In March 2018 Rachel and I had just crossed the border from Albania into Greece. We parked the motorhome on a grassy area and as we gazed out across the blue sea she said “What’s that island”? Geography was never really one of Rachel’s things, she left all that mundane kind of stuff to me. “Corfu” I replied, and with that we decided to go.
The memory of those words made me think, and I’ve had plenty of time for that recently, why and how we just seemed to dovetail with our travels over the eight years of retirement together. I know there’s a danger of looking back at the past through rose tinted glasses, but life was just seamless. I remember being completely content, life was just……well just so easy!
I loved planning trips, doing the research, deciding on the best places to see and which roads to take, I still do, and particularly during my present ‘downtime’. It’s my favourite pastime, so much so that I’ve even arranged trips for others!
How lovely it would be to chat with Rachel again about our life and travels together! What a brilliant time we had! How did it work so well? Did I really just say “Let’s go there”, and she agreed? 🤷🏻♂️
When we were in Istanbul we decided to cross The Bosphorus into Asia, we both liked doing stuff like that, to push the boundaries of our travel experiences and we got a kick from being different from the mainstream campervanners.
I am so grateful for those eight years of retirement together, and will continue to look back on that time with such fondness, we were in perfect harmony, and that is something to be treasured.
When I was diagnosed with cancer in January this year, my first thought was ‘I’m so glad I bought those motorbikes and travelled so much’. When I got that news I felt so much uncertainty, life is uncertain for all of us, but that kind of news really makes you ponder what sort of future lies ahead. I thought of the fantastic trips I’d done, particularly over the previous year, and wondered if they would in fact be my last, if they were going to be, then what amazing trips they were!
But now, as I embark on hopefully the final phase of post operative treatment, my plans are taking shape for getting back on the road. With it comes a warning not to get too far ahead of myself, so no new motorbikes, no little treats for the the ones I have and no bookings of ferries or accommodation (other than The Picos trip in July next year with Ray and Ken). If all goes well then just another eight weeks until the last remaining tubes will be removed from my body and I can be free again, free from drugs and supplementary feeds. The Big Bird Bike Travels blog will then resume with its proper travel content.
The Phoenix Rises, or at least a Big Bird.
’The phoenix is a symbol of hope, of life and of better things to come, born from knowledge and experience of difficult times and challenging circumstances’
