Final Preparations

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Pretty much everything is sorted. No more shopping to do. The bulk of the bags are packed. Tomorrow (or later today I suppose) I'm going to load the bags into the panniers and the others onto the fender rack. Fit everything exactly as it is going to be for the 4,500 mile trip to Istanbul and back. Then a bit of fun. I load Hilary and do a few miles, get a final feel of how the Harley handles fully loaded. It will be nowhere exciting, Denham maybe, the point is to test how things work. Might do some photos.

On Thursday 5th June, as soon as Hilary and I can escape the day jobs (sometime in the afternoon), we leave from Isleworth, head past Twickenham Stoop, A316, M25, M26, M20, then the shuttle to France. I don't want to stay overnight in Calais so we'll push on a bit, if it is late only as far as St Omer, if there is time further. Ultimately it is my birthday and I want to find a nice hotel in France, a nice restaurant, eat good food, drink wine, relax.

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