Day 33 - And Home Again

Sunday 29th July 2018

The final ride home is always a drag. It’s a long way from Dover to Doncaster, pretty much all motorway or dual carriageway and with the added bonus of the Queen Elizabeth Crossing to negotiate. 

As we wait to board our ferry we get chatting with a Swiss biker on a 1600 BMW with chair. The chair actually contains another chair for he is disabled and can only get around in a wheelchair. But he can manipulate it on and off the bike on his own and so is entirely independent.

He is on his way to visit Northern Ireland and will then continue on up the west coast of Scotland and the islands.  Fair play to you mate, ride free.

Waiting to board at Calais


We arrive early and have around an hour to wait on the quayside. Boarding is slick, with bikes on first. Since it is roll-on roll-off we will be first to disembark.
A team of deckhands descend on the half dozen bikes to board and in no time have completed a very professional tie-down. We have been on ferries in the Balkans and Turkey where there are either no security restraints at all or just a length of flimsy string is provided as a cosmetic nod to the safety of the bikes.
Professional tie down

It is a smooth crossing taking about an hour and a half. Passport and Customs checks are on the French side so we have no delays when we roll off into Dover harbour and quickly ride out of the docks and onto the motorway to London.
Steaming out of Calais

The weather is closing in and for the first time since Serbia three weeks ago we have to don the waterproof gear as the rain starts. There is a strong feeling of deja vu. Last year on our return we got a thorough soaking on the long ride north. Today it is not quite so bad but seems typical for England in the summer.
In fact friends at home have been telling us that the weather in Britain has been sweltering for weeks so perhaps we have brought this abrupt change with us.

Trip statistics



So that’s it for another year. According to TomTom we have completed 5,862 miles since setting out in late June. I guess a few hundred of those miles were on board various ferries but still it is a fair distance. There have been no mechanical issues for either of us. My K1200 has overheated on three occasions in very hot conditions while filtering through stalled traffic in cities and on motorways. I discover later that one of the two engine cooling fans has seized and will require replacement.
The K1200 needed one oil top up of about a third of a litre half way into the trip. Mick’s air cooled boxer engine has needed more; maybe two litres during the trip. I have replaced one worn out front tyre. Pretty damn bulletproof these old Beemers.

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