Well there is a start date! Tracy and I will be setting off from Portsmouth on the 27th of December 2009. The plan is to ride down from Edinburgh to Tracy's mum's in Guildford in time for Christmas, then on the 27th we'll set off 2 up on the bike for the port. A great friend of ours 'Cactus' AKA Robin and his wife Keeley will be joining us. As Tracy is at University doing a post grad Journalism degree, she can only join me for her Christams break.
From Portsmouth we'll catch the overnight ferry to Bilbao in northern Spain then head south for Gibraltar and the ferry crossing to Morocco after 2 to 3 days riding. Tracy will probably come as far as Marakesh, before she has to fly back for the begining of term on the 9th of Jan. Cactus and Keeley are joining me for the Sahara crossing and will bike down as far as Senegal before we have to part company, at which point they will motorbike all the way home to London!
I'm so excited that Cactus decided to join for the begining of the trip as I have fond memories from many years ago when we were both skiing in the Alps dreaming of buying a Landrover and driving through Africa. We might not be going by Landrover, but it's great when shared dreams come to fruition. Cactus has been motorbiking for years and years - so it'll be good having someone around who actually knows what he is doing! :)
Planning is going well. Things I've recently done include:
- Serviced the bike
- Been to the travel clinic and got my jabs and anti malarial
- Bought travel insurance (Irvine Cambell)
- Got a new passport
- Got my driving licence
- Ordered bike spares
- Got ferry tickets
- Started buying stuff I need from my kit list
Things I haven't done yet but should have:
- Learn to speak French
- Learn to fix my motorbike - or at least fix a punture
- Learn how to ride off road without falling over
- Apply for the Carnet (official paperwork for the bike)
