21st July 2008

Day 1 19th July The departure from Nottingham to Harwich

Here goes… the blogs here on will be a bit rough as time is an issue – we don’t have any!

The night before our departure I slept badly which was only to be expected and was awake by 5am.  Tris rang just before 8 am and said he’d been awake since 5 too but he’d been… I quote, “shitting himself” since then.  I panicked that the trip had induced this reaction in him, when he explained it was a stomach bug.  For a second I thought the trip might be off but he said he’d be ok.  By 9am I was in Halfords with Geoff Tipper,  who was fitting a Tom Tom rider to the bike.  Whilst Mr Tipper was fitting the Tom Tom, I phoned a friend and went to the bank to collect Euros.   We are ‘Last Minute.com” but fortunately we were given helping hands from our families, (thank you Poysers and Hartleys).  The trip took a lot of planning and I know I could have done a better job with the luxury of time, (although I suspect my planning skills are crap too), but I didn’t finish work until Friday.  There was a lot that went wrong in that last week which set us back time wise and made it more stressful. 

The departure made up for everything.  I said goodbye to my house, the snail who had been living on my door for 4 days and my neighbour and then Tris and I made our way to the market square for 4pm.  We communicated with our blue tooth headsets for the first time which was great – hands free.  We have radios too for back up.  All I remember of the journey was anxiously trying to dodge shoppers and the tram lines.  There were lots of people waiting in the Square including friends and family, the Evening Post, Central News and the Lord Mayor of Nottingham.  It was really overwhelming, in fact at this point it felt like I was dreaming, I think this was due to the lack of sleep combined with nerves and excitement.  I felt a certain amount of guilt and embarrassment too that I was the cause of this and it was confusing as I could hear people calling me and asking questions but I couldn‘t locate the source each time so I seemed to be turning around in circles at times.  It was fantastic to see everyone, I was so surprised at the level of support.  Then I spotted an old friend I hadn’t seen in years who had travelled especially to see me and I felt quite emotional!

When the Nottingham Advanced Motorcyclists arrived I felt even more guilty.  It was great to have their support.  Even better was the police escort who turned up…wow, are you single because if you are, I’m going to have to erase the blog I wrote about firemen?!  I think by this point my lovely nursing colleagues had spotted him too because they were all offering to come with me!  Then it was time to go and the lovely policemen was peering into my face and explaining very patiently how we were going to ride out of the Market Square with a police escort.  I think he had to do this twice because I was feeling a bit spacey by now.  Apparently, Tris and I rode out of the square either side of the policeman so the press could get photos which seemed a bit surreal too.  I felt a bit conscious of my driving in front of all those experts! 

For me there was one moment when the reality set in of what we were doing and it happened as we were heading uphill to the set of traffic lights by Hooters, (ironic that),  on the London Road.  I looked in my mirrors and I could see a long line of motorcyclists stretching right back behind me.  Then I came back to earth with a bump as I looked down the road ahead of me and thought ‘where the hell am I going?!‘  I had a quick ‘planning’ conversation over blue tooth with Tris that went like this: “TRIS! Where do I go??“ Tris: “I don’t know, this was your idea, I thought you knew”.  “Well, I thought you knew…I think it’s the A52 but which way?“ Yes, with the luxury of time, it could have gone a lot smoother.
The advanced motorcyclists peeled off from us one by one along the way until we were left alone near Peterborough.  At this point we stopped for some food and a cup of tea to reflect on the day.  We spoke to family and grinned a good deal about the trip ahead.  We made Harwich by 9pm and got ready to board the boat and I felt really excited but totally exhausted.  I was also a little nervous about driving onto the ferry as I’d had a dream that I fell off the bike whilst trying to board. It was fine, in fact it was good fun riding over bumps and chains and stuff – I think I could get into off roading!  We discovered a major problem with my bike aboard the ferry which was to cause us further problems later on.  Since it’s been lowered the side stand is too long so it stands upright when parked and can tip over easily.  They had to strap it down well on the ferry to keep it upright.

Once aboard, we had a sense of being abroad already as everyone seemed very foreign, (probably because they were).   We finally got to bed about midnight in our 2 berth cabin with sea views courtesy of Stenaline.  I fell into a deep sleep but woke early again which was just as well as we had to disembark at 8am.  

Day 2 – Hook of Holland to Hannover, Germany where Holland is closed!!

After checking on the state of Tris’s bowels (he’d been doing a great job of keeping it together but he was still having terrible cramping and passing non solids!), we prepared our bikes for disembarking.  We soon remembered just how long this takes.  We held up the Ferrari Testarossa waiting behind us for a good 15 minutes whilst we loaded the bikes.  Bike prep is like a military operation, (well it will be when we get better organised).  It’s something that we are learning and Tris copes better with it than I do despite the fact that he has twice the luggage with all his heavy camera kit and electrical stuff.  He’s always sat waiting on his bike whilst I’m still putting my helmet on.  Then when I‘ve got my helmet on I realise I’ve forgotten my ear plugs, take off the helmet and put it back on again remembering the ear plugs this time and realise I forgot to put my glasses on or a wire from the blue tooth device is hanging in front of my eyes, so it‘s off with the helmet again.

We searched in vain for a bread shop or café but soon discovered the whole of Holland is closed on Sundays.  It started to rain as we left the port and everyone seemed to be going to church so we actually ended up in a Macdonalds where I forgot my organic, non dairy cancer diet and had a Big Mac and fries, (only the 5th one of my entire life).  The roads were good in Holland so we kept going, stopping once in Germany for more refreshments where Tris practiced his German, (not bad), and the toilets had revolving, self-cleaning seats so we knew we were in Germany.  The views became more interesting than in Holland with pine tree forests.  It was very windy though which made the journey even more tiring.  We got to Hannover about 5pm ish and found a cheap hotel for the night with internet access and set about trying to work out our technical difficulties – we were having trouble getting Tom Tom instructions through our headsets and the video camera had not been working.  Each night we have to charge the Tom Tom, headsets and various camera kit which is challenging when there are only 2 sockets in a room and we only have our travel plugs.  Another technical calamity happened – my hair straighteners died!  I am now unleashing my unruly hair gene on Europe.

Hannover was an industrial town with not much of interest and nothing exciting to report until Tris took a right hand turn and began driving on the left hand side.  I saw immediately what he had done but as our headsets had died, (we’d been unable to  recharge them on the ferry), I couldn‘t warn him.  That was the day I found my horn.  I found it and honked hard like a mad woman.  Tris looked up in time to steer out of the way of an oncoming car.  I wondered if I’d caught his stomach bug at this point because my guts felt like they’d dropped!  Since then I’ve been wondering when the bug will strike me down!  Fine so far!

Day 3 – Hannover to Berlin

We left Hannover about 12pm by the time we had visited the town on foot and sorted out all the technological problems we had been having.  Before leaving Tris dropped my bike on himself as the side stand problem reared its head again – fortunately the bike landed softly cushioned by Tris who was also fine, just a little squished.  We rode steadily down the autobahns at a good pace whilst cars raced up behind us, overtaking at the last moment.  In the fast lane, they would drive at speeds in excess of 100 MPH which was hairy at first but we soon got used to it.  Basically, the German road etiquette is this: when a car indicates to show it is pulling into your lane, you must get out of the way pretty damn quick!  It didn’t take too long to get to Berlin – maybe 3 1/2 hrs or so. 

We had bike stand trouble for the third time – I had just filled up at a petrol station and had barely touched the bike when it fell over.  This time it was damaged – the back brake pedal was bent and the front brake was bent into a nice curl!  My heart sank but we tested it out and it was still safe to drive.  We knew we had to get the problem sorted by now but we weren’t worried; it’s part of our adventure and the challenge.  The good news is, it’s taking us less time to pack and unpack each time.

When we arrived at the Berlin Hilton, (for 2 complimentary nights!), I couldn’t stop grinning especially when I realised Tris was leaving his luggage containers on the bike and taking his clothes into the hotel in black bin liners.  The doorman actually put the bin liners on a small, red carpeted, gold chariot and they were driven up to room in style!  Classy – 2 smelly bikers with bin liners for luggage in a posh Hilton Hotel.  We parked the bikes in the hotel carpark where I got struck by the barrier as I tried to make it through with Tris’s bike.  It didn’t hurt but I did get stuck – I don’t think the ticket machine recognises the weight of a motorbike!  The Hilton’s not bad… only joking… it’s very plush!  However, a bad nights sleep was had as I have developed terrible pins and needles repetitive strain type pain in my left hand which I use for the clutch and indicator.  Very painful, I am desperately trying to modify the way I use the controls but a little worried about the next 18 days.

That night we had a pizza and a lovely big glass of Weihenstephan wheat beer… just lovely after a hard days ride on the race tracks they call Autobahns in Germany!

To view photos so far visit the photos and podcasts page at www.breastquest2008.co.uk