Rode on to Calaise and jumped a P&O ferry to Dover. Was expecting the local by-laws officer to be waiting to collect the £50 parking fine that I received on the way thru a few weeks ago, but got thru OK.
There were about 30 bikes ( groups of between 3-6 mates) waiting for the ferry, mostly big tourers with all the right gear. Serious tourers, some had been as far as southern France, one group had even been to Spain. They were shocked to realise that the old Aussie on the battered 1000 quid XJ had made it to Damascus and back in only 5 weeks.Back to riding on the left side of the road came back much quicker than learning to ride on the right! I only had a few scares in Europe.
Rode on towards London and found a grotty B&B in New Eltham, near Greenwich which had off-street parking for the bike. Only 30 minutes into London on the Metro.
There's been a bit of interest in the bike on eBay.
I guess 'The Big Ride' is done.
I hope to catch up with Rob and Andrea in the next few days and get back to The Lordship to pick up my bags and do the final clean of the bike ( and replace the broken flasher that happened when the bike 'fell over' in Greece. Well, more of a slide than a fall. Lack of concentration on a fast downhill bend can do that!
2 comments:
Excellent adventure, Paul. I've been up at Magnetic Island for a week with Julia so have just caught up. Where are you now and when will you be back? I've been telling potential members you'd fix everything up on your return - hurry back! Give me a yell when you're able and we'll have lunch and a gossip.
Yay, you made it! Well done, Paul. What a great-sounding trip - a great read. Thanks for the blog & pics - was very interesting tracing your travels from cold Melbourne, and getting ideas of what future travels I should be doing!
How's the bike doing on eBay? Sold yet? How many k's did you clock up in the end?
When do you head back home?
See ya
8-)
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