Road trips

Mañana mañana

The ride from Santander to Madrid was fairly uneventfull despite the cold temperatures and the rain. Who knew Spain could be as bad as the uk? That being said, the landscape and the Spanish road signs gave us a sense of being well and truly on our adventure. After 400km, just after entering Madrid through its northern doors, Louise’s bike wouldn’t start anymore. I guess the Roxter heated grips which had already given us trouble in the past were the culprit. The battery was totally dead. We tried push starting the bike, jump starting it too but to no avail. All of a sudden a police car arrived and out of it came the two most friendly police officers I have ever come across. They helped up push the bike to a safe parking place. One of them told me that his friend was on a bike trip around the world and gave me his website www.sinewan.com .

We locked the bike and put Louise and her luggage in a taxi , direction Laura’s. I followed with my bike until, 200m away from our destination I my bike refused to engage into gear! How is this possible? Both bikes broken down a couple of km apart! After all the preparation and the planning we couldn’t have planned this…

In our misfortune we were actually lucky. The bikes had carried us reliably to our destination before giving in. From here it was easy for us to find a mechanic that took them both in for some TLC. We’re just glad it didn’t happen in the middle of nowhere. Twice in one day. We also met great people who went out of their ways to help us. It was their way to contribute to the success of our adventure.

We found a local mechanic (hugo bikes) whose employees did all they could to sort us out quickly and efficiently. We did come across some “mañana mañana” but to be fair, after our friends William and Laura called them a few times to check they delivered on their promise. Big thanks to the mechanics who made it happen! Muchas Gracias a los mecanicos de Hugo Bikes!

So here’s the damages; we’re delayed 24 hours. But who could complain that we “had” to stay a little longer in this great city in the company of our good friends!?

Tomorrow we head down south and will stay in Granada with a view to cross into Morocco on Monday.

And we’re off!

We made it to the ferry to Spain! We were up bright and early with little sleep due to the excitement. As luck goes we had an electrical problem in the bathroom last night…but why bother right?

We were lucky to avoid the rain that was predicted for today. But it seems it’ll catch up with us in Madrid.

Had a little smile this morning as we were on our way out of London and we crossed lots of big BMW GS bikes on their way to the office…

D -3

With 3 days to go I can report that we are 95% ready to go! We’ve had a rehearsal of packing and it all fits in our four 36 litres panniers. Personally I wish they weighed a little less; each of my panniers weighs in at 8kg. To be fair, I am quite proud that all my possessions fit into one pannier. The other has a tent in it! So not bad.

Weather forecast for the next few days isn’t great. Can you believe that the prediction for Madrid the day we’ll get there is 15C with rain!? Is that even legal in Spain?

London to Banjul 2012

Here we are, the talented Miss Wilson produced a map of the route we will be taking. The main milestones along the 3000 mile journey will be as follows:

– London
– Portsmouth
– Santander
– Madrid
– Algeciras
– Tanger Med.
– Imilchil
– Laayoune
– Dakhla
– Nouakchott
– Saint Louis
– Dakar
– Banjul

D Day -10

With 10 days left before we head out South it was time to have our bikes checked over one last time by a professional. Although we trust our bikes it makes sense to have full confidence in them. We do like to get our hands dirty, as a matter of fact we serviced the bikes a few weeks back but we’re not qualified enough to check valve clearances…

So off we were, bright and early to bring the bikes to our local mechanic, Chas Bikes in Kennington. Chas runs his bike garage with a philosophy we really appreciate. He will always make sure his mechanics don’t do unnecessary work but will also give good, balanced advice on what needs to be done. He’s also keen to help and has shown a lot of interest in our trip. This morning Louise got him chatting a bit and it turns out he’s had his share of adventures himself; he was born in Africa and lived there for many years, working at some point as a ranger in Idi Amin’s Uganda. He also drove a car all the way to Beijing!

Louise shared her family’s history in Uganda and promised to bring back pictures of elephants in Murchison Falls, where Chas had worked on an elephant conservation project 30 years ago.

As we arrived at the garage though my bike died on me… same as last night in pouring rain. The problem is a short-circuit which made the fuse blow, not a big deal but it needs to be sorted out. I suspect it has something to do with the amateur wiring I’ve done to link the auxiliary power point… mea culpa.

Horizons Unlimited Ripley 2012

Anyone who dreams of faraway travels on a motorcycle will be familiar with Horizons Unlimited; the website set up by Susan and Grant Johnson for adventure bikers to share their stories. It is a real goldmine; from tips on how to pack light to intelligence about border crossings, everything you need to know is recorded there somewhere. I find that I visit the site at least once a day and I wonder how many hours of labour were “wasted” on it by office-bound professionals like me…

But once a year what you read on your computer screen becomes reality for a weekend when travellers meet in Ripley to inspire each other and make new friends. The 2012 edition was the first Louise and I participated in and we excitedly packed our panniers on the Thursday night in view of a “nice” ride to Ripley along the scenic M1. We were wound up because, in addition to the good times ahead, this would be our first day’s ride on our new motorcycles with most of the kit we will be taking to West Africa. A good opportunity to find out what works and what can be improved (see below).

Our ride up was accompanied by an unusual appearance of the sun; you know, that big ball of fire we last saw in April…yes that… until we entered the village of Ripley where we felt the first drops of what would become a very wet weekend. We were greeted by the very welcoming team of volunteers and quickly made our way to the campsite to pitch our tent before the downpour and then headed to our first seminar. The programme for the weekend was excellent; the only regret was that there were so many sessions we wanted to attend but so little time to do them all. We did make the most of those we went to and I particularly enjoyed Dave Lomax’s session “Overweight is Under Prepared”. It is unbelievable how light Dave travels; the sum of his possessions (clothing, medical kit, toolkit, tent, etc etc) all fit into a Giant Loop bag which he throws on the back of his Suzuki DRZ…that’s probably the size of only one of my panniers! Dave takes things to the extreme (he’s the first to admit it), going as far as drilling holes into his toothbrush to save weight. But he is a great source of inspiration for all of us. I have to admit that I now make it a personal challenge to travel as light as possible. We all love gadgets and that’s usually the reason why we overload our bikes, but travelling light and a love for gadgets are not incompatible. I would argue the contrary actually; adding the “lightweight” factor in our search for cool farkles makes it more interesting to find a solution that is both lightweight and multipurpose.

In preparation to the time we will spend in Morocco we attended Tim Cullis’ session. We are lucky enough to know Tim personally and he’s already given us his time to help us prepare our trip but his session was extremely interesting. Tim is a reference when it comes to riding in Morocco and I would suggest that anyone who likes adventure travel should read his website Morocco Knowledgebase. Morocco is unbelievably beautiful and welcoming and it also happens to be relatively close to the UK, so it is a big favourite. I have travelled through Morocco for 10 days in a Land Cruiser a few years ago but Tim’s presentation of all the different regions supported by pictures and videos proved there is so much more to see.

Ripley 2012 was a great opportunity to meet old friends and make new ones. We caught up with Alex Jackson from Kaapstad Motorcyle Adventure tours. We first met Alex at the Adventure Travel Film Festival last year and within minutes we were looking at a map of South Africa and taking notes of all the routes to ride, places to stay at and t people to meet. There’s no doubt that our trip was made unforgettable thanks to his knowledge. Alex told us fascinating stories of his last trip including him spotting tracks of an elusive small wild cat on the Prince Albert Pass. Alex is a ranger and is training to get his field guide qualification (bushcraft) soon so that he can take his clients to the bush for some wildlife spotting after having guided them on the best motorcycle roads in the country. Talk about a complete package! We also met a great Dutch couple, Els and Merijn, who have travelled on two bikes through Africa and Asia. They had really entertaining stories to tell and were very inventive; they had a built their aluminium panniers themselves using “old” traffic signs and did a great job too; but they had a few insights to share, the best being that they had to dull their panniers because they were much too reflective! Els’ Transalp is something to be seen; she had it decorated by artists in Pakistan who covered it in a mosaic of tiny stickers to make it look like the decorated trucks of that country. We also had the pleasure to talk with the legendary Sam Manicom whose books I highly recommend and the incredibly funny Ed March who rides the world on his C90 and has the time of his life. Ed told a funny story of being handed an orange from a truck while riding in Iran, he explained how difficult it is to do but after seeing him riding while playing a synthesizer (!?) I’m confident he was up for the job!

We had a great time in Ripley and the 2 months worth of rain that fell on us did nothing to dampen our spirits. We are looking forward to next year and feel even more eager to depart on our trip to Banjul. Thanks need to be given to the Horizons Unlimited community which we are very happy to be part of. See you on the road!

Things I learnt during the weekend:

– My bike handled terribly on the way up and I quickly realised that, unlike my Nomad 1600, the F650 is sensitive to how you load it. I rearranged my cases, putting the heavy gear at the front of the panniers so as to be close to the middle of the bike and that improved things. I also realised that I had to do something about the suspension, it was set very high (9cm taller in the back than Louise’s bike). So I dropped it by 4 centimetres and it handles much better.

– Carry a mini bicycle pump. Dave Lomax’s tip; they’re small and light and if they can pump 100psi into your bicycle tyre, they can handle the 40psi of your motorcycle. Mine fits nicely under my seat.

– A tea towel will do. Another tip from Dave; no need to carry a bulky towel to dry yourself; tea towels fold to nothing and will do the trick (to be confirmed).

– A two-man tent is a bit small for two adults. My head and feet touched the canvas and I found it difficult to get in or out. I bought a Vango Sigma 300+ three man tent with two doors and patios, it folds down to only a little more than the 2 man tent. It does weigh a little more but I’ll compensate that by drilling holes in Louise’s toothbrush…

– It pays dividend to get a quality sleeping bag and a silk liner. Mine is a Blacks Ledge 400 and I’m very happy with it. It folds down very small and kept me (too) warm when the outside temperature was about 8 Celsius.

A video insight of the weekend edited by Louise and me:

Africa or bust!

Today we booked our one way ferry crossing from Portsmouth to Santander! Departure date 31 October; destination: Banjul, the Gambia!

It feels like a milestone in the preparation for our 5 weeks trip down to the Gambia through Spain, Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania and Senegal. Committing to a departure date really brings home the reality of it all. However, it’s not our first step. In the last couple of months we’ve been budgeting for the trip, we met with expert Morocco adventure biker Tim Cullis for tips, sold our beloved chrome-laden bikes and bought two dual sports.

It was a sad day when my Nomad 1600 was picked up by a lucky eBayer; Chris showed up with his brother in law and quite frankly, the happiness and enthusiasm that radiated through his smile when he saw his new acquisition made my heartbreak much more bearable. The Nomad was going to a good home. Same for the W650; it sold in a matter of hours and it went to a great home too. Mark and his dad, a retired lorry engineer, picked it up during the Jubilee weekend and from our discussions I knew the bike would be well cared for.

So that left us bike-less. Or should I say we were now on the market for new toys. As I explained in the previous post we were looking for two F650 Funduros. From my research I knew that it was a very competent bike which should be ideal for the trip we had planned. It is also a model that can be snatched up quite cheap second-hand if you shop around cleverly. My requirements, to avoid any nasty surprise, was that the bikes should have no more than 25k miles on them, have a full service history and preferably recent tyres.

Our new mounts

Our first acquisition was my bike. I found a nice silver F650 from 2000 with full service history, new bearings, recent tyres and only 20K on the clock. It also had a new Hagon rear shock and was located about 3 miles away from home. The second was a red, 1996 model with full service history, Givi high screen, lower suspension, 26k miles and brand new Metzeler Tourance tyres. Having shopped cleverly (read “stealth ebay bidding”) we managed to get both bikes for roughly the price we sold the W650 for. Not a bad deal.

First impressions

The only problem with Louise’s bike (other than having “PEE” in its registration) was that is was situated in the Peak District, some 170 miles from home. That didn’t discourage us though, the effort required to pick it up would be offset by the reassuring knowledge that we had bought a good bike. The trek back to London was indeed a real effort though. We rode 2 up for about 5 hours, most of it on the boring M1, with showers and a very strong side wind; Horrible riding conditions but it gave us the opportunity to get some good first impressions of the bike.

First off, the F650 is not comfortable for pillions. Not at all. It was no surprise that I was cramped with my long legs but Louise, who has spent quite a few miles on the back seat of bikes (albeit big cruisers), was quickly in pain, her knees seized and she suffered cramps in her legs and a stiff back.

On the other hand, the rider’s position is great! The “sit-up-and-pray” type of position, with the wide handlebars makes for a very natural and comfortable set up. We also noticed that the bike, despite its diminutive 48bhp, is great on highways. First of all the riding position gives the rider a lot of control and great field of vision; the bike is very stable at 70mph and the engine loves being in the 3500-4000rpm range, where it is at 70mph in 5th gear. I was also impressed by the lack of vibrations at highway speeds; I didn’t expect such comfort from a 650cc single cylinder.

Another thing I noticed was how much more stable Louise’s bike was compared to mine; it was so much more composed in corners and in the rain that I thought maybe there was something wrong with mine. I quickly pinned it down to the difference in tyres. My bike was equipped with Bridgestone Trail-Wings which some have coined the “Death-Wings”, while Louise had the much acclaimed Metzeler Tourance tyres. Wow, what a difference! So much so that I quickly ditched my Death-Wings and replaced them with Tourances.

So far we are both very happy to have chosen the F650 Funduro. We still have to take them on long distance trips but our first impressions are really good. We have managed to find a bike that is comfortable for both of us, is well built and promises to be more than adequate on gravel roads in addition to being a good solo touring machine.

Bits, Bobs and Gadgets

Naturally we couldn’t keep the bikes as they were. We had to add some bits necessary for a long touring trip but also some gadgets to make the bikes more practical.

The first additions were panniers. There are endless discussions on the web about the best type of panniers for an overland trip. Basically the discussion revolves around the following questions; which is the most robust in case of a crash and which is the safest against theft? The options are aluminium, plastic or soft textile panniers. We decided to go for second hand Givi Monokey plastic ones. The reasons behind our choice were that we didn’t want to spend more than £1000 per set on aluminium panniers and we felt that textiles panniers might be too vulnerable to the occasional thief walking around with a pair of scissors in his hands. We chose to go with Givi plastic panniers because they have a proven reputation for toughness and longevity and in case they cracked in a fall we could always repair them with some gaffer tape or super glue. The price with mounting hardware was also about 8 times cheaper than aluminium panniers so the decision was pretty simple. Time will tell if it was a good decision but I am pretty confident that they will be more than adequate for the mild off-roading we will do on this trip.

Second were heated grips for Louise. My bike came with factory installed heated grips which I am very happy about. It’s my first bike with them and I will definitely have them on all my future bikes. As I explained in a previous post, heated grips are a godsend in cold weather. The heat keeps your hands cold and radiate through your arms… I even suspect that if you have good blood circulation the heat can reach all the way up to your shoulders and prevent them from seizing. We bought the same Roxter heated grips which we had installed on the W650. They are a bit longer than the stock grips which means that I’ll have to do a bit of DIY in order to fit the bar end weights back on.

Any serious touring bike must have some gadgets on it. One that I am particularly fond of, eventhough I hardly every use, is a power supply. I’ve installed a fused all-weather USB plug on my bike. The USB is actually a very versatile plug as it seems that all our electronic devices (intercom, camera, iPhone etc) can be charged with a USB cable. On Louise’s bike I installed a 12V waterproof cigarette lighter power socket. With this we’ll be able run any device which can be plugged into a car’s power socket. I’m thinking in particular of a 12V tyre inflator pump which will come handy to keep the right pressure in our tyres but also when we have a puncture.

We are taking the bike to the Horizons Unlimited meeting in Ripley next week and that will give us a good first run with the bike laden with our camping equipment. We’ll also have 3 days to meet as many adventure riders as possible and get all the tips and recommendations we can hope for for our trip.

Just another day-ride in California, 31 Dec. 2011

2011 having been a good second year of motorcycle touring, seeing us on two wheels in Spain, France, Yorkshire, Devon, Belgium and South Africa, we thought we ought to see it off in a fitting way.

During our 2010 tour of California we had met up with our friend’s dad Walt, ex-motorcross enthousiast who, after some years off the saddle was contemplating going back to motorcycling. Walt had been thinking of buying a touring bike and I think that seeing us on the Harley Electra Glide we had nicknamed Eileen contributed to him taking the jump. In the 18 months since we had last seen him Walt had become a serious tourer, undertaking solo long distance trips from L.A. to Montana on his VTX 1300. Walt also knew all the great riding spots in the area north of the city of angels.

Louise and I were in California for a few days at the end of the year and of course motorcycles would have to be involved… we found what we were looking for at Eagle Rider in Hawthorne. Louise now had her license so we were looking forward to riding on two bikes. I booked myself a silver Electra Glide and Louise a black Honda Shadow for a ride Walt had kindly suggested to organize on 31 December. We were very excited about the prospect of spending the last day of the year on bikes under the glorious So Cal sun. Back home our compatriots were most probably thinking about the insoluble logistical problem of every 31^st December; party shoes and sleet.

8am saw Louise and I fully suited and booted in our friend’s apartment in Santa Monica. We had opened the window to hear the rumbling of the “Walt and Cindy Gang” who were picking us up for the day’s ride. After a quick introduction to Steve and Miriam who were joining us on a superb Street Glide we saddled up only to discover that Louise’s Shadow wouldn’t start… Bummer! We tried everything but to no avail. I felt really bad for her, I don’t know how I would have reacted in her situation; she’d only had her license for 6 months and was now already going to ride on her own bike in beautiful California… but the Honda had other plans. Anyway, she jumped on the back of the Electra Glide and we were off.

Walt had planned a 150 miles day trip taking in all the splendor of the region. Our first stop was Paradise Cove, Malibu, where we had a full breakfast at the Beach Café (passengers also had bloody marys…). The road between Santa Monica and Malibu along the Pacific Coast Highway had been a mixture of fog and great views of the ocean. At our first destination, as we parked the bikes the sun decided to finally impose itself and the temperature rose. We filled up on food and coffee, took a little walk on the beach for some pictures then headed into the mountains towards Mulholland Highway.

The road climbed steeply through the valleys, giving us fantastic views of the Pacific Ocean in the rearview mirrors. We found ourselves on some pretty technical roads and I soon realized that I was man-handling a 400Kg bike with two adults on the infamous “Snake”! Those of you who spend some time watching bike videos on Youtube will be familiar with this road. It’s famous with sports bike riders who try to beat their fastest lap but often “lowside” their bikes and end up with a mouthful of gravel. We parked the bikes and took in the views of the valley and witnessed one such incident. The guy was fine thanks to good protection but it was quite spectacular.

Next we looped back west through the canyons until we reached the PCH again. We headed toward Carpinteria, passing through Oxnard. The long road gave us the opportunity to ride side by side and take some good pictures of Walt and Cindy and enjoy the vastness of this state while blasting road-trip-appropriate music through the Harley’s sound system. Pure bliss. Before turning inland before Oxnard we followed the magnificent coastline for miles upon miles, past hundreds of parked RVs. Another symbol of freedom and wanderlust, the American Recreational Vehicle is quite a sight for us Europeans. Without exaggerating too much I’d say that half of the RV’s we saw had the same square footage as our apartment in London! One day I would really like to rent one for a few weeks, although I dread to think about the fuel consumption of those behemoths.

After Ventura we headed back into the hills direction Ojai where we were meeting up with another couple; Mark and Vivian who were joining us on their nicely personalized Heritage Classic. We stopped at the Deer Lodge, a popular spot for local bikers and had a well deserved lunch of barbecued burgers and ribs. This bikers’ pit stop is really friendly and to us Europeans looks like the real deal. Lots of bikes in the front, barbecue smoke, guys with tattoos, girls wearing, lets say, inappropriate riding clothing and a very laid-back atmosphere. I spoke to a guy who had dropped his Goldwing but couldn’t afford the exorbitant price for the replacement of his front fairing. He found the solution to his problem in what must have been about 3 rolls of gaffer tape.

By now it was mid afternoon and we had some miles ahead of us to get back to Santa Monica. We rode through Santa Paula on the E Telegraph Road, losing Steve, Miriam, Mark and Vivian as we made our way to Stevenson Ranch where Walt and Cindy live. We made our goodbyes, thanked them for a memorable ride, promised each other we’d ride together again and made our way back to Santa Monica through the huge L.A. freeway system.

I couldn’t think of a better way to spend the last day of the year and was unsurprisingly envious of Californians who have such an amazing playground at their doorstep.

Canyon carving on a Ducati 750 Monster

There is definitely something to be said about sports bikes…! I’ve never been a fan of them, I guess it’s because they are scary, usually painted in fluorescent colours and look terribly uncomfortable. This does not mean that I would say no to a ride on a pocket rocket (or whatever they call them).

This is exactly what happened. I didn't say no to our friend Scott's offer to take his Ducati 750 Monster for a spin along the northern shores of San Francisco. To be fair, I have always liked the looks and sound of the Monster; aggressive look yet very minimal, with it's exposed frame, and a fantastic throaty Vtwin engine noise that should be trademarked! (the Ducati 90 degree engine makes the best noise in my opinion).

First impression when I lifted the cover was that this bike is made with cheap fittings (look at the console; The 80s called and want it back!) and mid-range finish. It also looked like it was going to be an uncomfortable ride, with that small saddle and a position that put my knees right up by my chin. However, as soon as I fired the engine up all this was put aside. The double Remus exhaust Scott had fitted on his bike brought it to life with an epic sound of thunder that the gentrified neighbourhood of Mill Valley might not have appreciated. But I did!

Leg over the saddle, revs up, first gear engaged and here we go. On the road the Monster lets me know instantly that this is no cruiser. Anything under 3000rpm or below 25mph necessitates clutch action in order to keep the engine ticking. My habit of cruising along lazily at near idle will not work with this bike. Instead what the Ducati wants is to be revved; give it some go and it will reward you with incredible torque fast acceleration and precise handling. This bike really comes to life when pushed hard. Hardcore. Exactly the kind of qualities you're looking for when carving through the amazing CA 1, also known as the Shoreline Highway. Past Muir beach, Reyes Point Station was the best road possible for this bike.

I spent 100 miles on this superb bike and loved nearly every minute of it. It's such a fun toy to have and blasting through the Golden Gate bridge on this Italian naked bike is quite memorable. I would definitely add one to my dream garage if I lived somewhere where I could put it to good use.

In the meantime, I'll be nursing my knees and wrists…this bike certainly gives you loads but you have to suffer to get it.

48h moules-frites run

After a short, agitated night sleep the alarm clock rang at 6am. We were up in a matter of minutes, excited about the weekend ahead. None of that drifting in and out of sleep, eyelids glued together behaviour that usually characterizes Monday to Fridays…The panniers liners were packed and ready in the hallway and the biking gear neatly laid out in the guest room. 30 minutes later we were on our bikes and ready to hit the road.

The plan was simple. Blast out of London, enter “Chirac’s 200mph a*s*h*le” at Folkestone and from Calais enjoy a nice ride on small coastal roads to our place on the Belgian seaside. The Sunday would see us ride to Bruges, be tourists for an afternoon and head back to London. Getting out of London was uneventful, if only very quiet and therefore less painful than usual. It is when we hit the M20 that the ride became splendid. Although we were on a boring motorway, we were surrounded by beautiful countryside covered in low fog and heading straight towards a fluorescent orange sunrise. Beautiful; we were in the “zone”.

We had covered about 40 miles and had another 20 to go when the W650 broke down… at 70mph on the middle lane of the M20… ouch! We managed to pull over and quickly discovered that the tank was empty. Pff! Well done us! Everything had been carefully planned except for fuel. I will digress here and complain about the W650 (blame the bike not the rider); I love the whole retro look Kawasaki was going for and they did a great job, but no fuel gauge? Really?? Not even a low fuel warning light?? To be fair, you’d have thought that after 4 such occasions in 6 months of ownership we would be more careful but nope, not wired this way… Anyway, we decided to adopt a positive attitude and walked about a mile back to a petrol station where we filled a jerry can. The whole operation only delayed us by about 30 minutes and we managed to get on the following train. The shuttle is very good like that with bikes, you just show up when you want, regardless of your reservation and they’ll put you on the next available train.

We got out on the other side of the channel to find the kind of fog Europeans always associate with London. The visibility could not have been more than 500 meters. We rode on b-roads from Calais to Dunkirk. This part of France is very….French. It’s amazing how a narrow stretch of water can make such a difference. 30 minutes away from Folkestone we were now riding through quaint French villages with people queuing in front of the local “boucherie”, older gentlemen with berets and Peugeots with those yellow front lights from the 80s.

In Dunkirk we made a little detour to ride a road I had spotted on Google Maps; the Route de la Digue du Braek, essentially a narrow road on an artificial sandbank about 2 miles long. On one side was the Channel, on the other the port of Dunkirk. In the middle sand patches. This is a very unusual and beautiful road and I would recommend it to anyone who rides in the area. We arrived in time for lunch in Oostduinkerke where we parked the bikes in the underground garage. We met up with Lucie and Karim, friends from Brussels who came up to spend some time with us and went for a long, foggy walk on the beach. We had a great time catching up and filling up on Belgian beers and moules-frites.

Sunday morning was radiant. The sun was finally out and the views of the sea were fantastic. We rode the 25 miles to Bruges following canals and carving through the infamous fields of Flanders. Bruges was the way I remembered it; incredibly pretty and full of chocolate. We played tourists for the afternoon and then headed back to London. This time we took the E40 highway to Calais because we were short on time and it was getting dark anyway. This time though, we were riding into a beautiful fluorescent orange sunset; a fitting end to our 48 hour weekend trip to Belgium.

Two Wheel Exploring