2K5 Africa Charity Motorcycle Ride 05/04/05

Tuesday 05/04/05 London, England

Departure Day! We wanted to leave at about 09:30 from my house, but ended up getting away at about 11:30 to go to Honda Chiswick to collect the part for Doug’s bike that we had ordered on Friday. We then popped in to the Hole in the Wall for a quick photo shoot and to say good-bye to Lucy who has been fantastic to us all through our stay at their pub’s garage. Thanks also to Jason and the rest of the crew at the Hole in the Wall who have put up with us for the last few months. After the photo’s it was one final stop to get some spare keys cut and then it was straight to Dover along the M20. Our first stop also saw our first casualty at the Maidstone Services. Jason and I went to get some food while Doug was watching the bikes and by the time we had got back with coffee and burgers, Doug had dropped his bike breaking the windscreen in 2 and only just managing to catch my AT which was knocked over by his bike, but he also managed to drop not just his helmet, but my brand spanking new 1 day old helmet. Luckily it wasn’t too serious and both helmets only received a few scratches and neither should be too seriously damaged. We will have to think twice about allowing Doug too much responsibility like looking after the bikes! (Just kidding). Then it was back on the road for Dover where we spent a very pleasant evening camping in a site just outside of Dover in a village called Martin Mill.


Wednesday 06/04/05 Dover, England

We woke early very excited to be leaving England and catching the ferry over to Calais. We got bumped around on the ferries as the Sea France guys were striking or something and had to be moved to a P&O ferry which meant a slight delay but actually turned out to be quite a big delay, about 1,5 hours. Nothing in the big picture really, especially as we were already a few days behind schedule. Loads of people came up to ask asking us about the trip as the bikes look fantastic and they generate loads of interest wherever we seem to go. Once we arrived in France, it was our intention to get as far from Calais as was possible to start the journey and generally get away from the port. We made it about 2 hours south to a small town called Blangy where we set up our first night’s camp. Pretty good really, and super cheap, but the weather was starting to turn and we could tell we were in for a spot of rain.