Motorcycle Explorer December 2014 Issue 3 | Page 210

S
o, after almost a year of planning it came to
pass that John and I set out from our homes in
Wales to my Brothers place in Orpington, ready to
begin our assault on mainland Europe and the
Greek islands beyond.
We decide on a Greek meal to initiate our Corfu
trip and enjoy some highly questionable wine
with good food at a local restaurant, then its
beddy bye’s for an early start to the Eurotunnel.
Rise and shine early, re-pack the bikes (V max,
BMW GS1200 and Husky 630 SM) before busting
out toward the tunnel and France for the first real
leg of the trip, excited and nervous of what the
road ahead may bring us…
ENGLAND
It started with a gentle bimble to London, 200
odd miles across the bottom of the Cotswolds and
through sunny Berkshire countryside. Up through
FRANCE
the Forest of Dean first, to Gloucester then down
the A419 then the A417 all the way to the
Out of Calais and we head for Reims, across the
Thames at Pangbourne…makes a nice change
seemingly endless Northern French plains. Hours
from the bloody M4.
pass with little to see but plenty of miles to do.
Increasingly aching bottoms protest at the
John and I wind our way to Guidlford then
distance and stops become a little more frequent
Dorking and I remember a 25 year old route to
to break up the monotony of the Autoroute.
Bromley via Boxhill. Letting the memories flood
At Reims we split for Strasbourg, across 1st World
back, we retrace the roads I once used on the
War battlefields, now just sunlit rolling hills, filled
sunny weekends of a mis-spent youth, up the
only with memories of past sacrifices and the
private road that traverses the Hill and through
occasional commonwealth Wargrave dotting the
the warming Surrey fields and woods ‘till we
vista. Across the low, flat plains we roll, crossing
reach Croydon, then trace the back roads across
the Rhine just after we finally get off the bloody
the south of the metropolis to Orpington.
motorway.
One of the graves of WWI
Wikipedia