After a great breakfast at The Oak Hotel, we were finally off to pick up our bike. The last two weeks have been very relaxing but we are ready for the next part of our adventure. We had 245 km to travel today from The Oak Hotel in Hockley Heath (one of our favourites) to the Travelodge in Ipswich. As well as the driving, we had washing to do and repacking our belongings in to 2 small bags to fit in the motorcycle panniers - a busy day.

Navigation was easy today and we started to feel excited as we drove passed signs to Ipswich and Felixstowe. The scenery out the windows was of rolling green and yellow pastures, very scenic. We even thought we heard a Tiger purring softly in the distance!

We arrived in Ipswich too early to check in to the hotel so decided to take a drive out to Felixstowe to check out the Imorex Depot - gates closed of course because it is Sunday. We then double checked where we had to drop off our hire car and then found the Laundry for our washing. With all our tasks complete we returned to our hotel for Happy Hour - a good way to end the day.

We arrived at Felixstowe just after 9am to collect our bike. While waiting, we chatted to a couple who were expecting to pick up their bike shipped from New Zealand - not today! After ringing Mr Get Routed Dave Milligan and a few expletives, the owners were informed that their bike would not be arriving for another month - they were devastated! Luckily for us, our bike was there still sitting in its cradle waiting for us.

Kerrie set about removing the bubble wrap from the panniers while Greg got the battery reconnected - started first time. We unpacked our suitcases and repacked our belongings into the bike panniers. Kerrie worked her packing magic and managed to fit everything we needed in the top box. Greg couldn't fit his extra jacket in his pannier so it is in a packing bag on top of the top box. we probably have too much stuff but the good news is we can post it back to Felixstowe if we decide we don't need it.

After dropping our hire car back in Ipswich we set out for our first day of riding. We were only going 200km to Folkstone. We rode over the bridge at the Dartford Crossing and set our sights on the English Channel in readiness for our trip through The Chunnel to France in the morning.