Ok! So here we go, you'll have to excuse some of the typing this dqmned french keyboard is all arse about face when it comes to the letters.........whatever happened to QWERTY!

Anyway the story so far........... we've bloody left !!!!!

Yes it was about time too, tqlked qbout it long enough, planned, kitted, moaned etc etc etc

Oh! And board everyone to death with it!

First though I've got to thank a few people, who without them i probably wouldn't be in this mess in the first place..........cheers, you really know who your friends are

So big thank-you to Johan who first inspired me to live the dream and to make me realise it was possible. Then to Noel, who has always been a good friend, valuable source of information, and put up with my daft e-mails - we will meet again ! And to family for putting up with this mad scheme of mine, especially mum, whose not going to get her next adventure for a while - left her at home planning our trip to Tibet.

So the first day we arrived on the Caen ferry, grabbed some breakfast of fresh espresso and fresh croissant, of course, after all it is france none of that english dried out crap. Then we headed out along the normandy beaches where Ed's bike cut out, rear wheel locked, bit of smoke and a grass verge later, it came to a complete stop ! Don't know what happened but it was re-started, have to say he kept upright very well with very nice skid mark to show for it.............

We then dropped down into St Lo, then onto Le Mont St Michel before finally heading towards Dinard where we found a lovely garage to house the bikes for the night whilst the owners located a decent bar that served guinness !

Don't ask about the mileage because i haven't got a clue,it was all about aclimatising ourselves to the loaded bikes as well as each other. Ed is still new to his steed so there was the odd comical moment...........but the weather was perfect !!!

So after a relatively good nights sleep we've woken to rain, this is a good time to test more kit out to make sure everything does its job before really heading south and putting in some miles! At present Ed is repacking in a bid to send kit home...........yes already, the bike is overloaded!!

So to infinity and beyond..............well thats what it feels like at the moment !!!