Alle Richtungen?

Can’t find this ‘Alle Richtungen’ on the map for the life of me!!! Just discovered our road trip photos sitting waiting for some attention .

We had a motorbike some 30 years ago – just a little thing which we kept whilst we were in the UK for about 3 months and then sold when we returned to Italy. All sorts of reasons for not getting another one, not least having a family and needing to cart baby things around.

Then a couple of years ago we set in motion a major life change and put our house on the market with the intention of using the funds to buy a house boat and move full time afloat. But we were not able to foresee the terrible international economic crisis which hit the house market – nor had we given enough consideration to the wieldy bureaucratic machinery which blocked our request for a mooring here in Venice.

So – rather than feel that we had been let down in our adventure, we invented a new one and sold our car to buy a motorbike. The first bike was a Honda Shadow, but it was SOOOOOOOOOOOO uncomfortable on long rides, and earlier this year we moved onto what you see here in the photo, a Moto Guzzi California. You see, hubby is about 6’2″ so needs a bike with plenty of leg room. On the other hand, I am only 5’2″ but I need a bike with plenty of tummy room – and this bike fitted the bill perfectly!

And after experimenting a few short rides (to the local supermarket and back), in August we set off from Venice to the UK. Wow – what a haul – and how many nightmares I had to deal with! Without going into too many details, the trip did me a lot of good – I had to face up to a whole bunch of private fears, but at the end of the day, I think I came out stronger and with a renewed sense of respect for my hubby who did a brilliant job. Driving for almost 5000 kilometres in some really lousy conditions, and having to deal with some major problems (including me and my back seat driving) he came out with top marks!