While Anne was getting root canal treatment yesterday, because of an absces, under a crown, Anthony spotted one tool we’d been looking for which the endodontist was using: a short metal ruler to measure our chain slack, one of the crucial things to check to ensure chain longevity. Luck would have it that the endodontist had just received new rulers and the old ones were waiting to be thrown out. So now, we have the perfect ruler! Once again, life is working out just perfectly for the 2 Slow Speeds.

We will be making the most of our forced delayed departure to take some rest now – more news on the 25th June.

– Anne

One of our show stoppers being dealt with – Anne getting root canal and absces treated

Dental ruler, perfect to measure the chain slack.

Today is the day we were going to head off, leaving the UK for France and making our slow way back to Australia. But…

We still have a number of items on our list which we have not managed to tick off. The last few months seem to haven taken their toll and now we need to make sure that not only are the bikes ready and administrative issues taken care of, we need to take care of our bodies. Anne’s tooth abscess has not been resolved yet – in fact she did not make it to the dentist last week. Suddenly feeling very faint, an ambulance was called to take her to hospital. Poor Anthony was confused when he got a call (while collecting the Russian visa) from a petrol station and then the dentist calling him to ask where I was. We won’t get the results of all the tests until late in the month.

Of course, we are very disappointed about this delay (and the time constraints this now puts on us to get through Russia as the visas have been issued for specific dates) but the good news is that we will now leave for our trip rested!!! We will take some time out for rest and relaxation, not sure where, but we will find somewhere to pitch the tent, take long walks and recharge our batteries.

– Anne

I could not think of a better place to spend my birthday than in Montauroux, France, where we have been ‘based’ since January this year. Living here and experiencing village life again after so many years away has exceeded any expectations and was beyond my wildest dreams. We had a lovely leisurely lunch at the Brasserie Du Clos, in Montauroux, where Albert, the co-owner, has made us feel at home from our first visit.

How will I cope saying our goodbyes to our family as we head off on our RTW trip – I couldn’t say goodbye to Albert without crying!!!…

Having spent the last few hours packing and tidying, Anthony and I are about to go for our final pizza dinner in Montauroux – a perfect end to a most relaxing birthday.

We finalised our logo today, which Anne originally designed using ArtStudio on the iPad, and Anthony’s cousin turned into a high quality printable version.

Happy with the decision not to try to ride day two of the off-road course. While we miss out on more expert tuition we will be in one piece for the trip. (One injury was later confirmed by doctor as rib muscle injury.) Note to self: do the course earlier!!