Our accommodation and many side trips have again been capably arranged by the lovey Sue Ritter from Travel Plus Australia Pty Ltd in Mount Waverly who you can email at travel@travelplus.com.au with the exception of most of the UK when we will use our friends home (Phil and Jean) as our base except when we catch up with fellow members of the Women in Logistics UK Group (WIL UK) in London when we will also do a little more London exploring.

The rest of the trip we have made our decisions in consultation with our travelling companions Sharen and Ken who will travel with us once we get to France. We’ll give you our opinion of the accommodations the night following our stay.

Thursday 1st September 2011
Plane - Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur Malaysia
Plane - Leave Kuala Lumpur Heading for London

Friday 2nd September 2011
Arrive in London UK
Collect motorbikes from Faversham
Canterbury Kent

Thursday 8th September 2011
London

Friday 9th September 2011
Canterbury Kent

Monday 12th September 2011
EuroTunnel Folkestone to Calais
Paris France

Thursday 15th September 2011
Beaune

Saturday 17th September 2011
Annecy

Sunday 18th September 2011
Gap

Monday 19th September 2011
Nice

Wednesday 21st September 2011
Avignon

Friday 23rd September 2011
Carcassone

Saturday 24th September 2011
Pau

Sunday 25th September 2011
Santander Spain

Tuesday 27th September 2011
San Sebastian

Thursday 29th September 2011
Arcachon France

Friday 30th September 2011
Sarlat

Sunday 2nd October 2011
Tours

Tuesday 4th October 2011
Mont St Michel

Wednesday 5th October 2011
Honfleur

Thursday 6th October 2011
Eurotunnel From Calais to Folkestone
Return bikes for storage
Faversham UK

Friday 7th October 2011
Train - Faversham to Ebbsfleet International
Train - Ebbsfleet International, to Brussels
Train - Brussels to Bruges
Brugge Belgium
From here by car with Sharen and Ken

Saturday 8th October 2011
Delft Holland

Monday 10th October 2011
Amsterdam

Tuesday 11th October 2011
Cruise ship - APT – Amsterdam to Budapest Hungary

Tuesday 25th October 2011
Plane - Budapest to Rome Italy
Plane - Rome to Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

Wednesday 26th October 2011
Plane - Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne

We have been progressively ticking off our lists in preparation for departure while trying not to go over the edge as each task completed seemed to lead to even more. BUT..we are finally getting ahead of all that and can see an end to it and a beginning to our break. Bring it on is all I can say.

The fact that we will be traveling on motorbikes and have limited luggage space means I've made my lists for what I will pack then culled them, and culled them and culled them again and will hopefully end up with enough clothes to give me enough choices / changes / combinations when I am off the bike to feel somewhat feminine as well as toiletries, traveling documents, notebook, camera, mobile phones, electrical leads and plugs (requiring a larger container than my toiletry bag would you believe) not to mention the replacements we need for our bike riding.

For me that is a helmet, waterproofs and gloves to replace what was damaged in my accident last year, and some more gloves and boots for Norm as the old ones he took barely lasted for the ride. Our UK contact (Gareth) has sorted some pannier bags for Norm's bike so we have some more options for what we can carry and access which will make for more comfortable travel when we are on the bikes and we will leave the bike gear in the UK for another year so will give us some more space when we move on.

Thankfully Norm is a much more succinct packer than me, you would almost think his life's work has been about maximizing what fits where and minimizing the space needed so there are some advantages in a background in logistics. An example of that was his comment when I suggested we should pack a change of clothes in our carry on bags in case our luggage disappears. His response? I'll pack a pair of jocks. A universal male response I suspect.

The cases have been on our billiard table for around a week now and been progressively packed, unpacked, reorganized and repacked. We will eventually say enough is enough and say we are done.

Nearly packed and ready to go!

We plan to leave here the night before we fly out so we can relax for a few hours and spend some time with Sharen and Ken who we will meet up with in Paris September 12th. We will compare notes and toast the start of the adventure before heading for the airport September 1st.

Since 1972 we have travelled all over our great country in trucks carrying freight and helping keep the wheels of industry turning but since 2007 we have started using every chance we can get to explore our great country on motorbikes.

The exercise started out as a bit of a stress buster and was very effective but by accident we found it was a great way to catch up with customers, find lots of routes which are not truck friendly allowing us to cross them off the work list and also to keep track of the development we contribute to and to learn and anticipate of more to come. So there you go we have found another way to make work time fun time.

2009 saw our great Darwin bike ride when we retraced the route of our 1971 working holiday up the east coast of Australia across to Darwin through Mt Isa, then down through the centre and home travelling some 11,300kms in all. An interesting reflection on the passage of time and how road transport (freight) has changed so much of what Australians take for granted, also to note the numbers of regional and national projects our company has been part of. Needless to say it was also a thrill to catch up with some of our trucks in our travels. (I will eventually transfer the travelogue onto the website so it is here for viewing).

Continuing on from there we have decided to undertake a series of study tours of the UK and some of Europe (the first in 2010 travelling 5,560kms - and I will eventually transfer the travelogue onto the website for viewing also) and possibly the USA over the next several years and will do so on motorbikes again. Some of the stress busting may well be a little lost and there will no doubt be inherent stress's involved with different road rules and languages but we are up for the challenge and are looking forward to exploring transport routes and developments throughout and discovering where the industrial revolution began and compare things with what we have here in Australia.

Hello and welcome to the Official Travel Blog of Norm & Nola Bransgrove, check back often to see what these two Aussie travelers get up to as they travel across the UK and into France and the North of Spain.