Friday, 25 March 2011

Actual Route Plan

It was brought to my attention today that my route plan is not up to date. So here is the actual route plan as it is now. It is of course subject to changes...

I head south first. The reason the plan is not finishing back in London is that when I get to family in northern Germany, I will assess my bank account, the weather, and if I am still enjoying riding. If all those factors are good, I will continue on south to Lichtenstein, Switzerland and Austria, down through Italy to Malta, and then back up again. But of course funds will be the biggest factor...

Wednesday, 23 March 2011

Only 9 Days to go!

Oh my. Today is the first time I have tried to fit everything in my luggage space, and oh my. I thought I would fit everything in easily! How wrong I was. My saddle bags are about to burst, and the rollbag, is a lot longer than I hoped it would be. I may have to be brutal, and discard things that I think I will need, but could survive without. Only I have no idea what those items will be...

On top of that, I don't know if I will be able to keep the bike upright with all that gear on it! I may well crash before I reach the end of my street. That would be embarassing, wouldn't it? I'm guessing I will be overloading the bike, but i take solace in the fact after the first couple of months, I will have gotten rid of a couple guide books. Something to look forward to...

I put the tent up in the backyard today, to make sure i have all the bits, and remember how to do it...
As you can see, success!


Otherwise preperations are going well. I had a bit of a fight with the insurance company, apparently just because they do a green card, doesn't mean they will insure you for all the countries participating in the green card scheme. WHY! Frustrating the hell out of me these people. But I have done all I can do...

Now I will just work a few more days, do some last minute preperations, catch up with friends, and before I know it, it will be next Friday, and I'll riding to Portsmouth to get the overnight ferry to France. AAARRGH!
Little bit petrified on top of the excitement. Can you tell?