Ferries

Ferries have become an integral part of my travels in Europe. This year, I travelled on 5 ferry routes.

The route from Plymouth to Santander on Brittany Ferries is a great route. Expensive compared to the Mediterranean routes, but wonderfully well organised and quite luxurious.

Also, Plymouth, with its amazing maritime history, is a great place to head to ‘The Continent’.

The queuing for the ferry is a great place to meet other touring bikers and check out their bikes.

After riding east from Santander along the Pirenoes, the next ferry route was Barcelona to Genova. This was on GNV.

The Italian ferry companies are a little less organised than Brittany Ferries. Also, Barcelona is a challenging port as it’s right in the centre of the city, which adds the additional challenge of managing city traffic to get to the terminal.

The overnight ferry left Barcelona late morning, arriving in Genova just after dawn. Perfect if the plan is to head to Torino and the Italian Alps

After a three week tour through Italy, the port at Civitavechia called as there awaited the Grimaldi lines ferry to Tunis.

The ferry terminal at Civitavechia, the port of Rome, is large and sprawling with a large number ferry and cruise ship terminals.

Civitavechia itself is a lovely seaside town.

The ferry to Tunisia was the smallish, oldish, MV Catania a bit quirky, but full of colour, and life.

It was a moment of total excitement arriving in Tunisia.

Thankfully, there was a motorcycle tour group from Italy to follow through the rigours of customs- visa, import bike, buy insurance and change money

After a couple or weeks touring Tunisia, it was time again to negotiate customs again and catch the MV Catania to Salerno.

Arriving just after dawn in Salerno was both beautiful and perfect for riding the Amalfi Coast road traffic free. (But that story is for another blog)

Having said goodbye to Tunisia it was soon time to say goodbye to Italy. Back at Civitavechia this time to board the Grimaldi Lines ferry to Barcellona. The MV Roma and MV Barcelona cross between the Italian and Spanish capitals 6 days are week. These are the largest most luxurious ferries on the Mediterranean. After over 12,000km of travel the 23 hour crossing is a luxury.

Unfortunately, the ferry arrives in Barcelona at 23.00 not handy really for anything but it saves over 1,400 km of riding.

It was late October as I queued with the other bikes I the cold and rain of Santander to catch the ferry back to Plymouth. The Bay of Biscay was a little rolley but it was warm and pleasant inside the ferry.

Santander is the only ferry port that has a duty free shop. Perfect for buying a beautiful Spanish Brandy.

Over the years of motorcycle travel in Europe I’ve come to learn how the careful integration of ferry travel the planning helps the traveller to spread their wings much further that otherwise possible.

Its been many months and many KMs between posts

I’m back in Australia now, and since I last posted, I have travelled through Spain, Italy. and Tunisia. Above is a short selection of photos from those destinations.

Of course, those reflections will be interspersed with current adventures in Australia.

Australia and its beautiful fauna and flora.

So dear friends and followers, accept my apologies for the lack of posts and stand by for some reflections on the adventures in Southern Europe and in Northern Africa. Interspersed with the beauty of my home continent

A few days in Devon

Back in England, prior to heading to Spain, I took the chance to head down to the coast of Devon for a few days out of busy London.

Dawlish is a major coastal town. Dawlish Warren is the main beach, but at the western end of the town, there is a cove with a beautiful red sand beach..

Slapton is a cute little seaside on a long shingle beach. The road runs between the beach of a fresh water lake.

And the town that really caught my eye was Salcome. A lovely sailing and fishing hub.

I arrived back in London to catch thr summer blue supermoon rising over Perivale Park.

And find a latest Banksy…

That brings me up to date, dear friends and followers.

In a few days, it will be another ferry trip . This time to Spain and beyond.

The adventure continues!

Exploring Ireland – Dingle

It was wonderful to be on the wonderful Wild Atlantic Way as I rode south from the Connamarra to Dingle. The twisty roads, quirky sights, and heritage references.

At Kilmer, the car ferry crosses the Shannon River, and it wasn’t long before the Atlantic mist started to roll in.

Connor Pass is one of the great drives of Ireland offering stunning views. But this was not the day!

It was into a damp Dingle I rode after slowly riding down from the clouds over Connor Pass.

But after unpacking the bike it was time for an Irish Red Ale and some good craic ant the pubs.

Music starts in the pubs around 6pm flows through to midnight. The musicians move from pub to pub mixing and matching with each other, playing all variations of Irish Music.

The next day, the rain stopped…

I started the day with a walk along the Dingle Bay out to the Lighthouse and its views out to the Atlantic.

Then a ride up to Connor Pass to see the view and what a view!

There is a waterfall just below the top of the pass.

Climbing up the cliff, there is Lake Pedlar an old glacial lake.

That night at the pub, I was lucky enough to hear the angelic tones of the Harp of Erin, the Irish Harp.

What a way to end my stay in Dingle!

Exploring Ireland – the Connamarra

On.my 2018 trip.along the Wild Atlantic Way of Ireland’s West Coast. I didn’t see the Connamarra due to the persistent rain.

This time, I struck it lucky. The weather gods smiled on me.

The Connemara was an impenetrable part of Ireland, the soggy peat bogs, mountains, and wild coast meat it remained largely undisturbed. For many there, Gaelic is the first language, and traditional practices like cutting peat for fires still persist.

These days, beautiful beaches, deep fjords and beautiful beaches attract many visitors.