 20th Century Poems - I should get to grips with poetry, though I feel this might be a bit of a cheesy way of doing it. See comments on popular stuff above.
The Varieties of Religious Experience, by William James - as someone who almost abhors religion (I loved The God Delusion) I would love to understand it from a psychological point of view.
The Pursuit of The Millennium, by Norman Cohn - an exploration of daft/dangerous/powerful cults etc in the Middle Ages.
Zen and the Art of Motorcyle Maintenance, by Robert M Pirsig - I didn't really understand it when I read it 30 years ago. I found my old copy, so thought that I would give it another go.
Once the bike is packed I will no doubt find I have some room to put in more. I will try to avoid page turners. No doubt when I am chafing in a hotel room in France I will regret that.

The Idea

I can't remember when the idea first occurred to me to make this trip. I've always enjoyed my bike and always wanted to do a really long trip. At least I think I want to do a long trip. We'll see if the reality is as good as the concept.

I've known for nearly two years that I would be retiring about this time. Sometime during the last year the idea of taking time out immediately after retirement began to crystallise. The result is that I am now preparing to travel by motor cycle from Haywards Heath to Alicante and back - about 3,000 miles I guess.

I have no fixed timetable except a start date, May 1st, and a window of May 10th to 14th when I need to be in Alicante. So, I've got about 10 days to wander down through France and Spain with nothing that I have to do, only what I feel like doing. Since I can't yet do total aimlessness I've set a few route points. More might be set as I think about what I'd like to see en route.

Firstly I am heading for Verdun. I want to take some time to visit some of the sites of the first World War. I am then heading for Oradour Sur Glane which is a village which has been left as it was the day the German Army rounded up and massacred all its inhabitants. My next stop is the Millau Bridge, the highest suspension bridge in the world. When I get into Spain I'm afraid it's tragedy again at Belchite, a village that was fought over for so long in the Civil War that when it was won the victors just walked away from the useless hulk. It too has been left as it was.

Despite the apparent morbid focus of the waypoints, the route will be through wonderful rural France and Spain and should help detach me from "normal" life.

I have a Moto Guzzi California, which I love. It is just so much fun to ride. I got to wondering how comfortable it would be for long distances at reasonably high speeds though, and concluded that it would be quite hard work. I decided that I would find a more comfortable bike for the trip. I've accepted the conventional wisdom on this and bought what is reputed to be the best touring bike - the BMW R1150RT.

I have to say it is sensational. It's fast without being a rocket. It is comfortable. It has good wind and weather protection. But, God does it eat oil. The specification in the handbook allows for up to 1 litre per 1,000Kms. That doesn't sound a lot, but on a long trip like I am planning it is 5 litres of oil. The oil specificed by BMW is not sold in garage forecourts in the UK. I am assured by them that it is available freely on the Continent, but to be safe I am carrying my own. Hardly a long distance tourer when you need to carry a gallon of oil with you! I've checked loads of websites and it is a recognised feature of BMW boxer engines. The consumption decreases the more miles the bike does, but I don't know how they have such a wonderful reputation as tourers with this feature. Maybe all these bikes you see are only really travelling a hundred miles a day or so, and just posing the rest of the time.