Three months around Europe

I spent four days in Lisbon. I had arranged to meet a friend's daughter, the short but perfectly formed Ms Pinky . I arrived early so spent two nights in a campsite on the northern side of Lisbon, moving into a central hostel for the last two nights.
Ms Pinky is a real character. She had spent two years wandering the world, then decided she should go back to NZ and try to put down some roots, but the restlessness remained and she is off wandering again. Carrying a backpack ...

On the coast road to Lisbon, I began to feel like a traveler. Despite its clean by the Porto Vespa club, the bike was again dusty and bug splattered. My riding jacket was equally dusty along with my boots and my helmet had its own particular patina..

The road bumped between little coastal villages, then cut through a 700 year old man made pine forest. The scent in the early morning air was sharp and cleaning.

I spent two nights at Figuera da Foz ...

The pilgrim's goal, the cathedral at Santiago DE Compostela did not disappoint.
At 9am on a rather dull Monday morning it was full to bursting. A young nun was taking the service and she was going hammer and tongs, her high pitched voice making the most of the 1000 year fine tuning of the acoustics. The building dominated the square, indeed the town .
Fine carvings inside and out , somber priests in full regalia, the pious, the footsore and locals . Sandals and shoes scraping ...

Who ever wrote the song about sunny Spain had never travelled their Atlantic coast in late May. I have had virtually all four seasons . This is not a whinge about the weather , just an observation.

I stayed in Pamplona two days and on my last night I witnessed the most fantastic electrical storm I had seen in decades. Huge sheets of lightning, illuminating the backdrop of the Pyrenees. Then darkness as a huge rain front approached. I double pegged my tent and ran extra ...

I write this from Pamplona, Spain having travelled 3500 km since I picked up the V strom 650 on May 9. If I can be a little emotional: the bike is sweet- nimble with good mid torque range and frugal at 24/25km per litre. So far I would say it is smoother than the V Strom 1000 I ride in New Zealand
Two days later I headed north to the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham. I arrived in the middle of the new Honda Crossfire launch and with the only parking available in the middle ...

In early May I leave the mild winter of the Coromandel to spend three months riding my motorbike around Europe.

My route will take me from the UK, through the D Day beaches, down the Atlantic coasts of France and Spain, then Portugal. In mid June I will spend a week or so with friends in Spain, then it is off along the Med Coast to the sights of Italy, ferry to Greece , then through the Dalmatian coast , across to Austria, Czech Republic , Poland then up to the Baltic states . ...