Well, having chosen to go to Germany for a short trip with my friends Nige and Gardener, the perpetration for the trip began. First I had to take a good look at my Triumph tiger, it has been a good motorcycle which I have owned for 4 years, however I have been itching for a change for a few months now. Having read many articles on bikes of all kinds I was very drawn to the bwm gs. All changed when I realised I would be cloning myself to every other 40 odd year old and the cost, even on second hand bikes was astronomical ! In the end I went out of the box and plumed for the Honda Varadero xl1000, with abs. I was fortunate enough to be able to get a brand new machine from castle motorcycles, Bob and his team were great and I had to put 600 miles on the bike before we set off on 21st June, from Hull to Rotterdam, and fit in a service on the morning of departure. The bike so far is awesome with smooth power delivered from its v twin, smiles to the gallon