Something to make a song and dance about?

Yes, another bike, but fear not, Reg stays!

My life is presently as it was before all this cancer stuff kicked off, I can eat and drink as normal and I’m loving it!

I won’t go into the reasons/excuses why I need yet another motorbike, but suffice to say I have about five weeks left of a life I know before I again step into the unknown. Therefore I want to make the most of this time and will shortly head off on the new steed on my mini tour of England.

Those of you who have followed me as a solo traveller over the last two and a half years will know how often I’ve mentioned the people I’ve met, many of whom I still have contact with, some just very occasionally but others quite frequently. Meeting others has enhanced my travels even though at times I went through the ‘don’t speak unless spoken to’ phase. I eventually got used to solo travelling and could start enjoying the benefits it brings.

In March last year I was on the island of La Gomera and as some of you may recall I had a chance meeting with a German couple Lothar and Gina. I’d parked Reg up and walked across the large expanse of paved area to sit at a vacant restaurant table. Lothar and Gina invited me to join them, this surprised me, they weren’t fellow bikers and I didn’t really understand why they would do such a thing, but I accepted and we started our friendly chat. At the time my thoughts and emotions were still wrapped up with the loss of Rachel and inevitably when people asked me why I was travelling alone it was like lighting the blue touch paper for me to pour out the impact of what had happened to bring me to this point. Lothar was struggling with the recent loss of his mother and I think my situation and how I was dealing with it helped him in some way.

We parted as friends with the ‘If ever you’re passing Hamburg then call in’ kind of farewell. Three months later I was passing Hamburg on my way to Norway so I did call in, stayed the night and continued north the next day. Lo and I rode together out of the city and he waved me a fond farewell.

Lo (as he prefers to be called) is another of my travel ‘meets’ who has kept in contact with me. For some reason he seems to be encouraged by how I’m living my life through what he perceives as some difficult times. Well yes, there have been some tricky situations over the last three years.

I was taken aback when he sent this to me: