For our loyal followers, it must seem an eon since Anne made our last post in December 2015 on the 2slowspeeds blog. We know some of you must have gone through terrible withdrawal symptoms based on your comments. Six months have passed and I fear by now my assumed blogging skills have atrophied, so bear with me.
The wonderful warmth of summer has come and gone, now winters’ icy fingers have sought to ensnare us, OK Ok… I know it’s only dipped below 20 degrees celsius (68 fahrenheit), but us two Queenslanders are susceptible to cold weather after 14 months of following summer from one hemisphere to another. The last six months has seen us continue to de-clutter, but at a reduced pace. The objective remains the same, but the journey will take a little longer mostly due to my seeming reluctance to part with anything.
Some of you may recall my ‘tank-slapper’ accident in Argentina on Ruta 40 where ‘Storm’ and my ankle met the road together. This injury required arthroscopic surgery to clean up my ankle which was finally done two months ago in April. Recovery is progressing in line with the surgeon’s expectations with a fair amount of ‘feet up’ time for me and no housework or vacuuming for a couple of years according to many experts.
Feet (foot) up at home…..
Since our return in November 2015, we have asked ourselves on numerous occasions “what next?”. Each time a motorbike goes by, a travel program appears on television or we read a travel article, our minds wander back to the open road. We are definitely not settled back into being at home, much as we love the location and friends. “What next” morphed into “where next?”. We have always wanted to visit Ethiopia, which was closed to us when we travelled down through Africa in 1982 and Namibia which we never got to visit when we lived in Cape Town. We started to look at how we could link visits to those two countries, starting in the United Kingdom (UK) with ‘Streak’ and ‘Storm’. We know we do not have the appropriate skills, or desire, to ride across the Sahara or through West Africa and other options in our preferred travel timeframe, of about six or seven months, meant a compromise somewhere with weather, route, countries visited etc would be required. We also needed to consider the ankle surgery recovery process and what sort of riding we may be exposed to in Africa. Nothing really jelled or felt the right option as we looked both North-South and South-North scenarios.
Anne realised that we could hire a fully equipped 4WD camping vehicle in South Africa for five to six weeks for a similar cost to shipping ‘Streak’ and ‘Storm’ by air to East Africa from Morocco. Therefore we decided to create two separate segments to our next trip. Europe to see family, visit Spain on Streak and Storm for a short, one month, motorcycle holiday which tests our desire for more longer motorcycle trips. We then fly to South Africa and visit Namibia and Botswana. Here we will hire a 4WD for six weeks which will allow much greater access to remote areas that, with our motorcycling skills, would have been difficult, if not impossible – motorcycles are not allowed in most African national parks, apart from Uganda.
This planning exercise was a timely reminder that we can become so focused on one approach that we exclude other options from our thought processes.
The current plan is leaving in a few days’ time for a month in Europe seeing family and friends in July/August, then ride from UK to southern Spain and back in August/September. On to Southern Africa, firstly to Cape Town to catch up with friends and stay with our old motorcycle buddy, Bob, with whom we used to ride our first motorcycles, a pair of green Kawasaki KE175’s, way back in the early 1980’s. We will re-cover routes we rode for a few days on something a little larger and bigger while we are there. Next, we head to Johannesburg to pick up our 4WD. Then off to mountains, deserts, rivers, game parks and the sorts of places we love to travel to. While not a full motorcycle trip, it will still be an adventure and we will keep those interested updated through this blog on both the motorcycle and 4WD legs.
– Anthony
2slowspeeds 
Sounds like a great trip. Have fun and take care..
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We will have fun as always. You must be enjoying your new lifestyle.
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Please be very careful in SA, guys. There are some very nasty toothy things out at night. I do well recall seeing them all over the place in my youth in Mozambique, near the border with then Rhodesia!
And Kruger Park is on the way to Joburg from Cape Town, so please no bikes anywhere near it and all care possible during the night.
Make absolutely sure that you sleep inside the 4WD and with easy access to the driver’s seat to drive away if needed.
I’m serious! Those animals can turn nasty at the flick of a switch! As a kid I saw a lion break the windscreen of a Land Rover with a simple slap!
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We will be careful, I have no desire to be eaten, having said that I am sure that Anne is tastier than me.
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Safe and happy travels! Love Annie & Nev xx
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Thank you. Will catch up on our return.
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So exciting!! Great to be reading your blog again😊 can’t wait to see you both in Europe soon, in the meantime Good Luck and Bon Voyage xxx
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Its good to be writing again. Hope we can keep the standard up over the next few months. See you at the end of the week.
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Hope the foot continues to heal well. Safe travels!
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Thank you. The foot is progressing and should be fine for this trip.
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Just like old times, opening up my mailbox and finding a message from 2slowspeeds! Naturellement, I had to read all the comments, even those from as far back as 2014, but now off to turning a place that looks as though a burglary has turned it upside down back into a home before you arrive. Can’t wait!.
Lolah
M’my xoxo
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I think it will only be like old times when we have some miles under our belt and a few blog entries posted. Must be like starting the Tour de France even though one has done it before a few butterflies are floating around. See you at the weekend.
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Looking forward to the blog restarting and seeing you both XX
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Thank you, will be slow to start but I am sure we will soon warm up. See you at the end of the month in Scotland.
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Great plans! Looking forward to seeing you when I return to Europe in August.
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Less than a week. Will be good to catch up again.
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Have a super trip; we look forward to seeing you some time. love from us both.
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Thanks. Will firm up a date when we get to the UK
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Sounds like a great plan. I love the idea of the bikes and then 4wd. I got your message on my phone after you had left so look forward to seeing you on your return. I just love the thought of all the blogs to come. Stay safe, keep away from biting things and have fun.
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We are looking forward to both motorbike and 4WD legs of the trip. Will avoid the ‘biting’ things especially the larger ones. See you on our return.
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Hello ‘blog’, it’s good to finally get an old friend back. I’m wondering how much Anthony had to pay the doctors to get such a good medical restriction on his activities. Remember you are older now so need more time to get from A-to-B, ‘see’ things and meet people. Make sure I’m included on your must see list of people.
Throttle on (slowly !)
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Was not cheap even with health rebates. Hoping our paths will cross in N Spain if your are there at the end of August.
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Cannot wait to see and hug you both!!!!
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