48, Trips, residency and speeding tickets!

I have been very busy sorting out the bike and all the associated bits and bobs that go along with such an epic adventure that I haven't had that much time for much else, I have had two more implants drilled and banged into my lower jaw the stitches from which come out later today. Not long now and they can screw my new teeth in. When we left the UK we paid for a 6 month re-direction of mail, the re-direction went to my Brothers home in deepest darkest Somerset and every few weeks he parcels up all the mail and sends it to me. In the last lot of mail I was surprised if not shocked and at the time very angry to find this........

... a Spanish speeding ticket, an offence that was committed by our old Citroen back in April along with a 100 Euro fine. 87 kmh in an 80 zone grrrrrr. Obviously the Citroen was registered in the UK so the ticket went back tot he UK. After I calmed down I realised that there was something wrong with the dates, the offence happened on the 4th April I sold the Citroen as scrap on the 13th March DVLC are just slow at updating their records but on top of this the car has been re-taxed and MOT's and put back on the road, Anyway a long letter was sent to the Spanish version of DVLC to explain, that was two weeks back and I still haven't heard anything more until my brother phones me and tells me I have had another reminder about the offence, grrrrrrrr.

We were very disappointed not to be able to sort out our residency last month but this was we have found out mainly due to the power mad little shit at the police office overstepping his authority and not sticking tot he letter of the law we now have a Jestor helping us (hestor) so maybe within the next couple of moths we will have our much sought after residency in place then we can get our driving licences sorted out as well.

In the meant time our local village swimming pool is now open Lorni will go and get us a family membership sometime this week as it is getting hotter and hotter the temperature here is already in the mid 30's and we are already using the air con.

 The little park just outside the house where we take the dogs looks really pretty at the moment

 The  entrance to the spots centre. scooter city

I have spent a lot of time to get my bike the way I want it the last little thing I wanted to do proved to be the hardest and that is wiring up another set of lights, there is no more room under the side panel where the battery is located and I don't really want to rip into the wiring loom so instead I have just spliced them into the other set of lights that I put on earlier so now I just have to  remember to turn the switch off as it is independent to the other lights or I will end up with a very flat battery.

The bike is now ready all I have to do is pack it up before I leave the routes are all worked out and set into the sat nav and I have all the documents and other legal stuff that I need to take with me, I think I can relax a little now and get on with more mundane things like decorating.

47. England trip in planning

It has been a very busy week and slightly worrying as we had to take our Willow to the vets so she can be spayed bless her, after what happened to our gentle giant Phil we were anxious to say the least, Lorni walked her to the vets Friday morning and we spent the rest of the day in Limbo. Thankfully everything went ok and we picked her up later that day, a bit wobbly and tired but she was fine. harry made sure she was looked after and wouldn't leave her side for the next 24 hours.

Today, Sunday, I will be taking Willow for a full walk as she seems to be back to her normal self already. We are going to have a rather warm day here today with temperatures hitting the 30 degree range so apart from walking the dogs not a lot else will be done as it will be far too hot to do any decorating.

Over the last few months I have been sorting out my motorbike ready for a long trip, I have fitted a taller screen crash bars and wired up some auxiliary lights, I love motorcycling and age is not a barrier, I have done a few local trips out on her and yes it is so different from my other bikes..Harleys and Gold Wings etc but different is good. The problem with all those bikes is fuel consumption the best I have ever got out of all them was around 43mpg from my newest Harley which even though she was nearly 1700cc is not good really. it gave me around a 200 mile range from the 5 gallon tank having done a bit of riding around Europe I really wanted a 300 mile range to save having to carry around a fuel can in the panniers.

Tina my Yamaha XT1200 Super Tenere

Not only is "Tina" more comfortable as she is taller but with a still tight engine, only done 1600 miles she is already returning 5.2 litres per 100km which when put into real money converts to 54mpg..not bad so with a 5 gallon tank I am already hitting 270 miles per tankful of fuel...not bad at all. As I have already said I have been on a few rides I've ridden down to Benidorm a couple of times and I have been the other side of Murcia to see an old friend of mine and I have been out and about a few times with another friend of mine, American Eric who rides an older BMW GS1200 we have been out in the mountains and been to a motorcycle museum in Alicante.

I love adventures so one of the reasons I bought this bike was to seek out new civilisations to boldly go...hmm nope lets not get carried away here. I  love riding around Europe and I have very intention of exploring on this machine and I wanted something that I could ride back and forth to the UK on which brings me to the point of this issue, I am going to be riding back to the UK in July so time to sort out things like routes and crossings and overnight accommodation. In the last few days I have been looking at routes the biggest problem I have is France I just hate the thought of having to pay tolls and lets face it motorways are boring but having said that I have to be aware of fuel stops as well. So a bit of a balancing act going on here, then I remembered my trip two years ago on my old XJ900 I managed to find the route saved on my back up drive so with a small addition I have now got a route to just north of Limoge.

This route is a real "Iron Butt" challenge as I have to complete nearly 680 miles in one go from my house here in Palma de Gandia to "Belonga Mick" a Chambre d'Hotel run by an old friend of Mine Mick Whitaker and his wife July amazing to see what he has done to this once dilapidated Farm house, it is set in one of the most beautiful parts of France so I get to meet up with a friend and have a bed for the night with breakfast at a reasonable cost.

Click on the logo to go to Belonga Mick

Also I have booked my crossing I will be travelling to the UK via the Channel tunnel and the return leg will be via the Newahven Dieppe ferry route I do try to return a different way than I went to make life a bit more interesting. Having said that I will be staying at Belonga Mick on the way back for two nights so that Mick can show me around the local area for a day. II haven't settled on a return route yet I may just hit the motorways and pay the tolls so I can get home at a reasonable hour but that is something I can ponder on while walking the dogs this morning?