Preparation

A little over 3 weeks to go until I set off. I've finalised my route which will include riding from UK, overnight at Basel then down to Ancona, Italy, and a overnight ferry to Igoumenitsa, Greece. If all goes to plan I will be travelling the first 1,600 miles from UK to Greece in about 48 hours.

Then follow the Aegean coastline east a brief hotel stop and onto Istanbul for a two day stop, returning via the west coast of Turkey to the historic sites of Troy, Pergamon‎, Ruins of Ephesus and past Izmir to a ferry from Cesme to Chios then an overnight ferry to Athens taking in the Parthenon and the ruins of Delphi, then over the Rio-Antirio bridge and onto Patra for the ferry back to Ancona then home.

My trip will include 3 overnight ferries and 2 local ferries, a train under the English channel, 5 different hotels, and about 4,000 miles of road.

So far I've booked my return ferry from Ancona to Greece and the overnight ferry from Chios to Athens. As its peak tourist season I have also booked my hotel rooms in Greece & Turkey.

Equipment
Greece & Turkey in late July, so I am expecting very high temperatures to combat this I have been very careful with my choice of motorcycle clothing.

Hood kevlar jeans, much cooler than leather plus I have added knee and hip knox armour.


Helmet
I also wanted a open face helmet for better ventilation, there are quite a few cheap ones available, but as they say if you have a £20 head you buy a £20 helmet. I have destroyed a few helmets in my time so I know more than most that its false economy to skimp on a helmet, so I went for a Schuberth S1

This is a quality piece of kit, with a clear outer visor and a inner dark visor which you can quickly flick out of the way when entering tunnels. And has the added protection of a chin bar. Many years ago I was knocked off my bike at speed while wearing an open face lid, when I got to hospital I found I had broken my nose and taken quite a lot of surface skin off my nose, cheek and jaw, so a bit more protection is a well worth it.




I will use my old faithful BMW Rallye 2 jacket, it has plenty of body armour and lots of spare pockets to store vital bits and pieces and includes 6 zipped air vents, plus it has a purpose built, back pouch to store my insulated Camelbak drinking bag and even includes a cut-out to pass the drink tube through.



I am expecting a few 10 hour days in the saddle, riding in +40c so regular intake of fluids are a must.