Preparing to Prepare

Well the idea was that I would start the blog on the 10th January as that would be the 6 month mark from the first mile, but with all the snow and ice, I find myself trapped inside and the bike locked away. So here we are. It's Thursday 7th January 2010 and its 6 months 'til the final checks and packing begins. I wanted this blog to be a little different, but we'll see what happens, I guess what I really need to do is to bring you up to speed on what has been happening since the end of the last and how this whole thing has come about. Why am I doing a second run and what is the significants? Where am I going and what's the route? These and many more questions will hopefully be answered. If not here then certainly over the next coming months.

So to the beginning...
I arrived back in Southampton on Saturday 29th August, 2009 at around 2pm, just as I had promised (well I actually said between 12:30 & 2pm). It was a strange feeling and as I look back at the photographs of the trip and the final entries of last years blog a lump has begun to rise in my throat...
It was a strange feeling. I rode solo... 3,111.5mls from Portsdown Hill -to- Southampton. Someone pointed out that if I'd taken junction 12 and headed west on the M27 I could have saved myself 21 days of madness! Yep. Thank you.
Seriously, it was an amazing ride and something that taught me alot about me, and something I'll expand upon a little later in the weeks to come. I did get lonely. Something I've never experienced before. I saw some wonderful places and met some remarkable (and often funny) people, but there was never anyone to share it with. I updated my blog and I phoned home whenever I could, but it just wasn't the same.
The strangest moment was at Exeter. I had been all the way around Britain and was on the final leg... home was just days away, and then for the first time I reached a junction in the road, which defined my trip and life. I sat at the junction. Turn right and head for the Jurassic coast, a ride I had really looked forward to; the point at which you really feel home... or, turn left take the next exit join the M5 and head north and the open road once again. Please don't get me wrong, I love my family, but at that point I think I really realised that I also have another all consumming love... my bike and the road.
I turned right. I went home, but for that 1 or 2 minutes my career, my PhD, my family, all waited...

I think I was home 3hrs before I first said I wanted to go again. Everyone looked shocked. I think maybe a little scared, definately more than a little upset, and without doubt surprised. The question for me was where next. I had no doubt I was going to do a second run, I just didn't know where...
I thought about Home to Moscow and back a total of 3, 724mls. Nobody was very keen on this idea. Solo across an area I had very little knowledge or experience of and in some of the poorest areas of the Northern hemisphere.
I thought about riding the Northern Scandanavian countries and then home from the Netherlands (maybe 4,000mls), but again solo and with little knowledge of the area concerns remained. So I set about planning a real challenge.
England to Gibraltar and back again... My own European tour. 8 countries in 26 days and a total of just under 4,900mls. It was a challenge I felt would really stretch me, physically, emotionally and mentally. Brilliant!
Dissent remained, the family (not just Aly and the kids, but almost everyone), thought that this kind of solo ride would be mad. I was planning to ride the Alps solo! So I took a step back, I didn't say I wouldn't go, I just said I'd think about the planning a little more and make sure that I was happy before I set off.

Shortly before I set off on the British tour an old friend (and my brother's best friend) got in contact with me through facebook. He watched and kept up-to-date with the blog and sent me the occasional message, which raised spirits and occasionally made me laugh (and he is still doing that even today!).
Rob is a good man (if I can convince him then I'll put a piccy up later) and a great friend, with lots of riding experience. In fact Rob worked as a motorcycle riding instuctor for a local school for a number of years, so I knew his riding was spot on.
We talked about the ride over a few beers and we talked for even longer about my next ride, where to and for how long... and then, as we sat chatting one night Rob asked if I'd mind a companion for the next run.
I've never really ridden with anyone. In fact even when I rode as a group years ago, I wasn't really riding with anyone. I'd borrow a bike and get lost. I'd buy a bike and get into a messy crash... There you go; I was always far safer as a solo, but this was something new... someone to ride with at leisure across a huge expanse. The continent of Europe.
Rob's commitment to the run has been to go out and buy his ride: a Harley Davidson Sportster. We started taking short runs around Central, East & North of Hampshire, before the weather closed in. So now we sit and wait...

Since the initial plans began to form in my head as I sat in the back garden of my in-laws with a beer and the sun on my face, the route has changed more than once and now with the addition of Rob the planning has taken a far more structured feel and I think we are just about there.
The original plan was to go down through Belgium, Germany Switzerland, Italy and then the coast round to Spain and then back up through Spain, France and home, but concerns about timing, ferry crossings and weather (and with the intelligence of our partners Aly and Carlene - thanks Carlene!) have now sent us the other way round. So the planned route thus far is set to be:
Home to Folkstone and then Channel Tunnel to France:
Calais, Rouen, Le Mans, Tours, Bordeaux, Bayonne and then into Spain:
Bilbao, Burgos, Madrid, Cordova, Saville, Cadiz and Gibraltar!
At that point we have reached the furthest south we can get and we will be just 12mls from the African coast. We turn East:
Maliga, Granada, Mercia, Valencia and Barcelona, before heading North and into Andorra for the day. What a laugh a country so small you can ride around it in just a few hours!
Form Andorra we cross back into France and along the Riviera:
Perpignan, Montpellier, Aries, Marseille, Nice, and Monte Carlo!
Next we ride into Italy, riding on to:
Genova, Pisa, Bologna, Ferrara, Monza, Milano and then north once more into Switzerland and the lower Alps. We will then ride across country and into Lichtenstein before turning toward the German border and into the Black Forest.
It seems appropriate to visit Stuttgart the home of Mercades Benz and as I did an exchange with a German family in Kornwestheim I'd love to go back. From there we ride to Rottweil to see the home of some fantastic, strong (if not often misunderstood) dogs, before we again head west...
Strassburg, Nancy, and Mets next, then hope the border in to Luxembourg and all the way up to Belgium and into the Bike Hotel. This will be the last stop we make before heading to Calais and back through the tunnel. The whole trip now takes us some 4,900mls and through 10 different countries, over 26 days.

Why? I've asked many times...
The last time out I rode for SERV (the Blood Runners), volunteer motorcyclists who deliver blood and key documentation to hospital when you and I need it! It is a great charity and they are a great bunch of guys/girls, and I know that the money has seen them well. So here we go again...
This year I am not riding for SERV, I needed a new challenge and with that came the idea of a new charity. It is no disrespect to the guys/girls from SERV, and I will not forget them, but this year we will ride for Cedar School for Disabled Children.

I hope you've enjoyed this first installment. And watch out over the coming weeks for updates, there will I am sure sure be at least a few.
The European Conquest has begun. Southampton to Gibraltar and Home again!