JX2 ADVENTURES

Europe here we are.  We flew into London on a 6.5 hour flight on 7/7.  We didn’t sleep much the night before and didn’t sleep much on the plane.  We arrive at 9 am, grabbed a quick bite in the airport and headed to cargo to get our bikes.  It was 73 pounds apiece and the bikes were released to us.  We rolled them to the edge of the parking lot and put them back together and loaded up.  Two  different pairs of cops came by to see what we were doing?  One said,”Well, you don’t see this scene very often.  Why don’t you just tell me what you are doing?”  I guess it looked like we were stealing a couple of bikes.  I pulled some papers out of my pocket to show one of the officers the address where we were headed and my knife flew out and landed right by the cop car.  He didn’t see it, so I ran over and stepped on it.  I’m not sure if carrying knives is “proper” in England.  So, we hopped on our bikes, not knowing where we were, nor where we were headed and took off. We stopped at a gas station and filled up, looked at a map, and drank big energy drinks.  There is no such thing as a couple page London map.  They are all books.  The roads look like spaghetti.  We managed to get on the M-25(loop) and head north just as rush hour started.   We stayed at my cousin’s flat, which I learned is what the English call a closet.  His place is pretty much downtown.  Let me just assure you that traffic doesn’t get lighter downtown.  So, there we are flying around town on 5 hours sleep in 3 days, hopped up on Monster energy drinks, driving on the left side of the road.  Also, there are no rules, apparently, for motorcycles.  They just drive where ever they want.  As we neared the flat, the roads got narrower and buses and trucks occasionally take up the whole road.  You just have to find a way around them.  I just kept telling myself,” drive on the left, drive on the left”.  It’s especially hairy headed around the roundabouts, to the left; and also making right turns.  We made it the flat and got parking tickets while unloading our bikes.  We then slept for about 17 hours.  The next two days we spent walking around, seeing the sights.  We walked to Buckingham Palace, Parliament, Big Ben, and the London Bridge.  IT was a whirlwind tour and we probably walked about 12 miles.  We are still a little sore.  I must say I was a little surprise by London.  I am not a big fan.  There are lots of fascinating sights and things to do, but it is huge and immensely crowded.  We have also had some problems understanding some of the Brits.  Joe asked a guy what we should see, and he spit out about 40 words, only about 5 of which we understand.  Actually, Joe only understood one, Oxford. I just tell them, "ello Govenor, pip pip Cheerio!"  they like that!  The people are not overly friendly, especially after our experience with the Canadians.  Maybe it’s just a typical big city, where people are busy and rushing around.  In any case, I’ve seen it and have no desire to go back.

 

Yesterday, we headed south and took a ferry from Dover to France.  A fog rolled in at the last minute and we couldn’t see anything in the English Channel.  Ferrying the bikes was pretty cool.  They have straps were you tie them to anchors on the floor.  We met a very nice German couple  who had been touring Scotland on their bikes and they invited us to visit them in Germany.  We also met some motorcyclists from Denmark and they invited us to come see them and their motorcycle club.  Sounds cool to me.   We were late getting to the bikes to load our stuff back on and everyone was starting their engines.  There are buses and tractor-trailers all ready to get off.  Fumes and racing engines everywhere.  I was scurrying around trying to get ready.  I had a camera around my neck, guitar half strapped to the bike, when the gates opened.  So, I had to push my bike off the center stand (no easy task when it is loaded down), but the stand kept sliding on the slick, painted concrete.  I had to rock it and push it so hard that by the time it came off, it was moving pretty quick.  I tripped on one of the floor anchors and the bike tilted away from me.  Well, needless to say, when one of these tall, loaded bikes starts leaning too far, especially away from you, there is only one result.  Yep, there it went.   I hung on as long as possible to blunt the fall, but it ended up laying down.   I think it was just tired from the ride.  Anyway, 3 or 4 people rushed up to help me right the beast.  Joe then almost dropped his in the same way.  It was fun, and I’m sure instilled confidence in the other riders.  These two guys are riding around the world??!!  They can’t even ride off the ferry!   All I can say is at least we weren’t riding a fairy.

 

So, we are now in France.  We headed down the coast and rode through the walls of a “castle”, or a city within walls at Boulogne (sp?).  Every thing was full so we headed down the beach where all the hotels were also full.  We ended up at a little campground behind someone’s house.  Think tents in a field behind a house.  They had showers the size of small closets and bathrooms.  Interesting thing about bathrooms is they are unisex are little rooms; the same size as the showers.  They only contain either a toilet or a sink.  The toilets have no seat or lid and there is no toilet paper.  So, as I brushing my teeth, these women are walking up with a wad of toilet paper in their hand.  I don’t know where they sat. 

 

So far in the little towns, no one speaks English.  I know zero French and Joe is worse than me.  It is funny listening to him try to speak.  I just watch.  We point a lot and people laugh at us and occasionally take pictures.  I’m all like, “so, what’s up French people and stuff?”Everyone has been exceptionally nice though.   Who would have thought that the French would be nicer to us than the English.

 

We are off to find castles and head to Spain to meet Brad, who flies in tomorrow.  We are actually in McDonalds right now using the internet.  We will hopefully have pictures soon.

 

Until then,

Au revoir

Jim