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England - Day 1

26/09/09 - Runcorn to Taunton - 219 miles

The day had finally arrived to start our journey to Morocco, which as I loaded the panniers onto the bike seemed a very long way away.  To be honest it didn’t feel like I was on holiday, mainly because we weren’t jumping a taxi to the airport to catch a plane to a foreign  county.  Instead we would be riding the bike all the way to Morocco and back again, an estimated distance of 4000 miles which is what I normally do in one year on this bike, not 18 days.  At just after 9am the bike rolled off the drive and the journey was under way and after just one mile on the trip meter I commented over the intercom to Mo. “Well, only another Three Thousand Nine Hundred and Ninety Nine miles to go.”

The route I had decided upon was simple, straight down the A49 to Hereford and then cut across to Gloucester and pick up the M5 motorway to Taunton for our overnight stay. After about an hour and a half of riding we had reached Church Stretton and I thought it would be nice to visit the café in the Carding Mill Valley, part of the National Trust and a popular stop on many a bike trip to this area.  Unfortunately it was closed and only opened at 11:00am, so we continued onwards to Ludlow and had a nice breakfast, sat outside in the warm sun in front of a café in the town centre amongst the hustle and bustle of the Saturday morning market.

We arrived in Hereford around 12:30pm, just in time to find a pub that was showing the Football, Everton where playing away at Portsmouth in an early afternoon kick off, which is always a good excuse to have a spot of lunch, relax a little and catch up with my team.

England - Day 2

27/09/09 - Taunton to Plymouth - 78 miles

It wasn't long and we where entering the City of Plymouth and so we decided to head for the harbour to have a look around.  The whole area is a meeting point for many bikers and also there was a collection of Scooters lined up all brightly chromed and polished.  It was a warm sunny afternoon as we walked around the harbour complex with its pubs, shops and cafes.  It was time to head for the ferry but first we had to have a ride round the famous Plymouth Hoe, site of the tale of Sir Francis Drake's game of bowls before sailing off to defeat the Spanish Armada.

It was a short ride to the ferry terminal where we met up with John and Brigitte from Wildcat Adventures along with the rest of the group who where on this trip.  When Ian (the tree surgeon) arrived on his BMW 650 Dakar and jumped off with a beaming smile and loud laugh, Mo commented that he was going to be trouble!  After checking in and receiving our cabin tickets we joined the queue of bikes waiting to board the ferry.  This gave us a chance to chat and get to know some of the other members of the trip and also to eye up their bikes.

It was no surprise there where a number of BMW R1200GS and KTM 990, but there was also a Honda CBF1000, Honda VFR 800, Harley 1200, Yamaha TDM and most unique a Can-am Trike with a 990 Rotax engine in bright yellow!  So quite a collection including my Suzuki 650 V-Strom.

Spain - Day 3

28/09/09 - Northern Spain - 191 miles

The ferry docked in Santander at midday and within an hour Spanish Customs had been cleared and in convoy we where heading out of the city to a scheduled fuel stop about 10 miles away. This was a chance to fill the fuel tank and for everyone to regroup before heading off to our first Spanish destination. This stage of the journey was simply to cross Spain as quickly as possible so the route was mainly on fast dual carriageways across the Northern Spanish plains. The only highlight was the down pour of rain, in which the convoy stopped at the side of the road to put on the water proof clothing. I didn’t bother and was soon wet but the sun soon came out again and dried me off.

It was early evening when we reached our hotel and it was the first real opportunity for everyone to get to know each other and discuss the trip so for. The beers flowed and the ice was soon broken with tales of previous exploits on our travels. By this time we had become quite friendly with Andy and Mary, from near Taunton along with Dave and Mandy from the Orkney Isles, who had already travelled 800 miles just to catch the ferry from Plymouth.