So another bike trip is about to begin. I am in the Holiday Inn Express at Folkestone in Kent, England about to set off around Europe on a trip known as Mountains All the Way. Reputedly this is one of the “Must do Bikers Trips” in Europe. Ten days of intensive riding through France, Switzerland, Northern Italy, Southern Germany and back through France to the UK.

As the name implies we are in the Alps for most of the time and it promises to be interesting and challenging. The weather forecast for day three around Celerina near St. Moritz is a low of 1C with snow. Winter is on the way. Celerina will be interesting as it was the scene of my first skiing holiday with my parents and sister in about 1967 and then my first trip with DB.

Hopefully my blogging efforts will be better than my Norway trip with no DB and no one to talk to after the lights go out. On the flip side I have the Second Mrs. F with me in the form of my great mate, Harold Bloch. So today I have shepherded him from Guildford in Surrey to Folkestone as he has never ridden in the UK and it is very different to riding from Franschhoek to Yzerfontein on a Sunday morning. The volume of traffic, the overall speed with which drivers fill any gap in the road and the narrow roads would leave a Gugguletu taxi driver gasping for breath, at least for a while!

So we rode through Surrey, East and West Sussex and Kent today. Breathtakingly beautiful countryside and England at its best. I am on Jane 2 or Nikita as she is now known. There have been some wholesale changes in my stable of fillies. Bonnie and Spot have been upgraded to newer models, as every good mistress should be from time to time. For good measure I have kept Bonnie who served me so well to Alaska and back, as no mistress who graduates to wife status should ever be put out to pasture. Her place in my fleet is secure.

On this tour we have some of the old reprobates from the Norway trip. Dave Murphy of Cambridge Theater fame. Kevin Hinton of – leave your wife behind on the road in Norway after dropping her off to take photo’s of you riding towards her  – notoriety. Deaf Kevin who has now had an implant which has miraculously restored his hearing and made him instantly boring. Gerry from Ireland with the silky smooth voice and Blochie. So the struggle will be to get away in the evenings to write, as we have big days with big distances and have already decided that even in the absence of rear seat nannies that we will only eat well at good restaurants and drink great wines. Also all the ride days will be on the long routes.

Tomorrow we take the Eurotunnel to Calais early and then track across France to Metz for the night. This is a case of covering distance to get to the mountains and it will not be epic countryside. That having been said France is always magnificent and I am sure that lunch in Chamberai will be great.

It is fantastic to have my mount underneath me trembling again as I wind in the power. The open road of life calls and I cannot wait for great bike adventure to start.

So bed it is and sleep. Good Night. Good Luck and Goodbye till the next blog.