Honeypot House

My last pic of the trip, we arrived safely at 2.30 today to be greeted by a huge bumble bed and afternoon tea. 2850 miles total and I found out on arrival that we've topped 12k comfortably in total funds raised. We're all home now without incident, although the clip has apparently fallen off Paul's chain again! I'm holding a beer now and it's the first of several. Next week we'll collate all the pics that we took and i'll post them to complete our log of the trip, Cheers!

Landed!

Just got through passport control and we're finally on british soil! We reckon 3 hours or maybe a bit more to honeypot house. After which we can't wait to get back home and sleep all weekend!

Big queue for the ferry

And it's 30 degrees here. We've done 2700 miles and are finally about to set sail for blighy. Can't wait to get to honeypot house tomorrow, the finish point. After a bunch of challenges and scary experiences along the way and a truly unique experience, thoughts now turn to home and we're all keen to get back to loved ones as soon as possible. Personally I can't wait to get back to the office. ;-) look forward to seeing everybody soon.

First injury...

After dropping his keys into his faring, Jason sustains a flesh wound retrieving them. Muppet! We're now in Santander! More to follow as soon as we're on the boat.

Final campsite.

We're here and elated. Going to pitch tents and head into the local village for a snack and just maybe a beer or two. The surroundings are absolutely breathtaking and we're off to get some snaps in the morning.

Gooch.

It's not a t9 error, it's am anatomical term. The gooch is a small area which I can't describe on this blog!

Last proper garage break!

We've just checked the route to a camp site that Melanie found for us in a place called aguilar de campoo. It's the perfect stop as it's just 60 miles from Santander and we're just 140 miles from where we are now. We're on track for the earliest night we've had ov the trip! And apart from Paul's gooch-chafing issues, we're all on good form. Apparently the site is in some beautiful mountains so we hope to get some good pics up later.

250 miles to our stop point this evening,

We're making good progress, touch wood, and we have only 2 more fuel stops to go! We'll stop at 100 then 200, set up camp and we'll be just 50 miles from santander. Can't tell you how great it feels to be back on schedule! More later.

Yet another Spanish gas station...

Two more scares today. First, jason's machine wasn't firing right at low revs, and getting worse. This is potentially dangerous on a bike because sudden power loss when you're leaning over through a bend can be, erm, risky. In a tarmac-surfing kind of way. Thankfully the problem has fully cleared and it's running fine - we reckon a tank of low-grade moroccan fuel is the culprit. Second, I nearly just had a central reservation for lunch after riding through a strip of sticky oil on the road. It was all over the front tyre, which meant sudden zero grip as soon as I leaned into a bend. It was exhilarating, mainly, in a turtle sort of way. So with these problems now sorted we have 110 more miles to cover to the next camp site, which means a good night's sleep and 420 tomorow back toward Santander. Perhaps a couple of beers tonight. Total 2150 miles now covered.

We found the most beautiful camp site...

We could happily stop here for a week! But we've just woken up and it's time to move. This evening's target: 270 miles to a place called Merida.

Back in Spain!

And off to find a campsite. Good night!

Gloves: the sequel...

No gloves for a couple of days now, as noted previously. Didn't have time to blog an update on this sooner, but bizarrely I had a call yesterday from an english-speaking friend of the petrol attendant at the garage where they were taken. Unbelievably, the truck driver who stole them returned to pick up his trailer that he'd left at the garage. The attendant told him that he'd been reported to the police for theft, at which point he profusely explained it was a "misunderstanding" and returned them forthwith, then promptly legged it! So they're now on their way to me in the post. Sweet! How smashing is that? Weird bunch these europeans.

Pooped !

We're at the terminal at last! We were told when we bought our tickets that ferries run every 2 hrs, but just for fun there's no poxy boat at 4am. We should have guessed. :-) anyway we sail at 6, should be camped by 8. Then get up lunch time and get 200ish out of the way. Good night all and thanks for all your messages of support. Can't tell you how glad we are to be over the morocco leg, the drivers here are basket cases! Love to all from team bumblebee. Peace out.

Map proof!

Just a brief note on behalf of the lads to post up a screen grab of the map tracker - the all important proof they made it - and say thanks for all your support and encouragement throughout the journey so far.

I've passed on your messages via Simon, who would like Jase's mum to know that they all took showers last night :-)

They're now leaving Casablanca and heading north again in a bid to be back in Spain tomorrow morning for the long ride home.

Well done lads. We're all incredibly proud of you.

melanie

(Simon's sister)

Proof!

We're here at last! More pics later. For now we need to get back on the road asap. Love to all.

Last stop before casablanca.

Woohoo!

In morocco.

Massive hassle with corrupt border control guards. And we have 440 miles to do. Update to follow when we get to casablanca.

In morocco.

Massive hassle with corrupt border control guards. And we have 440 miles to do. Update to follow when we get to casablanca.

Bad to worse?

Another rough day. We've been up since 6 after virtually no sleep last night, and now only just found a camp site at 1.30am. Just for fun, all the pitches are shingle on top of solid concrete i.e. Impossible to pitch a tent on, as they're designed solely for caravans. We've had to change the schedule again for tomorrow as it's so late and we're all too fatigued after 3 days of this to get on the early ferry tomorrow, which sails at 6am. More tomorrow (hopefully more upbeat!) when we can think straight.

We're absolutely baking here!

Mid thirties temp and a wind that's like an industrial hairdrier. Really uncomfortable riding and we have to stop more frequently to hydrate, but on the upside we just checked the mileage and we've topped 1300, so we're HALF WAY!!

Thieving bastard gypsy spanish sons of bitches.

Yes, i'm unimpressed. Just had my very lovely gloves stolen by some swarthy filthy inbred at a service station. Insurance company have already confirmed they won't pay out, naturally. Lets hope no stone chips for the rest of the trip. Bollocks. And i was just getting to like Spain.

Spoke too soon perhaps...

Looks like chris is leaking transmission fluid. For the non bike fans, that's bad. We'll run it for a while to see if we can gauge how fast it's leaking. Fingers crossed again.

Half way across spain now!

On track to get to tarifa on time this evening. Scenery here is beautiful.

Pure heavy metal.

Sleep-deprived, stinking and totally up for it. Time to get going.

Our new camp site.

It's midnight and we're absolutely knackered. We're probably sleeping here in the car park, as many travellers seem to be doing the same. Night all!

Crap day mostly, but...

... What a beautiful sunset. We're moving fine now and south of barcelona. Lots of miles still to do. Hope we can make up the time with another couple of hundred tonight and the rest tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

When there's a mechanical crisis...

...Jason and Chris decide the best solution is to pull their trousers down. Children. We're working on getting a new chain while the guys have their special moment. Hey ho.

You are the weakest link...

And this bike is not safe to ride. If we can't get this fixed or replaced it's game over for the honda. So we're parked up on a hard shoulder talking to recovery people. Shit.

I love my bike...

Hit a new personal best whilst having a race yesterday with a cheeky young frenchman. Needless to say the union jack prevailed. We're just getting breakfast now and should be over the border in 2hrs. At revoir onion sellers!

James Dean. Oh no wait, it's jason.

Heaven!

What more does a man need? Don't answer that.

Dark here!

Really chuffed that we made it to the med on day 1. We've just camped at a town called narbonne, and the team is in dire need of beer. 800 miles now to tarifa and we aim to crack at least 500 of that tomorrow. Woohoo.

It's raining!

...and humid as hell. But we're only 86 miles from the beach! Next blog will be from camp bumble bee. With beer in hand.

Fatigued? Us? Never!

Right. Balls to the wall. We're going to try get 100 miles the other side of toulouse tonight, which will mean we're under 100 miles from the spanish border. 200 more miles and buns of solid steel here we come!

Hmm

We're 110 miles on from the last blog and have just realised how far we still have to go this afternoon. I already can't feel my arse any more! Paul's missing his swivel chair.

Traditional local cuisine

First stop of the day after the boat trip. We've made a good start and are aiming to reach a town called Montauban, just north of Toulouse by nightfall. About 500 miles to go! Apart from some flatulence concerns, team all well and in good spirits.

Goodbye blighty...

See you in a week!

Stage one complete!

We're at the ferry terminal ahead of time, so I guess we'll have to fine a pub to pass the time and, erm, plan stuff.

Fully loaded...

My beloved speed triple, as it was never intended to look! Thankfully the extra weight doesn't impede performance! ;-) SB.

Pre-launch update...

Here we are and the launch is just 3 days away. Hard to believe the time has gone so fast and the moment is now finally upon us!

Over the last few weeks we've collected plenty of last-minute kit to make sure we're prepared - army rations, spare bulbs, puncture repair kits, kitchen sink etc, and Paul and I did a test run on Friday to check how the bikes would handle fully loaded up.

We also camped down in Sussex on Friday evening to check how long it takes for us to pitch up and de-camp, because this affects journey times. Many thanks to both pubs in the lovely village of Hartfield for making us so welcome!

On to more serious stuff, we've changed the route. Initially we looked at the shortest option possible between St. Malo, our staging point, and Tarifa down in southern Spain. But as Chris pointed out last week, we can divert across to Avignon on the way through France which enables us to take the coast road most of the way down on the Spanish leg.

You can see the route at (sorry for the MASSIVE link!) http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=st.+malo&daddr=44.8977785,4.8740936+to:tarifa&hl=en&geocode=%3BFfIVrQIdbV9KACnp8FvEClj1RzEBAurqKqsIEw%3B&mra=ls&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=19.406082,31.069336&ie=UTF8&ll=42.326062,-3.383789&spn=24.164578,31.069336&z=5&via=1

The penultimate task has been getting our documentation together - we all need extended cover for EU breakdown and insurance, plus all our bikes' proof of ownership docs, and finally a quirky form written mostly in Arabic that in theory [we hope] gets us thru Moroccan border controls more quickly.

So with the route confirmed and our various bags, panniers and boxes packed, all that remains is to rush out and buy some lighter gear to wear! Riding yesterday, even at "motorway speed", was incredibly hot and if I can't get something more lightweight and breezy to wear I'm likely to come home 2 stone lighter. I considered the Billy Connolly dress code option but I hear it won't go down well in Morocco.

I can't close without mentioning sponsorship - we've been amazed by the generosity that so many people have shown and we're now at a total of £11,000 raised so far, with still more to collect. Thank you to all, you know who you are, please keep it coming.

More before we go - don't forget to track our progress from the map link.

SB.

Test camp on friday!

Just three days to our launch now, and we're good to go.

Dinner is served!!

MREs....gourmet....not!! I am being true to the no frills nature of this journey, no posh nosh for me! CR...

Dongle arrived...

Part of the power supply setup....beam me up Scotty! CR..

Tent Testing Time...

Home for the trip....looking good :-) CR

Service Time...

Having serviced the bike a week or two ago I still had to check the Bimmers valve clearances, feeler gauges at the ready I cracked on!

New gloves!

I am sooo batman! SB.

Team update, 27 May

With just 5 weeks to go, where are we?

We're starting to realise just how little time is left before we head off! At this point we have everything set up online (except i haven't spent any time yet getting into twitter, which i have to do this week), and word of the cause is gradually spreading.

Kit and bike-wise, we're pretty much ready to go. My travel towel, spare fuel can and [deeply appetizing] rations have been ordered this week and I'll be doing a test run at the weekend with kit fully packed to see if i can fit everything on the bike and still ride it in a straight line! I can't get a top box to fit my bike so I've invested in a big tail pack and tank bag which hopefully i can squeeze everything into.

As far as bikes are concerned, we were really worried about Paul's Suzuki as it had a bunch of things wrong with it and didn't look fit for the trip. But as it turns out he's now on a Transalp which is the perfect bike for the journey, and much as I'd miss the power I'm actually quite envious! Chris will be fine on the BMW (albeit it's an old man's bike!), which leaves Jason and I on different flavours of Triumph, neither of which was designed with this kind of endurance in mind, but should be comfortable enough (we'll let you know from the road!)

Logistics aside, at the moment our main focus is calling in favours from near and far to raise cash, which is after all the whole point of doing this. Good progress so far but still a long way to go in just 5 weeks.

Feeling really optimistic about everything at the moment and all we have to do now for the journey is make sure we get all the bikes serviced, buy a few emergency supplies and then plan some of the finer details of the route such as where we'll be camping, with various "plan b" options in case we run ahead of (or behind) schedule.

So to wrap up it's all good so far - we're working on getting some more publicity for the cause and I'll update on that later this week. If you've read this and like what we're doing, send a link to people!! The more the merrier.

Simon B.

Fuel gauge roulette...

Ok, so i lost. And on my birthday as well! On the upside, at least i know how many miles i can do after the warning light comes on! Should come in handy. :-)

Paul's New Steed!

It turned out to be a late night, but Paul's new bike is good to go!

Progress update on 18th May

We were chuffed to bits last week when 20:20 agreed to be our headline sponsor and get the fund-raising off to a flying start. Many thanks for James, Andrew and the team for stepping up.

There's loads going on this week already - our friends at Cellularline have done us a MASSIVE favour and provided some hi-tech Interphone radio gear which will enable us to keep in touch (and hopefully not get lost!) on the trip.

Tonight after a detailed planning session (at the pub...) we're off to the wilds of Dorset to look at another bike for the trip - mechanical troubles with the Suzuki mean that Paul needs an alternative set of wheels, so we'll be checking out a Honda Transalp, which sounds like just the ticket.

More pics and updates to follow soon! meantime please spread the word.

Thanks

Team Bumblebee.

My 2003 Triumph Sprint St 955i - Just after I collected her from Devon