Back in the UK and Europe

Dear friends and followers,

It’s hard to believe I left Australia over a month ago, and have been travelling around the UK and Ireland.

I’m back in London staying with my sister, so it’s time to get my blog up to date.

Mmm, I think I may be becoming a lazy social media content creator (is that the right term) since creating an Instagram account. (@piecemealadventurer)

London does have its own beauty, as the view from the balcony at the Tate Modern shows

Over the years, I’ve come to appreciate what a great art city London is. Melbourne, my hometown is no slouch, but the breadth of art in London makes one feel spoilt.

There is the public art around the streets:

In London, suburbs like Ealing there are wonderful galleries doing exhibitions such as Grayson Perry’s tapestries.

Or The Expressionists at Tate Modern:

And the work of the Barbadian, Taveres Strachan at the Heyward Gallery;

Above the arts precinct, there was the sign

And on a hot day every young person was at home with art.

It’s time for the 2023 European Adventure

It’s hard to believe that a week ago I arrived in London and now I’m sitting in Cherbourg, France at the start of this year’s European Adventure.

A new discovery in London was the Regent Park Outdoor Theatre only a short walk from Baker Street Station. You can’t miss it there is a statue of Sherlock Holmes stands there.

My time in London was filled in by my sister (and cultural guide) and collecting and preparing the Mighty Breva for this year’s 3 month trip across Europe.

I took the ferry from Poole to Cherbourg. Poole is the second largest natural harbour in the world after Sydney Harbour and there are some great views sailing out on the ferry.

It was a smooth crossing to Cherbourg and it didn’t seem long till France was in site.

You do get a special welcome when you arrive in France on Bastille Day.

The small town orchestra come out to play.

And when finally gets dark around 11pm, the fireworks fill the sky.

Cherbourg is my favourite gateway port into France. It’s a charming city with a rich maritime history. Also beautiful seafood and loads of that great European moto culture!

The Royal Parks and another place worth visiting in Richmond, London.

Richmond and Bushy parks are beautiful nature reserves in Richmond.

Richmond Park is around 950 ha and Bushy 450. So 1500ha of old forest, deer and birdlife right in the south west of London.

In Richmond Park a magnificent Stag

And Does and Fawns in Bushby.

The birdlife

And the old trees and forest. Old oaks and hazelnuts

Also in Richmond is Hampton Court Palace. My sister suggested I had to see at least one Palace in London and that Hampton Court was the best.

It is the Palace where Henry viii loved, reformed and beheaded like only a rampant English King can.

Like all palaces it’s lavish.

But Henry was known as a big eater and I big eater needs a big hearth and such was found in Henry’s kitchen.

The mighty Breva was in service for the next leg of this year’s adventure to France Italy and the 100th Anniversary of Moto Guzzi.

But thanks to Badrick I had a baby 750 breva to use for a couple of days.

Not as big and powerful as the Mighty Moto Guzzi Breva 1100 I usually ride. But more horses than the carriage in the Palace!

They are beautiful big working horses though.

The Ferry from Santander to Portsmouth

Santander is capital of the Spanish Provence of Cantabria and a major seaside city. Beaches and a ferry port all part of the the mix the city offers.

It was so different leaving Santander March 2 years ago when the pandemic and a lockdown drove me out of Spain. http://piecemealadventurer.com/2020/03/23/travelling-in-the-time-of-coronavirus-the-last-ferry-from-santander/

A beautiful summers day a yacht on the water sailing alongside the ferry.

As it left the harbour

Up on deck we spotted whales in the Bay of Biscay Abyss. Can you see the spout?

Agh how I missed the sight of the open sea when I was confined to cabin. At that time, like all of us, unaware how much time confined to hotel rooms, to our houses and neighbourhoods lay ahead.

How amazing to travelling internationally adventuring and watching the sunset over the Atlantic Ocean.

White cliffs up the Solent welcomed me back to Great Britain.

It’s a bit of a heatwave as I sit in my sister’s house in London. Covid 19 hasn’t gone away and being in a big city like London requires caution but life is an adventure to be lived so let’s live it.

It’s all packed up and time to Go Go Go!!!

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.