Day Ten - Time to go home, Italy to UK in a day

I have rested well for the last two days, so the plan is to get home in one day, I am still in Northern Italy, its a long way, I could take motorway all the way, but I have some unfinished business in the Alps called "The Furka Pass"

I enjoy a luxury breakfast at my 4* hotel and get on the road at 9am and very soon I enter the Italian Alps


The temperature drops quickly to 14c as I climb, and for the first time in 9 days I have to zip up the air vents in my jacket, and actually put on the heated bar grips. Its August 2nd yet there is still a little un-melted snow around.
To reach the Furka Pass I have to go over the Simplon pass so I get two Alpine passes for the price of one. This is real motorcycle country and there are lots of big bikes on the road.


The views are stunning, I'm not certain but the could be the tip of the Eiger in the background.
At last I see the Furka Pass, a slim ribbon of tarmac clinging to the side of the mountain. The photo does not do it justice this was a really steep mountain side towering high into the sky above me.
I'm getting near the summit and am already above the clouds.
And finally I'm there at the summit, almost 8,000 feet above sea level
Its been a fantastic ride, but now I've got some serious miles to put in if I want to get home, I get down the mountain heading for Andermatt, I really don't want to go through the St Gotthard tunnel (which is just over 15 miles long) so I take to the old road before getting back on the motorway, I get through Basel and out of Switzerland into Germany and really push on to cover the miles, before cutting back into France towards Calais.
On the German Autobahn the bike indicated just over 140 mph, the Sat Nav shows 137 mph, not bad for a fully loaded tourer with a fairing the size of a barn door.

I ride throughout the day and into the night, stopping only for fuel and food, then back through the Eurotunnel and home, I get home at 1:15 am having covered 833 miles today and have been riding for 16 hours.

Its been a totally amazing 10 days, and through careful planning I don't feel like its only been riding endless motorways, I've touched new countries and cultures and have been completely blown away by the friendliness and hospitality shown to me by complete strangers.

Its been the longest and most exciting bike trip I've ever done and I am already planning my next one. In 3 months time my family are moving from UK to New York State for a 3 year work related posting, so look out USA here I come.

Day Nine - Ancona

For most of the day I am still on the ferry heading to Ancona, the cabin is comfortable and I get plenty of rest.We dock at Ancona at 3pm and I head North, I don't have a destination in mind only to eat into the distance to get home. At about 6pm I head for the nearest large town and find a real gem, Verbania, right on the shore of Lake Maggiore. It sounds more like a name of a town in a futuristic film, but this town is real old style European class.
Its the first week of the Summer holiday season and I try a few hotels but they are all booked up, eventually I get a room in a 4* hotel overlooking the lake. Its expensive but if I can get home in one day I wont have to find a hotel tomorrow.
Lake Maggiore

Day Eight - Athens and ferry back to Italy

My ferry arrives in Athens harbour and we are sent out into the Athens rush hour traffic just before 08:00. I stop for fuel, checking first that I can use my Visa card and am told OK no problem, so I fill up, when its time to pay the guy behind the counter says no Visa cards I complain and the two guys erupt into a very vocal argument in Greek, luckily I have enough cash to pay in Euro's and leave them arguing.

The roads in Athens are so slippery in the dry I see several locals easily spinning up the rear tyre in 2nd gear just off the throttle just for fun.

First stop look out for the Acropolis, even with the Sat Nav I get a little lost, I find a good place to park and get some breakfast.

Even at this time in the morning there are a lot of tourists.
Its my first visit to the Parthenon, one of Europe's Iconic structures and it looks magnificent in the morning sun.

There are lots of other items of interest to see
I spend quite a bit of time on the Acropolis and soon its time to move on, next destination is about 30 min South West of Athens, The Corinth Canal. So I hop on the Toll Motorway and am soon there.


The canal is 6.3 kilometre in length and was was started by the Roman Emperor Nero in 68 AD, he actually launched the excavation, personally breaking the ground with a pickaxe and removing the first basket-load of soil. The Roman workforce, consisted of 6,000 slaves but was abandoned when Nero died.


There were several other attempts to finish it, but it was finally completed in 1893. Its quite narrow and only one ship at a time can use it.



After that I head further West, crossing a far newer structure, the Rio-Antirio bridge, the worlds longest cable-stayed "suspended" deck bridge.

I've had a busy morning so I stop for lunch in a small town by the coast
I negotiate lunch with the waitress's broken English and order "a plate of mixed things" turns out to be delicious.
After lunch I have time for a swim, then off to Patras for my ferry that leaves at 18:00.

Day Seven - Ephesus and Ferry to Athens

The local village near Küçükkuyu.
After breakfast I head South around Izmir which seemed to have most major roads being rebuilt and little in the way of detours, thank goodness for my Garmin Zumo 400 that has been faultless for the entire journey.

The heat goes up and I see 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) on the air temp, before I left on this trip SimonDippenhall gave me quite a bit of very useful information after his amazing trip to the Red Sea, one of his gems was to carry a camel back, I had the thermal insulated model which kept the water cool and fitted in a back pocket in my BMW jacket, I kept it topped up. In the heat today I would get through 6 litres of cold water and that was barely enough, but it was a real life-saver.

The road surface can get very slick so you have to pick your path carefully.



My destination today was Ephesus near Selçuk. Ephesus has one of the largest collection of nearly complete ancient buildings in the world dating back to 550 BC. I could have easily have spent all day here and not seen everything.






The original communal toilets

But I am on a schedule and I have to leave sooner than I would have wanted to catch a ferry out of Turkey to the small Greek island of Chios.

I speed onto Cesme where I find my small ferry that will take me to Chios.

I meet this Italian couple who have been touring Turkey for the last 2 months. Thankfully he has excellent English but his girlfriend doesn't speak a word, so over a cold drink while we wait for our ferry we enthusiastically share experiences of our journeys, she just sulks, typical bikers.


It only has enough room for 3 cars and my bike.
The sea looks calm in the harbour but the wind has been blowing hard all day and the crossing is expected to be rough, so the crew insist I stay next to my bike for the 50 min voyage to keep it upright. At least they gave me a chair.

I get to Chios and wait for my overnight ferry that will leave at 22:00 and take me to Athens. I will really miss Turkey, I love the food, lifestyle, historical sites but most of all I found the people warm and very hospitable.

Day Six - Gallipoli & Troy

I had planned to get on the road early this morning but the weather had other ideas, as I woke to very heavy rain.

This morning I knew it was going to be difficult

• Wet, very slippery roads
• Flooding on the roads hiding big potholes
• Hot humid conditions while wearing a one piece oversuit in a city so little cooling air while riding along
• Suicide jockeys masquerading as Taxi drivers
• Rush hour in Istanbul

Once I got going I was fine, and actually started to enjoy the conditions.

As I was leaving Istanbul I pulled into a petrol station for fuel but they had run out, and stopped for a chat with this amazing character in German, now I know what Santa Claus does in the summer, goes touring Turkey on a BMW.
After riding together for a short way we parted company, I wanted to get off the dual carrigways and took the coast road south towards Gallipoli

Unfortunately the tarmac soon disappeared and I did the next 15 miles on a dirt track, who needs a GS anyway.
Thankfully the tarmac returned
I passed the town of Gallipoli and headed down the peninsular to the site of the Dardanelles Campaign. A disastrous First World War campaign that resulted in the loss of 336,000 men from both sides. Here is a Turkish memorial
Soon I see the British graves
Private Luck, aged 19. His luck ran out in a foreign land in a battle that could not be won. I am really starting to hate the futility of war.
The Australians and New Zealanders landed here, the attack on ANZAC beach in a huge blunder it was one of the few places for miles around that was overlooked by steep hills, which the Turks held.
This memorial records the events. You can clearly see the high ground just inland from the beach.


After the battle site I ride to Eceabet and take the 30 min ferry to Çanakkale. This narrow but strategic piece of water has been fought over by countless armies for centuries including Greek and Trojans, the Persian King Xerxes in 500 BC, then by Alexander the Great 330 BC and the Allies and the Turks in 1915.


After landing at Çanakkale I head South to the site of the Siege of Troy, there is not much to see other than a few ruined walls and the tourist board replica of the infamous horse.