Final family goodbyes

We’ve now done 509 miles, 814kms since we left Anthony’s sister in Dorset yesterday morning and travelled through the UK, France (for a whole 20′), Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. We visited one of Anthony’s cousins near Antwerp last night and we have just met Anne’s first great-nephews this evening in Padderborn, Germany – he is so cute!!!!! So tomorrow will be our last family goodbye. No more delicious home cooked meals and comfy beds!!

Our Russian visa requires us to get to the Kazakhstan border by the 14th July so we need to get some miles under our tyres. After that, we will be travelling at a much more relaxed pace.

Heading towards the Polish border tomorrow – the route will depend on the weather in the morning.

– Anne

By 2slowspeeds Posted in General

Day 1

We finally set off today as planned, just 30′ later than planned having frantically searched for our spare set of keys, which we had of course carefully packed away in our top box. That last minute packing of the final bits and pieces was a little rushed – our top boxes are not empty to leave space for our helmets when we are stopped as we had planned but full of little things. Must repack soon!!

The weather was kind to us all day (we just had a couple of minutes of rain. We got to the Euro tunnel in plenty of time and joined a group of bikers going to Belgium for the Grand Prix. It felt strange riding into the train. Being able to ride slowly in a straight line a great advantage!

The roads all the way to the outskirts of Antwerp were fine until we hit the rush hour traffic. That was a horrid hour of stop/start – our hands were so sore. So lesson 1 – try to avoid arriving in a big city during rush hour.

We safely and happily arrived at Anthony’s cousin by 7pm where we were spoilt with a delicious dinner and great evening.

Our Heidenau Scout K60 tyres were fine – not noisy at high speed on the motorways as we’d read but definitely a bit wobbly on those noblies.

My Rox pivoting risers (to bring the handlebars closer to me) are absolutely perfect – very very happy with these.

What we will have to perfect is getting off the bikes. We each have one roll bag in front of our top box making getting off a little tricky for these older riders!! Must be hilarious seeing us grabbing our ankle to pull our foot over!!

Photos will follow!!

Off to Padderborn next!

– Anne

About to leave Anthony's sister

About to leave Anthony’s sister

We're ready to go so one last photo 😊

We’re ready to go so one last photo 😊



On the train, ready to go through the Euro Tunnel.

On the train, ready to go through the Euro Tunnel.

Day 1 - taking a break on our way to Anthony's cousin in Belgium

Day 1 – taking a break on our way to Anthony’s cousin in Belgium

We are good to go!!!!

I have just received the all clear from the specialist and we are good to go!!! I am so relieved and grateful and can finally get excited about our trip. We leave tomorrow, 26th June, at 7am!!!

We have a busy afternoon ahead of us now with a number of final things to do, including and without forgetting to return the hire car. Anything we don’t get to do before tonight will simply have to be dealt with on the road now. At least there are no more show stoppers.

Thank you to all our blog followers, family and friends for your support, especially this past month.

Our next post will be sent on the road somewhere 😊

– Anne

By 2slowspeeds Posted in General

Anne’s family goodbyes

I was not looking forward to these last few days, knowing that I was about to say goodbye to my immediate family, until our return next year. I can’t even watch total strangers saying goodbye to each other without being emotional, so how were these last couple of days going to be?!

I was very grateful to everyone for being very brave and positive and helping me through this. Luckily we’d beeing saying many goodbyes over the last few months that we made this one just like any other. Next will be Anthony’s family goodbyes.

Right now we’re keeping fingers crossed that I will be given the all clear on Wednesday and we should be off Thursday morning at the crack of dawn… Stay tuned for an update then!!

– Anne

By 2slowspeeds Posted in General

Rest and relaxation prior to our departure

We have been making the most of the forced rest and relaxation period prior to our delayed departure. By the time we leave later this month hopefully, we will be fit and refreshed – tooth and abscess fixed, colds come and gone, the final show stoppers like the additional electrics on the bikes sorted with the added bonus of additional family visits. Keeping fingers crossed that Anne gets a clean bill of health from the specialist on the 25th – and we should be off on the 26th!!

We headed west, with no idea where we were going to go or stop for the night and discovered the gorgeous Cornish fishing village of Polperro. We found accommodation at the spotlessly clean Claremont Hotel. The weather has smiled on us too. We have loved the various cliff walks we have made from Polperro, and enjoyed the deliciously fresh seafood dinners. Walking along deserted country paths and discovering new tracks along the fabulously wild Conwall coast reminded us how much we love nature, and being alone in the elements. It was wonderful. And then after our walks, in the evenings, meeting some colourful locals in various pubs, chatting with them like long lost friends was the other side of travel which we love. In a way, it feels like we’ve started our trip – just not on the bikes yet…

– Anne

Polperro harbour

Polperro harbour


Cornwall coast walk

Cornwall coast walk

By 2slowspeeds Posted in General