Excellent idea, would be good for someone who knows the way to go to escourt him from Dover, not sure I can make it all that way but I will def be at the Ace 
Id love to be part of the Dover meet keep us posted
Top skills - Love the ride, Love the Converse! 
Keep going fella I believe there is cue forming at the bar to buy you a drink and hear your stories. We also look forward to seeing Dot
from the facebook group"Sat 26th Sept 2009 - Those who wish to ride/drive in convoy with me are more than welcome. We will be gathering at the McDonalds 3 miles north of Dover port on the A2 at approx 10.30am. A quick sample of english tea and pancakes and we’ll hit the road for the Ace Cafe."
Just joined the FB group… might be ok to ride by then so hopefully shud be there
Anyone wanna ride down so i dnt look like a lemon going by myself?
I’d be up for that, certainly.
count me in too.
I’m guessing the way back’s going to be 125-friendly in terms of speed, but will it be learner-legal (i.e. no motorways)?
I know of a couple of learners that might be up for this.
The moped only does 60kph when fit - I absolutely refuse to do 37mph on a motorway without a massed police escort whether legal or not!
Haha, I had hoped as much, but I know there are all sorts on here…
WOW amazing well done on the trip keep going and you will get to blighty. best of luck.
Hey guys, thanks so much for all the responses. Just sat in my Polish motel room having picked up some rogue wifi and it’s awesome to hear Dorothy’s going to be leading her first convoy. Boy, I tell ya, she’s excited.
and so am I.
All we need do now is make it. Like I said we’re in Poland, about 100 kays east of Krakow. We didn’t make good progress yesterday having spent all day at the Honda dealership trying to get to the bottom of Dorothy’s problems. And after 3 hours checking valves and carbs and everything else they couldn’t come up with anything to explain why she won’t do more than 55kays and why she feels like she’s about to die.
So we’re just going to keep on riding, and probably pushing, until we get to Dover and have her examined by a proper Doctor there. But I do have a confession, one that I’ve not deliberately withheld, more like I forgot to tell you. But somewhere in Kazakhstan I let her run low on oil. I know, what an idiot. Later that day she started clunking… I think that’s where the problem started.
Anyway, we’ve got everything crossed she’s got another 1500kays left in her, and if not my dad’s on standby with the engine from the C90 I originally bought to do the trip in the opposite direction almost two years. I can’t think of no fitting an end; the two bike’s welded together and made as one. Brilliant.
Alright, I’m going to pack up, put on my dirty pants and socks that haven’t been in the wash for two and a half weeks and hit the road at an incredible pace… 30mph across Europe… it’s glorious.
See you at Dover, See you at Ace. See you on the road.
Nathan and Dorothy.
x
Well, we made Germany. Sat in McDonalds now having spent the night slept on Dorothy’s seat with a sleeping bag over us in a lorry park smelling of wee. Not the finest night’s sleep but we made it.
The plan from here is to stay in Dresden tonight then dawdle slowly across the rest of Europe to be there in Dover on the 26th. We’re going to stop by a few of the bikers we’ve met along the way. A couple in Germany and a guy in Holland.
I forgot to say the other daay that yeah, we’ll definitely be taking the back way to London. I’ve just spent the last two days being shot at by high speed drivers on a Polish motorway and I can tell you it wasn’t much fun at 30mph. So the more ‘L’ platers the better.
Nate and Dot.
Ur taking a very similar route i took on my way back from Poland, we went past dresden and were ment to stay in a hotel there but they were all booked up so we ended up sleeping in a petrol garage lol.
Ay, I think that’s the one. You basically go up the hill out of Dover heading north and it’s at the top of the dual carriageway. Probably easier to just come down to the docks and talk to my mum and dad while ya waiting. I’ll post details of the ferry when I’ve booked it but I’d say 10.30 arrivals about right.
Sounds like I’ve had more luck finding a place to stay. In this neat little hostel right in the centre. There’s free wifi, free sweets at reception and barely anyone else here. Certainly beats the hostels and hotels of India and Thailand.
Think I’m going to lay low here for a few days then start dribbling across to Calais as direct a route as I can so not to trouble Dorothy too much. A couple of folk are suggesting her bearings have gone - not a mechanic so not sure quite what that means - so every kilometre counts. So if you do come down to Dover you might end up helping push the old girl to London…But I’m still confident she’ll make it. We’ve now done 33,000 kays and reckon we’ve around 1000 to go.
…here’s the info for the day off of Facebook. We’re just real chuffed there’s people willing to take the time to come and see us home. Thankyou. Big Macs on me…
The plan will be to arrive in Dover on Sat 26th Sept at approx 10am and ride to London for mid afternoon to get the party started. Hopefully beardy will spruce me up a little so I am looking my best for you all, I think it is a bit to late for him now.
Those who wish to ride/drive in convoy with me are more than welcome. We will be gathering at the McDonalds 3 miles north of Dover port on the A2 at approx 10.30am. A quick sample of english tea and pancakes and we’ll hit the road.
Destination will be Ace Cafe London.
<A onmousedown=‘UntrustedLink.bootstrap($(this), “4b760f1dcc92c56e134ebc838a26035f”, event)’ href=“http://www.ace-cafe-london.com/default.aspx” target=_blank rel=nofollow>http://www.ace-cafe-london.com/default.aspx
We will arrive at approx 3pm, apparently it is the hotspot in London for single bikes, kinda like a speed dating with engines. Cant wait!!
Next stop will be Walkabout Bar on Shaftsbury Avenue in London.
<A onmousedown=‘UntrustedLink.bootstrap($(this), “4b760f1dcc92c56e134ebc838a26035f”, event)’ href=“http://www.walkabout.eu.com/home/venues/london/shaftesbury-ave” target=_blank rel=nofollow>http://www.walkabout.eu.com/home/venues/london/shaftesbury-ave
I will be there at about 6ish to get the party started. I will be parked up in the main bar outta the rain to meet all you guys. I have also arranged with the guys at Walkabout that anybody wearing one of my t-shirts will get 25% discount off food & drinks…sounds like a bargain to me. Plus half the money from each t-shirt goes to Comic Relief so all good. But get the t-shirts ordered quick if you havent got one already!!
t-shirts available off beardys website
<A onmousedown=‘UntrustedLink.bootstrap($(this), “4b760f1dcc92c56e134ebc838a26035f”, event)’ href=“http://www.thepostman.org.uk/” target=_blank rel=nofollow>http://www.thepostman.org.uk/
Hope you all can come and tell all your friends too. After spending so much time with beardy I am dying to talk to new people.
Hope to see you all soon.
DOT
xx
Won’t be able to make the Dover but I will most likely be at the Ace
Just having breakfast in the hotel/hostel restaurant. WOW. They’ve got cheese and salami and cereal and fruit and cake and coffee and tea and pots of honey and everything. It’s here, and walking around town last night, that makes me realise just how far we’ve travelled.
When I think what it was like in India and Thailand and the rest and compare it to now, to here, to Europe. ****. I was mesmerised just looking at the simple things last night; the grafitti on the walls, the clothes in the shops, the food on the stalls, the goths in the park, the dogs on the chain, the fashion, the haircuts, the daily grind, the tourists, the architecture, the history, the learner driver cars flying past, the fake tan and peroxide hair… everything, it all seamed just so new. So revolutionary. It was as close I could get to seeing what it’d be like to be an alien landing on earth for the first time.
I suppose I am an alien. I’m sat here in my baggy Indian pants, my dirty sleeved shirt with matted locks of tangled hair draped down from beneath my torn cap. My finger nails are black, on both index fingers I have a fungal infection and the toes you can see between my Pakistan flip flops are battered from spending too long in Converse. Everyone else is tailored and smart. They’re older, more sophisticated, more clean. I’m a dirty bolt in a bed of roses. When I stand to go back to the buffet they look up, fearful that I’m about to **** in their breakfast bowl. But bugger em, I’ve paid just as they have, so I’m going to sit here, drink my filtered coffee and soon go back for another bite of salami.
Then I shall do my laundry.
Hi ya, just sat at the Ace and I’ve spoken to Mark the manager, told him about your journey and he said that it sounds like amazing, if the stage inside the Ace is free he wants to put Dorothy up there in the spot light, how exciting, so see you and Dorothy at the Ace tomorrow