Italia and into France

We stayed in Palermo two days and did a lot of walking exploring the old town, there are some amazing bits of Architecture and history but I’m afraid its a bit dirty and down at heel, the heat makes some of the city’s less appealing smells more pungent. From a tourist and outsiders point of view there needs to be some education or cash put into the rubbish and graffiti problem but i suppose if you’re constantly paying the mob its difficult.

We left our digs for the ferry at 6pm with a hint of trepidation having watched the trffic insanity for two days, the ferry terminal less than a mile away, to say we got the run around was an understatement, i was beginning to think we were back in the Central American republics, when we eventually got to the ticket office to collect our boarding cards, the very fat, rude surly guy was as helpful as a dose of diarrhoea when there’s no toilet and your wearing a white suit! He started shouting at me then calmed down when I gave him a round of the guns with my best Italian abuse and actions. The Ferry queueing seemed and was chaotic but at the end of the day we were boarded with no drama and left the guys to tie the bikes down, we met some fellow UK travellers so that was good to realise Mr Fat smelly guy was universally rude.

The Ferry was huge, clean and much better than the crap we have to put up with going to Europe, it was good to find out we arrived in Genoa at 5pm and not the 9pm i thought it was. Genoa at 5pm is a stressful place to ride a motorcycle, not good at all. We arrived in Calice Liguria around 6.30 and called our host for the next two days Steva who we met at the Elefant Rally and runs a bikers B&B. He met us in the square and warned us the road to his place was a bit steep and had gravel, no kidding batman, I’ve ridden easier trials sections, but the V11 and Kawa made it with only a couple of dabs ! Martin and Sue form the UK (also Guzzi folk) were already there so we spent the next two days partying including a night in Finale Liguria watching Steva’s band and getting seriously pissed!

Saturday Martin a Sue left early to get a tyre fitted and we had a tour of the old town with Steva. When I returned to my bike there was a load of oil under it, It seemed to be coming from the breather but  couldn’t see properly, we pushed on for about 50 miles and pulled into a service station to check, it was pissing oil everywhere, further checks revealed the main engine breather had split. I took the tank off but didn’t have a long enough screwdriver to get the clamp off. An Austrian guy in a car offered tools and encouragement but had to go, meanwhile two Bulgarian truck drivers on their stop came over and got stuck in, I couldn’t get near the bike and half an hour later we had nipped the bad bit off the perished hose and got it together again. Bizarrely a Chinese guy who spoke no Italian or English appeared having ridden his GS12 from China with his young son on the back.     

We set off to my old village I lived in when i was a bambino, stayed with my cousin Bruno in his B&B for a couple of days eating, catching up with the locals, drinking and chilling. We did get a bite freaked out I admit when we encountered the snorting wild Boar on the way walking to Bruno's house with only the phone to see the way, no harm done , I think it was more scared than we were!  Today we set off and rode the route Napoleon which is outstanding normally but for now there’s mega roadworks so after a long day we quit just an hour short of Grenoble, Every time i stop i’m nervously checking the breather as it’s a very temporary repair. The plan is to make progress every day and hope it hangs out

Palermo

Where are we?

Rubbish everywhere

A wedding car, seems to be the fashion

Nice though

More stuff

One of the gates into the old city

waiting for a ferry

Lets take a selfie

Steva's drive, not for the faint hearted

Old Guzzi's in the garden

Not so old Guzzi's in the garden

Steva and one of the other visitors on Friday night

Good food, good crack

Hear no evil, see no evil , speak no evil

King of the castle

Getting messy

I liked this shot

Steva in full flight

And the girls in full dance

My Bulgarian helpers

The view from Bruno's house, not too shabby

Guzzi looking into the village

Sicily

We left Dubrovnik and Croatia on Friday night. The very efficient ferry (take note DFDS!!) deposited us in Bari, Southern Italy on Saturday morning. We had a few missed turns out of Bari, very stressful as I'm sure mot of the people have comedy driving licences although its not funny! We latched on the a GS1200 rider who was heading part of the way and said we should tag along, we did and it worked out well, turns out our temporary guide was Roberto, a lawyer from Bari, plenty business there I suspect!
After about 100 miles we parted company and Fiona and I ran along the foot of Italy from East to West before getting the ferry to Sicily, it all seemed chaotic but they sure turned the boats around quickly for the 25 minute trip to the island. We stayed in Taormina, a very hilly town in the shadow of Mount Etna. We had an outstanding view from our hotel which made the challenging ride up the narrow streets worthwhile.
Sunday we rode past Catania which looked incredibly busy then took the small and less crazy roads to Punta Secca, the biggest issue down here is the road surface is very slippy so its with much trepidation that you tip into bends, the locals though have God to protect them obviously so drive and ride in such a way that beggars belief. A couple of days in Punta Secca in Inspector Montalbano's house was a superb way to relax but a short trip to Ragusa to see more Montalbano set's (Italian detective series)  kept our blood levels high. I haven't mentioned the heat, it varies between a cool 30 and a hot 40, excellent ! We've just arrived in Palermo following a nice ride part of the way across the sun baked centre of the Island, photos as always to give you a flavour and to save me writing more nonsense.

Dubrovnik Port awaiting the ferry

Bari, 8am Saturday

Roberto, our Bari lawyer guide

Mount Etna from our digs, not too shabby

Panoramic from the restaurant

Nice by night

And nice by day

Even the bikes had a view

For you Montalbano fans, the famous balcony!

Sunset, drink, food, perfect

Ragusa, a well know church shown often in the series

Pretty trees

More Churches

The ancient portal to the City (not Fiona)

Blah blah

Enjoying a drink on that balcony

A Fisherman returns home in the sunset

Meanwhile the locals dance in the street

Heading over the hills

Pretty dry here as you might imagine

Home to Dubrovnik

We left home Thursday, referendum day after Fiona finished work and blasted down to Durham our culinary needs refreshed by what I though was a bizarrely placed Indian restaurant at a service station on the A1. No dramas and up the following morning to find out collectively we had voted to come out of Europe, this may make for an interesting (and slightly more expensive) trip I thought.
We followed the A1, busy as hell and then when we just got into London it pissed down, torrential rain! as always it stopped as we got the waterproofs on so we were now a pair of boil in the bag rice really. We struggled to find the Ace cafe but after several detours and asking directions we finally got there. First impressions were that it was great to be at this motorcycling mecca but after eating the food served mainly by non uk staff I was left feeling underwhelmed , another box ticked though. We left at 5pm to be led right through the centre of London City by Mr Garmin (GPS) what a fantastic experience, 15 miles took 2 hours, I saw places in London I'd previously only seen on a monopoly board or on the TV, the cyclists, scooter riders, despatch riders, taxis and others tried their best but despite 2 close shaves we survived. I was glad to get to our digs in Maidstone for the night.
Saturday the channel tunnel, a new experience for me and not a bad one i have to say. A blast along Northern France to about 50 miles short of Verdun saw us stopping for the night and having some issues with the Guzzi but thankfully fixed reasonably quickly. Sunday a long ride through to the south of Zurich, still pissed at the Swiss ripping us off, we paid 80 Euro for our vignettes to allow us to use their motorways, we should start reciprocal charging these jokers. A basic hotel room for luxury prices didn't help.
Monday a fantastic blast across at least 5 passes, from ice covered lakes to 30 degree heat, fantastic day which ended near Garda to meet up with Hacko and Lorraine, the evening as expected ended in a bit of a drunken mess and Ian showed us his breakdancing skills or at least thats what I thought he was doing as he rolled around on the ground.
We parted on Tuesday and headed to Bassano del Grappa to meet Dan and Sara, now on year 4 of their Round the World trip (www.ridetheworld.ca) A nice evening relaxing in this old town catching up with travel stories.
Wednesday we set off through Venice, Slovenia (luckily we avoided paying the toll for their very short motorway system) and through Croatia to just north of Split, a small town where we got an apartment near the beach for £30, superb, food and beer was also cheap.
Thursday we arrived in a very sunny and hot Dubrovnik, 2000 miles since we left home, its nice here but tourist hell, this is Friday as I write this and we've just returned from the old town, super pretty but my god busy busy busy. Tonight we get the ferry to Bari in Southern Italy to begin week 2 of our adventure, some pics to keep you amused; Apologies to Mr & Mrs H for not putting a caption on but this got screwed up and my patience with poor wifi is wearing this , you'll recognise him, he's wearing a KTM and a beer

Ace cafe

Manx Norton, cool!

Waiting for the eurotunnel

First night in France, post breakdown!

Chilly at the top of this pass

Superb motorcycling

Another pass another photo

Nice

You get the picture, it was cold but nice

Monument to the Alpini

Bassano del grappa, wobbly bridge

Fi & Sara

Grappa museum 

One for the road!

Fi enjoying a beer on the beach in Croatia

Panoramic entering Dubrovnik

The Old town

George is even famous here

This guy had a unique way of removing ear wax

The old harbour

The town from the top of the city walls