It’s a calm crossing from Portsmouth around Brittany and across the Bay of Biscay to Santander in Spain.
Phase 2 of the long haul of flying from Melbourne to London (phase 1) to collect my Moto Guzzi Breva 1100 and ride to Morocco.
Stopped for a pint at the Ship and Castle next to the ferry terminal before joining the queue to board. There were plenty of bikes doing the crossing but only one Moto Guzzi.
My sister lives in London and it was wonderful to spend some time with her before embarking on this adventure.
Visiting the lovely little Lyric Theatre in Hanger Lane to see a play.
And heading to the south of England to go walking along the Avon River
It’s my last day in Melbourne before I fly out to the Northern Hemisphere
First time in a couple of years, 2020 when I was locked down in Spain and the UK
I took the mighty Breva for a little ride to warm up the oil before it went into hibernation.
I have to admit late April and almost summer weather in Melbourne
Almost made my question my decision to leave ALMOST
But I did get a last swim in for the season
There is an method to storing motorbikes
Both bikes got a good wash, petrol stabiliser in the tanks to ensure the fuel doesn’t go off and over inflating the tyres to ensure no flat spots. Then there is hooking the batteries up to chargers so they are not dead when I return in 6 months or so.
My dear biker friends if you haven’t got a lift table to work on your bike do!!!
No more laying on the concrete to get to the sump plug or trying to get the oild tray around the centre stand. Agh Bliss.
So my Melbourne bike fleet is all packed away and my Northern Hemisphere Breva is serviced and ready for its next adventure.
There is always something quirky in a blokes garage.
Mine is a clinker rowing boat I built back in my sailing days.
The bow seat makes a great hanging space for my riding gear.
It’s a long haul flight from Melbourne to London.
And by the time I got to London the full planes on the flight left me in no doubt that long distance air travel was back following the pandemic.
It is two years to the day that I left London at the first of the covid 19 onslaught on a repatriation flight back to Australia.
It’s time to recommence the journey I was on then when I was locked down in Spain on my way to Morocco.
It’s spring here and the flowers in the local park add colour to the day.
And the familiar sites of London, the old Red telephone boxes and the red double decker buses are there.
In a couple of days I pick up the mighty Breva ii and make make final preparations to catch the ferry to Spain late next week.
So yes cautiously international adventures are back.
So let’s raise our glasses and have a drink to that.
The Mighty Breva remain under the cover, apart from the occaisional shopping trip.
Week 2 of quarantine and its a time of discoveries and little pleasures.
It’s a time self contemplation.
A discovery:
A beautiful beer with a quirky connection.
To quote: This premium strength beer from Rother Valley Brewing Company commemorates the notorious gang of smugglers know as The Blues, who defied the Revenue through out Kent and Sussex for over 50years until their capture and transportation to Australia.
My great grandfather was a rustler not a smuggler and was transported to Australia during the Irish famine.
It’s seems an appropriate drink to have with a healthy home cooked meal
The little pleasures:
The small hardy plants of the salt marsh slowly bursting into life and the days ever so slowly grow longer and warmer.
A bit of self discovery:
Quarantine is a little bit like the kestral hovering, seemingly suspended in space and time. But there is a focus and a purpose.
piece meal adventurer 
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