We're back!

Jon says: yesterday we took the plunge and decided to drive back from the B&B to home in one go. We had an hour and a half of amazing roads and scenery, through picturesque French villages that possibly haven't changed much in a hundred years, all the way to the motorway. Once on the A26 the GPS said "continue for 240km" - boo, that's a long hike along one road. But even though the Pan is at around 196,000km it was excellent as usual, giving a steady 140kph with plenty to spare. (140kph = 86mph, fast enough for good progress, not too fast to worry about getting pulled over.) Toni definitely started feeling a little saddle sore during this stretch, but luckily we knew the great British road network would make for an easy ride once back in England for the second half of the return journey. (Ha ha.)

After crossing into England via the tunnel we had an easy blast up to the M25. Then we stopped, along with every other tortured soul on that godforsaken open prison that encircles London. Even filtering didn't make life that much easier, as I only tend to filter in slow traffic (below around 50kph). After what seemed like two hours (but was probably one) we decided to change route and take the M4. The first services we stopped at had a few other bikers who'd made the same decision, including a guy with a push bike bungeed to the rear of his seat - coolio!

The picture here shows the entire route we took, around 3,600km (2,235 miles)...




Toni says: can't wait for the next one.

Toni's highlights:

• Asparagus
• Black Forest Gateaux
• German (White) Beer
• Biker B&B (in France)
• The campsite in the Black Forest
• Playing in the snow (in the Austrian Alps)
• Great company to share it with ;-)

Toni's low lights:

• Aqua-planing in a thunderstorm (we didn't but it felt like it)
• Saddle sores :-(

Jon's highlights:

• The Austrian Alps
• The Nurburgring (watching, not riding!)
• The Black Forest
• France (because I wasn't expecting to like it)
• The people we met
• The B258 from Monschau towards Koblenz.
  

Jon's low lights:

• Buy the Daily Mirror in a brief moment of insanity, then reading it with the expectation it might contain some news. Le Monde was more insightful (and I don't read French).

Hopefully we'll get a trip over to Scotland later this year, and Jon's hoping to join a local RoSPA group so he can finally learn how to drive the beast.

That's all folks :-)

J & T