Looking across to the snow capped alpine mountains seen from the back seat of a motorcycle

Home Travel StoriesFarewell to England Tour 2021

Farewell to England Tour 2021 - Day 2

Ride Date 19 August 2021

By Rev. Mick!

This was the day I was overtaken by a speeding hearse.

I looked through the lashing rain in the rear view and there was a black car approaching at speed. Despite having arrived at Fishguard in fine weather it was now pouring. You brace yourself for the buffet as a speeding vehicle passes. There was quite a turbulence as fully loaded hearse passed me at seventy plus.

The day started with an early start at my B&B. I poured all the fuel in the spare bottle into the fuel tank. You are not supposed to carry fuel like that on ferry. I arrived at the head of the queue however three other bikes joined me.

Rev. Mick's Honda innova at the head of a line at the misty moist Rosslare harbour
The small Innova and a big chrome Harley in the bowels of the ferry
Silver touring bike parks next to Christmas tree, only joking!

My cabin was very nice, I got it cheap as all reclining seats and single cabins had gone at my last minute booking. 

2 bunk beds, a table and a window forms the cabin on the ferry to Fishguard

I also noted the other starters in the cross channel race were ready on the start line. 

Seen through a wet window of Mick's ferry there's another ferry ready to leave port

It was very flat crossing so I sept well after an early start. I was woken by an eastern European attendant who talked to me about motorcycles in his homeland.

I then unstrapped the bike and pushed/filtered into the line of cars leaving. I was of course stopped by The Border Force, they didn't seem to want much, just interested in an idiot touring on a Cub. As my daughter said as we arrived from India after Brexit "When did GB become such a nasty unfriendly place?"

Off into Wales, it was nice to be back, herself and I lived here for years and both our kids were born here. I even used my Welsh to interact with people. Heading towards Carmarthen though the rain started in serious mode. Mind those speeding hearses, they give you a buffeting.

From Carmarthen to Abergavenny I took the sublime A40. If you ever get chance it is a true joy of a road, right speed and bends for the Innova. 

The sign for Llandovery and the start of the small town
The small white painted house that is Llandovery police station

The sun had come out and the time just flew. From Abergavenny to my mate Drew's place above Monmouth it was one Bluetooth ear bud in and on with Molly Google (a nick name we gave her when using her directions in the Greek mountains and it stuck).

Great to see both Drew and Sarah plus the dogs in their lovely house in the woods and only 200m left to go to England. 

That evening I was eating faggots and drinking Butty Bach following an exciting drive through the woods in an ancient Range Rover. The White Lion in Trelleck is to be recommended. 

Drew and I have travelled a lot all over the world so we spent time catching up. As I had gone to school in Gloucester there was also the warm familiarity of the Forest accent.


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Farewell to England Tour 2021 - Day 1 Mick's first day is a simple affair. Load up the Innova, head out and ride.
Farewell to England Tour 2021 - Day 2 Rev.Mick! sums up his arrival back into Wales.
Farewell to England Tour 2021 - Day 3 Mick is having a ride out with a friend, into the wilderness of Bristol. Can a vintage Velocette and a 125 complete the epic crossing of the Severn River?
Farewell to England Tour 2021 - Day 4 Mick receives the soaking of a lifetime before finding the wondrous beauty of Dorset. Beyond that he could tell you but he'd have to kill you.
Farewell to England Tour 2021 - Day 5 Mick finds his way around Dorset using every back road he can find. For himself and the Innova this is a perfect match made in heaven.
Farewell to England Tour 2021 - Day 6 (And 7 And 8) Mick is having one of "those" days as his tour of south west England continues. Not to worry, there's still much to see and think about before reaching the haven of family.
Farewell to England Tour 2021 - Day 9 (And Some 8) After trains and repairs Rev. Mick! is back on two wheels. He seems to be having a fabulous time returning to the haunts of his youth.
Farewell to England Tour 2021 - Day 10 (And 11) It looks as though Armageddon is on Rev. Mick!'s horizon and yet another fine day is to be found on the UK's roads. When you're touring Innova style there's nothing can stop you.
Farewell to England Tour 2021 - Day 12 Heading homewards Rev. Mick! takes us to a special place in his motorcycling career - "The Road" - after encountering a town filled with drunkards and streets laced with MAMILs. Nothing seems mundane in Mick's world.
Farewell to England Tour 2021 - Day 13 In typical chilled out fashion Rev. Mick! is making his way slowly towards the ferry. There's still plenty of time to explore ever more back roads and to dine well. It's a hard life.
Farewell to England Tour 2021 - Day 14 After an epic 2 weeks of touring southern England Rev! Mick is making his way home.

Reader's Comments

Upt'North ¹ said :-
They must be the poshest tie down straps on any ferry.
I wonder how many people have bumped their noggin on that table next to the bottom bunk?
What were they thinking with the paintwork on that HD, perhaps they weren't?
Enjoyin the ride.
Upt'North.
31/08/2021 08:45:22 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
I suspect the ferry has just had fresh supplies of tie downs Upt'. I'm sure they could carry a whole tonne of weight but they look mighty thin compared to the ones I'm used to seeing on ships.

There's more to come from Mick so the fun ain't over yet :-)
01/09/2021 10:36:20 UTC

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