July 29th

KRK and wake board heaven

I am sat here at the bar of Cable KRK in Punat (www.wakeboarder.hr) looking out at wake boarders and Tris has just come down from the upper deck to tell me it is too hot to walk around bare foot on wood.  He has collected his flip flops.  I photographed him earlier doing a jump and a spectacular wipe out on landing.  “I am sat here at the bar”??????!!!  I have been typing for hours so now I’m off to enjoy the sea and sun and get my nose cleared out again…  Tris says it was a ‘back roll off a kicker’ NOT A JUMP!

2 last bits before I go – Tris’s bike fell over today on gravel.  It was parked but the stand sank into some gravel and the weight of the bike tipped it over.  We were worried until he managed to pick it up and we saw it was unharmed – see photos!  Paul was right about the crazy drivers, this morning when we went to the bank we saw a smashed up car which had come to rest on its roof.  There may be sun, sea and wake boarding but it is a reminder of the dangers of driving again.

27th July 2008

Day 9 – Vienna to Ljubljana

Last night we visited Vienna by night.  It is perhaps the most impressive city we have seen so far although it’s difficult to judge because our impressions depend on many variables such as our level of tiredness, how much sightseeing we can pack in or the weather.  We have such a short amount of time in which to judge each destination. 

I think the best word that summed up Vienna was ‘grand‘.  The architecture was stunning with hugely ornate, white stoned buildings everywhere and powerful looking statues.  “You can smell the money”, I said to Tris.  We walked for along time around the town, (we got a little lost again – for a change).  Then we found a beautiful fountain that changed slowly through a rainbow of iridescent colours and Tris thought it was a good place to deposit one of our shells for the world feast project.

We decided to modify our route a little, we’d been thinking about it since my accident.  We decided to ditch Zagreb in favour of KRK, a small Island off the Croatian coast.  For me, the good reason for this was that I needed a proper break from the riding.  My hand wakes me up in the early hours with terrible pins and needles – ‘dead hand’ syndrome – despite me modifying the way I use the clutch and plenty of Ibuprofen and Arnica massages.  For Tris, KRK meant the chance to wake board!  So, he’d emailed the wake board centre, (Cable KRK), explaining Breast Quest and asking if they could find us some accommodation.  He also emailed them a link to his photos of the British Cable Nationals (Wake Board Championships).  We received the most amazing email back from a lady called Varna offering us free accommodation, breakfast and …wake boarding!  We were pretty gob smacked and all grins for a good while.  Tris turned into a crazy wake board geek for a few moments which was worrying.

After another huge buffet breakfast at the Hilton, (I had a waffle and maple syrup, croissant and toast), we packed our sandwiches in the sanitary towel bags and drove off after yet another chat to a curious passerby and an explanation of our quest and adventures.  We’re really enjoying the human contact everywhere we go, people are really encouraging and it gives us a break from each other too.  So, with thoughts of some good R and R in the sun and some wake boarding too, we headed off from Vienna on our way to Ljubljana in Slovenia. 

We had another great days riding.  The landscape in Austria was heavily forested with pine trees.  The colours were fantastically vivid as the weather was good.  The only problem with blue skies of course is the heat.  We left the motorway and travelled down minor roads so the scenery was great.  Wide sweeping bends in beautiful scenery with perfect weather – it was easy.  Too good to be true I was thinking.  We crossed over into Slovenia I gave a good laugh to a garage station man when I failed to spot the health and safety issue of a hidden step into the shop and flew headlong into some shelves with a shout of “Ooooooo you bugger!”  He became very serious when I told him we didn’t have vignettes – no vignette – no petrol!!!!!  We had to buy little green stickers which we stuck to the bikes to show we had paid for toll roads.  It’s good to have little green foreign stickers on your bike, it makes you feel like the adventurer you are.

Everything was running smoothly until in the distance and just before Ljubljana we spotted giant black clouds with huge finger like projections reaching down from the sky to the earth.  The wind increased and I said to Tris, “There’s some heavy rain over there, I’m really scared.”  Since my accident in the rain I seem to have developed rain phobia.  We kept going until it hit.  The rain was beating down so hard, it was bouncing back up creating a wall of spray and making visibility very poor.  It felt like it was hailing and I was really really anxious.   “We’ve got to come off here”, I shouted to Tris through the headset, “I’m really scared.”.  He talked me through it calmly and eventually we were able to come off the motorway and make our way down to a petrol station with a covered forecourt.  Tris told me he’d been frightened too by the intensity of the storm but unlike me he’d kept calm.  I was a wuss – the accident was too fresh in my memory. 

Once under cover we noticed there were already quite a few bikers hanging about and more were stopping.  We met some real Slovenian biker dudes and got chatting.  They had little moustaches, long hair in pony tails, leather waist coats and they spoke good English.  I ate a Hilton Hotel blueberry muffin that I’d saved that morning and felt calmer.  It was a nice little stop off, we got a photo of the biker dudes and they gave us an address of a hostel that is a converted prison in Ljubljana which was good as we’d struggled to book accommodation that morning.  We moved off under a blue sky with thunder and lightening in the background.  Steam rose up off the hot tarmac on the roads and we wound our way past beautiful scenery with more pine trees and geranium-bedecked houses.  It was very dramatic and a little eery riding through the mist.  We found the hostel which was fantastic.  We shared our cell with a German couple.  The décor was very natural – lots of wood, stone and ceramic tiling.  It was very clean too.  We chilled out and Tris entrusted me with the job of securing the bikes which I was happy to do.  1 hour later I reappeared in the dark with black stuff all over my hands and arms and admitted defeat to Tris.  He laughed, all the while he’d been thinking I must have finished the task and was in our cell doing something! 

I felt a bit useless and frustrated that night but I think I was just exhausted.  I didn’t like relying on him to help me with the bike especially when I had trouble manoeuvring it.  Bikes aren’t made for petite ladies like me.  We chatted to a group of young kiwis, (New Zealand is close to my heart after a trip there) and had a beer before going back to the cell to swap round the recharging of equipment and eventually going to sleep with our ear plugs in.  It was a good place to stay until Tris asked me to smell his riding trousers.  Happy to oblige, (hey I’m a nurse, I’m used to smells), I furtively sniffed the hole being offered to me.  As I drew close he plunged my head into the trousers, (don’t worry he wasn’t wearing them at the time), and I swore at him.  Our trousers definitely fail the sniff test but we can’t wash them and there’s no time to take them to the dry cleaners!

We visited the area around the hostel to take photos – it has been given over to artists and it looked like a Mad Max film set.  Most interesting.  We visited Ljubljana briefly and rode up to a castle on our bikes for stunning views over the town.  Then we left for KRK island in Croatia and were happy to see it was only 108 miles away until we realised it would take us 3 hours because of the single track roads.  The temperature rose to 29 degrees and our clothes were wet through with sweat.  The ride was beautiful with lots of sweeping bends, strange roads jutting out around cliffs with drops into deep voids and the best sight ever – a flat, blue sea.  The journey was very smooth apart from the mad drivers and the stupid toll woman on the bridge to the Island.  She took money off Tris and we thought we were good to go so I moved through.  Then she ordered Tris to pay another fee and he discovered he didn’t have quite enough money so after much phaffing around during which time we were nearly fainting from sitting still in the heat, her colleague kindly ran down the traffic to collect 2 euros off me and apologised over and over for her daft colleague.  It didn’t matter, we’d made it to paradise! 

We went straight to the wake board site – a platform in the bay and were treated to free welcome drinks and t-shirts as well as a free wake board pass.  I wiped out numerous times after 5 metres, got a good nasal clear out each time and then sat talking to an English family we had met from Dublin – Frances, Paul, Richard, Alex and Richard’s friend, Richard, which was really nice.  My hair frizzed out nicely to reveal my unruly hair gene problem.  Later we followed a local guy up past olive trees and oleander bushes to our accommodation – 2 rooms in a nice lady’s home.  Lodging with families is apparently the done thing on the island.  We have sea views.  Paul and Frances filled me in on all the information we needed to know.  I will definitely return to Croatia.  The sea is clean, there is little crime, (you can leave stuff lying around and it will still be there when you get back), the people are very friendly and it’s beautiful.  We have been warned about the crazy driving though.

26th July 2008

Day 8 – Prague to Vienna

We felt a bit brighter today.  The walk around Prague the night before had been great, I loved the gothic buildings but there were too many tourists for my liking.  I had a chat with Tris at breakfast about my riding skills as my confidence was badly knocked after my fish tail wipe out in Poland.  I asked him if the accident had worried him.  He said he still thought the same about me attempting this trip – it’s a challenge – it’s doable. The only thing that worries him is when I use the Sat Nav in cities.  We are still having problems with Tom Tom as we’re not receiving voice instructions over our headsets.  This means we are having to peer at the screen which is difficult in strong sunlight sometimes.  I agreed – I feel worried watching him peer into the screen whilst driving but he’s a man and we all know men are just better at directions.  Secretly, I think even if I had Tom Tom voice instruction, I would still get us lost, (I‘m sure he thinks this too).  I also checked he wasn’t having regrets about the trip, he said I didn’t need to worry about that.

The scenery is more interesting now and the sun is out, which makes for hotter riding conditions but better visibility.  We sweat like we’ve never sweated before in our lives inside our polyester motorbike clothing.  There is nothing you can do except sit in your own sweat from top to toe for hours on end with brief periods of respite it seems when travelling at speed from the breeze.   We drove mostly down motorways.  Motorway driving doesn’t worry me although the drive in Italy does as I’ve been told it’s notoriously dangerous around there and the Italians drive crazily.  We can relax once we’re in France.

Our boots were nearly dry after the torrential rain in Poland, we’d cunningly used the Hilton sanitary towel plastic bags to line our wet boots for a while until they dried out.  They were the perfect size, just a little on the short size and made our feet a bit hot.  The little bags were also useful for storing our Hilton breakfast buffet stash – lunch sandwiches.  Hey!… needs = must!  Our gloves are still wet – both pairs.  I took the liners out of one pair to make a lighter summer version.  This worked well until I took off my gloves and my hands were totally black like a reverse Michael Jackson syndrome.  It’s the stain from the leather.

We are over the 1,000 mile mark now and well on our way to half the journey covered.  We were driving for 4 or 5 hours today – we left Prague about 1pm and got to Vienna about 6.30pm after lots of breaks.  A short one night stop in Vienna and then on to Ljubljana in slovenia.

22nd July – Berlin

I woke up early with the throbbing pain in my hand again and we had a lie in until 7.30am.  Woo hoo!  We enjoyed the huge buffet breakfast in the breakfast lounge at the Hilton overlooking the beautiful ornate museum opposite.  There is everything you can imagine on offer from for breakfast from kippers and salmon to poppy and sunflower seeds to pancakes with maple syrup and apple strudels.  I had a light meal of different bread toasted with whipped honey, orange juice and fresh coffee followed by a bowl of assorted berries.  Tris has invented the Hilton 3 course breakfast: bowl of cereal or other followed by a full fry up followed by a few pastries and lots of coffee.  Then we made our sandwiches at the table and hid them about our bodies for a free lunch later.  The Hilton Berlin is very plush, full of marble floors and columns and we felt a bit grungy in our biker gear.

After breakfast we rang Fuhrmann Yamaha of Berlin and I explained our trip and the bike damage and bike stand problem to Markus Klopsch.  He said they would be happy to help so we set off to the shop and Markus drove the bike round to the workshop where 3 men set to work on the bike, straightening out the back brake for me, adjusting the suspension and looking for a spare front brake which couldn’t be found so we decided to keep the crunched up curly one for the moment.  One of the mechanics spoke to Markus with raised eyebrows as he looked at my bike wheels.  Markus laughed a hearty german laugh and told me he’d said I must be a good rider looking at the melted rims of the tyres where the bike had obviously been on a track day.  I told him I was very experienced!  They didn’t charge us a thing.  Thank you Markus and Fuhrmann Berlin.

We visited Berlin by bike stopping for photo opportunities on the way and Tris managed another right hand turn switch to driving on the left hand side, (I yelled at him through the head set this time).  Later we met up with Tris’s uncle and niece who live in Berlin for a guided car tour of the major landmarks by car and a meal which he kindly paid for.  Thank you Uncle Les and Jade.  The weather was pretty good by now.  Berlin is very beautiful and very clean but it’s huge as it has 2 of everything.  Fantastic city for a long weekend.  I only wish we had more time.  We left one of our shells as part of the global feast art project,, (see news page for details) in a part of the old Berlin wall, it may be there for some time as we left it in the non touristy part of the wall.  The first shell we left on a train in Hannover.  Tris had a pee on the Berlin wall.

Due to lack of time, we had no chance to use the hotel’s leisure facilities.  It is frustrating as there is barely enough time to blog and for Tris to spend time on capturing good photos.  We are becoming a little more organised in bike prep and packing and unpacking all the equipment.  Clothing management is an issue too as we had to pack lightly and Tris is more experienced at this than I am – I have realised I need to wear the same sweaty t shirt 3 times now before a change.  If in doubt we consult each other for a sniff test.  After a dodgy intermittent internet connection Tris uploaded the photos and I published my blog.  Both of these are a little rough due to lack of time.  We finished our tasks just before midnight.

Good news! – the collection in the Market Square totalled £201 for Breast Quest!  Fantastic – news like this recharges our body batteries.

Day 4   23rd July Berlin to Wroclaw (approx 209 miles – 4hr drive)

The alarm clock woke us at 6am and we got up to catch the morning light for photos in Berlin.  The clouds had cleared to reveal a peaceful Berlin in all its beauty.  Then we returned to the mega buffet for breakfast where I had 2 courses including a fry up.  Tris had a fry up followed by pancakes (2 helpings) and pastries with maple syrup and a bowl of berries.  Why is he not huge?!  Then we made our lunch again and found a Starbucks to try and upload Tom Tom with an Eastern European map which we had been unable to do in the UK.  4 hours later after phone calls to Tom Tom and a good amount of sweating in all our biker gear we had it sorted.  I am waiting to see if we can gain some recompense from Tom Tom before I launch into a full assault and rant about Tom Tom!  Make it good please Tom Tom!!

We eventually left Berlin and thanks to Tris’s girlfriend Anna we had prebooked a mobile home in Wroclaw, (from the Hilton to a caravan in one day!).   Thank you Anna.  As we were about to jump on our bikes, part of my helmet fell out and my glasses broke.  Ever get the feeling someone is trying to tell you something??  On a more positive note, we also had a text message from Jane Box of IPD who is a member of Tristan’s BNI (Business Network International) to say she was donating £250 to Breast Quest which helped to destress us after the Tom Tom business.  Thank you Jane!! 

It felt like a long way to Wroclaw, the temperatures were rising and our clothing stuck to us.  I’ve failed the sniff test today for sure.  Thankfully my bowels are fine and I’m hoping I’ve escaped Tris’s gut rot virus as it would be catastrophic on a bike!  We crossed the German border late afternoon and immediately hit large craters in the road, there was grass growing out of the lane separations too and little road signs warning of potholes.  Luckily I was leading and the pace was a little slower or it could have been seriously scary.  As dusk arrived, there were beautiful colours across the sky but we were heading into black cloud and by the time we got to Wroclaw it was dark.  Tris did a fantastic job of reading Tom Tom (the voice had failed) and we found our caravan arriving at 10pm.  We ate peanuts and ryvita for tea, (fortunately we snack on regular breaks along each trip) and turned in about 11.30pm.

Health report at 11pm: Tris has elbow joint pain but my pins and needles in my left hand are much better now I have modified my use of clutch and indicator.  We are both tired and have both developed lorry driver’s bottom spots, Tris said his had appeared prior to leaving the UK due to all the motorbike riding he had been doing for Breast Quest preparations -too much sitting down.   I have tummy upset but I think this is due to hairy night riding.  Morale a bit flat – thank you Odette and Ruby for your comments here – it keeps us going!  Please feel free to add your own to this site – it’s easy and we would much appreciate it!! 

Lou signing off…coming later tonight…Lou has a fall, we hit the 1,000 mile mark in Prague and more photos!!! xx

July 24th – Wroclaw to Prague (182 miles over 5.30hrs of driving)

I am sitting here in the Hilton (old town) Prague in a king size bed with quality cotton sheets and a large flat screen tv in front of me in sumptuous surroundings.  I’ve had a huge bath with some free Crabtree and Evelyn toiletries and am wrapped in a large Hilton fluffy dressing gown.  I want to tell the manager, Remco, how much this means to me after the day we’ve had.  It has been the most challenging day of riding so far. 

It began early in Poland.  The caravan was a bit of a come down after the Hilton Berlin!  The toilet would not fill so we used the shower head to fill the cistern each time we wanted to use it.  We visited Wroclaw city quickly before leaving.  It was very picturesque with some beautiful Baroque style buildings.  We left one of our shells in a park bench for someone to find and got on the road towards Prague.  Then the rain began and it was relentless.  Torrential downpours and dim light with low cloud touching the pine trees.  The roads were very slippery, Tris remarked on it a couple of times over the head sets so I tried to be very careful.  We were soon soaked to the skin.  We crossed over the Czech border in good time and again we had to avoid the potholes in low visibility on roads that had been repaired so many times they looked like patchwork.

We were tired, wet and cold and thinking about getting to Prague.  We’d only just had a break before the border when we arrived at a roundabout.  I’m not sure what happened but I must have looked right first instead of left and when I looked back there was a car driving too fast towards me so I hit the brakes hard.  The bike slipped and fishtailed across the road.  Then it fell on top of me and we came to a halt.  Thankfully I wasn’t going fast.  I switched off the engine quickly and told Tris I had come off the bike.  He made his way back whilst 2 Czech men lifted the bike off me.  I did a quick head to toe check and realised I was ok.  Tris arrived and we looked at the bike, the damage wasn’t bad – the foot rest had snapped off and the brakes were a little more twisted but Tris could see it was driveable so he took it safely to the other side of the roundabout.  He asked me if I was ok.  I was fine but anxious incase I was in shock or something.  Weirdly, I felt ok about it.

We managed to fix one of my passenger foot rests to the bike as a temporary repair measure and tested the bike out to check it was road worthy.  Tris asked me if I wanted to stay where we were or carry on.  I looked around, it was a tough decision.  I felt awful about the damage to the bike, guilty for getting Tris into this mess and annoyed at myself for such a stupid error when I know I am a safe rider.  We had 2 hrs of riding left to reach Prague and it would be getting dark.  The rain had stopped a little.  I got back on the bike and said I wanted to carry on so I rode it up and down a few times to make sure I could use the brake ok.  All the while I was thinking I might bottle it but we set off again and I asked Tris if we could talk through the riding just until I got my confidence back.  We had another couple of stops and got to Prague in the dark.  I was just thinking the worst was over when we found old town Prague is full of cobbled streets (slippery when wet) and pot holes too!  We were so pleased to find the Hilton finally after getting lost a few times.  Tris was great, he found us the Hilton in the dark with a dodgy Sat Nav again.  His patience is fantastic as is his determination.  I just hope he’s not regretting his decision to do the trip! 

Well just as I thought things couldn’t get any worse and I’d said goodbye to Tris after he stepped out of the lift on his floor, they did got worse because I got stuck in the lift.  I was wet, exhausted and shaken so I cried a few tears in exasperation before catching sight of my face in the mirrored walls of the lift and started to laugh as it went up and down first to floor 1 then floor 4 and back several times before letting me get back out at reception to sort it out!

July 25th Prague

Today after another huge breakfast we took the bikes to the biggest Yamaha dealer in Prague who we had emailed the day before asking if they would service the bikes.  They were fantastic, repairing my bike and checking them both thoroughly for us before lubing the chains for us and it was all free of charge.  Thank you Petr of Mari Moto!!  Tris took some photos and we saw a little of Prague as we drove around.  It was very very hot in our gear but Prague is beautiful.  I am just off out to visit it a little by night.  Tomorrow we need to find a camera shop for Tris so we will be up early for photos before heading off to Vienna.   Tonight I’m going to get us a good meal – he deserves it for all he’s done and all I’ve put him through.  We could both do with a bit of a lift today.  It’s tough going.

I think we are both finding it a little tough at the moment, so please feel free to send us a message!

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

18th July 2008

Blimey!  It’s upon us.  Here we gooooooooooooo! 

This week, we had a few major problems and I’ve been feeling S T R E S S E D!!  However, I’ve been telling myself this is normal.  It was all going well until I wrote too many lists of things to do and lost the plot.   I’ve been so disorganised that I managed to forget where I parked the motorbike.  I turned up at the bus depot to collect it one day and realised it wasn’t there!  After a wide eyed panic I realised I’d left it at my other secure parking address because sometimes I don’t make it home before the bus depot closes, (thank you S and H for letting me leave the bike at yours!).  Then, on Wednesday, I was on my way to work when I realised my car had disappeared from outside my house.  After another massive panic, I realised I had driven the car to pick up the bike from my other secure parking spot the night before and left it there!   That’s when I realised I wasn’t coping very well.  My work colleagues have been brilliant about my ‘chicken head’ condition this week.  Thank you Nurses!

Anyway, there have been some highlights this week, such as getting the bikes checked over by Kev at Le Rock in Mansfield.  Kev ‘pimps’ bikes and specialises in Harleys.  He very kindly checked our bikes over for us and lowered the suspension on my bike so that I can reach the floor better and he made a bracket for a video camera on Tris’s bike so he can film some of the journey.  Kev gave us some good advice about touring too and we discussed ‘The Long Way Down’ which he called a “rich man’s safari”.  He told us about some of his own ‘real’ adventures whilst touring.  I have to agree with him about the ‘Long Way Down’ – it made me chuckle when Charlie Boorman was handed his own personal tool kit engraved with ‘Made especially for Charlie Boorman’ on it.  We’ve begged, stolen and borrowed most of our stuff for our trip and nobody organised it all for us, (ok, I lie, we haven’t actually stolen anything yet although I’m sure we’ll be filling our pockets with as much as we can from the Hilton Hotel’s breakfast buffets). 

Anyway, we were getting ready to ride home when Tris said, “Hey Lou, I’ll ride back towards Nottingham with you so we can get some practice at riding together…you lead.”  I frowned a bit but thought, ‘Yeah, that’s a good idea – team work!’ so I proudly led the team tooting my horn for Kev as we left… 2 minutes later we found ourselves in a cul de sac – a dead end!  ‘Nice work Lou’, I thought.  “I’ll lead!” laughed Tris and off he sped only to lead us into another cul de sac.  When we finally found the main road he then led us off it the wrong way down a one way street and we ended up at the entrance to a bus depot.  Fortunately, I managed to find my way onto a one way street heading in the right direction.  I was now stopped at traffic lights parallel to Tris who was sat on his bike looking at the surprised oncoming cardrivers.  I was just trying to tell him that he was on a one way street heading the wrong way, (I think he’d realised by then), when the lights changed and I had to leave him behind.  I then pulled up a safe distance ahead only to see him ride past me waving in the outside lane!  We eventually found each other again but it does not bode well for a 3,000 mile trip round foreign lands when we get lost in our own ‘back gardens’ does it??!  Ah well, it made me laugh!   We peeled off from each other later at traffic lights but before leaving I looked across and said to him, “Next time we do this, we’ll be on our way!”  I felt the flapping of a thousand butterflies in my stomach as the lights changed to green.

Well, I don’t want to talk about today, the eve of our departure because it’s been a little stressful for us both and I’m knackered.  I went to the doc’s to get my last Zoladex injection before I go and my Tamoxifen tablets are packed but I still have lots to do so I’m off!

Before we leave, I have to say a huge thank you to all the friends, family and sponsors who have supported us in so many different ways.  In life, some people let you down and shit happens but I’ve found that all the negative stuff can be cancelled out by the good people you meet.  I’ve been touched by the kindness of both people I know and complete strangers.  Thank you for all the messages I’ve received.  I can’t express how this has made me feel, I wish was able to.  It’s enough to say, if anything should happen to me during this trip, I will think like Edith Piaf and have no regrets! 

This last year has been both one of the most stressful years and at the same time, the most amazing of my life.  It’s a huge challenge ahead and we may have to cut corners but be assured, I’ll be giving this challenge my all!! 

To end, here are some wise words from a man who’s sponsored a large part of our trip.  His message really touched me.  I hope he doesn’t mind if I reproduce it here…  Have your tissues ready:

“Lou

Have a wonderful trip, yes it is daunting and you are nervous but what adventure isn’t.  Look at it this way, for the next 21 days it is either Nottingham and the Meadows or ‘go for it!’

11 countries – not a hard decision then is it…

Embrace the challenge just as you did when you faced the breast cancer.  My thoughts and prayers will be with you both…”
So, Europe here we come – Breast Quest 2008!…  Next year I’m booking myself a beach holiday.

Stay tuned to www.breastquest2008.co.uk for blogs from abroad!

13th July 2008

I should think this is my penultimate blog before our departure on 19th July when we will leave Nottingham to travel around 10 or 11 countries in Europe on motorbikes.  I’m starting to stress out about it.  I’m like marmite – spreading myself thinly over all slices of my life – work, rest and play.  I want to focus on one thing but I can’t as Breast Quest 2008 begins very soon and the first day off work for me is the day of our departure.  It’s frustrating.  I feel a bit guilty that Tris has been doing most of the work recently.  I am increasingly scatter brained, (ok, so I was a little before), but today I actually put my pants on sideways, (one leg through the waist job), and when I finally realised I didn’t get chance to change them for 3 hours by which time I was walking funny.  I am more forgetful too, (if that’s possible).  Yesterday, I arrived home from work and was about to get out of my car when I realised I’d left my bag containing my house keys in the office.  And I’m having weird dreams too – I dreamt George Clooney was coming with us on the trip and he was looking a bit old, so I told him so and that I was concerned he wasn’t physically fit enough.  He looked a bit crushed.  Sorry George.

Ah well, in life I’ve learnt it’s amazing what you can do when you are running out of time.  I’m sure we’ll piece it altogether at the last moment.  I’ve been stressing about having enough funding but people have just been incredible with sponsorship so we should be fine.  We are picking up t-shirts and our jackets off a company called Dimensions who have kindly been fitting these with logos and the website address.  We are still in need of a GPS system at T minus 6 days which is quite alarming especially as I manage to get lost all over Nottingham, (my home town), and I’m not sure that Tris is much better at navigation, (although he thinks he is).  He’s very good at practical advice though: “All we have to do, Lou, is get from A to B each day.”  Sounds pretty simple when you put it like that doesn’t it?  We had a final lesson with the Nottingham Advanced Motorcyclists on Sunday to ensure we get from A to B safely and as fast as legally possible too because we have a tight schedule with not much room for unforeseen events. It was a good run out and we learnt a little about riding together as a team and we were given some good advice, (thanks Duncan!).  I’ll remember to think before talking over the intercom as it can be distracting especially when approaching obstacles like junctions.  I really think everyone should take an advanced course as you learn to think ahead and ride safely and defensively.  I feel ready to go now.

…ready to go but not packed yet.  However, for the first time ever in my life, I’ve started my packing early.  Usually I’m a last minute, ‘throw a few bits in a suitcase and go’ kind of girl but this time it’s different.  I’ve been laying out what I’m taking on the trip because we will have very small luggage packs on the bike and we don’t want too much weight.  We have to pack a bare minimum and seeing it spread out allows me to whittle it further down each day:

So far for our 21 day trip I have a pile of:

5 pants and 3 pairs of socks
1 pair of proper shorts
1 pair of jeans
1 pair of motor bike boots
1 lightweight fleece
1 pair of flip flops
1 pair of trainers – how can I not run for 21 days??! I’m already thinking I’ll have to leave these behind though as they take up a lot of room.
4 t-shirts
1 swimming costume for saunas and swimming pools, (for the free nights accommodation in the Hilton Hotels in Berlin, Prague, Vienna and Milan!)

1 first aid kit

Some organic fruit and nuts

1 travel hairdryer and 1 pair of hair straightners – potential calamity here as I was born with the unruly hair gene and I may have to ditch 1 or both of these items thus subjecting myself to 21 bad hair days where I will be unrecognisable in photos with wild and giant frizzy curls. I think I will ditch the hairdryer.

Some contact lenses in case my glasses get lost or broken

1 adventure motorcycling handbook

2 maps

Some plastic bags to keep kit dry

A bare minimum of cosmetic items including tiny travel soap.  I am alarmed Tris is not taking any soap at all – he claims it’s because we’ll find it in all hotels. He’s probably just a soap dodger,(no doubt Tris will load me up with his camera equipment now as punishment for that comment, if he sees it).

And that’s your lot – no beach towel, no heels, no nice clothes, no fancy lotions or potions, perfume, jewellery or anything girly.  No luxury items.  This is not a holiday it’s a survival adventure!  When I was visiting a patient recently he told me his wife’s name was Louise and showed me her key fob which had a little verse about the meaning of our name on it.  It began ‘Louise – derived from a famous warrior woman…’.  I smiled and thought, that’s good – it feels like I’m going to do battle in Europe.  If it had said, ‘Louise – meek and mouse like’ I would have cancelled the trip.

29th June 2008

I was on my computer at 7.30am on a Saturday this week.  There is a good reason for this – I am starting to sweat a bit about the trip and there is still so much to do – we have loose ends to tie up and equipment and sponsors to tie down.  Most of the important stuff has been done – Stenaline have booked our passage to Holland for us on 19th July, we have 6 nights accommodation FOC courtesy of Hilton Hotels in Berlin, Prague and Milan and a good discount in Vienna, (the Hilton!! – I once stayed in a posh hotel and it was very nice!), we’ve tested out our intercom equipment and it works, the Esure group have insured the bikes…the bikes… ah yes!!!!  How could I forget our latest big news?!!  At this very moment there is a beautiful, red Yamaha MT-03 stabled within a bus depot, (at a top secret location).  It’s cooling down after a 300 mile trip to Cromer and back with me! 

Anyway, one night after work, I had a brain wave.  I’ve been lying awake at night wondering where on earth I could keep a motor bike safely nearby so that I didn’t have to traipse over to my friend Andy’s each time I wanted to go out for a ride.  Andy, (who also helped us plan our route), has kindly been looking after Charley, (my practice bike), for months now.  He has patiently been wiping drips of oil of his paving stones with some special oil remover stuff too.  Anyway, after my brain wave I walked into the Nottingham City Transport Bus Depot one night and made a strange request.  Happily, they kindly agreed to keep the bike in a secure lock up bike room for me on the condition that I attended an ‘elf and safety talk, (“Here, put this yellow high vis jacket on whilst you are in the bus depot so you don’t get run over by a bus.” stuff).  I’m really grateful to them as it makes things a lot easier although I do struggle with getting the bike up the kerb into the room as it’s very heavy.  Fortunately, there’s always been a nice guy around to help me get the back wheel up the kerb as I’ve not yet mastered the art but will do quite soon. 

So, the bikes… On Monday, Tris and I caught a train down to the Yamaha headquarters in Weybridge, Surrey.  The day had arrived to pick up the bikes and we were really excited.  We wore our new Weise motorbike gear supplied by Weise and Fowlers in Bristol, (thank you), and Breast Quest 2008 t-shirts and we did some planning on the train on the way down.  I had efficiently printed out 2 maps for our journey back off the RAC route planner, (a quick route and a scenic route).  Please note Tris scoffed at this – he laughed that we only had to find the M25 and then hang on until we hit the M1, so hard could that be?  Men…  Got to love ‘em. 

We met the Marketing people, who gave us lots of good tips and advice for the trip and then we went out to find the beasts.  Tris has a beautiful Fazer in a darkish shiny blue and I have a beautiful red MT-03 which has a waspish shape and is very beautiful even if it does clash a little with my new pink jacket.  Unfortunately, it is not possible to lower the seat so I am at full stretch.  I’ll have to get used to this plus we need to practice with all our gear attached to back of the bikes as this will change the balance for us, (especially with all my shoes, hair straighteners for my unruly hair and bags of organic tea bags and fruit and nut mix on the back).

We got lost on the M25 as we weren’t sure if we were heading the right way around it and guess what?- we had to refer to my map print out, (think that says it all Tris   Anyway, it was a good but long trip back with a few hairy moments including coming across a burning car in a ditch and me falling off the bike in Tesco’s car park infront of all the shoppers whilst trying to manoeuvre the bike slowly round.  Don’t worry Yamaha, the bike is fine.  As I lay trapped by a hand underneath the bike marvelling at how flat and squashed the hand was, (before realising it was only my empty glove), a big man appeared out of nowhere and picked me and the bike up and said “Don’t worry love, it happens to us all.”.  Then Tris arrived and did some peering into my face, “Are you ok?”, he asked a few times looking a bit concerned.  I was ok again after some fruit and nut mix but glad to get home for a cup of tea.

On a more serious note, Tris phoned me after I had got back from Cromer.  I was babbling on about the fuel capacity of the bike and when I came up for air he told me he had just come across his first dead biker whilst on his journey home from work.  About the same time that I arrived safely home for a cup of tea from Cromer, he had come across a fatal accident.  Just awful.  I asked him if he was having a wobbly moment about the trip.   He said no but he was more aware of the dangers and hoped he would remember it for a long time to come.  I’ll admit I have my own fears about the trip, it’s going to push us both mentally and physically and I worry about the danger and the fact that the people we care about will also be worrying for us.  We are well aware of the dangers and will be very careful but we can’t give up the adventure now. 

I felt bad about Tris and the biker today so I asked my nursing colleagues where I could get hold of a couple of St Christophers, (I’m not particularly religious but I thought we could do with some help from the Patron Saint of Travel).  An Irish Nurse told me I needed to visit “a wee holy place” and I was wondering where I might find one in an inner city area until we realised there is just such a place – a Friary where we know some Monks!  So, off I went and explained my problem to Father Quinton of St Augustines and he kindly gave me 2 Saint Christophers.  I offered to pay for them but he refused and he even asked The Father to bless the Saint Christophers and the 2 travellers in their journey around Europe.  I felt better afterwards but I couldn’t help noticing that the picture shows St Christopher carrying Christ safely across water.  I just hope it works for motorbikes on land too!  Hmmm, I wonder if I could take a trip to a Buddhist Temple to see if I can get hold of a couple of Buddhas for extra help?

Well, we’re nearly there now.  Please get sponsoring us so that when we are dirty, smelly, dog tired, wet through to the skin from the rain and picking the flies out of our teeth, we can remind ourselves why we are doing this! 

Hey, it’s not all Hilton Hotels you know!… It’s 21 days of wearing the same hot, sweaty, non-washable, motorbike trousers, jacket and smelly boots!

1st June 2008

This time last year I’d just had reconstructive operation after having had a lumpectomy for breast cancer.  A year later, I’m still here and I’m on a countdown to a very exciting trip around Europe on a very big motorbike to fundraise for cancer charities.  How life changes eh?!…

The trip, Breast Quest 2008, has experienced more than a few wobbly moments along the way.  It’s been about compromise and adapting to change and adversity.  We’ve sometimes had to find new opportunities in unexpected places when seemingly golden opportunities and promises have amounted to nothing.  Team Breast Quest has lost and gained key members along the way too.  I guess it’s only natural as people’s priorities change.  However, we’re finally on track, it’s really going to happen and we’re just 6 weeks away from departure day!  There will be just the 2 of us now – Tristan Poyser, Photographer, and myself.  Ali can’t make it due to personal reasons.

At our latest meeting we discussed plans, shared out tasks and ate some good organic chocolate.  There were 6 of us: Tris, Rach, (my other sister in law and great friend who is experienced in marketing), my brothers, (Tom and Roger), and my other great friend, Odette, who is a copywriter.  Later, Rach created a spreadsheet where we can all see our tasks and deadlines coloured in red and a big green column signalling our departure date, July 19th.  It’s super organised but very scary to look at!  We can all see this spreadsheet online and update it to share our progress, (or lack of it), with the other team members. 

So far we have pretty much covered costs except for a few expenses such as ferry crossings.  We have a lot left to organise, namely; hotel discount, ferry crossings (urgent!), trying on kit for size and logos attached, getting some top boxes for gear, communication equipment, insurance (very important!), pulling in more sponsorship and publicising the trip.  The Nottingham Advanced Motorcyclists are helping us get the go ahead for us to leave the Market Square on July 19th with some 20 of their members on bikes and a police escort.  The police escort bit made me giggle nervously because I hate observers watching me drive and I hate drawing attention to myself, (should have thought about that earlier maybe).  So, on July 19th there will be a huge group of the buggers plus some policemen who have all passed their advanced driving tests thinking how crap my driving is!

Tris and I rode over to CMC bikes at Chesterfield recently to try out the bikes that Yamaha are loaning us for the trip.  We took the scenic route up to Chesterfield on Charley, (that’s the nickname I have for my training bike because it looks a bit like a Chinese Harley).  Charley, (which is really a Siamoto Geko for anyone interested), has an eagle’s head and a bit of bling on the front.  He also makes a deep throttley noise and has a small notice on the tank saying: ‘Warning, do not drive after drinking wine’ as if drinking vodka or gin would be ok.  

Dave Barnett sorted out the test bikes for us at CMC bikes, he even polished them for us before we set off.  Tris tried out a Fazer and I tried an MT-03, just in case you know about these things.  Someone asked me about the spec of the bike later that day and I told them what I could remember – that it had a big ‘twirly thing’ to describe what I thought was it’s engine, (it wasn’t), and was a lovely dark aquamarine colour which somewhat gave the game away that I don’t have a clue what I’m talking about and am only interested in girly stuff like the colour.  My feet barely reached the ground on the MT-03 but Dave said the seat could be modified to make it lower for me.  We’ll have to go down to Surrey soon to pick the bikes up from Yamaha for some photos and to thank them properly.

Anyway, I was pretty excited and nervous too as the last time I rode such a powerful bike was on the day of my test, December 18th 2007 when I rode a Honda 500cc.  To give you some idea of the power, (this bit is mostly for girls), the MT-03 is a 660cc and Charley is a 250cc.  Tris set off in front and I suddenly realised how different it has been training on Charley because the MT-03 flew off down the road like a greased weasel dropping.  It cornered much easier in comparison to Charley too.  It was fantastic and I did a bit of whooping into my helmet as we flew along roads and up and down hills.  Finally we drew up on the side of the road, grinning at each other and Tris asked if I was ready to head back.  “No!”, I said, “I’m ready to head off right now on Breast Quest 2008!  Let’s go!  Woo hooooo!”  14 months ago, I had never considered learning to ride a motorbike, now I fly along roads whooping into my helmet like an idiot. 

Now, I have to set the record straight.  For anyone who thinks we are off on our jollies, leisurely riding around Europe, wining and dining as we go and raising a bit of cash for charity.  This is not the case.  There will be bad weather and on a bike you do get wet, very wet.  We have a tight schedule so we won’t ever be beaching it as we will be covering over 3,000 miles on the bikes.  It’s much more challenging than driving a car as you need to be focused 100% of the time.  I particularly notice this when I hop into my car after being on the bike because I spend the first five minutes marvelling at how easily it drives and wondering if I should be doing more.  In the early days whilst learning to ride a big bike, I used to feel 99.9% fear and about 0.1% exhilaration but this has slowly changed.  I have had the majority of my lessons in grim conditions including snow, sleet, hail, driving rain and heavy winds and believe me nothing is waterproof.  I have been wet through to the skin and colder than I’ve ever experienced and seriously thought about giving up altogether.  I’ve given up Sundays and evenings weekdays to learn to ride and organise Breast Quest whilst trying to get to grips with a stressful new job.  I’ve spent sleepless nights worrying that the trip would not happen.  It has to be said; I’ve done a crap job of cutting stress out of my life which was my aim!

Whilst I’m setting the record straight, I’d also like to say that this trip would not have been possible without Tris’ help.  He has given up his time freely to help document the trip with photos, manage the website as well as organising and publicising the trip, and helping to find sponsors.  He has also auctioned off a studio session to raise cash for Breast Cancer Care.  I know there was a time when he wondered if it would actually ever happen but he still turned up for team meetings.  He is self employed, (a one man band), and is giving up 3 weeks of business to ride 3,000 miles round Europe with a slightly nutty, ex cancer bird who has only just learnt to ride a bike.  I’d like to thank him and also say a big ‘thank you’ to his girlfriend for her patience and for supporting us.  She will be spending her summer holidays without Tris.  Enough said.

Sometimes I wake at night and feel butterflies in the pit of my stomach when I think about the trip.  I run through what we have left to do and recent achievements like Tris getting Canon to agree the loan of camera equipment and a video recorder.  I’m feeling more confident that things are coming together.  This Sunday, I had a bike lesson where I felt I had turned a corner.  Finally, I felt 95% exhilaration and 5% fear whilst riding, (although this varied according to conditions!).  I felt it was fitting that on the day when I started to feel confident about my riding skills, ‘Race for Life’ had just finished on Victoria Embankment and as I rode back to my car after the lesson there were pink balloons tied to lampposts and runners dressed in pink, some in pink tutus on their way home.  I congratulated them in my helmet as I drove past.

27th April 2008

I don’t know how many ‘Woo hoo’s!’ to include in this blog.  I was going to start it with banalities like me having a job and a car finally.  However, I think I’m just going to start it with one big ‘woo hoo!’ as the last month has been great.  So here it comes – one big woo hoo:
Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!  First I got the job I wanted, THEN a car, THEN Boots decided to support Breast Quest 2008 in a really huge way, THEN we were offered bikes for the trip!! 

I’m trying not to be too excited about all this because a). I’m trying to be cool, (but never managed this yet), and b). when I feel that things are going too well, I try to keep a lid on my excitement just in case…  The lid is not doing a very good job of containing my excitement – I have insomnia again.

At the beginning of the month I had a meeting with the Cause Related Marketing Manager at Boots.  Here’s a stroke of luck – Boots support Breast Cancer Care and are looking to support the Lavender Trust, (one of our chosen charities), which is a part of Breast Cancer Care for younger women.  Now, Boots don’t normally support individuals but they had mentioned sponsorship and some funding for the trip in our email exhanges.  So, I went along to Boots World with low expectations and a smart shirt, (I call it Boots World because it’s such a huge place and you can even order your own bread on site).  I was thinking maybe they would offer £1000 for charity and a Boots T-shirt or some anti wrinkle cream.

I felt a little conspicuous as everyone was wearing suits and there I was in my smart shirt and jeans looking a bit casual.  Anyway, I had no need to feel uncomfortable as the Cause Related Marketing Manager was lovely and after we got stuck in the security turnstiles for a while, I spilled out all our hopes and aims to her over a coffee.   I was thinking what a difficult but satisfying job she must have deciding who to support when, to my surprise, she offered £5,000 for the Lavender Trust and agreed to fund the fuel costs of our trip – £70 for 21 days!  I was over the moon and afterwards I phoned Ali to tell her the good news.  By the time I got home and switched on my computer there was written confirmation of the offer but instead of the £5,000 figure there was a 10 and then some zeros so I felt a little confused and wondered if it was only £1,000 after all.  Suddenly, I realised it read 10 GRAND and I went straight and made myself a cup of organic tea to get over the shock. 

I rang Ali to tell her and then I had a conversation with my other sister in law that went like this:
Me: “£10,000!” Silence…. Her: “£10,000!” Me: “£10,000!” Silence…. Me: “£10,000!” Her: “£10,000!” and so on for quite some time like a slow game of ‘surprise’ tennis. 
My mum was a little emotional when I told her.  Later, I realised that whilst my shirt was smart it was also quite tight across the chest and as a result it gaped and I had been flashing a bit of the offending breast, (the one that started all this), at Boots World.  I thought it was sort of ironic and wasn’t too worried – lots of people have seen it to date, (in medical settings of course). 

I have to say we owe a lot of Breast Quest 2008’s recent progress to a lady who had breast cancer herself 8 years ago.  She not only offered me some good advice about dealing with cancer but she also gave me some fantastic contacts.  This resulted in offers of support such as free design services, a PR company donating some of their time to contact media on our behalf, (we are hoping to get into a woman’s magazine or Sunday supplement), and the Boots offer.  All in all, it feels like our quest has been given a huge boost or a big helping hand.  This is fantastic because I have to say raising funds for charity is extremely hard work and I never appreciated this until now.  I take my hat off to fundraisers.  There are so many unforeseen problems like the time it takes to find the right contact person, then persuading them to read about or listen to the quest and say yes to what you are asking for.  It keeps you very busy.  There is also the added challenge of learning to ride a big motorbike when you are financially stretched.  

So there we go.  To date we have some £15K for charity in the pot, our fuel costs are covered and it looks like our accommodation costs are covered too.  I am still having my advanced lessons from Nottinghamshire Advanced Motorcyclists and Tristan, the photographer, will be having his soon.  Ali will also take up the offer of advanced driving lessons.  Training has been tough, I passed my test in freezing cold conditions before Christmas and since then I’ve had a lot of bad weather on my Sunday lessons which makes concentration harder in the wet conditions.  I feel pretty drained after a lesson and I need a lot more practice before I head off on a 3,000 mile trip around Europe.

We still need to organise the ferry crossings and obtain sponsorship for these as well as stuff like visits to some Breast Institutes in Europe, communication equipment etc.  There are other developments that we are working on at the moment.  It’s a bit like plate spinning.  We still need to find more sponsorship for our charities – there is still room on my size extra small t-shirt for sponsors!

In my personal life, I have been having some good luck too.  Nearly a year later after my diagnosis I finally started the job I was working towards as a student.  I am a Community Nurse.  Now, I know there are not many of these jobs around so I feel very lucky indeed.  The bank breathed a sigh of relief and so did I. 

Finally, I received my first yearly mammogram results.  I asked the radiographer how long they would take and was told 2 to 3 weeks.  “3 weeks!” I exclaimed, “They give you your results the same day in France!”.  The radiographer defended this practice by explaining that they needed to carefully compare results with my previous mammogram.  “I’m sure they do that in France too.” I said.  Then she added in defence that there was no urgency to having the results this time.  I thought, well, that’s easy for you to say lady, try putting yourself in your patient’s shoes!  I spent 2 and half weeks checking my breasts for lumps I might have missed before receiving a letter which said the results were clear and a booklet about being breast aware.

Hard to believe it is a year since my diagnosis.  The daffodils reminded me of that time.  I can clearly remember how I was feeling the day of my diagnosis when I went for a run along the River Trent before heading off to the Hospital to get the bad news.  A lot has happened since then.  I’m fitter, happier than ever and trying to keep a lid on it. 